As the two exchanged friendly words below, Onoki, up in the VIP seats, began probing Seiryu.
"Hokage, since this is a match between our personal disciples, how about a little wager?" Onoki suggested.
"What did the Tsuchikage have in mind?" Seiryu asked lightly.
"Recently, Grass Village was heavily damaged and can't fulfill their original mission quota. The extra tasks should be split between our two great nations. I'm sure you've noticed an increase in commissions from Grass recently?"
"That's true," Seiryu nodded.
"So, how about each of us put up 20% of those extra mission quotas as the stakes?" Onoki proposed.
"If Tsuchikage wants to play, Konoha will join in," Seiryu agreed.
"I'll act as witness for the two of you," the Earth Daimyo chimed in.
"Of course," Seiryu smiled and nodded.
Their conversation made the Grass Daimyo's face turn green—here they were, using another village's mission quotas as a wager for a kids' match!
Once the bet was settled, the referee announced the start of the match.
As soon as it began, Naruto quickly formed hand signs.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang bang bang bang…
With a series of smoke explosions, more than thirty blond Narutos appeared on the arena, leaving the audience stunned.
"That's the Second Hokage's signature Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu, right? This kid already mastered it at his age?" Onoki marveled.
"He's far from mastering it," Seiryu replied. "He's just using raw chakra to force out numbers. If he could control the chakra distribution for each clone, he could easily double this."
"This kid's chakra reserves are abnormal," Onoki said.
"He's got Uzumaki blood—having lots of chakra is normal," Seiryu explained.
"Is it just Uzumaki blood? I doubt that's all," Onoki said, hinting at more.
"Of course not. He's also inherited his father's incredible battle instincts," Seiryu said.
"Is that so? Then I look forward to seeing it," Onoki replied, seeing that Seiryu refused to admit Naruto was a Jinchuuriki.
"I'm coming, Deidara big bro!" shouted over thirty Narutos, all swarming forward.
Deidara, seeing this, took out some clay and started chewing, mumbling, "Little bro, you're not bad—I'll have to get serious!"
Deidara spit out a flying bird, and Naruto braced himself. He knew he couldn't take the blast from one of Deidara's fireworks.
But Deidara just jumped onto the clay bird's back and soared into the sky.
Naruto was dumbfounded: "You can fly?!"
"Hehe, give up, little bro—you can't reach me!" Deidara laughed, pulling out a handful of kunai tied with explosive tags.
Deidara didn't care for mass-produced explosive tags. He'd stopped using them two years ago. Now, he only used them to go easy on Naruto.
Flying above, Deidara shouted "Art is explosion!" and rained explosive kunai down, not bothering to aim—all he saw below was a dense mass of blonds.
Naruto's clones dodged the blasts, shouting, "That's not fair!"
"That's why, little bro—you can't hit me, so just give up!" Deidara laughed, never stopping his attacks.
"Tsuchikage's disciple is impressive," Seiryu praised. "At this age, mastering a flying jutsu with such strategic value is incredible."
"Hehe, Hokage flatters me. I'd be grateful if he'd just cause less trouble," Onoki replied, unable to hide his pride.
"Hokage, you don't look worried. Does your disciple have an anti-air move?" the Earth Daimyo asked, seeing Seiryu so calm.
"I haven't taught him anti-air jutsu yet," Seiryu shook his head. "But I trust he'll find a way."
"Really?" the Daimyo was curious. "You have that much faith in your disciple?"
"Of course," Seiryu nodded. "His battle instincts even impress me."
On the arena, Deidara seemed to have the upper hand, but Naruto handled things well: over thirty clones dashed around, only losing a handful so far. After figuring out the blast range of Deidara's tags, each clone managed to dodge before the explosions.
"Hokage's disciple's taijutsu is excellent," Onoki commented. "I heard the Fifth Hokage became famous on the Water Country battlefield with wide-range Lightning-style and lightning taijutsu. Your disciple seems to have inherited that talent. But if he only dodges, he'll lose once his stamina and chakra run out."
Naruto realized this too and began throwing shuriken in return. Unfortunately, his technique was laughable—his throws were straightforward, relying on brute force.
Deidara, flying above, could dodge them with his eyes closed.
In the stands, Sasuke couldn't help but cover his face. Having learned Uchiha shurikenjutsu since childhood, he thought Naruto's technique was just a waste of ninja tools.
Meanwhile, Neji, watching with his Byakugan, commented, "He probably only has as many shuriken as he can carry in his pouch. His sealing skills aren't good enough for scrolls."
Then, suddenly, a Naruto clone threw a kunai at Deidara.
Same brute force as before. Deidara instinctively steered his bird aside. But after changing direction, the kunai burst into smoke in midair—Naruto appeared, threw another kunai, and burst again.
"He used a shadow clone plus transformation to get airborne. Clever tactic," Onoki noted. "But he still needs to work on basics. If his shurikenjutsu were better, he might've succeeded."
But then, the flying Naruto transformed again—three times in a row, closing the distance to Deidara.
"Isn't this chain-dispelling of shadow clones mentally exhausting? Can he handle it?" Onoki asked.
Even Iwagakure's Earth Clone Jutsu, when released in quick succession, could overwhelm Jonin with the rush of memories and sensations. Shadow Clones were even worse.
"He's simple-minded, so the feedback isn't too much for him," Seiryu explained.
Not only Onoki but also Deidara in the air was shocked. He could use solid clones, too, and had dreamed of using one to skip class while he stayed home to study art, but after trying once, the flood of memories nearly broke him.
But in that instant of surprise, a kunai reached Deidara—poof! Naruto appeared and grabbed him, pulling both off the bird.
Deidara swung his free arm, elbowing Naruto's back, thinking it was a clone. But after two hits, Naruto didn't budge.
"Crap! You're the real one?" Deidara panicked.
"Yep!" Naruto grinned, holding on tight.
"Are you crazy?! Let go!" Deidara yelled as they plummeted from nearly fifty meters up.
In the stands, Seiryu and Onoki both jumped up—one flashing forth as lightning, the other using Light-Weight Boulder Jutsu to speed up.
Onoki used his jutsu to lighten their weight, and Seiryu caught both kids, one in each hand.