Fujin walked them to the storehouse.
It was a small building at the edge of the village. The roof had holes. The door hung crooked. Inside, there was nothing but straw mats and a cold hearth.
Kaito stopped at the entrance.
"This is it."
Fujin looked around. The place was falling apart. No food. No blankets. Just two children trying to survive in a space that barely kept the rain out.
Mei clutched her brother's sleeve.
"You don't have to stay," Kaito said. His voice was hard, but his eyes were watching Fujin's face. Waiting for the judgment.
Fujin sat down on the step.
"I'll stay for a bit."
Kaito blinked.
"Why?"
Fujin shrugged.
"Nothing else to do."
He didn't say the real reason. That he had seen their faces. That he knew the name. That somewhere in this bloodline, generations from now, a woman would be born who would change everything.
That wasn't important now.
What was important was that two children were alone and no one was helping them.
Mei sat down beside him.
"You're strange," she said.
"So I've been told."
Kaito stood in the doorway for a long moment. Then he sat too.
They talked until the sun went down.
---
The next morning, Fujin was back.
He brought food. His mother had packed too much for breakfast. He said he was hungry. She smiled and gave him extra.
Kaito was already awake when Fujin arrived. He was sitting against the wall, staring at nothing.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Eating breakfast." Fujin sat down and laid out the rice balls. "You should eat too."
Kaito stared at the food. His stomach growled.
"I don't need your charity."
"It's not charity. I brought too much. If you don't eat it, my mother will be angry."
Kaito's jaw tightened. But after a moment, he took one.
Mei woke up to the smell. She crawled over, still half asleep, and grabbed a rice ball before her brother could stop her.
"Mei—"
"It's food, Kaito."
Fujin smiled.
They ate in silence.
---
A week passed. Then two.
Fujin came every day. Sometimes with food. Sometimes with excuses. Always with a purpose.
He watched them. Studied them. Kaito was quick. Not fast like a fighter. Quick like someone who had learned to survive. He moved with the economy of a boy who had spent two years running from things bigger than him.
Mei was different. She watched. She noticed. She saw things her brother missed.
They were survivors. That was good. Survivors learned fast.
One afternoon, Fujin sat them down under a tree behind the storehouse.
"I want to teach you something."
Kaito frowned.
"Teach us what?"
"How to fight."
Kaito laughed. It was a short, sharp sound.
"You're four."
"I know."
"You're smaller than me."
"I know."
Kaito stared at him. Mei stared too.
Fujin stood up.
"Hit me."
"What?"
"Hit me. If you can."
Kaito didn't move.
"Come on. I'm four. I'm smaller than you. It should be easy."
Kaito's face hardened. He swung. Not hard. Testing.
Fujin moved. Just a step. Just enough. Kaito's fist passed his shoulder.
"Again."
Kaito swung again. Faster this time.
Fujin ducked. His legs bent. His spine straightened. The punch went over his head.
"You're pushing from your shoulder. Your feet are flat. You're telling me where you're going before you get there."
Kaito stopped.
"How do you know that?"
Fujin didn't answer. He just reset his stance.
"Again."
---
They trained every day after that.
Fujin didn't teach them anything complicated. Not at first. Just basics. How to stand. How to breathe. How to throw a punch without telling the whole world where it was going.
Kaito learned fast. His body remembered things it had never been taught. Fujin saw it in the way he moved, the way he adapted. There was something there. Something dormant.
Mei was slower. But she watched. She absorbed. When Fujin corrected her brother, she corrected herself.
"You're both naturals," Fujin said one day.
Kaito was catching his breath, leaning against the tree.
"What's a natural?"
"Someone who was born to fight."
Kaito looked at his hands. They were bruised. Calloused.
"I don't feel like a natural."
"You will."
---
The system had been quiet lately. Fujin didn't need it for this. The training was simple. Physical. Real.
But one evening, after a long session with Kaito, a notification appeared.
[New Title Unlocked: Sensei]
[Effect: Students under your guidance learn 50% faster. Skill inheritance rate increased. Bond strength affects growth.]
[Conditions Met: Train one student for 30 consecutive days. Student must show measurable improvement.]
Fujin stared at the screen.
Sensei.
He hadn't expected that. The system kept surprising him.
He closed the window and went to find Mei.
---
She was sitting by the stream, washing their clothes. Her hands were small, red from the cold water.
Fujin sat beside her.
"I want to teach you something different."
She looked up.
"Different how?"
"Not fighting. Not exactly."
He picked up a smooth stone from the stream bed.
"In the world I come from, there are people who can heal. They use energy to fix wounds. To stop bleeding. To pull people back from death."
Mei's eyes went wide.
"Like magic?"
"Like medicine. But faster."
He placed the stone in her palm.
"Close your eyes."
She did.
"Now feel. Inside yourself. There's energy there. Cursed energy. Everyone has it. But healers feel it differently. They feel it in other people too."
Mei's brow furrowed.
"I don't feel anything."
"Give it time."
---
He started her with the basics. The same exercises he had learned from the Uzumaki pack, but simpler. Slower. He taught her to feel her own cursed energy. To move it through her body. To gather it in her hands.
She struggled at first. Her energy was there, but it was wild. Untamed.
"Stop forcing it," Fujin said one day. "You're pushing. Let it flow."
"I don't know how."
"Stop trying to control it. Just... let it exist. Then guide it. Like water. You can't push water. You have to move with it."
Mei closed her eyes. Her hands glowed. Faint. Unsteady. But there.
She opened her eyes and stared at her palms.
"I did it."
Fujin smiled.
"You did."
---
Kaito watched them sometimes. He didn't understand what Mei was doing, but he saw the look on her face. The focus. The peace.
"She's getting good at that," he said one evening.
"She is."
"What is it exactly?"
Fujin thought about how to explain it.
"She's learning to fix things. Broken bones. Cuts. Sickness. When she's good enough, she'll be able to heal almost anything."
Kaito was quiet for a long moment.
"Can she heal father?"
Fujin looked at him. The boy's face was carefully blank. But his hands were shaking.
"I don't know," Fujin said. "But if he's hurt, she'll have the best chance."
Kaito nodded slowly.
"Teach her more."
"I will."
---
The weeks turned into months.
Kaito's body changed. He was lean now, fast, his movements sharp. Fujin taught him how to use his size, his speed, his instincts. The basics of taijutsu became second nature.
Mei progressed slower but steadier. Her cursed energy control was fine now. Delicate. Precise. Fujin started teaching her the first techniques. The Mystical Palm. The basics of diagnosis. How to sense injury beneath skin.
"The energy goes here," he said, guiding her hands to his arm. "You're looking for breaks. For blockages. For anything that shouldn't be there."
Mei's hands glowed. She closed her eyes.
"Your arm is fine."
"I know. Try again."
She moved her hands to his shoulder.
"Nothing."
"Good. Now try on yourself."
She touched her own ribs.
"There's... something. A bruise. From yesterday."
"Can you fix it?"
She concentrated. Her glow brightened.
"I think so."
---
Fujin introduced more techniques as she grew. The enhanced strength. The chakra-enhanced blows that could shatter stone.
"Don't use this on people," he said, demonstrating on a boulder. The rock cracked down the middle.
Mei stared.
"Why not?"
"Because it will kill them."
She nodded slowly. But there was something in her eyes. A spark.
"When would I use it?"
"When you have to. When there's no other choice."
She practiced on the rocks. On dead trees. On the wall of the old storehouse, when she thought Fujin wasn't watching.
He let her.
---
Kaito's training changed too. Fujin started him on weapon forms. Kunai first, then a short sword he had found in the system shop and disguised as a old blade.
"This is a gift," Fujin said, handing it over.
Kaito took it carefully. The blade was light, balanced, sharp.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it."
Kaito looked at him. He knew Fujin was lying. But he didn't ask.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Use it."
---
The sensei title made a difference. Fujin could see it in the way they learned. Concepts that should have taken weeks took days. Techniques that should have been impossible for children their age came naturally.
[Student: Kaito Fushiguro – Progress: Exceptional]
[Taijutsu: C-rank]
[Weapon Proficiency: D-rank]
[Potential: S-rank]
[Student: Mei Fushiguro – Progress: Excellent]
[Medical Ninjutsu: D-rank]
[Chakra Control: B-rank]
[Potential: A-rank (Medical Specialty)]
Fujin closed the screens.
They were growing fast. Faster than he had expected.
Kaito would be a warrior. That much was clear. His body was built for it, his instincts sharp. With years of training, he could be something special.
Mei was different. Her talent was in the healing arts. But Fujin saw something else in her. A hardness. A willingness to do what was necessary.
He thought about Tsunade. About the techniques he had bought but never used. The strength enhancement. The regeneration. The combat application of medical knowledge.
He could teach her all of it.
He would teach her all of it.
---
One evening, after Kaito had gone to sleep, Fujin sat with Mei by the stream.
"You're doing well," he said.
She was practicing the Mystical Palm on a wounded bird she had found. Her hands were steady.
"I want to learn more."
"What kind of more?"
"The kind that hurts."
Fujin looked at her.
"Why?"
Mei's hands didn't stop moving.
"Kaito fights. He protects me. He always has. But when he gets hurt, I can't do anything. I can heal him after. But I can't stop them from hurting him in the first place."
She looked up.
"I want to be able to hurt them back."
Fujin was quiet for a long moment.
"There's a technique," he said finally. "It uses cursed energy to enhance your strength. One hit can break bone. Shatter stone. Kill a man if you want it to."
Mei's eyes were steady.
"Teach me."
"Not yet."
"When?"
"When you've mastered the healing. When you understand the body well enough to know what you're breaking."
Mei nodded.
"I'll be ready."
Fujin smiled.
"I know."
---
The months passed. Spring turned to summer. Summer to autumn.
Fujin trained them in the mornings, before his father woke. In the afternoons, he played with them like a normal child. In the evenings, he went home and pretended to be nothing special.
Kaito grew taller. His hair got longer. His face lost its softness. He moved like a predator now, quiet and controlled.
Mei changed too. Her hands were always steady. Her eyes missed nothing. She could heal a cut in seconds, diagnose an illness from across a room, sense injury before it was visible.
They never asked where Fujin learned these things. They never asked why he was helping them.
They just trusted him.
That trust was worth more than any system point.
---
One night, Fujin sat alone in his room and opened his status.
[Status: Ryomen Fujin]
[Age: 4]
[Level: 20]
[XP: 3,500/4,000]
[SP: 68,000]
[Titles: Sensei, Jinchuriki of Four, The Hidden Prodigy, God of Seals]
[Students: 2]
· Kaito Fushiguro (Taijutsu: C, Weapon: D, Potential: S)
· Mei Fushiguro (Medical: D, Control: B, Potential: A)
[Active Buffs: Student Growth +50%, Skill Inheritance +30%]
[New Techniques Unlocked (Sensei Title):]
· Enhanced Teaching (Passive)
· Student Bond (Strength increases with trust)
· Legacy (Skills taught may be passed down through bloodlines)
Fujin stared at the last line.
Legacy. Skills taught may be passed down through bloodlines.
He thought about Kaito. About the way he moved. The techniques Fujin had taught him. The forms, the strikes, the instincts.
If those skills were passed down...
If the Fushiguro bloodline carried what he was teaching...
He smiled.