147. Stopping Their Fight

"Sakura-chan!!!" Naruto shrieked.

He was so worried about Sakura who was already in Izumi's clutch.

Somehow, Izumi felt sorry for him. Although it was clear that Sakura had feelings for Sasuke, Naruto was still trying to do anything for the girl he liked, even though he knew what the result would be. Nonetheless, Izumi appreciated him.

"You bastard!! Let her go!!!"

Sakura, who was being held as a hostage, made Naruto's anger rise.

Izumi didn't use his Haki. However, he could feel the change in the atmosphere.

"I wonder if I can sneak into his consciousness to see the nine-tailed fox." Izumi muttered in a low voice.

At that moment…

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Naruto used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to duplicate himself.

"As expected of Asura reincarnation. His chakra capacity is no joke." Izumi said inwardly.

Naruto and the shadow clones attacked Izumi simultaneously from the front and back. With Izumi's left hand carrying Sakura, Izumi could only use his right hand and his feet to attack.

Naruto has a huge amount of chakra in his body. The seal on his stomach disrupted the flow of chakra in his body, and the outcome was he needed to put more effort in order to control his chakra or to use any jutsu. Nevertheless, the Multiple Clone Jutsu was too suitable for him or it could be said that it was created just for him.

While Izumi dodged Naruto's attack, he also launched a sharp attack using his fingers. And whenever his attack landed on Naruto's clones, they were instantly dispersed.

*puff* *puff* *puff*

The Naruto clones were killed off one by one with just one strike. However, the reduced number has not reached a tenth.

Izumi twitched his cheek.

"At this rate, it will take some time to decimate them. And my condition isn't that good as well. Sigh. Can't be helped."

Izumi took out a kunai that had paper wrapped around the handle. Then, he threw it in a certain direction.

Even though Naruto didn't understand what Izumi wanted to do, he still observed Izumi's movements carefully. He didn't even blink, and he had no plan to take his eyes off Izumi.

Izumi suddenly formed a hand seal with one hand. He smirked at Naruto in front of him before muttering.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu."

Izumi disappeared from the encirclement of Naruto's clones. This naturally surprised Naruto. That jutsu was somehow similar to Sunshin no Jutsu. However, the way Izumi used it was too different from what he heard.

Sunshin no Jutsu was a basic teleportation technique. However, it needed a certain amount of chakra depending on the distance. And what he saw from Izumi, the hand seal was different from Sunshin no Jutsu.

Izumi appeared on the top of a tree branch. And when Naruto noticed him, he already performed hand seals.

"Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku."

Izumi took a deep breath and exhaled several small blasts of wind that spread out in different directions.

The wind blasted Naruto's clones one after another. They dispersed into smoke afterward. Naruto was blown away by the wind and thrown backward with several cuts on his body.

At that moment, Izumi heard something thrown at him. He looked back and then tilted his head upon seeing a shuriken thrown at him.

"Got you!"

However, it turned out that the shuriken was attached to an invisible wire and allowed Sasuke to control the direction of the shuriken.

On the other hand, after Izumi dodged the shuriken, he threw two kunais in different directions.

When Sasuke just pulled the wire to control the shuriken, Izumi suddenly disappeared.

"What?"

He was shocked that Izumi could slip away from his sight.

"Don't tell me!"

Sasuke remembered that Izumi threw two kunais in different directions. Sasuke turned his head in the direction where the two kunais were thrown.

And what he guessed was right. Each kunai was stuck in a tree branch at a different location. And on that branch, Izumi stood looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke threw his wired shuriken toward Izumi. Once again, Izumi disappeared. However, Sasuke already knew where he went. At that instance, Sasuke took out another wired shuriken and threw it at the location of another kunai thrown by Izumi.

It was exactly what Sasuke predicted. Izumi was at the location of another kunai. It was just that Izumi suddenly disappeared again in a split second.

Sasuke looked at the previous location, but he didn't see where Izumi was.

"I'm behind you."

*Whack*

Without waiting for Sasuke to react, Izumi kicked him. Sasuke rolled to the ground. Then, immediately got up with a pain that assaulted him.

"Damn it! What the fuck is that jutsu?"

Sasuke realized. He couldn't defeat Izumi. He could tell that whenever he increased his strength, Izumi also did the same.

"Aaaahhhh."

Suddenly, Naruto screamed.

His current state was different than earlier since his body was already coated with baleful chakra.

Naruto rushed to Izumi directly while preparing to attack.

"Hmmm? His speed even increased by about 7 times. I wonder if he is still Naruto or not. Let's test it." Izumi analyzed calmly. Then, he cunningly used Sakura as a shield.

Naturally, Naruto didn't dare to attack. He gritted his teeth seeing how cunning Izumi was.

"Stop it Izumi-chan!"

"Naruto, Sasuke. Stop!"

Tabane and Kakashi decided to stop them before their fight went out of control.

"Kakashi-sensei! But, he…"

Before Naruto finished his words, Kakashi already stood in front of Izumi. And Izumi just shrugged his shoulders while handing over Sakura.

"Sakura is alright. So you don't need to fight anymore, right?"

"I... Yes." Naruto nodded. But, both he and Sasuke still glared at Izumi. Though, Izumi seemed to ignore them.

After considering Rori and Izumi's strengths. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't underestimate the people from the village of Kaiyougakure.

Everyone decided to take a break since it was already getting dark. When he saw Izumi who wasn't helping with setting up the tent but walking somewhere, his gaze always followed him.

And it turned out that Izumi took back his kunai he threw earlier.

"That kunai seems different. But, why is it different?" Sasuke muttered while observing Izumi.

However, Izumi's face started to look pale and it was as if he was forcing himself. Understanding his condition, a woman called Tabane helped him and let him rest.

"Haven't you wondered why he was able to fight you guys despite his poor condition?"

"Kakashi-sensei…"

Sasuke turned around to see Kakashi behind him. Kakashi smiled at him.

"Sometimes, when conditions are unfavorable, an enemy comes before you unexpectedly. Then, what will happen if you can't fight back?"

"Death."

Kakashi nodded.

"Exactly. Whether he is doing it for himself or to warn you, he has already made up his mind which one must fight to the last drop of blood even when the conditions are unfavorable."

In reality, Izumi was only testing the abilities of the team under Kakashi's tutelage. However, Kakashi actually used it to teach Sasuke. Not just Sasuke. Naruto also heard his words clearly since he was behind Kakashi.

Both of them wanted to admire Izumi. But, what Izumi did make them think otherwise. And Naruto couldn't forgive what Izumi did to Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei, did you watch our fight from the start?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi turned his head.

"Not really. Why?" He said.

"How much did you see?"

"Just tell me what you want to ask! No need to be complicated."

Sasuke pondered for a moment. Then…

"I don't know why, he used Shunsin no Jutsu as if he deliberately told me that he would appear near the kunai he threw."

Kakashi instantly understood what Sasuke was saying. So he explained a bit.

"Oh, it's not Sunshin no Jutsu as you think. Instead, it's a jutsu created by the second Hokage and improved by the fourth Hokage."

"What?"

"You must remember that there is a difference between his kunai and ours, right?"

"Paper wrapped around the handle."

"Good. In fact, he applied a jutsu formula in that paper. With that formula, he can instantly teleport to the place where the jutsu formula is applied."

"But, that doesn't explain how he teleported to my position."

Sasuke still vividly remembered how Izumi had teleported near him to throw a punch. And at that moment, no kunai was thrown at him.

Kakashi pointed at Sasuke's clothes. On Sasuke's clothes, there is a jutsu formula similar to the one on Izumi's kunai.

"This… since when?"

"Since you who use the Sharingan are unable to detect it, that means he is much stronger than you think, Sasuke. By now, you must have understood what your weaknesses are, right?"

Sasuke clenched his fists while muttering.

"I'm too weak. I must get stronger."