Chapter 10: Ninjutsu Tournament BEGINS! 2/5

"Ehhh, no way you'll beat us right Kaname." as Kaname nodded his head in approval.

Illumi couldn't help but grin at their confidence. He was pretty sure they had some tricks up their sleeves.

—— —— —— —— ——

{Mother POV}

Ever since me and Jirou had Illumi he has constantly pulled off crazy, unheard of feats throughout his infancy and now his childhood. I just know Jirou is somewhere proud of what he left behind, with his passing it took a lot for me to get moving again. When you devote your heart and soul into something for it to be defiled and taken away hurts more than you could imagine. I have so much built up rage, sadness and trauma from loved ones dying it hurts, my adoptive parents to a good chunk of the Senju clan being gone as well. Even if they didn't know of my existence, I knew of theirs they were my kin.

I never moved on. I just learned to endure for the sake of my son, I've been a bad mother and Illumi hasn't been the best child but he's my son. There's no excuse for why I wasn't there when he needed me the most. Uchiha's feel twice as much emotional turmoil so I'll never feel the things he goes through, even going as far to unlock the sharingan, I knew he was hurt.

This past year was about healing and taking a step forward, we both tried our best comforting one another and being a part of each other's lives like how we should. It wasn't a big step but a slow progression towards the right path.

—— —— —— —— ——

After the lessons ended, the competition took place on the academy's training field, where a small wooden platform was built. All of the students that enrolled that previous year were, In one corner.

Hiruzen sat on a chair, right next to Danzō. While the former looked interested, the ladder made it clear he had other places to be at. Smiling, Hiruzen spoke to his old comrade.

"Danzō. Why did someone as busy as you come to this small competition?"

"Hiruzen… You know the answer yet you still ask. The 'Uchiha' garners my interest, that's all.

"Hahaha! Why so serious? Let's have fun and enjoy the show… As you said, there could be some hidden gems this year."

With the competition taking place, no one did anything worthwhile, boring Danzō. Hiruzen just smiled smoking on his pipe as he watched the students use basic Ninjutsu.

Finally, an Uchiha rose to the stage, exciting Danzō. Realizing that it wasn't who he was looking for, he absent-mindedly paid attention.

Mikoto walked nervously onto the stage, looking at Fugaku for comfort. The latter smiled, making her relax a little.

Readying herself, she started performing hand-seals.

"Those hand-seals could it… Could it be?"

Hearing Hiruzen, Danzō paid close attention.

Suddenly, Mikoto opened her mouth, forming a small flame. It was nowhere near a real fireball, but it came number one in the competition so far. Everyone started cheering, making her feel great.

"That's pretty good for her age. We should keep a close eye on her, she could become a strong Kunoichi."

Hiruzen smiled warmly. Although she betrayed his expectations, it was understandable, given her age.

"Hmph"

From then on, Hiruzen watched the tournament with less and less excitement. It felt like the best part already past

Just as he was giving up, another Uchiha was called on stage. This time, it was Kaname.

"...T-That's Kagami's kid."

"..."

Even though Kagami was an exception, Danzō refused to believe that an Uchiha other than him could have any human decency except Kagami.

Hiruzen, on the other hand, couldn't help but get a little sentimental. Although he hoped the kid could impress him.

The crowd was confused as the stage suddenly went up in smoke as a smoke bomb was released. When all the smoke cleared, you could see a blond haired, blue eyed innocent looking kid with a kunai in hand facing an opposer.

This was all planned as Kaname turned his way and smirked. Doing the reconciliation seal Kaname threw a shuriken in the sky and they both got into shinobi stances preparing to battle. Shortly after the shuriken landed to the naked eye, both boys disappeared then abruptly reappeared clashing fists.

Both grinned madly staring into each other's eyes with intense battlelust for a split second. This is what they prepared for and it was time, as soon as this was announced a couple months back. They've trained intensely together coming up with new techniques for this exact moment.

{Hiruzen POV}

Kagami's son and some civilian born orphan both prepared to duel as soon as the smoke precipitated. They formed the seal of reconciliation as a shuriken was thrown into the air as soon as it landed, with incredible speeds for their age they clashed.

I was shocked to see that they were gonna duel considering this to be a ninjutsu competition, but this way it was more entertaining. The way the fight began was pretty cool even Danzō gasped into excitement and shock. This generation was indeed talented the future of the leaf was in good hands

Kagami's son, using his sheer strength advantage, managed to push the blonde boy, outclassing him in strength alone but not too much. But Minato wasn't a slouch. He understood this better than anyone here, he was outclassed in strength by Kaname.

Quickly formulating a plan Minato created distance then threw six shuriken, forcing Kaname into a defensive role. Stacking techniques, he used [Shuriken Shadow Clone] jutsu multiplying six times four making 24 shurikens in total. Not letting up, Minato created 'two' [Kage no Bunshin] (shadow clones) shocking the two older men, shortly after he molded his chakra depicting it as himself essentially copy and pasting, then used his opponents busy state to hide off. Utilising Wind Release, 'Minato' accelerates his movements, creating an effect similar to tunnel vision. To reach higher speeds, Minato gains aid from clones to perform the technique by propelling him from his feet. Sending the user off at incredible speeds.

{Kaname POV}

The intensity of this fight was something serious that was for sure, everything we trained for up until this moment was upon the line. When Minato threw his six shuriken I easily evaded them, but when I saw 18 more is what left me on the defensive. Having good handling skills and mastery with throwing weapons, I quickly took out four of my tri-pronged kunai, easily maneuvering my kunai into the middle parts of the shurikens, thus allowing them to stack upon the single kunai along with the others.

Although it didn't take me long before the kunai situation was dealt with at zooming speeds Minato came flying at me. We helped each other train for months but who knew he had developed a jutsu like this. It completely caught me off guard after he threw those kunai's as distractions. What a brilliant plan. It happened way too fast, my eyes swelled and saliva flew out my mouth as he impacted into my stomach head-on

*ZWOOSH*

Minato then flew right through, what seemed to be Kaname at breakneck speed crashing into the far distance. In reality Kaname utilized his speed making his way out in the nick of time and made an [Afterimage Clone] making it seem like Minato went through him.

{Minato POV}

Minato gritted his teeth as he mentally released his frustration. 'Dammit he managed to take my clone out, it won't be too long before I have to physically fight him and I don't have much chakra and stamina left. To be able to combat my plan like that, Kaname is a MONSTER. I wonder what the other two demons are like…. surely inhuman.'

{Hiruzen's POV}

T-This fight was something you'll see once in a lifetime between two six year olds. Kaname is definitely his father's child… to have so much talent as well as the blonde to come up with these techniques, me and Danzō watched with awe and amazement!!

{Danzō's POV}

NANI!! What type of talent were these two displaying. My heart raced with excitement wondering as to how they would handle each engagement next? We needed these kids to be utilized as true shinobi and not waste their talent in the academy maybe an apprenticeship would shape them into the next Sannin group of talent the leaf hasn't had since Hiruzen's student's

[A/N: Danzō at this time didn't have children in his root or root didn't exist yet, root would of course speaking hypothetically but would begin later down the line.]

Sorry for the massive break. I know it seems like I up and left but my grades were slipping and I had to devote all my time to bringing them up. My grading period ends Friday and I had time to write and release today so here's chapter 10. Thank you all for continuing to read our story and supporting, if you have any suggestions for plot lines or any general ideas let me know... Also this is one of my first fight scenes and I'm new to the POV changing scenery thing so let me know if I did well ♥️