182. The Final Round

Even though Jiraiya explained in detail about the Rasengan, Naruto was still confused by Jiraiya's theory so he asked Jiraiya to explain it slowly.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew around Naruto and Jiraiya. The wind was centered on Izumi's fingertip which he created using his Devil Fruit power. The wind didn't form a ball like the Rasengan but formed a small whirlwind like a hurricane.

He showed the wind rotating in a clockwise direction. Then, Izumi created another one, but in a counterclockwise direction, and combined the two into one while suppressing it. Not stopped by creating just two, Izumi created them one by one until the wind rotated from various directions and formed a ball just like the Rasengan. Yet, Izumi did it without using his chakra.

"How did you? It's a Jutsu from the Fourth Hokage. You…" Seeing Izumi demonstrate it with ease, Jiraiya found it unbelievable that Izumi could perform it after just a glance. Not only that but he was also stunned when he saw Izumi perform it with the ability to control the wind.

"The concept taken from the tailed-beast ball is not that unusual. Many people want to apply the concept of the tailed-beast ball to a Jutsu. However, only the Fourth Hokage could understand the concept at that time. And nothing is impossible. You can tell that I have an ability similar to the Hozuki clan. Different from that clan, I can control the wind instead. So it's quite easy for me to control the wind and imitate that Rasengan."

Even though Izumi lied about his identity, what he said made sense. Naturally, Minato, the fourth Hokage, was the one who created the Rasengan. However, Jiraiya himself could do it after understanding the concept. So it was not strange if someone else could perform that even though it was created using the wind.

Jiraiya thought that Izumi could learn at a glance. But, it seemed he was mistaken. Of course, he was also surprised that Izumi could control the wind with ease.

Furthermore, this was the first time he learned that there was a clan similar to the Hozuki clan. Izumi could control the wind, while the Hozuki clan manipulated water instead by transforming their bodies into the water.

The Shinobi world was so vast, so it was no wonder Jiraiya didn't know there was a clan that could control the wind.

After a moment, Jiraiya asked.

"Is your clan far from the Fire Nation?"

Izumi just shook his head and said.

"It's just me. My clan no longer exists."

"Sorry to mention it."

"It's fine, I don't think much of it either."

Seeing that Izumi didn't want to talk about his clan, Jiraiya tried to find another topic of conversation. Well, even though what Izumi said was a lie, looking at Izumi's bitter smile, Jiraiya was fooled by his acting.

Izumi had no intention of hiding his ability to control the wind after what he did in the Chūnin exam. With a little information, Jiraiya would also find out his ability sooner or later.

"So what else can you do with that ability?"

Jiraiya was a little curious about Izumi's ability which was the first time he knew about it.

"Hmmm, apart from controlling the wind, I can also fly. As for the other abilities, you'll find out someday if I intend to show them."

Feeling Izumi didn't want to reveal all of his abilities, Jiraiya didn't ask anymore. Jiraiya himself understood that everyone wanted to keep their best abilities a secret.

Jiraiya chatted a little with Izumi who then continued to train Naruto. Naruto himself applied the tips Izumi had said before, creating shadow clones while training the Rasengan. While Naruto was training the Rasengan, Izumi also trained Fuinjutsu and how to unseal them.

With this training, Izumi came up with a good plan for what he wanted to do later.

— — — —

The day before the final round of the Chūnin exam, Konohagakure village looked busy where many Anbu had tightened security. Moreover, there were high-ranking officials from two big countries who attended and watched the Chūnin exam.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the village of Konoha, at an inn to be exact. Izumi and the others were discussing something. Their discussion was completely inaudible from the outside since Izumi created a barrier using the wind that blocked their voices from being heard from outside.

"So what do you think?"

The one speaking was Tabane. She gave a plan for the event that would occur the next day in which Orochimaru would start his plan.

"Your plan is quite interesting Tabane-chan. I agree. How about you guys?" Izumi was the first to respond, who then glanced at the others who seemed to also agree with Tabane besides Luffy. If Luffy actually scratched his head because of confusion. He had absolutely no idea what Tabane had just said.

"Tabane-chan, it seems Luffy doesn't understand. You should take care of him for a while."

"Hehe, leave him to me. You have to be careful too!"

After Izumi and the others discussed their respective roles, Izumi removed the wind barrier he had created. They were just waiting for the time to act. For the last day before the main event started, they wanted to spend their time playing around.

There was a slight difference between Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom had finished their training earlier than they should have. The duel schedule between the participants had also not been announced until now. Everyone was still curious, about who would be their respective opponents.

To Izumi's surprise, Hayate who should have been killed by Kabuto in the canon was still alive. When he asked Kakashi, he was the one who saved Hayate. Not only that, Kakashi said that the plans of the Otogakure village to conspire with Sunagakure had been known to the Hokage. This was what made Izumi propose an impromptu plan before the main event was about to begin.

The next day, Warrod, followed by Izumi, Tabane, Rori, Kuroneko, Luffy, Kazuma, Hiiro, Yuki-Onna, Momo, and Karin walked to the arena where the last round of the Chunin exam being held.

Although Warrod was considered a Kage-level ninja in Kaiyougakure village. However, with his current status, he was not yet worthy of being equated with the Hokage and Kazekage who would sit in the grandstand above the arena platform. That was because the title of Kage was only given to the five strongest ninjas in each of the five major countries.

It didn't take long after Izumi and the others arrived at the arena, all the participants were called by Hayate to gather and he would show the bracket while waiting for the examinees to come.

11 examinees passed in the final round. They are Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Izumi, Hiiro, Yuki Onna, and Luffy.

They waited a few minutes because two people had not yet arrived. Who else if not Naruto and Sasuke?

After 20 minutes of the examinees waiting, finally the two of them came while racing.

"Hey, weren't you two deliberately late to get everyone's attention?"

Izumi commented on their late arrival, to which they immediately replied.

"I couldn't sleep...last night."

"I forgot...the time."

"What the fuck. Just say you're too excited about this day!"

With Izumi's words, the two smiled awkwardly.

Hayate gave a little welcome to the audience when Naruto and Sasuke arrived. Then he announced the bracket.

The first match was Izumi vs Luffy. If one of them won, that person would face Hiiro in the next round.

With such a bracket, Izumi felt that the match was arranged from behind. The people from Konohagakure village knew very well that the participants from Kaiyougakure village were so talented, so they arranged to face each other.

"Tsk, they don't have the guts."

Izumi muttered in a low voice while clicking his tongue.

Since Izumi and the others' main target wasn't to seek victory, he didn't give any damn to those who set up the bracket.