Chapter 20

Hello all, the past week has been great for me as the author of this, the views doubled compared to the previous weeks for some reason and with it came a glut of new follows and favourites, so thank you all. Also I don't know how fics get added into communities on but we ended up in one which is cool.

aj173682: Thank you for your positive words friend and don't worry we're getting there. A great deal of the romantic aspects I have planned revolve around Naruto but I had to wait until he was old enough and for the right time to introduce it into his story arc.

Breakthroughs and Unwanted Discoveries

Naruto could only look on in amusement as Tri and Minusha both giggled at whatever childish joke Tri had made this time. Since his return the previous day the two had been near inseparable. They'd had to resort to quick words and bribery to get her to go home while himself and Tri went to see Tou-san.

But four years alongside his brother in the capital had allowed Naruto to learn how his brother worked and how to spot the warning signs, in particular that maniacal grin. He knew he had a vicious streak in combat, he was a superb killer so to see him acting so.. child-friendly.

Shaking his head Naruto left them be, Minato had reminded him of the test matches he'd be a part of to put the arena through its paces. The unconfirmed date was set for a few weeks' time so with a grin Naruto departed the house for a day's training. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Tri but he left him be.

Naruto had been working towards something for years. Occasionally the blonde would come to him or one of the other Jūnishi for advice but he'd always been vague in his questions. Tri would have been lying if he said he wasn't intrigued by what Naruto was up to but he left him be regardless.

Naruto headed through the village out towards the furthest and isolated of training fields, training ground 44. He had managed to persuade Anko to teach him how to survive within Konoha's most dangerous locale. She had taught him the law of the lawless forest. Quite simply, 'Don't Die'.

An anticlimactic piece of advice perhaps but beyond the fence that marked the outer most reaches of the forest of death it was the only advice that sufficed, for within, almost all things Flora and Fauna can kill.

Within the trees he could be assured of near absolute privacy since it was only Anko that trained there. Everyone else wasn't stupi..brave enough to enter, especially the north-eastern quadrant. Anko had stated it was 'A place only the most foolish would think to tread'.

Of course it hadn't taken Naruto long to ignore that although he quickly understood why even Anko didn't go there, everything seemed bigger, faster, stronger. For those who enjoyed dancing the dance of death or simply, fighting for your life if you preferred, it was a glorious place.

But his secret training didn't involve sticking kunai into oversized spiders or burying multi-meter long centipedes under waves of Ninjutsu. No, Naruto sought one of the quieter zones.

It didn't take him long to find a good spot, a small clearing devoid of trees. Creating a dozen clones to act as lookouts he sat on the grassy turf. For a wild forest the grass was surprisingly short and well-kempt but it was comfy to sit on and that's what mattered to Naruto since he likely wouldn't move for the next few hours.

Settling himself Naruto pulled on his chakra. By now he could combine his Suiton and Doton within a second and his applications for it had grown since his return the year before, particularly after reading through any books and scrolls he could find on Senju Hashirama. Naruto was surprised to find Hashirama was in fact a distant relative.

Deciding to warm up a little he placed his hand on the grass beneath him and let his chakra slowly seep into the ground. He could feel the the roots of the grass, further down was packed earth, some clay and the occasional rock. Spreading out he soon encountered the roots of the nearby trees. Pulling back he focused on the grass around him.

He could feel the roots of each blade, looking deeper into the root itself he willed his chakra to enter the small green plant. Even with his eyes closed he could feel the grass growing taller around him. After twenty seconds or so he stopped and opened his eyes to find himself buried up to the stomach in tall grass.

He grinned, "Never gets old." He had discovered he could manipulate living plants some time a go and he never tired of blooming flowers out of season or turning a sorry excuse for a garden into a piece of organic art.

He took back most of the chakra he'd pushed into the grass. The grass subsequently shrank back down. He repeated the process with a nearby tree which took far more chakra to grow any noticeable amount. But there was more to this than meets the eye.

Mokuton was unique compared to all other Kekkai-Genkai, it was alive so to speak. When Hashirama used Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan (Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees) he was creating a living entity. Mokuton chakra on its own didn't do anything, it was benign, it was missing a final component. But thanks to a recent discovery in a scroll Naruto believed he had figured it out.

'I am crafting something that lives but Mokuton chakra on its own isn't alive so if I provide my own life-force. I should be able to breathe life into it'. Since Naruto only had one way of finding out he placed both hands on the ground and began interweaving his life-force with his Mokuton Chakra which proved troublesome since the two didn't easily mix but when finally ready he allowed his life-force empowered chakra to flood into the earth.

The results were sudden and very obvious but yet surprising as plant life tore out of the ground throwing great clumps of earth into the air. The sound of the ground tearing and ripping was unique to say the least. When everything had ceased growing Naruto stood and surveyed what he'd just created, it looked nothing like the forests Hashirama was said to have raised. In fact it didn't look like a forest at all. 'Wouldn't be me if everything went as expected I guess', he mentally laughed.

For hours Naruto experimented with mixing varying levels of life-force into his Mokuton Chakra. By the end of which he was exhausted and rather thankful he could call on his Uzumaki levels of stamina.

Naruto knew he had only a few weeks to mould this into something usable. He wanted an ace card up his sleeve, he believed he was ready to reveal his Kekkai-Genkai to the world. He'd been secretive about it for a reason. Sure, while Tri's Shakuton was incredibly powerful it wasn't held in the same regard, Mokuton was both revered and feared across the Elemental Nations.

If the wrong people were to discover he possessed it before he could adequately defend himself, it may well have meant his death, which would have been.. annoying.

He returned to the village with a good idea of what he felt he would be capable of with only a few weeks to develop his new found abilities. It would be an exciting few weeks, that's for sure. First was learning all he could about his Mokuton, missions permitting then came the friendly bouts at the stadium and just a few weeks after that.. Naruto couldn't keep the smile off his face.

An Iwa contingent was scheduled to arrive about a fortnight after the friendlies were to be held. And through some political manoeuvring on Naruto's part he'd managed to get himself assigned as their liaison whilst they were in Konoha.

The events that had led to this surprise breakthrough between the two villages was thanks to the two Daimyō who'd spent the last few years breaking down the barriers between the two powers. The two leaders had become good friends but were always made uncomfortable by the barely repressed hostility between their hidden villages. The Daimyō of Hi no Kuni made a task of trying to visit his opposite number once a year which meant the Jūnishi went too.

Since the end of the third Shinobi world war both had barely interacted with one another. The conflict had killed thousands of Shinobi, Minato single-handedly killing a thousand in an act that brought the war to an end but had secured his name forever in infamy in Iwagakure.

But now, that looked like it might be about to change and while that was fantastic in Naruto's book, it was secondary and a distant second at that to the primary reason he wanted to be their Liaison. No, the real reason was because of whom Iwa would be sending as their Shinobi representative, someone with a high level of ability yet with enough political muscle behind them.

While it certainly wasn't the Tsuchikage himself, it was his son Kitsuchi which also meant his daughter would be in attendance. In was with her that Naruto's true reason lay. And Naruto knew for certain that she was coming since she herself had confirmed it.

Naruto and Kurotsuchi had been able to communicate with one another for nearly three years now thanks to Naruto's far too observant sibling who'd gifted them both one half each of a communication scroll. Naruto had no idea how it worked, the complexity of the seal designs were far beyond his knowledge but it allowed him and Kurotsuchi to communicate privately without using carrier birds so he didn't really care.

But it had been nearing two years since he'd seen her in person and he couldn't wait. Naruto had long since admitted to himself that he liked her as more than a friend but that was the trouble. He'd only admitted it to himself. Despite that the smile on his face didn't wane as he continued back home.

When he finally did return home he found Kushina occupying Minusha and Rezano before dinner. Slumping down on the sofa's, "Where's Tri-kun?" he asked. "He said he had to see Tsunade-sama," Minusha replied. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said out loud. "You forgetting something? Never," Rezano joked.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his Otouto while his Kaa-chan and Imouto giggled at his expense. "Very funny," Naruto growled, throwing in a little killing intent which had the desired effect as Rezano's grin faltered slightly. This time Naruto got a laugh at his brother's expense. The relationship between the two was greatly improved than a year earlier, really you could say the same for Rezano's relationship with his entire family.

Over the past year or so Rezano had stopped acting out, at least in private. It was almost as if he wore two faces now. The one they saw in private which was much quieter, less boisterous; He still had an arrogant streak but it was far less prominent. Whereas in public he carried a far greater level of bravado seeking to impose himself in the middle of nearly everything.

Most importantly, however, he didn't bully Minusha anymore. Ever since Naruto had broken his wrist he'd stopped. Especially after Naruto had threatened to break his other wrist, which was the one Rezano wrote with. That had been the threat, Naruto also gave him a warning, the warning had related to Tri and initially had him scoffing at such a possibility.

Then Rezano had seen how close he and Minusha had already become in less than 24 hours. Naruto's warning seemed really plausible now and he silently thanked his past self for heeding it.

*Flashback*

"And if you won't heed my threat Rezano then heed this. Bully Minusha in front of Tri-kun at your own risk." Rezano scoffed before replying, "Why what's he going to do? Break my arm instead of my wrist." Naruto snorted but held a grin, "Oh no Rezano, he'll likely put you in Hospital and your stint there will not be brief."

*End Flashback*

A shiver travelled up Rezano's spine at the possibility.

-A few hours earlier-

Tri had finally managed to persuade Minusha to let him go, thankfully it had only taken about ten minutes to do so which was far quicker than yesterday's attempts.

He was heading to the Hospital to meet Tsunade, he had been greatly relieved to hear she could rid him of the scar on his face. He hoped after a time he'd be able to have both his eyes open again at all times. Despite what he'd said the previous day the Sharingan drain on his chakra was barely noticeable because of his substantial reserves and Uchiha ancestry.

Despite what he'd also said the day before, he knew full well why the vision was blurred at a distance but he'd only discuss that with Itachi who he'd been informed was currently out on a mission. It was a conversation he wanted to have sooner rather than later, the rate at which his eye's sight was deteriorating was a concern to him.

He walked through the corridors of Konoha's hospital with a slight scowl, he still disliked hospitals. All those plain white walls left him slightly uncomfortable, everything smelt of disinfectant, a smell that Tri hated.

Reaching the end of a corridor he raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Come in, Tri-san." He gave the Sannin a wave as he entered noticing she was wearing a surgical gown, "Not expecting anyone else Tsunade-sama?" he half-joked. The stern look he got in return was his answer. "Sit," she ordered, he quickly complied.

"How's your pain tolerance?" she asked him. "Pretty good thanks to the many things I was trained in whilst one of the Jūnishi."
"They taught you to tolerate pain? How?"

"Yep and simply put the elder members of the Jūnishi would team up beat the shit out of you during spars. They'd have a team of medic-nin heal me then it'd be repeated. To be honest that was one of the more 'normal' things I was trained in."

"So you'll understand and be ok with the fact that I have to cut the scar open, heal it and repeat until it's gone." He silently nodded. "Ok, I'm going to give you a painkilling injection so you shouldn't feel much if anything to begin with." Tri looked uncomfortable when she said needle as he looked anywhere but at the syringe in her hand.

"Do you not like needles, Tri-san?" she asked him. "No, so get the injection over with," he bluntly replied. Tsunade couldn't help but feel slightly amused at his admission. She saw the grimace in his eye and the tensing of his hand as she pushed the needle into the skin of his left cheek.

"We'll give that a minute to set in. So if you don't like needles, are you the same with senbon?" she asked, genuinely interested. "No, Senbon are fine, it's more that you can be stuck by a needle and feel nothing that unsettles me about them."

They were both silent until Tsunade picked up the very fine and very sharp scalpel. "I'll heal blood vessels immediately so blood loss shouldn't be too bad, ok?"
"Hai." With that she made her first incision, starting with the eyelid. Her incision was incredibly gentle, deep enough to allow her to heal out the scar but not too deep it damaged the eye underneath. Neither spoke while the legendary medic worked on the eyelid. It took nearly two hours but the scar was eventually removed from it.

"Alright, I'm going to do the eyebrow next," she informed him. "You're probably going to need a small Genjutsu over your eyebrow until it grows back," she suggested as she began trimming the hairs.

She went back to cutting and healing and the silence continued for another ten minutes. "You mentioned that your pain tolerance training was one of the more normal things you were taught," she asked. "Yeah, they didn't leave anything to chance and planned for pretty much any eventuality and I mean any eventuality."
"Such as?"
"Err, well. We were taught politics, sign language, how to resist seduction, espionage amongst kami only knows how many other things.

Tsunade had been about to use the scalpel again but she pulled back as she nearly dropped it. "Did I hear you correctly just now?"
"I assume you mean the seduction stuff, yes, you heard correctly." Tri noted her facial expression was a cross of shock and annoyance. "They literally taught you how to be perverts?" she practically growled. Tri shook his head, "No, Tsunade-sama. We were taught how to resist being seduced. Down the years several male Jūnishi have been seduced which has compromised Daimyō-sama's security."

"Does Kushina know about this?" Tsunade asked with a smirk. "No and all being well she never will."

"So they removed any possibility of a Jūnishi being compromised by training you against it, if you can call it training."
"Yep."
"And all three of you went through this?"
"Yep, after we'd all turned 14 all three of us were put through it. They were pretty much private desensitization lessons administered by Tayuu Geisha mistresses and their aids[1]."
"And the female members?"
"Their training wasn't as extensive but yes they were trained to."

Tsunade could barely believe what she was hearing, Tri was one of few people she'd actually believe wasn't bullshitting her on something like this. She was also adept at knowing when someone was lying but his facial expression gave no such hints, "I can't quite believe I'm hearing this."

"Imagine then our reactions after we found out. I've never seen Itachi blush before and because of it no one ever will again. Tea ceremonies, flirting, massages, music, sex. Hell we were even made to remember every subtle little nuance a woman could conceivably make."
"Wait, they actually taught you how to have sex?"
"Pretty much but that was handled solely by the aids. And only after my Mistress felt I could be trusted to be alone with her two aids. Tayuu Mistresses don't tolerate any bullshit whatsoever. Mine knew acupuncture so unless I wanted to lose the use of my arms for an entire day.."

Tsunade was utterly gobsmacked by what she was hearing, she hardly even noticed when she asked another question. "How on earth do they even consider such 'training' complete?" She wished she hadn't asked because he quickly answered. "After I could keep both aids entertained to the point that they didn't want to leave my quarters for at least twenty-four hours."

He spared her a brief glance and had to stifle a laugh. "Are you ok, Tsunade-sama? You look a little green. If it helps at all that twenty fours was a test of everything they'd taught us, which was far more than just sex. I think my two would have been the death of me if it were."

She never responded but over the next few minutes the green tint to her face faded. "You know, you got to live what Jiraiya would consider a dream come true." Her patient snorted, "And that's why it will forever remain a dream for him. As I said the Tayuu have zero-tolerance for the slightest misdemeanour, especially for people like Jiraiya."

"Ha!" she laughed, "Good to know. But Tri-san, outside of this room, this conversation never happened," she warned him. Again Tri laughed, "What conversation, Tsunade-sama? But remember, you were the one who asked." He didn't laugh again as she picked up the scalpel again and gave him a menacing narrow-eyed glare. With him shut-up she set back to work.

Over the prior couple hours and the hours that followed Tri was rather glad for the desensitization training he received since Tsunade had a habit of leaning her exceptionally large chest against his arm and shoulder as she worked on his scar. But as late afternoon began to transition to late evening she finished and as she cleaned the blood from her hands Tri stood in front of a mirror admiring her work. He couldn't see any discolouration or feel any change in skin texture.

"Brilliant work, Tsunade-sama. I can't see anything that would indicate a scar," to which she scoffed. "Yes, yes, alright. You're the best medic-nin in the world for a reason."
"Of course I am and don't you forget it," she triumphantly declared. "What's this Tsunade-sama, are you boasting," he teased. "Shut up Gaki," she replied causing them both to laugh.

"Everything alright with the eye?" she asked with her back still facing him while he was still looking in the mirror. He opened his left eye, the three tomoe spinning. "Yeah, everything seems fine," he replied. The slight distortions on the very periphery of his vision reminding him of his concerns however.

A few moments later he thanked her again and bid her a good evening before hopping out the window. He visibly relaxed as he landed on the ground, glad to finally be out of the hospital. He quickly cast the Genjutsu over his eyebrow before he forgot and moved in the direction of the training fields, he hadn't done any training today. He couldn't remember the last time he went a day without any whatsoever and he had no interest in starting now.

-Uchiha Compound-

"Fugaku-sama, the weekly report you requested," Uchiha Yashiro said quietly after entering Fugaku's office. "Excellent, Yashiro-san." He quickly scanned the document handed to him. As quietly as he had entered Yashiro moved to stand at the side of the room.

Fugaku finished reading, placing the paper down on his desk he spun around in his chair and stood to look out of the window with the sun already descending in the sky. 'All the pieces move closer, we are nearly ready. It has to be soon, we can't afford to wait much longer.'

While his dedication to the plan was absolute, there were a few loose ends that concerned him. Predominantly how to combat the Hokage family. How to defeat the Yellow Flash and the Akai Chishio no Habanero, perhaps the most powerful duo in Konoha. That wasn't even taking into account their two eldest children. He was frustrated to hear of the adopted one's return the previous day.

He would be watching the test matches at the Chūnin stadium with great interest, how good the two eldest sons proved to be might necessitate bringing the plan's timeline forwards. They couldn't afford them the time to grow yet stronger. He already knew a fair amount about Naruto but almost nothing about Tri.

"Yashiro-san, I want a few of the clans quieter members to learn what they can about Minato's adopted son. He's too great an unknown factor in this."
"It will be done, Fugaku-sama. Shall I order similar for Naruto as well?" Fugaku thought a moment, they already had a great deal of information on the blondes skill-set but little on his mentality. "Yes but urge caution and watch both from afar."
"Very well."

End Chapter

[1] – The Tayuu were the highest class of Yūjo ("Play Women"). They were a combination of actress and Prostitute.