191. On The Top Of The Giant Toad

When Izumi arrived, the forest was in a mess. The reason was due to the one-tailed beast and Gamabunta. He could see clearly how big Shukaku and Gamabunta were. Izumi landed on a tree branch while carrying Luffy. Izumi took off his IS, the metallic armor instantly disappeared as if absorbed into his ring.

As Izumi looked at Luffy beside him, he saw Luffy's eyes seem to be spinning. It was weird considering Izumi piloted his IS normally.

"Is it because his body is similar to rubber, so when I held him at the speed of Mach 2, his body or head spun behind me?" Izumi murmured in a low voice. Izumi then knocked on Luffy's head three times.

"Oy, wake up, lazy bum!"

Unable to be awakened gently, Izumi carried up Luffy's body and slammed him into the tree next to him.

*bang* *bang* *bang*

"Auch, what the hell are you doing?"

"It isn't easy to wake you up, so I had to do it the hard way."

"That was your fault in the first place!"

"Alright, alright, it's my fault. But, didn't you want to see Naruto's fight? He's over there!"

Izumi admitted that it was his fault, but his expression didn't say so. Izumi himself immediately approached the place where Naruto and Gaara were fighting.

"Don't change the topic! Uh, hey, wait for me!"

Sometimes, Luffy's attitude was unreasonable since he was too stubborn. Sometimes it was the opposite. However, Izumi didn't care about that, Luffy's still the dumb Luffy anyway. As long as Izumi prepared a bunch of meat, Luffy would submit to him.

Getting closer and closer, Izumi could see Sasuke in the huge tree branch while looking at Naruto's battle. There was also Sakura who seemed to be trapped by the sand binding which was clearly Gaara's ability.

Izumi shook his head while approaching him silently.

"What are you looking at? Jealous of his growth?"

Of course, what Izumi meant was about Naruto's progress. Sasuke was surprised by Izumi's voice who suddenly spoke behind him. Sasuke looked behind his back, but he couldn't answer. Izumi said again.

"Do you know the reason why Naruto's growth is so fast?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. But then he put on a downcast expression. He also wanted to know how Naruto could become that strong.

"It was his determination and willpower which you currently don't have. Not determined to revenge like you, but his will to save people around him since he is determined to be the Hokage in the future. He tried to beat Gaara to get Sakura out of the sand binding, plus, he wanted to save Gaara because he can feel Gaara's childhood was so much worse than his. Both of them are similar, they have monsters in their bodies that make people afraid of them. He wants Gaara to realize that there are still people who care about him even though he is hated by many people." Izumi spat them out because he was dissatisfied with Sasuke. If Izumi didn't say this, Sasuke would never realize why Naruto was growing so fast. Without waiting for Sasuke to speak, Izumi added as he pointed his index finger at Sasuke, then Sakura.

"And look at you! You didn't even try to save Sakura even though Gaara was fixated on Naruto. You care too much about yourself, you don't care about the people around you, even your close friends. This is why Naruto's progress is so fast, while you don't have any significant progress. You need to change your thinking from now on!"

Sasuke's heart shook. He started to think, Sakura became like that only because of defending him from Gaara's attacks. However, he didn't even think to save her back, he just look at Naruto's progress in jealousy instead. Once again, he heard Izumi say.

"Lemme tell you a fact. Determination and willpower within someone might unconsciously draw out something hidden within their body that might unleash a powerful ability. You've seen it before."

Then Izumi pointed at Naruto who was riding a giant toad.

"You mean Naruto's transformation?"

With a little hint, Sasuke immediately understood. Naruto had a little transformation when he was in a pinch, where there were changes in the eyes, teeth, aura, and chakra.

"So, you understand why you have to change, right?"

Sasuke understood what Izumi had said, but he said back.

"But I don't have something like Naruto in my body."

"Fucking stupid! You're you, Naruto is Naruto. Both of you are different. Of course, in terms of ability too!!! You don't have to be the same as him!! Or, do you need to be stubborn like this and only want revenge? You can revenge, but you need to be aware of your situation and the people around you!! Your strength isn't worth being looked at!!! And also, can you find any information on why your brother massacred your clan before taking revenge? You know your best how your brother was when you were little. Why did he do that? Did you know his reason? No, right?"

When Izumi talked about Itachi, Sasuke stiffened. Especially when Izumi mentioned Itachi's personality when Sasuke was little. At that time, Sasuke was also dumbstruck as, to why such a nice older brother had changed drastically and killed everyone. There must be something that his brother hid from him. Those words also made Sasuke think that Izumi knew a secret he didn't know.

As he wanted to ask, Izumi said.

"I know what you're gonna say. I won't tell you. You better find that information by yourself! Or if I think you're already strong enough, I can tell you everything." He grabbed Sasuke's shoulder to convince him.

"Can you keep up your words?"

"Keep up with what?"

"To make me stronger."

"Do I need to lie to you since you're gonna be one of us?" Izumi replied with a smile.

More importantly, Izumi didn't like fighting between siblings, especially what Itachi did just to save Sasuke in the past. Itachi was a good person. However, knowing the Uchiha clan wanted to revolt, Danzo exploited it.

Danzo once said to Itachi, if Itachi couldn't stop the rebellion, then Danzo had no choice but to massacre the Uchiha clan including his little brother, Sasuke. And at that time, Itachi had the task of stopping the rebellion within the time limit set by Danzo. But, he failed.

Instead, Danzo fumed the flames in the back and made the Uchiha clan get out of control. Then, he realized Danzo's plan after Danzo gouged the eye of Itachi's friend. Danzo was after the Uchiha clan's eyes, Sharingan. And he would do anything in order to get those eyes. Leaving no choice, Itachi asked if Danzo would leave Sasuke alive.

Unexpectedly, Danzo agreed. Danzo told him to kill the Uchiha clan by himself. Danzo thought it was impossible for Itachi to massacre his own clan by himself. But, Danzo was unaware that Itachi was getting aid from a man with a one-eyed Sharingan. That man also told Itachi, the secret of the Uchiha clan, especially Sharingan. That man said that the strength of Sharingan came from a deep hatred, hate, loathe, or many kinds of negative emotions. And that mostly happened to people from the Uchiha clan.

As a result, after killing everyone from the Uchiha clan, Itachi appeared in front of Sasuke while holding a weapon covered with blood as if he indirectly told Sasuke that he was the one who killed everyone in the Uchiha clan. He did everything for Sasuke's future.

However, there was a big mistake he made. Due to Itachi's provocation that revenge could make Sasuke stronger, he didn't realize that what he said made Sasuke antagonize the Konoha village.

Izumi walked toward Sakura, then touched her while activating his magic. With his complete control over his magic, he saved Sakura by teleporting her.

When he was about to say something, he could sense that Luffy wasn't around.

"What the fuck!!!" Izumi cursed loudly after finding Luffy's position. Hearing Izumi curse, Sasuke looked at Izumi and followed Izumi's gaze.

Quite far from where Izumi was, Temari who was hiding also heard his curse.

"Why all of the people, he's the one who coming here?" Temari had seen how capable and strong Izumi was. Temari was sure, of all the examinees in the Chūnin-exam, he was the second person to be feared after Gaara.

And what scared her even more, Izumi seemed to be floating in the air.

Izumi's gaze was fixed on a place, exactly above Gamabunta's head. Izumi could see two silhouettes standing above Gamabunta. Unmistakably, they were both Naruto and Luffy.