148. Mokuton (Wood Release)

The next day, Izumi came over to apologize to Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. He also explained that he was deliberately angering them and making them fight him seriously.

Naruto and Sakura accepted his apology seeing Izumi's guilty face. Though Sasuke just snorted and avoided Izumi.

Izumi extended his hand.

Seeing Izumi who looked like he wanted to shake his hand, Naruto also extended his hand. Then he heard Izumi say.

"The truth is..."

"Hmm?" Naruto raised his head and looked at Izumi. But Naruto's hand had touched Izumi's hand and...

"I'm a ghost!"

After Izumi said that, Naruto felt weird with his hand that should be shaking hands with Izumi's. When Naruto saw that...

"AAAAAHHHH, GHOOOOSSST!!!!"

For Naruto, Izumi's hand felt like an astral form because Izumi's hand get through his. What Izumi did was transform part of his body into the wind. Well, even though Izumi's hand didn't pass through Naruto's hand, just controlling the form of his hand, it looked like it did get through.

Naruto jumped backward until he rolled over since he was frightened.

Sasuke was also frozen on the spot when he saw that hand, but he still managed to keep his composure.

"Hahahaha!" Izumi burst out laughing while holding his stomach which couldn't hold back how funny it was when Naruto rolled backward.

"K-Kakashi-sensei, how could a ghost walk in the daylight?" Naruto asked while hiding behind Kakashi and his finger pointed at Izumi. Kakashi flicked his finger to Naruto's forehead.

"You fool, that was his Jutsu?"

"Ouch!! Really? What is that Jutsu?" Naruto rubbed his forehead as he asked.

"Don't know, you should ask him!" Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders, pretending not to know since that thing wasn't an ability from the shinobi world.

"Damn! That scared shit out of me, you know!" Naruto grumbled after knowing Izumi has just pranked him.

"I also thought he was a ghost for a moment." Sasuke said inwardly. Sasuke himself was a little confused when he saw Izumi's ability, he didn't see any hand seals perform Jutsu. Even when he saw using his Sharingan, he only saw that Izumi's hand could be penetrated without hurting him.

They finally made up with Izumi although it felt a bit awkward. Kakashi also said that knowing each other was necessary.

That morning, they were greeted by cooking utensils that appeared out of nowhere.

Sakura, Tabane, and Rori are in charge of cooking. Izumi really wanted to help, but Tabane forced him to just stay and wait.

As soon as she was done cooking, Izumi commented.

"I didn't expect you could cook, Tabane-chan."

"You underestimate me, huh? I'm the most genius person in the world, of course, I can do anything."

"How smug you are! Just say that you can cook because of your sister." Izumi believed, because of how much Tabane loved her sister, she purposely learned to cook so that her sister liked her. Or at least, she could be a little closer to her sister.

"Hooo, what is it, are you jealous? You're jealous, aren't you?" Tabane teased Izumi while getting closer and closer to him.

"Ahhh!"

Izumi grab her head in annoyance and said.

"You're too close!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Just let me go!"

Izumi let go of Tabane, to which Tabane immediately said.

"I just wanted to cheer you up okay? From yesterday you look different than usual." Tabane asked while rubbing her head.

"Thanks." He felt bad for the others. It seemed he just made everyone worried.

"Wanna share it with me? It might have lessened your burden or whatever it was in your mind."

To be honest, Izumi didn't want to talk about it. However, Tabane was right. He need someone he could talk to.

— — — —

Izumi only said anything about how he broke up with his girlfriend without mentioning the existence of another world. The others just listened to what he said silently till he finished speaking.

After that.

"Poor little boy, here are some pats for you!" Rori approached Izumi, gently patting his head.

"Well, she's just an ordinary girl, there's probably a chance she doesn't want you to get involved with something like killing and is worried that you can die anytime. But, your Haki probably frightened her the most. Although it was accidental, it certainly affected her at some points." Warrod also gave a response after Izumi told them what happened to him.

Tabane also voiced her thoughts.

"Not just that, though. With the life you're going through, it's understandable that it would later interfere with her normal life. She didn't want that. In the end, she decided to break up with you."

"She might be afraid that her family will get involved in the trouble you created." Rori voiced her opinion. She added. "How about you pretend to hide it? You can say you're not going to do that again."

"I doubt that I can lie when my lies are going to be exposed in the future." Izumi replied.

"You mean?"

Those chat group members were confused. They didn't understand what Izumi meant at all.

"I'll tell you later. There are outsiders over here."

They looked at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The three of them had nothing to do with what Izumi wanted to say. And it would be better if he didn't say it openly.

"So that's why these brats became your target to vent your depression?" Hiiro, who had been silent all this time, started to speak while pointing at Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.

"Just because you're tall, don't think you're much older to call them brats! You're just 18. And these kids are just a few years younger than you."

"And you called them kids even though you're 3 years younger than me?"

Seeing the two of them start to argue, Naruto asked Warrod in a low voice.

"Gramp Warrod, have they always been like this?"

"Yes, they always fight over small matters, even though Izumi is just joking. However, Hiiro always took Izumi's jokes seriously. All in all, Hiiro was annoyed by Izumi's behavior all the time."

"I see. By the way, gramps. Why is your face like a tree trunk?"

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Naruto, that's rude!"

With Naruto's question to Warrod, Sasuke and Sakura felt that the question was very disrespectful toward the old man. But Warrod laughed instead.

"Hohoho, it's because I once ate tree trunks."

Hearing Warrod's answer, those kids were dumbfounded. After a while, Warrod added.

"That was a joke, hohoho."

"Are you kidding?"

"What the hell!"

"That was joking?"

They were taken aback by Warrod's antics which was completely unexpected. They indeed thought that what Warrod stated was true since Warrod's face resembled a tree trunk. They didn't expect that Warrod was just joking.

"Well, I became like this because of my Jutsu." Warrod explained.

"Your Jutsu? What kind of Jutsu was that? Are you joking again?" Sasuke was surprised by Warrod's words because he had never heard of a Jutsu that could permanently change a person's appearance.

"Hohoho, you know me, do you? Indeed I was joking."

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura twitched their brows. They became confused by Warrod's words which made them not know which one was true, and which one was joking.

"Of course, that joke was just a joke. Hohoho!"

"What the heck with this old man!!!" Naruto was irritated by Warrod's antics.

"Hohoho. Anyway, if you want to look, here!"

Warrod displayed four types of hand seals. Then...

"Mokuton: Shichuurou no Jutsu."

Timber under the ground grew rapidly while forming a wooden prison, trapping both Izumi and Hiiro together. Well, that was Warrod's intention, but Izumi seemed to notice, so he got away swiftly. Only Hiiro got trapped in it.

"Gramps, you know that I can escape from this prison, right?" Izumi said.

"Well, I just want to stop your fighting."

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura were surprised.

"Mokuton?"

"That was the First Hokage's Jutsu, wasn't it, Sasuke-kun?"

"Yeah, I didn't know that this Jutsu could change his appearance."

"Maybe this was because he wasn't from the Senju clan?"

"It's possible."

While Sasuke and Sakura were talking to each other, Naruto cut them off.

"Hey, what is Mokuton? What do you mean by The First Hokage?"

"You idiot, haven't you read the history of our village?"

"That's right. You should learn more, Naruto!"

Not getting an answer from Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi explained to Naruto.

"Mokuton, as the name suggests, it is a Jutsu to release the wood element. And the First Hokage was the first to use this Jutsu."

"Wow, that's amazing. So which is stronger between the First Hokage and this old man?"

"Well, The First Hokage could use Senjutsu chakra, so, The First Hokage is still stronger."

"Senjutsu? What is that?"

"I can tell you Senjutsu later if you can master the others first!"

Naruto felt that Senjutsu was something very powerful, so he was very interested. It motivated him to get stronger since Kakashi wanted to teach it.

"Then, I'll train harder to master Ninjutsu like the others first." Naruto said confidently.