Chapter 22

BalthazarTheAngel: Thank you! glad your enjoying it. As for your question, Tri and Itachi won't have pairings per-say in the manner that Naruto and Rezano will, at least not yet anyway. There will be some romance based stuff for them but it'll be more fling orientated than long-term relationships. I'm apprehensive about saying much more incase I accidentally leak long-term spoilers.
But there some Itachi centred chapters in the near future that'll begin to delve into it.

The Test Begins

"You ready, Naruto-san?"
"Hai," the blonde answered as he stood. He'd confined himself in a dark room for the past five minutes to get himself in the zone. He was first up in the trio of test matches Konoha would host today.

The past few weeks had been busy for him. It felt like he'd barely had a moment to catch his breath, between his missions, personal training and helping the young Hyūga heir. He remembered all the little frustrations that came with designing his own hybrid Taijutsu style but also the immense satisfaction that came with its completion, plus now he was able to play with the Jūken.

Then there was his training of Mokuton, each time he became faster, more efficient. But now the time for training was over, at least for today.

Naruto followed the Chūnin sent to retrieve him out of the darkened room. He could begin to hear the crowd that had amassed for today. The public had been informed of today's events a fortnight prior and it had been the talk of the village since.

Their opponents would be experienced Jōnin, Naruto and Itachi knew they'd be facing the same people who oversaw their Jōnin exams which meant Tri's opponent was still unknown.

The corridor ended with a staircase that descended downwards to the arena floor. "Please proceed to the arena floor Naruto-san, your proctor and opponent already await you," the unknown Chūnin informed him. He gave him a nod of thanks before beginning down the stone steps.

Naruto had to admit, seeing a structure made entirely from stone felt bizarre in Konoha since everything else incorporated wood into the construction. The arena wouldn't look out of place in Sunagakure but in the Leaf it looked alien.

At the bottom of the steps was another short corridor that exited out on the arena floor, it was an exit bathed in sunlight, it was just past noon with the sun at its highest point in the sky. The arena was already a tall structure from the outside with high sidewalls separating the audience from the combatants on the inside. The arena floor itself was dug about thirty foot into the ground, perhaps it would best be described as a pit.

Naruto knew that Kumo's stadium was designed in a similar fashion but the far wider circumference made it less noticeable.

Naruto rolled his shoulders as he emerged from the corridor, feeling the blade over his shoulder move with them. He'd timed his arrival well since Genma who was serving as Proctor had just finished the introduction.

Across from him was his opponent for today, Captain Yamato. Naruto couldn't help but feel that the choice of Yamato was an ironically appropriate one since Yamato was the only known Shinobi in Konoha who could use Mokuton, for now..

"Ah perfectly timed Naruto-kun," Genma said to him, "You know me Sensei," Naruto joked. Genma mirthfully shook his head as he jumped back. "Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, ready?"
"Hai."
"Yamato, ready?" The ANBU silently nodded, not taking his eyes off of Naruto. "Very well, Hajime!" Genma shouted

Neither fighter wasted a moment as they rushed towards one another, Yamato drew a kunai in each hand while Naruto drew the tantō sheathed above his tailbone. The sparks flew as the two blades clashed, the sound of grinding metal filling their ears.

Yamato held the tantō with one kunai and swung for Naruto's head with the one in his free right hand. With both his hands occupied Naruto aimed for one of Yamato's knees with a kick. He found his mark and knocked Yamato off balance forcing him to halt his kunai swing. The blonde took advantage and with their weapons still grinding together he pushed, attempting to push Yamato over.

It seemed for a moment as if it was going to work but the ANBU lashed out with his kunai again, this time aiming for his midriff. Naruto had no choice but to jump back and with it he conceded the momentum as Yamato went on the offensive with a flurry of punches, kicks and kunai slashes. It took Naruto nearly thirty seconds to figure a way out as he couldn't do much but dodge, block and deflect.

Channelling some chakra to a foot he drove it into the ground, the resounding sound of the ground cracking underfoot reverberated across the arena under the wave of Naruto's chakra. The fragmenting ground forced Yamato back. With a moment to collect his thoughts he mentally ran through all the offence he'd gotten in and how Naruto had dealt with all of it with little trouble.

'Taijutsu was always going to be difficult to pull off against Naruto-san. Those swords certainly aren't standard issue either, I need to steer clear of them.' Yamato mentally analysed, seeing the calm and confident manner in which he held his sword.

The two short blades Naruto had departed to the capital with had since been replaced. The two he'd come back with were a departing gift from the Daimyō. Both were chakra metal blades with beautifully intricate designs travelling the length of the blade.

The sword in general looked more like a Katana but lacked the length. The Sa-Me (Stingray skin) was blood red overlaid with snow-white Ito (cloth binding). The Tsuba (crossguard) was polished steel while the Fuchi (collar) was silver inlaid with small pieces of polished Jade. The Kashira (End Cap) was again polished steel as was the lanyard loop. The lanyard had a short fabric tassel tied to it, the bright yellow and red threads serving as distractions. Even the sheathes, made from lacquered wood were immensely detailed.

Both blades were identical but for one difference, the one sheathed over the shoulder was some ten inches longer giving it a total length of twenty-two inches, frankly it wasn't a tantō and more an elongated Wakizashi.

Not wanting to give Naruto time to gather himself Yamato threw the two kunai in his hands. Both were cleaved out of the air and in half by the tantō. Yamato's eyes widened slightly as he saw the blade was glowing azure blue. He was quickly able to deduce Naruto was running chakra through the weapon, 'But why the glow? That will just tip of his opponents.'

He got his answer when he noticed Naruto was now right in front of him. He barely managed a roll to the side as the blade came down, cutting through the air that had moments earlier been occupied by his body. He was straight back to his feet after the roll, he spun quickly expecting Naruto to follow up but he hadn't moved, the blades glow fading, it was then it dawned on the ANBU. "The glow serves to distract just like the tassel?" Yamato asked as he drew another kunai, Naruto only grinned as he re-sheathed the shorter blade and drew the second longer one.

Yamato took a jump back to get some distance. He immediately noticed Naruto's change in stance, he was holding it lower and more in front of him instead of off to the side. 'That's a stance I'd associate with a much heavier blade, weight that simply making it longer wouldn't provide.'

"It's not often I get to use Kuchibashi," Naruto said, the grin still present on his face.

The two rushed towards one another again, this time exchanging equal amounts of offence and defence. Yamato had been right about the blade being heavier, swings were far harder to deflect with his kunai and the slightly deeper swooshing noise it made as it cut through the air.

Another minute went by and Yamato finally got his first strike in, the slightest of cuts to Naruto's upper left arm. He had no time to celebrate though as Naruto immediately nicked him on the right thigh with the Kissaki (point) of his blade. Both jumped back, neither yet needing to draw deeper breaths.

Both the Kunai and the Wakizashi dripped a single drop of blood. Yamato grimaced slightly when he spotted the indents in the blade of his kunai, the metal of Naruto's sword was much harder than his kunai. 'I don't want to risk him breaking my tantō because his sword hadn't the smallest sign of a dent on it. Time to take this fight away from Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.'

Yamato again threw his kunai at Naruto where it was again cleaved clean in two, a half passing either side of Naruto but Yamato hadn't waited, he'd already started his hand-signs. "Mokuton Bunshin no Jutsu," from Yamato's body sprouted four wooden copies that lined up in front of him. Without a word the four of them rushed forward as the original knelt down.

Naruto assumed a defensive stance as the four clones came towards him, two stayed in front of him while one went to his right and the final to his left. Not wanting to give the clones the time to envelop him he rushed the clone flanking to his left.

He reached the clone before any of the others could react with a huge overhead swing he cleaved the clone in half. As he finished turning around the two clones that had stayed together engaged him. One punched high while the other kicked low.

Naruto jumped into a roll to avoid both. Coming out of the roll he quickly spun and cut another clone in half at the waist. Another roll got him out of range of any retaliatory strike from behind. He rolled a third time as he felt the ground underneath him move ever so slightly.

An instant later a length of wood burst from the ground and only a quick slash from Kuchibashi prevented Naruto from being restrained by the ankle. Having to dodge meant the final two clones were able to close in on him. Placing Kuchibashi in his right hand he drew the shorter blade, Kagizume with his left.

Assuming a stance Naruto launched into a rapid offence, both clones quickly found themselves conceding ground as the desperately tried to weave their way through the never-ending sword swings. Ultimately it was futile as one successful hit became two, then four, then eight and within seconds both were reduced to piles of splintered wood.

*Clamp*

It was as he finished his attack that he felt the wooden shackle wrap around his right ankle. With a wry grin on his face Naruto looked down, the wood had emerged from the ground just behind his foot. Naruto re-sheathed Kagizume and knelt down, the wooden shackle making it a little awkward.

Yamato watched carefully, as Naruto knelt down he acted. Another length of wood erupted from the ground and locked around Naruto's left ankle. As Naruto placed his hand palm down Yamato tightened his grip.

Naruto grimaced as the wooden restraints began squeezing. Naruto pushed down the rising pain as he allowed his chakra to permeate the ground around him.

Yamato thought he had him, he thought he'd restrained him, he was quickly proved wrong. He'd already begun walking towards Naruto when the blonde caught him by surprise. With a counter-clockwise twist of his wrist the ground around the mostly buried wooden lengths crushed around them, severing them. In an instant Naruto was free and Yamato again found himself dodging sword strokes.

Without a weapon in hand Naruto eventually hit flesh. He never had time to grin because despite cutting pretty deeply into Yamato's thigh, there was no blood. Naruto jumped back just in time as previously hidden explosive tags shone into view before detonating.

The force of the blast pushed Naruto back a few feet and he temporarily blinded, not to mention the slight ringing in his ears. It was as the dust cleared that he felt the same bindings clamp around his ankles. This time the wood was thicker and denser, 'I'm gonna need another way out then,' he laughed.

It was after the dust had cleared that the audience was greeted with a restrained and laughing Naruto. Yamato dropped down in front of the humoured blonde. "Very slick Yamato-san. I had no idea you'd made a fifth clone, the explosive tags made for quite the surprise as well," Naruto applauded. "But I've surprises of my own, so don't you dare call this match Genma-sensei!" he added with a shout.

"Well get on with it then, you're on a time limit," Genma shouted back."

Naruto's words left Yamato on edge, he tensed a little, ready for anything resembling a surprise as Naruto re-sheathed Kuchibashi but not before gliding his thumb over the cross guard, again knelt down and began weaving hand-seals.

Naruto's close friends, teachers and family were all watching on from the stands and were greatly interested in the 'surprises' he spoke off. Itachi watched on, his Sharingan paying attention to Naruto, Tri was doing the same but was much more subtle about it, leaning his head on his left hand to better hide the Sharingan red while the rest of the Hokage family watched on in anticipation.

Naruto hands finished with Ram before he slammed his right hand into the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu," The puff of smoke made Yamato back up immediately, he knew a summoning Jutsu when he saw one and he had no idea what would emerge as Naruto was shrouded in a plume of smoke.

"Wait, Naruto-kun has signed a summon contract?" Kushina exclaimed. "Well, it's not the Toad contract, I know that much," Minato added, a little saddened by the revelation.

Truth be told, Yamato was expecting a toad. He wasn't expecting feathers, he wasn't expecting talons the size of kitchen knives, he wasn't expecting the ear-piercing shriek nor the gust of wind that dispersed the smoke. With the smoke cleared Yamato was left facing down a bird of prey the size of an eight-year-old child.

"What do you require of me Naruto-sama?" The huge Falcon mentally asked, it's black eyes boring into Yamato's. "Horus-kun, I need you to occupy Yamato-san over there while I'll break free of these shackles." he asked while pointing at the ANBU. Horus turned his head to view the wood around Naruto's ankles and then back to Yamato. "Very well," the bird replied before standing to its full height and with a mighty flap of his wings lifted off.

Minato and Kushina looked on in awe as the bird took to the air. Its head and back were bluish black with black wingtips while it's underparts were white with thin horizontal bands of black and brown. "It's beautiful," Minato heard Kushina mutter next to him.

Yamato estimated the bird was nearly a meter from head to tail and its wingspan was huge at nearly two meters. With another deafening shriek Yamato threw himself to the side to dodge the knife-like talons. It meant his concentration was broken and Naruto took immediate advantage as he felt the shackles grip weaken. He cleaved them apart with Kagizume and set off to assist his summon.

Yamato could barely keep ahead of the giant bird, it's previous dive had left a gash on his shoulder, the talon had torn straight through his flak-jacket. The re-emergence of Naruto only exacerbated his problems as he was now working double time to evade the both of them.

A plan began to form in his mind but he'd need to be quick lest he ended up impaled by something. He prepared himself to dodge another swoop but the bird instead brought itself to a halt and hovered above him. His confusion was brief as he felt the first wisps of wind. Then he felt them again, stronger this time.

'The wind is timed with the bird's wings. Fūton!' Yamato shouted in alarm in his head, his challenge got even harder as the next gust of wind nearly lifted him from the ground. He knew the wood he'd been manipulating earlier was still spread around underground, 'If I can get the bird closer to the ground I can ensnare it.'

Yamato started throwing shuriken at them both, he deliberately aimed just above Horus to force him closer to the ground. While his face showed no emotion he was relieved to see the creature descent, even if only a few feet. "Suiton: Suijinheki," Yamato fired the wall of water at Naruto to buy himself some time. It succeeded in catching the blonde off-guard as he was carried away and driven into the sidewall.

Seeing his chance Yamato threw a final pair of shuriken at Horus, bringing the creature down a few more inches before flying through a few hand-signs. "Mokuton: Jukai Heki" (Wood Release: World of Trees Wall). From the ground a torrent of thick branches surged upwards and before the great Falcon could react it was trapped. The branches held still it's mighty wings and for each one torn in half by Horus' beak, another five took its place.

When the branches finally gripped the bird's neck, it ceased it's struggling. "My apologies Naruto-sama but these branches have utterly restrained me." Both summon and summoner shared a glance and nodded to each other before Horus vanished in a plume of smoke.

A very wet Naruto stepped towards Yamato. "Very impressive Yamato-san, then again I shouldn't be surprised," Naruto complimented. "But I'm not out of ideas just yet," he added with a wide grin as he began moulding a large volume of chakra. "When did you even draw the blood needed to summon?" Yamato asked.

"As I slid my thumb over the cross guard of my sword," he answered. Yamato was visibly impressed, "You really went into detail with your swords design," he said in approval, Naruto continued moulding chakra. "But I hope you'll forgive me if I bring this to an end, Naruto-san."

"Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan," (Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees). As soon as Yamato's hands hit the ground it erupted with life as trees grew from nothing. The writhing mass of flora raced towards Naruto who despite the imminent threat remained unmoved.

"You see it, Itachi?" Tri asked. "Yeah, I see it," he replied. 'Are you finally going to reveal this multi-year secret of yours then Naruto' he wondered.

The still growing trees surrounded Naruto on all sides and formed a dome over him. All the audience could hear was sound of the trees, thus they never heard Naruto speak as he formed the snake hand-sign. "Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan."

Just like Yamato, as soon as Naruto's hands touched the ground it burst into life. These trees though very much narrower in structure and the branches were thinner and more vein-like. Naruto had his trees surround him in a defensive sphere as Yamato's forest-esque trees closed in.

It was Mokuton against Mokuton. Naruto had to keep pouring more chakra into his trees to keep them strong and sturdy against the ever-increasing pressure. The seconds dragged on and Naruto found himself having to divert even more chakra, his reserves were draining rapidly. 'Another minute I reckon, any longer and I'm done for.'

It was another forty seconds before the pressure relented. 'Time for the big reveal,' he thought as he saw his opportunity. Naruto supercharged his trees with yet more chakra and with a great push they grew/ bulldozed their way out.

From the outside, events looked far more mundane. The grove of trees created by Yamato encircled Naruto and began squeezing. Only Yamato could tell, but he encountered resistance. He increased the chakra flow to up the pressure but each time he pushed harder, the unknown resistance pushed back too.

A minute passed before Yamato relented, he'd used well over half his remaining chakra with no noticeable results, then his trees shattered.

Yamato was aghast as his trees shattered and splintered, slithers of wood were thrown across the arena, Yamato and Genma even having to take action to avoid being turned into pin cushions.

But his surprise was left in the wake of his and everyone else's utter shock as what looked like a Jungle grew into being, quickly enveloping everything around it.

"Th-that's Mo-mokuton," Kushina gasped, her voice nearly abandoning her entirely. "O-our boy h-has M-mokuton," she stammered, it almost sounded like a question her voice filled with pride and shock while she gripped Minato's arm, the revelation had moved her to the verge of tears, Minato could only nod in silence, he dared not trust his voice right now.

Tsunade too was struggling to control her emotions. To see her grandfather's legacy naturally manifest in one of her distant relatives in front of her own eyes, something she'd consigned herself to never witness. She almost completely missed Shizune supportively rubbing her back, her student recognising how much this meant to the blonde Sannin.

An up until now quiet Jiraiya was already mentally trying to decide how long the list of threats to Naruto would quickly become. 'Gah, you've made things difficult now Gaki, there'll be alot people who are very interested in you now,' he subconsciously turned his gaze towards one of the more secluded viewing boxes where he knew Danzo was watching from.

The aged Shinobi himself was watching on in silence. Danzo lifted his free hand and motioned for one of his ROOT ANBU to step forward. With his subordinate now stood next to him, Danzo simply pointed at the re-emerged Naruto to which the ANBU nodded in silence before stepping back. 'It would appear I need to keep a closer eye on you Naruto-san,' he thought. Elsewhere in the stands, an clan patriarch was feeling something akin to dread.

Naruto stood atop his wooden construct. He could see Yamato was breathing deeply but so was he, he was nearing empty. He assessed his remaining reserves, 'I've got maybe a few Ninjutsu left in me,' he concluded. He took another deep breath, drew Kagizume and dropped down.

"How are you holding up Yamato-san?" Naruto called over. "About as well as you," he finally replied after realising he'd been silent, drawing another kunai into his right hand and a pair of shuriken in his left. Without another word they recommenced the fight. Yamato threw the shuriken as they closed in on one another, Naruto deflected them with shuriken of his own.

The first clash of steel left Yamato with only half a kunai as Naruto's blade glowed blue at the last possible moment, the glow faded as soon as the kunai was cut through. Yamato took a quick jump back, sparing a brief glance at his kunai before discarding it and withdrawing another. "How many of those do you have?" Naruto asked with a smile. "Enough, I hope."

Despite him being efficient when imbuing his sword with chakra, he was still having to augment his muscles with chakra to move quick enough and he was quickly running out. 'I've enough for one, I lose if I miss though.. Fuck it.'

Naruto took a huge leap back, travelling nearly halfway across the arena and slid Kagizume back into its sheath. Holding his right hand out, palm up with his left hand held over it.

"No options left eh, Naruto," Tri said to himself. He was close enough, however, for Kushina and Minato to overhear him. "What do you mean, Tri-kun?" Kushina asked him. He spared them a brief glance before looking back at Naruto, "The two of us have spent a fair number of hours on the Rasengan and we've.. Well you'll see," he said with a confident smirk.

The audience watched on as Naruto began channelling chakra through his arms into his hands. From a point the size of a pinhead the blue tinted sphere of swirling chakra appeared. Steadily growing in size until it fit snugly in Naruto's palm. Naruto next horizontally twisted his left wrist clockwise and to those with good enough eyesight they'd have begun to see the flecks of white colour spark into being and whip around the sphere.

"Nature transformation!" spoke an astounded Minato. His own attempts to augment the Rasengan had met with limited success. "How has he accomplished it?" he asked of Tri. Minato's voice sounded almost desperate which left Tri rather taken-aback and it showed, the surprise evident on his face.

"You over-complicated the formula Tou-san. We read through your scroll numerous times, eventually we noticed you tried to apply nature and shape transformation simultaneously. Apply nature transformation on its own however, then you'll see results," Tri explained.

Their attention was drawn back to the arena as Naruto made his move, the small blue and white sphere whirling in his hand. Yamato drew on most of his chakra reserves and threw as much wood between him and Naruto. Hidden behind his large wooden barricade he missed the wide grin on Naruto's face.

With a loud cry Naruto drove his arm forward, "Fūton: Rasengan!" The sphere struck wood and began chewing through it.

It was now a race, a race to see what would run out first, Naruto's chakra or Yamato's barricade.

Yamato initially was confident, he could see how tired Naruto had become but he was unaware of the fact that applying a nature transformation to the Rasengan substantially increases its destructive power. Subsequently his confident began draining away to be replaced by concern as the Rasengan kept coming. He couldn't simply add more chakra to strengthen the wall, he didn't have enough left.

It passed the halfway point and showed little sign of relenting, the nervousness at the back of Yamato's mind continued building. Sixty percent, still breaking through. Seventy percent, it's progress was slowing but still continuing to grind through wood. Eighty percent, cracks and stress fractures starting appearing on his side of the barrier. Ninety percent, the number of fractures was increasing rapidly, flecks of wood were now breaking free and peppering his face.

Yamato closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable strike that would launch him into the wall. But nothing. The seconds ticked by and still nothing happened. Yamato eventually peaked from behind his eyelids to find a fair sized hole in his wooden barrier with Naruto stood on the other side, the blonde was struggling to stand straight, the final embers of the Rasengan flickered and faded away.

"Huh, so close," the blonde chuckled before collapsing. Genma was able to catch him before his head bounced off the floor. The Jōnin looked at his former student, 'Yep, he's out for the count.' Naruto was barely conscious. "Hey Sensei, how'd I do," he slurred. "Plenty of surprises eh kid, you did pretty good," he answered as Yamato knelt down next to him.

"Yamato, are you able to take him to a medic?"

"Hai," the tired ANBU replied, lifting the teenager over his shoulder before shunshining to the stands looking for Tsunade.

"Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto is unable to continue, therefore the winner is Yamato," Genma loudly declared to those watching. We'll take a twenty-minute recess to repair the arena floor before beginning the next match." With that Genma too also vanished from the arena leaving a squad of Chūnin to undo the damage.

By the time Genma arrived at the Hokage's side Kushina, Tsunade and Shizune were already absent, he guessed they'd followed after Yamato.

He also arrived to a discussion between Minato, Jiraiya, Tri and Hiruzen over Naruto's Kekkai Genkai revelation. "You mean to say neither you nor Itachi knew about this?" Jiraiya questioned forcefully. If he had been attempting to intimidate Tri, he failed, "Nothing specific, he'd been seeking me out for advice in regards to the combination of chakra natures but he was very vague with his questions. Even when I pressed him on the matter he was clearly reluctant to divulge anything that would reveal his little secret."

Jiraiya looked unsatisfied while Minato looked deep in thought. "Precautions will now need to be taken to ensure Naruto's safety, word of today is going to spread rapidly," the white-haired Sannin pointed out to which Tri nodded.

"I have to agree with Jiraiya, Tou-san. There are those out there who'd take Naruto out simply because of his family name but when you throw the power of the Shodaime into the mix. He'll start showing up in Bingo Books across the Elemental Nations within weeks. But it's not external threats that concern me most." This time it was Jiraiya's turn to agree.

"He's right Minato. Blood sample, a semen sample, anything that has his DNA but the holy grail so to speak is Naruto himself, alive. I'm not doubting the Gaki's ability to defend himself, he clearly can but he can't single-handedly fight entire ANBU squads."

Minato thought on their words, his mind already approving or disregarding potential ways to safeguard Naruto, he settled on a measure that would ensure aid was never more than moments away. "I'll place the Hiraishin seal on him," was all he said but Tri and Jiraiya seemed satisfied by this.

"Did a number on the arena floor though didn't they," a previously quiet Hiruzen suddenly said, the silence that immediately followed alerted the four of them to the somewhat tense atmosphere that had built during their discussion. But it disappeared as Tri burst out laughing, Jiraiya mirthfully rolled his eyes and Minato humorously shook his head.

"And done," Tsunade declared, withdrawing her hands from just above Naruto's chest. She'd spent 10 minutes just pouring chakra into him while another medic extracted the few splinters in his right hand. His speech, slurred and incomprehensible when he'd arrived was already lucid and coherent again.

Kushina was sat in a chair by the bed Yamato had dropped him in, the ANBU himself sat up on another being checked over by Shizune. She held her son's hand in hers, "Naruto-kun, how long have you known?" she asked him, not entirely sure whether to chastise him or not for keeping something so significant a secret.

"I didn't know exactly at the time but when we were journeying back from the finals of the Chūnin Exams. Tri revealing his Shakuton made me wonder whether I could do similar so I tried to merge my Doton and Suiton chakra's and for just a split second they melded. I've been working on it since then but it's only in the last month I made the breakthrough that meant I could grow Flora from nothing."

"Now, Naruto-kun this next question is deadly important. Did anybody know you were capable of Mokuton before today?" Kushina asked, the firmness in her voice conveying the seriousness of her question. She audibly sighed in relief when he answered, "No, nobody knew, not even Tri-kun or Itachi-kun." Despite his answer Kushina looked him dead in the eyes but found nothing but calm, he wasn't lying.

"Don't fret Kaa-chan, I understand the implications of possessing Mokuton, how every Intelligence network is going to know by the end of the month, how I'll end up a marked Shinobi. I wouldn't have revealed it today if I didn't think I was ready to adequately defend myself."

"That's good to hear Naruto-kun but heed this," Tsunade warned. "You still have several years of development before you start to hit your peak. Until you do you'll be vulnerable, you'll be looking over your shoulder everytime you leave the village. The only way out is if you have a flee on sight order like Minato-san does."

Tsunade's words left the room quiet, the only sound being Shizune tending to the various cuts and bruises on Yamato but Kushina again asked a question. "Naruto-kun where did you get a summon from?" Naruto tensed slightly but did answer, "I can't really say much. Bird Summons I've learnt are notoriously secretive. But I met my personal summon Horus by chance while on a mission, the boss Falcon took a liking to me and allowed me to sign the contract."

"Tsunade-sama, am I alright to return to the stands?" Naruto tentatively asked her, "I don't want to miss Kakashi get put through the proverbial Genjutsu meat-grinder," he finished with a wry grin. "Oh," interjected an intrigued Kushina, "He's that good?"
"I won't spoil too much but he only needs a moment to snare you," Naruto replied trying to tempt them. "Yeah your fine to go, just take it easy for a few days. Shizune, how's Yamato-san?"

"He's fine Tsunade-sama, a few scrapes and he'll be needing an early night but otherwise ok."
How are the splinters?" Tsunade next asked the nurse tasked with their removal. "Last one Tsunade-sama," she replied as she extracted the slim slither of wood with a small pair of tweezers before smearing a little dollop of disinfectant over the small wound left behind. Naruto's hand twitched slightly as the stinging sensation from the disinfectant travelled up the nerves in his hand.

"Alright then, if we're all able let's go see Itachi and Kakashi duke it out," Tsunade declared.

And there be the first of the three matches, one of my longest fights too. Hope you enjoyed and see you next time. Oh and we passed 20,000 views, thank you all!

End Chapter

Some of you may have by now picked up on the avian mythological ties with Naruto and Tri's summons, Itachi will have similar with his crows. Naruto's Falcon summon is named after the Egyptian god Horus because of his depict as a Falcon-headed man. Naruto's swords are also named after the beak (Kuchibashi) and talons (Kagizume) of a predatory bird.

Whereas Tri's twin summons Muninn and Huginn are the two Ravens of the Norse god Odin.