Yamato

**Yamato** (ヤマト), also known as "**Tenzō**" (テンゾウ, *Tenzō*), are both code names for this Anbu-turned-jōnin of Konohagakure. As his Wood Release would allow him to be able to keep the Nine-Tails sealed within Naruto Uzumaki in check, he was re-assigned from Anbu to the regular forces, joining Team Kakashi as a temporary replacement for their jōnin-sensei, Kakashi Hatake. While Kakashi eventually returns to the team, Yamato stays on to provide assistance as needed.

## Background

Yamato graduated from the Academy at the age of six, and at that same age, was promoted to the rank of chūnin. As an infant (child in the anime), he was abducted by Orochimaru and became one of sixty children that were his test subjects. They were injected with the First Hokage's DNA in the hopes that they could replicate the First's ability to use Wood Release. Before Orochimaru could finalise the results of the experiments, he was caught by Hiruzen for his other experiments and had to flee the village. Because every child who had been subjected to the experiment had died after a certain amount of time, Orochimaru believed all remaining test subjects would perish as well. In actuality, this boy was the lone survivor and found himself endowed with an unquantified Wood Release and likewise the First's abilities to control tailed beasts. In the anime, while contained in a test tube, he was fully conscious of his surroundings, watching in horror as other children died from failed experiments. Not wanting to die all by himself, he used his Wood Release to escape. He was soon afterwards found by Danzō Shimura. Having lost all memory of who he was, the boy was taken in by Danzō, where he was recruited into the Anbu's Root division under the codename **Kinoe** (甲, *Kinoe*).

Having high hopes for Kinoe, Danzō began to personally train him as a Root operative. He also gave Kinoe a scroll containing the secrets and various techniques of the Wood Release. As Hiruzen Sarutobi began to resume his post as Hokage after Minato Namikaze's untimely passing, Danzō sent Root members, including Kinoe, to assassinate the Third. However, Kakashi, a recent recruit to Root, warned the Hokage and went in his place. Kakashi quickly defeated Kinoe, but chose to spare him in the belief that he would become a valuable ally in the future. After the battle, Kinoe began following Kakashi from afar. Kinoe later informed Danzō of Orochimaru's defection from Konoha and was instructed to meet up with Orochimaru at an underground cave that secretly housed the Iburi clan. After delivering his message to the clan, who promised to help Orochimaru escape the country, he met a young girl named Yukimi who insisted that Kinoe was her brother, Tenzō. While Yukimi began to show Kinoe around, word soon reached them that an unknown individual had entered the cave.

When the intruder, Kakashi, was subdued by the Iburi clan, Kinoe convinced them to let him interrogate Kakashi. While seemingly alone, Kinoe revealed that his actual mission was the same as Kakashi's, ensuring that Orochimaru did not escape the country. Gotta, the clan's leader, overheard this while spying and quickly ordered for both Konoha-nin to be killed, though Yukimi refused to let Kinoe die, saving them both. Leaving Kakashi behind, Yukimi possessed Kinoe's body and the two travelled to a carnival, where they took part in the festivities. Kakashi later caught up, planning to use Yukimi to capture Orochimaru, since she was of great importance to him. Refusing to let Yukimi be used as bait, Kinoe ran off with her, announcing that his name was "Tenzō".

Quickly catching up to them, Kakashi explained that Yukimi's blood could temporarily bestow Orochimaru with the Iburi clan's smoke transformation, allowing him to slip across the border. Overhearing that, Yukimi slipped away and returned to the cave. Recognising that Kinoe cared for Yukimi not unlike he had cared for Rin Nohara, Kakashi agreed to work together with Kinoe to save her. Upon returning to the cave, the two discovered that Orochimaru had killed the Iburi clan and captured Yukimi. The spirits of the Iburi guided Kinoe and Kakashi to Yukimi, causing Orochimaru to flee. Yukimi's body then began to destabilise, but the spirits of the Iburi used their power along with Kinoe's Wood Release to re-stabilise her ability. Kakashi decided to leave and not report anything about the Iburi or Root's involvement. Yukimi, no longer needing to fear the wind, parted ways with Kinoe to see the world, while the latter was happy to know that he did have the power to save people.

Three years later, Danzō, fearing that his transplanted Sharingan would eventually go blind from its over-usage, assigned Kinoe and Kinoto to steal the Sharingan from Kakashi as a substitute. Kinoe found Kakashi while on a mission to investigate one of Orochimaru's abandoned labs. While initially working alongside Kakashi, he quickly attacked the older shinobi. As Kakashi tried to reason with him that friends should not kill each other, Kinoe retorted that comment, knowing that Kakashi killed his friend Rin. Enraged that Kinoe believed Kakashi killed her on purpose, Kakashi quickly overpowered him, telling Kinoe that she died because he couldn't protect her, making Kinoe remember the other test subjects he wanted to save. Refusing to kill Kinoe as he still viewed him a friend and ally, Kakashi instead chose to take him to the Third Hokage. Before he could, one of Orochimaru's snake experiments escaped its test tube and attacked the duo. As Kinoe was taken captive, Kakashi managed to slay the creature. While saving Kinoe, the creature's corpse began emitting a poisonous vapour which quickly infected Kakashi. Kinoe got Kakashi out safely and, having accepting Kakashi's words, Kinoe gave Kakashi an antidote and chose to abandon his mission, leaving Kakashi a message of it.

Upon returning to Danzō, the elder was furious at Kinoe's blatant choice to defy his orders. While Kinoe insisted that Root should not target fellow Konoha members as they are allies, Danzō countered by stating that Root exists as a separate section of Konoha. Remembering the feelings of friendship from Yukimi, Kinoe ultimately decided that Root's philosophies were not for him. Disgusted at Kinoe's new view, Danzō knocked him out with his Sharingan, ordering his men to have Kinoe's cursed seal activated. As Kinoe was prepped for the operation, Kakashi arrived and freed him. The two were quickly surrounded by Danzō and several Root members. Before Danzō could act, the Third Hokage appeared, vouching for Kakashi's unsanctioned arrival and convincing Danzō to give Kinoe over to him, though Danzō refused to remove the cursed seal on Kinoe's tongue. Later, Kinoe was re-assigned to Team Ro under Kakashi's command. Joining his new squad, Kinoe was given a warm welcome to his new allies and insisted by Kakashi that he go by his chosen name of "Tenzō", which he happily agreed to.

During this time in the Anbu, he served under the guidance of Kakashi and learned much from him, developing great respect for his captain. Two years after joining Team Ro, a new Anbu was added to their team, Itachi Uchiha, who was the youngest Anbu of all time. While many on the team members questioned the wisdom of allowing someone so young to join Anbu, Tenzō and Kakashi took a great interest in the prodigy's talents. Two years later, Tenzō was shocked to learn that Itachi was made an Anbu captain while being even younger than Kakashi was. He and Kakashi were then approached by Yūgao Uzuki, who would act as Itachi's replacement for Team Ro. Later, Team Ro was mobilised to intercept the planned coup d'état, which was however already stopped by the slaughter of the clan. As they began gathering the corpses, Danzō told them that the culprit was their former comrade Itachi. Some time after the genocide, Tenzō tried to comfort Kakashi, who was saddened by his inability to help or even understand his former friend. Later, after Kakashi was honourably discharged from Anbu and reassigned as a jōnin sensei, Tenzō went to meet with his former captain, noting a positive change in Kakashi's demeanour from his new position. As Tenzō continued his career in Anbu, he would come to have the best performance record of any Anbu serving under the Third Hokage.

In the anime, when Team 10 and Naruto Uzumaki were given a B-rank, potentially A-rank, mission of rescuing the son of a daimyō, Shū, who was an ally to the Land of Fire, Tsunade called for Yamato. Because of rumours about there being suspicious activity going on in the Land of This where Team 10 was heading, she had Yamato secretly tail the younger Konoha-nin in the event things became S-rank danger and also gather any information possible. Later, after Team 10 completed the initial phase of their plan, capturing Shū, the nation was suddenly attacked by Akatsuki. Yamato took action and destroyed several of Sasori's puppets. Despite his help, the nation ultimately fell to the Akatsuki's attack. With Team 10's mission still going to return Shū home, Yamato tailed them until they crossed the country borders. Afterwards, Yamato returned to Konohagakure to report to Tsunade, who became troubled by the news.

## Personality

Yamato is a very discreet, cautious and generally well-prepared person. He projects a calm, stoic demeanour even in very stressful situations. He takes his missions very seriously, even insisting on being referred to by whatever his current codename is. In the anime, having no family nor memories of them, Yamato's greatest desire has become to work hard for the village to make others happy and to be acknowledged by all for his efforts, particularly as leader of Team 7, as revealed by Infinite Tsukuyomi. Yamato also takes great interest in architecture which can be seen when he goes out on missions and creates a house to "camp out" in. This skill to incorporate his hobby with his kekkei genkai was also seen after Pain's assault on Konoha where he was key in recreating the village. While he has been good-natured so far, Yamato claims to be a different sort of leader than Kakashi, one who is not above "ruling by the use of terror" when his team misbehaves. Aside from his obviously intimidating skills as a ninja, however, this "terror" has so far primarily consisted of casting a creepy "ghoul-eyes" expression at his charges. Naruto, especially, is easily terrified by it, and stated that it felt like Yamato was controlling him with fear — something Yamato himself has noted that he has no qualms with. He has also less tolerate of Naruto's antics and lack of respect for rules than Kakashi. He is, however, also prone to being a victim of a cruel joke when given misleading information, as witness his visible fear and subsequent annoyance when Killer B maliciously joked about the dangers of a jinchūriki trying to control their tailed beast. In the anime, he's shown to use his fear face in a more comical manner when he created a bridge for Naruto and the others and asked if Naruto was happy he came along.

Despite his serious and sometimes overworked demeanour, Yamato is known for being somewhat playful, such as his tendency play pranks on Naruto during their downtime on missions. He usually does this by using his ghoul-eyes' frightening appearance or a wood clone to scare Naruto during ghost stories, showing that he does have a sense of humour underneath all of that responsibility and seriousness. He is also aware of his tendency to be overworked by his peers and gets frustrated by their lack of appreciation of how exhausting his Wood Release techniques are despite their obvious usefulness and versatility.

Yamato is known to respect ranking, as he told Naruto, who was the Seventh Hokage, to not call him "Captain Yamato" anymore.

## New era / Glad you Came

Yamato later married to woman, Chiho and had a son Riku