185. Sneaked In

Luffy was still conscious, but because he ran out of strength, he couldn't stand up anymore.

"Ahhh... I'm hungry!!!"

Luffy's empty stomach made him whine. Well, it could be said that he wanted to get spoiled when he was hungry.

Izumi twitched his brows. He immediately approached Luffy, then grabbed his leg and pulled him forcefully. And seeing Izumi and Luffy, everyone who watched them didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Izumi dragged Luffy to the audience stands, where his group watched together. Of course, Izumi intended to ask Momo to heal him as well. Since the main event was about to start, Izumi had to make his condition as fit as possible.

After Momo healed Izumi, he gave a gesture as a signal. And almost all of them left. Leaving Rori, in which she would act along with Hiiro and Yuki Onna later.

Izumi walked along with the others while carrying Luffy who had no strength left due to hunger. Then he said,

"Let's go to eat first! This guy is starving." Izumi pointed to Luffy who he was carrying.

"Oh...Meat!!!" Hearing Izumi talking about eating, Luffy got delighted and he immediately get up and took the lead in front.

"This fucking asshole!"

"Hahaha."

Some of them were annoyed, and some of them laughed. Indirectly, their relationship seemed like relatives or close friends.

Warrod felt nostalgic when looking at them. As if he went back to the guild he built long ago. Although all of them weren't relatives, they treated him like their guardian. In return, Warrod also treated them dearly.

At the same time, Naruto and Neji's battle was about to begin. They were called to enter the arena. Hiiro called out to Naruto before he jumped down onto the arena.

"What is it?"

"You got a message from Izumi, "If you can't win. Better forget your hopes to become a Hokage" he said."

"What the heck! I won't lose. I'll show it to him."

As soon as Neji heard that, he turned to Naruto and said sarcastically.

"Humph, nonsense! Without talent, you are nothing."

Without waiting for an answer, Neji went straight to the arena.

"What's wrong with him? He just acts like a prick."

Naruto was so annoyed with Neji's arrogant attitude. He vowed to beat Neji to a pulp and avenge what he did to Hinata.

— — — —

When Naruto fought Neji in the arena, it happened the same as in canon. Neji blocked the flow of chakra within Naruto's body. As a result, Naruto was at a disadvantage. But during the previous month, Naruto had been training to the point of constantly depleting his chakra and occasionally borrowing the nine-tailed fox's chakra. Naruto also became accustomed to borrowing chakra, although in the end he was forbidden to use that chakra when his life was not in danger.

But in the fight against Neji, for some reason, he didn't want to lose because he had promised something. In the end, he broke his promise by borrowing the chakra that he had been forbidden to use. Naruto's strength overflowed along with the nine-tailed fox's negative aura.

Neji assessed from his Byakugan, Naruto's chakra flow pattern changed, unlike humans in general. This made him feel horrified and thought that Naruto was not a human, but an incarnation of the nine-tailed fox like the rumors he had often heard.

"This… is the chakra of the nine-tailed fox. Since when did he...?"

Naruto's changes didn't escape Hiruzen's eyes. He was surprised because he didn't expect Naruto to already master the way to use the nine-tailed fox's chakra.

And what was even more astonishing was when Naruto made 2 shadow clones. One of them attacked Neji, and the other shadow clone along with Naruto made a ball spin from various directions in Naruto's palm.

Except for the experienced ninjas, none of them didn't understand what Naruto was doing.

After the ball created by Naruto was formed perfectly, his shadow clones immediately attacked Neji's simultaneously.

And while those clones kept Neji busy, Naruto immediately launched the attack by rushing toward him.

"Rasengan!"

Neji couldn't dodge since Naruto's speed was faster after he used the nine-tailed fox's chakra. And his Rasengan landed on Neji's stomach. Neji was blown away and spun around backward. His body slammed into the wall and then fell to the ground. He was lying on the ground with his back facing the sky. He tried so hard to look at Naruto even though his body was in pain.

After that, Naruto lectured Neji with his flagship move, Talk no Jutsu.

— — — —

Everyone seemed not to believe that Naruto could beat Neji, who was said to be a genius from the Hyuga clan. Then, everyone cheered loudly.

Among those spectators, people at the level above Chūnin-level ninjas were already expecting that Naruto would shock them all as he was a ninja full of surprises just like the rumors. But, they didn't expect that Naruto would defeat Neji.

Moving to the next match, was Temari vs Shikamaru. The fight was too boring since all of them looked passive. But with Shikamaru's intelligence, he had the advantage in the fight. Shikamaru already looked on the verge of winning. Suddenly he gave a shocking statement, he gave up.

Everyone thought Shikamaru would win, but his statement left everyone dumbfounded. Shikamaru himself already felt that it was impossible to win if he qualified for the next round against Yuki Onna after observing her strength through the previous round. That was why he didn't hesitate to give up immediately. It would be useless if he tried hard to become a Chūnin-level ninja. If he did that, he felt that he wouldn't be himself anymore.

The next match was Izumi vs Hiiro. Hayate called the two into the arena, but only Hiiro came. Hayate didn't see Izumi come, which he decided to ask. But, Hiiro shook his head and pretended not to know.

Hayate immediately looked at Hiruzen's opinion. As if understanding what Hayate was conveying, Hiruzen tried to glance at Warrod's seat. However, Warrod was nowhere to be seen even though he had previously seen Warrod watching along with the youngsters from Kaiyougakure village. All he could see was Rori who looked back at him as soon as Hiruzen saw her. As if understanding what Hiruzen was thinking, Rori shook her head while giving a little smile.

Hiruzen was slightly taken aback by how aware Rori was when he looked at her. He felt her instincts and sixth sense were so sharp that she immediately noticed when someone was watching her. Since Izumi didn't come, the Hokage declared Hiiro's victory by default.

"Eh, isn't he too lucky to have consecutive victories without anyone fighting against him?"

Naruto was annoyed and envious of Hiiro who was able to advance to the semifinals without fighting anyone. He wondered why Izumi and the others weren't around. When he asked Hiiro, he said that Izumi wanted to withdraw from the Chūnin exam since he was only testing his skills, and that was enough after finishing the previous match. Of course, all of his statements were lies.

Meanwhile, the current Izumi was in a place lacking lighting. He walked carefully while looking around. During the past month, he had not only spent his time training but had also spent his time investigating hidden places like the one where he was standing now.

The location was under the ground. And it couldn't be found if one was unfamiliar with the surroundings of Konohagakure. Meanwhile, Izumi found the location since he sensed a lot of auras under the ground. By then, he found out that it was the nest of the Roots, the Anbu's subdivision under Danzo. It was the place he had been looking for since he came to Konohagakure village.

At that moment, the place was a bit deserted. It seemed that a lot of people had come out to carry out a plan behind Orochimaru's back.

Danzo knew that Orochimaru planned something, but it was also his chance to get rid of Hiruzen and Orochimaru at the same time.

So, he ordered his men to look at the situation in Konohagakure's surroundings in case the enemy villages came to attack. Not only that, but Danzo also sent his men to prepare to stop the riots after either Hiruzen or Orochimaru died.

Izumi himself sneaked in unnoticed by transforming his whole body into the wind and flying without the people realizing it.

Izumi quickly sneaked inside and looked for the place he was after, Danzo's laboratory. Even if there was no Sharingan that he wanted, the results of research on Senju Hashirama's cell weren't that bad as well.