Team Renjiro rested in the town for the day. Next morning, they left the town to return to Konoha. On arriving, they went to the Hokage tower to turn in the missions. Renjiro handed the papers to the chuunin responsible for checking them. After checking, he handed 4 packets to Renjiro.
The 4 missions combined, paid them 280k. After Renjiro divided them, each of the 3 kids got 56k. Fujin thought, '280k just for these missions? I'm pretty sure I could have completed them solo and in under a day! It's much faster than Fuinjutsu. Though it has some risks, if a strong ninja is hiding among the bandits. Anyways, I should be able to collect enough for a sword made from chakra metal pretty quickly if I take a lot of missions.' Unlike Fujin, Mieko and Hoka didn't concern themselves much with the money. Thanks to having rather rich parents, they never had to worry or think about money.
After the division of money, Renjiro dismissed them and said, "Tomorrow there won't be any training. We begin our training the day after tomorrow at the same time as usual." The kids nodded and dispersed.
Since it was lunch time, Fujin decided to head to Ichiraku. On the way, Fujin thought, '7 rank D missions and 4 rank C missions. Isn't the requirement for chuunin exam just 8 missions? I wonder when Renjiro will make us take the exam. Will it be the next round, or will it be like Teru's squad?'
Thinking about Teru created new thoughts in Fujin's mind, 'Ya, isn't Teru's squad participating in the chuunin exam? I wonder what has happened with that. Did the chuunin exams already start, or is there still some time?' This question resulted in Fujin realising something very critical.
He thought, 'Now that I think about it, I am really clueless in regards to what is happening around me. Other than what I remember about what will happen in the future, I have no idea about what is exactly happening. I need some means of gathering information. But, how to do it….'
He thought for a bit and decided, 'Well, the least I should do is start getting newspapers delivered to my home. Though it won't contain any crucial information, it'll still keep me updated. Apart from that, I should probably make my own information gathering network. While I don't think I'd be able to make something as complex as what Jiraiya has, I don't really need it to be that good either. Just getting unfiltered and timely news would be sufficient. Oh well, I'll leave this for the future too. It'll take a lot of effort, time and money to actually create it. Right now, I barely have any money or free time anywa...'
His thoughts were cut by a loud shout. He heard, "Old man! Three miso ramens for me." Fujin turned right and noticed, 'Eh, Naruto? I didn't even notice reaching Ichiraku. But considering that Naruto is here…' Fujin then focused on sensing his surroundings. After sensing, he thought, 'As I thought. 2 Anbus are hiding nearby. Or perhaps 1 Anbu and 1 Root. I doubt Danzo wouldn't keep his eye on the lone Jinchuriki of Konoha.'
He then released a sigh and thought, 'Well, as much as I'd like to meet him now, it'll probably create a lot of deviations in the future. Not to mention that it'll also gain the attention of both Hiruzen and Danzo. I'll leave this meeting for the future. At least until the time I can calculate and control those deviations. And until I'm strong enough to at least face these two Anbus in case they have some stupid ideas. Sigh, this means I'll have to go to a different restaurant.'
Fujin then moved in the direction of a nearby sushi restaurant. After lunch, he searched for a newspaper stand near his house and bought a subscription.
With the rank C missions completed, Team Renjiro got back to their training. A week's rest suddenly made the morning workout seem much more difficult. When Renjiro returned after the team's break was over, Mieko asked, "Sensei, when can we go on the next mission?" Hoka looked over with interest. Renjiro replied casually, "Rank C missions take a lot longer time than rank D missions. So we'll only do 1 monthly. Rest of the time will be focused on your training." Mieko's shoulders slumped on hearing that. It meant that there was no escape from this deadly training.
At the same time as Fujin and his teammates were training, two genin squads faced each other deep within a forest. Both squads consisted of 3 boys. However, one squad only had 10-11 years old genins. While the other squad had 3 genins who were almost 17 years old. The younger squad was from Konoha, while the older squad was from Kusa.
Yori looked at his opponents. They were much older than him, but he wasn't worried. After all, they weren't Uchihas.
Yokota Minoru, one of the Kusa genins, said arrogantly, "Looks like we are in luck. Konoha sent little babies for the exam." Yokota Yoshiaki chuckled and added, "Why don't you little kids hand us your scroll and run to your mommies."
The comments riled Yori up. He angrily said, "Why you! I'll show you the might of a…" However he was cut short by his teammate. Hatake Kaen said, "Calm down, they are just trying to rile you." Tomaya Takihiko started laughing and replied, "Oh, we aren't. We are just stating the truth." Teru sighed and said, "They really are arrogant." Kaen chuckled and added, "Especially considering that they are still only genins despite being so old."
Takihiko replied, "Old eh? I'll show you." He quickly began making hand signs. However Teru slammed his hands on the ground and shouted, "Too late!" As soon as Teru slammed his hands on the ground, stone spears began appearing from the ground and completely surrounded the Kusa squad. Seeing their predicament, Kusa-nins stopped their hand signs and quickly jumped high towards the nearby trees. Yori, who was already making hand signs, thought, 'Got them!' and launched Phoenix Sage Fire jutsu.
Seeing the balls of fire heading towards them, Minoru and Yoshiaki quickly made hand signs, 'Water Shield jutsu'. On completing the hand signs, a shield of water began forming between the Kusa genins and the fire jutsu. The shield was completely formed in the nick of time and managed to protect them from the fire. However, Teru used this opportunity to launch the stone spears at the airborne Kusa genins. The stone spears easily penetrated the water shield, forcing the Kusa genins to use a kunai to block the spears and direct themselves to land properly on the nearby trees.
As soon as they landed on the trees, they began making hand signs. However, before they could complete their jutsu, a Tanto appeared behind Yoshiaki and stabbed through his heart. Kaen, who had appeared behind Yoshiaki, whispered, "Game over." He pulled his Tanto out, and a lifeless body fell from the tree.
Seeing their teammate die was very shocking for the Kusa genins. Especially for Minoru who was his cousin. He yelled, "I'm going to kill you!" Seeing Minoru lose his calm alarmed Takihiko. He quickly shouted, "Minoru, wait!" However the shout fell on deaf ears. Minoru completed his hand signs, 'Water Pellet jutsu'. He launched the water pallet straight at Kaen. However, Kaen simply moved behind the trees, completely avoiding the attack.
Seeing his attack missing enraged Minoru even further. He jumped towards Kaen. Sensing the opening, Teru quickly made hand signs. Seeing Teru preparing a jutsu, Takihiko completed his hand signs and launched a water pellet straight at Teru. But Yori noticed it and thought, 'Not on my watch.' He quickly launched Fireball jutsu to intercept the water pellet. At the same time, Teru launched a water pellet straight at Minoru. The jutsu hit Minoru on his left rib cage, and knocked him off course.
Seeing his teammate at a disadvantage, Takihiko wanted to rush towards him. However, he was intercepted by Yori and Teru. They engaged him in a fight and didn't allow him to move towards Minoru.
The water pellet hurt Minoru badly, however he gritted his teeth and fought through the pain. He grabbed a kunai and continued moving towards Kaen. On closing the distance, he attacked with his kunai. Kaen raised his Tanto to block the attack. Though Minoru attacked with a lot of force, as soon as the kunai and Tanto clashed, an electric current passed through the kunai and hit him. Though not deadly, it was very painful, and Minoru had to take his hand off the kunai.
Kaen smirked and thought, 'Current Transfer jutsu. Always works!' He just stepped forward and slashed his Tanto at Minoru's neck. Minoru, who was blinded by rage, in immense pain due to the damaged ribs and still feeling the electric current, couldn't dodge and the slash went straight across his throat. His throat split open, causing blood to sprout out from it. He looked at Kaen with unwillingness in his eyes. Sadly, he couldn't even control his body anymore and fell down, dead.
At the same time, Takihiko was engaged against Teru and Yori. After exchanging a few blows, Yori closed the distance and launched Fireball jutsu. Knowing that Takihiko will dodge, Teru threw shurikens in such a manner that Takihiko couldn't dodge the fireball. Not having any option, Takihiko used Water Shield jutsu to defend. On seeing the water shield, Teru thought, 'All 3 have water affinity? Well sucks to be them.' He quickly made a hand sign and slammed his hands on the ground.
At that moment, the fireball had engulfed the water shield. However, Takihiko was completely safe due to the shield. Sadly for him, at that very moment, a stone spear appeared from the ground. It easily penetrated the water shield and headed towards Takihiko. The spear alarmed him. He grabbed a kunai and attempted to block the spear. But the spear pushed him backwards, throwing him out of his water shield, and into the fireball, burning him alive.
On seeing him die, Teru sighed in relief. He said, "All done." Yori nodded and said, "Yeah, that was easier than expected." Teru chuckled and said, "Yeah. Let's just hope that this guy wasn't carrying the scroll." Yori looked at Teru with confusion. But he quickly realized and cursed, "Damn! That scroll will be ashes if he has it." At that time Kaen appeared from behind. He said, "No need to worry. The crazy guy had it." He then tossed the scroll slightly in the air and commented, "We were very lucky that such a weak team had the scroll we needed."
Teru said, "Cool, got the Earth scroll. Let's head towards the tower." Yori objected and said, "That'll be boring. Why not just try to eliminate the weaker teams in the forest? That way the competition will be lesser in the next rounds." Kaen shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. This forest will eliminate the weak teams anyway." Teru nodded and agreed, "Yeah. Not to mention, the more time we spend in the forest, the more teams will set up traps near the tower. And if a team is weak enough to be eliminated by us in this round, then we will be able to do the same in the next round too." Seeing that both his teammates opposed his idea, Yori relented and accompanied his team to the tower.