146. Provocation

Izumi wondered why Rori suddenly attacked him. Just as his sight was on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. He understood immediately.

"Ugh, my head…"

Izumi wanted to greet them, but then the dizziness assaulted him.

Seeing that Izumi was staggering, Tabane helped him to his feet.

"Thanks."

"Izumi-chan, you have a pretty bad habit when you're drunk." Tabane said to him. Tabane explained what happened when he was drunk. Izumi was amazed that he could turn out to be such a different person.

"Perhaps that's the way I vent my emotions… ummm, in a bad way I guess." He replied softly.

"Did you break up with your girlfriend?" Tabane asked in a low voice. Izumi slightly turned his head and saw how close he was to Tabane's face. Nevertheless, he still replied.

"It was so obvious, huh?"

"You're usually calm and collected. Who wouldn't realize when you were exhibited the opposite?"

"Sigh. It seems I'm really a newbie in this matter. Is anything related to feelings hard to control?"

"Maybe."

They didn't talk loudly. Even so, Rori and Warrod still clearly heard their conversation. And since Izumi had sobered, he went to introduce himself to Kakashi's team.

Izumi looked at the three kids, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. If Kakashi really knew those three kids' futures in the shinobi world after reading manga, surely he wouldn't train the three of them half-heartedly.

"Kakashi-san. Are they your teammates?" Izumi asked.

"Yeah. I'm not just the team leader but their teacher as well."

"Heee. Are you teaching them properly? I can sense that they're still weak though." Izumi sneered while glancing at the three.

"What did you say?"

"You have to take back what you said earlier!"

Izumi's provocative words baited Sasuke and Naruto.

"Jeez. I'm not afraid to tell you. With your current strength, you're just a burden to him." Izumi said to them while pointing his finger at Kakashi.

They gritted their teeth. And all of a sudden, Sasuke dashed to attack him. Izumi slammed his feet to the ground and jumped away. Naturally, Sasuke went after him.

When they were already out of sight…

"Oya, little cat boy. Don't you want to go after them?"

Tabane knew what Izumi wanted to do. That was why she didn't try to stop him.

"He's your friend, right? Shouldn't you try to help him? Sasuke is strong, you know." Naruto replied to Tabane's question.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Tabane wiggled her finger. "You shouldn't judge people by appearance alone."

"What do you mean?" Naruto didn't understand at all. But then, he heard Kakashi say to him,

"Naruto, Sakura. Help Sasuke to fight him. I can tell from his movement that he's definitely stronger than Sasuke."

"No way, even Kakashi-sensei is…"

"You're not kidding, right, Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto and Sakura couldn't believe what they heard. In their eyes, Izumi didn't appear intimidating at all. So they thought Sasuke alone was enough.

Kakashi shook his head.

"Nah. He is strong. In any case, if you can't defeat him, your next training will be 10 times harder. Meanwhile, I'll teach you a B-rank jutsu if you win. So, do your best!"

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other. They couldn't imagine Kakashi training them 10 times harder than usual. So, the two rushed to Sasuke's place to beat Izumi together.

After they were gone, Tabane said,

"So you've decided to make them stronger, huh?"

Kakashi turned to Tabane in response.

"I already planned it before Naruto and Sakura got guidance from Jiraiya and Tsunade respectively."

"How about Sasuke?"

"It's hard to say. To be honest, I don't want him to be influenced by Orochimaru. However, Orochimaru's abilities match Sasuke's quite well."

"Well, we can think about that later!"

— — — —

Meanwhile.

Izumi just dodged the sharp attacks from Sasuke. Not once did he intend to counterattack Sasuke even though Sasuke had many gaps when attacking.

Izumi glanced in one direction. Then he jumped backward in somersaults with the intention of keeping his distance from Sasuke. When Sasuke was about to attack him again…

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Sakura came. However, Sasuke's eyes glared sharply at Izumi.

He clicked his tongue.

"He can feel the arrival of Naruto and Sakura. Whereas I can't. What's more, it's like he's been messing with me from the start." Sasuke said inwardly.

Sasuke knew pretty well how Izumi moved earlier. But somehow, his attacks never landed on Izumi. Izumi's evasion was always an inch or a few inches away from Sasuke's attack even though he had changed the direction of his attack.

"Those eyes… They are called Sharingan, aren't they? They don't seem like much. Even though the Sharingan is said to be the strongest Doujutsu among others, if the user is trash, those eyes also become trash." Izumi sneered while deliberately provoking Sasuke. And as Izumi expected, Sasuke's anger flared.

He formed hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu."

Flames expelled from Sasuke's mouth, burning whatever was in front of him. At the same time, his Sharingan caught Izumi's movements to his left, who easily avoided Sasuke's jutsu. Sasuke dashed toward Izumi to seal his movement. But, Izumi noticed him.

Their distance was still at least ten meters away. Thus, Sasuke decided to throw some shuriken.

Izumi curled up his lips.

"What a nice combo."

Izumi dodged to his left. But, waiting for him in that position was Sakura who had already thrown a strong punch toward him.

His body which was flexed to the left to avoid Sasuke's shuriken was almost touching the ground. He was going to roll. However, that position put Izumi at a disadvantage since Sakura had already unleashed a powerful punch at him. He didn't have time to stand up.

*Slap*

Izumi slapped his hand to the ground to launch himself into the air and dodged Sakura's punch. Sakura couldn't anticipate Izumi's unusual movement which made her punch miss the target and hit the ground instead.

Izumi was spun in the air. And unexpectedly, Naruto was waiting for him and ready to attack at any moment.

However, that was also within Izumi's calculation.

Izumi controlled his landing by stopping his spin. He saw Naruto who was already in front of his eyes. Then, both of his legs locked onto Naruto's neck before he launched an attack.

Izumi made a considerable movement. Then…

Like an agile wrestler using a technique, Izumi threw Naruto at Sasuke using both of his legs which then also closed Sasuke's movement space. Sasuke had no choice but to catch Naruto in front of him.

Izumi put his left hand on his hip, and his other hand held his chin.

"That's all you have got? What a disappointment. Perhaps, that Kakashi guy didn't know how to teach. Or maybe, the three of you are too stupid. Ah. I don't know what that old man's thinking. If the Konohagakure ninjas were only at their level, wouldn't our side be at a loss? Meanwhile, Konohagakure actually got a huge profit by allying with our village. Don't you think so?"

Izumi's words were so spicy and unpleasant to hear. Moreover, the way he spoke was so arrogant.

"I'll rip your mouth!"

"No. I'm the one who will rip his mouth!"

Both Sasuke and Naruto's words were filled with hostility. Especially Naruto. He couldn't forgive Izumi for scorning his village.

"Whoa, that's so scary. Come, come! Let this big bro see how you're going to rip my mouth."

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto, it's no use if we blindly attack him."

Sakura grabbed their shoulders. She whispered to them.

"There's no doubt that he is strong. But, we—"

Sakura discussed how to deal with Izumi. However, they didn't know the exact Izumi's strength. With raw physical strength alone, Izumi is already stronger than an ordinary Jonin-level ninja.

Izumi raised his index finger and middle finger.

"Ahem. I doubt you can defeat me. So, let me give you a handicap. I will only use physical strength and two jutsus only. Meanwhile, you can exert all your abilities and strength to fight me. How is it? I'm pretty considerate, right?"

The three of them couldn't believe that Izumi was still looking down on them. However, the truth was Sakura understood that Izumi was just avoiding their attacks. And now, Sakura wasn't sure of the result if Izumi decided to attack them back.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto looked at each other before nodding.

Sasuke dashed in front of Izumi while performing hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu."

Flames expelled from Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke knew that Izumi would dodge his attack. So he immediately took a move toward Izumi.

However, Izumi already disappeared. Sasuke didn't see where Izumi had gone even though he was the closest to Izumi's position.

Out of nowhere, Izumi appeared beside him, then threw a punch to Sasuke's stomach.

*Wham*

Sasuke was thrown to the side and then fell to the ground.

Sasuke held his stomach. His face reddened while he was having trouble breathing.

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Sakura cried out. Sakura immediately rushed to help Sasuke regardless of whether Izumi was there or not.

"Wait Sakura-chan!" Naruto warned Sakura but he was ignored.

Izumi shook his head when he saw Sakura rushing toward Sasuke.

"This girl is too reckless." Izumi said in his mind. Seeing Sakura's affection for Sasuke, Izumi became a little jealous of him.

"Well, whatever."

All of a sudden, Izumi appeared beside Sakura, and with his right hand, he chopped Sakura's neck. Izumi carried the unconscious Sakura in one hand while glancing at Naruto with a grin.