The three senior medical ninjas looked in terrible shape. Large bags could be seen under their eyes. It looked like they hadn't slept for years. Tiredness could be seen all over their body. It was as if they had just been to war and healed a thousand ninjas! Hiruzen couldn't help but be stunned by their state.
Before he could ask anything, the three of them stood up through a lot of effort and respectfully asked, "Lord Hokage, why are you here?"
Hiruzen replied, "Forget about me, what happened to you guys? Why do you look so tired?"
Hearing his questions, the three of them sighed. After realizing Fujin's potential, the three ignored their tiredness and began teaching him wholeheartedly. Their enthusiasm lasted exactly two days before they realized that they couldn't keep up with Fujin.
Unfortunately, it was too late to back away by then. They were ashamed to tell Fujin to slow down and take it easy. Hence, they resorted to dropping subtle hints about the same. Unfortunately for them, Fujin seemed to be completely oblivious to any hints they dropped. Instead, he pushed them even more!
Yoshi grumbled, "Kids these days... They have no respect for the elders!"
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow in confusion. Isamu added, "I feel like he is doing this intentionally as revenge for all the time we pestered him to become a Medical Ninja."
Hideaki looked at him and asked, "I didn't do that. So why is he making me suffer? Besides, no one can be so oblivious! He is definitely doing it intentionally!"
A few question marks in Hiruzen's head. He didn't understand what they were talking about. However, he felt something very familiar with the situation. He asked, "Could you stop beating around the bush and explain why you three are so tired?"
Yoshi sighed again and explained, "We had been pestering Fujin to take Medical Ninjutsu seriously since the day we approached you. He finally accepted our offer 3 weeks ago. We began teaching him about human anatomy a couple of weeks ago.
He requested us to use Shadow Clones to teach him so that he can learn it more quickly. Since then, we have been teaching him for more than 12 hours daily with each of us creating 9 Shadow Clones.
We thought that he'd slow down eventually However, he has been pushing us to teach him even faster. And we have been unable to convince him to take it slow"
A shiver passed through Hiruzen's spine as he realized, 'No wonder I was getting a familiar sensation!'
The three senior medical ninjas looked at Hiruzen with hope in their eyes. They hoped that their mighty and wise Hokage would be able to provide them with a method to get off the back of the tiger they had unknowingly climbed.
Unfortunately for them, all they got was a look full of pity as Hiruzen turned around and said, "I see. It's good to see you make such efforts to train our next generation and pass the Will of Fire to them. Good luck. I'll ensure that the Hospital management won't bother you."
The three of them watched Hiruzen's back with wide eyes. Isamu tried calling out, "Lord Hokag"
However, even before a word exited his mouth, Hiruzen had disappeared from the room! He had no interest in poking his nose in Fujin's business. If anything, Hiruzen was glad and thanked the gods that Fujin wasn't present in the lab when he visited! Otherwise, Fujin might have asked him to send a few clones too!
He returned to the office and thought, 'Even with Shadow Clones, learning Medical Ninjutsu will take several months. Fujin shouldn't have the energy to do anything else during this time. Besides, that boy becomes incredibly focused when he is learning new skills.'
A smile appeared on Hiruzen's face as he realized, 'It looks like I'll be safe from any ludicrous requests for a few months.'
If Yoshi, Isamu and Hideaki were to hear Hiruzen's thoughts, his godlike image in their hearts would crumble! In fact, it was already very shaky after he escaped instead of helping them.
Isamu exclaimed, "How could Lord Hokage abandon us in this difficult situation? And, how could he not understand our real thoughts? Has everyone become oblivious all of a sudden?"
Hideaki replied, "Oblivious? I swear I could see a hint of pity in his eyes! He didn't leave because he was oblivious! He left because he is aware of that troublesome kid!"
Yoshi agreed, "Yeah, though it was momentarily, his expression showed that he probably guided Fujin the same way and regretted it."
Isamu looked at the two of them and asked helplessly, "What do we do then?"
Hideaki wasn't sure what to say. Yoshi helplessly answered, "What can we do? If even Lord Hokage couldn't stop him, how can we make him take it easy? Not to mention, Lord Hokage asked us to keep teaching him! We just need to be careful next time!"
The three looked at each other before letting out another long sigh in unison. The number of times they sighed in the last two weeks exceeded the times they sighed in a year before Fujin visited them.
During these two weeks, another interesting development which involved Fujin, had happened in Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto, the sole Jinchuriki in Konoha, had moved into Fujin's compounds.
Even though the Elders and Clan Leaders had agreed earlier, they paid close attention to this development as Fujin's reputation had increased a lot since the time they had given their agreement due to the proposal of the Guidance Hall. They took note of Fujin's increasing political influence but didn't do anything else.
However, there was one person who was fuming at this development. It was Danzo, who wanted to get his hands on Naruto for a long time. Hiruzen and the other Clan Leaders always opposed it and yet, they hadn't objected to Fujin taking Naruto under his wings.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone he could complain to as Hiruzen refused to entertain him on this topic. As a matter of fact, Hiruzen hadn't even asked for his opinion since he was no longer a part of the council! Danzo could only ignore this matter and build his strength for the time silently while waiting for the time when he could make a move again.
Yoshi, Isamu and Hideaki continued teaching Fujin the human anatomy for another week until he had grasped all the basics. All three breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally done!
Isamu thought, 'Finally! The torture is over! The next step is Pathology and Toxicology. He'll need to go through the books first. We will finally have a couple of weeks of rest! I'm going to go home and sleep for an entire week! I don't care what my wife and children think!'
At the same time, Hideaki was crying rivers of joy mentally while thinking, 'It's finally over! I only teach Anatomy. I don't care what else Isamu and Yoshi sensei promised to teach him. It has nothing to do with me!'
Fujin raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you all sighing? Let's move on to the next topic."
The three looked begrudgingly at Fujin, who continued maintaining an 'innocent' smile. The smile had become a nightmare for the three of them! They dreamt about it every night for the past few nights!
Yoshi said, "Fujin, you are done with basic human physiology and human anatomy. The next part is Pathology and Toxicology. For these topics, you need to know the theory first.
I will give you the books. You can come back and visit me once you are done reading and understanding them."
Once Fujin became busy reading the books, the three of them could rest. It was the reason why they were relieved. However, a frown appeared on Fujin's face.
He said, "Sensei, I could learn Physiology books by myself as they were only the basics and you two had already taught me a lot of that stuff while teaching me the Mystical Palm jutsu. I won't be able to learn Pathology and Toxicology so easily. And, I'll have several doubts as well."
The trio were stunned by Fujin's reply. They couldn't help but think, 'Will you only be happy when we die due to overworking?'
However, after thinking for a bit longer, they understood that Fujin was right. Those topics were far more complicated. Needing help was natural.
Yoshi's mind quickly thought of a plan and said, "You are right, Fujin. I was planning to conduct daily classes for you. We'll clear all your doubts and guide you with the difficult topics.
However, I overlooked an important point. You have just learnt Anatomy and Physiology. Not to mention, you used Shadow Clones to learn them very quickly. If you start learning something else so quickly, you'll jumble everything and become confused.
Hence, you shouldn't study anything new for at least a week. Revise what you have learnt so far for a week. Come visit me when you think you have revised enough anytime after a week has passed. I'll hand you the books then."