228. Shinrin Clan

"I will give you three seconds to reveal yourself or else…"

Shiing…

Izuna draws his Katana and points it at the small tree in front of him.

"Three."

Izuna readies his blade.

Swish…

A pair of eyes appears on the trunk of the tree as they stare at Izuna in bewilderment.

'How did he manage to locate me? He must be bluffing, right? There is no way, he can see me in this form. No sensory techniques should be able to sense my chakra.'

"Two."

Crackle… crackle…

Lightning crackles on Izuna's blade as it wildly dances on the ground.

Ah… HAh…

Izuna stabs his blade in the ground as lightning seeps into the earth. The lightning spreads through the entire cavern as it paralyzes the nearby vines.

'Wha… what's he trying to do?'

The eye on the tree moves frantically as the figure tries to make sense of Izuna's actions.

'He can see me?! No… he must be bluffing!'

Crackle… crackle…

Soon the entire cavern is filled with purple lightning.

"Looks like you don't have any plan to reveal yourself."

"…"

Slash…

Izuna slashes his blade and chops the tree in half.

Swoosh… BAM…

The upper portion of the tree falls on the ground as it is cleanly slit from the rest of the tree.

Crackle… crackle…

Purple lightning engulfs the tree and withers it away.

"Huh!"

Izuna withdraws his blade as he inspects the tree.

'Strange!… Even though I am unable to sense any chakra signature or any suspicious activity from this tree, but my intuition tells me something else. I felt like a pair of eyes is monitoring me.' Izuna raises his head and looks around.

'Also… thanks to my contract with Roen; I can sense negative emotions around me. It is weaker compared to Kurama's ability; so, I can only sense the presence in this area.'

Swish… swish… swish…

The vines release a barrage of thorns at Izuna.

Hmph…

Izuna waves his hand and releases a barrage of lightning senbons to deflect the attack.

'Secret Technique: Life Concealment'

'Huff… huff… that was a close call. I almost lost my life there.'

A pair of eyes appears on the trunk of the furthest tree. There is a trace of fear in the eyes as they stare at Izuna in trepidation.

'What kind of monster is this guy? Such keen senses!'

Whoosh…

Izuna jumps back and avoids all attacks.

'Still no trace. Huh!'

"Guess… I will try my final resort to sniff him out."

Izuna scrutinizes his surroundings as the feeling of being watched appears again. He continues to monitor his surroundings to search for the culprit.

'Let me see if Sage Mode's sensory abilities work or not.'

Izuna closes his eyes and absorbs Nature energy.

A cyan cloak appears around him as he senses his surroundings.

Hmm…

Izuna inspects the surrounding trees and vines as thick Nature energy permeates in the air.

'These trees are rich in Nature energy. I can't sense any other chakra signature thanks to the dense Nature energy.'

Sigh…

He takes a deep breath and dispels the Sage Mode.

"Guess… I can only resort to brute force method."

Swish… swish…

Izuna slowly makes some hand signs as he raises his head.

"Still not revealing yourself… I see. Don't blame me for the consequences, you forced my hand."

Izuna slams his palm on the ground.

"Lava Release: Molten Catastrophe"

Rumble… Rumble…

The ground trembles violently as a small rift appears in it. Molten lava erupts from the ground as the surrounding temperature rises rapidly.

Crackle… crackle…

Smoke rises from the vines and trees as they catch fire.

Gulp…

The expression of the eyes turns ugly as the intense heat burns his body.

'How powerful?! At this rate, if he completes his jutsu; then I would be severely injured. NO! I can't allow him to complete his jutsu.'

Rumble… Rumble…

The tree uproots itself from the ground as the nearby vines start to shudder.

Rumble… rumble…

The surroundings tree fuses with the tree as its height increases. The vines wrap around the giant tree and form a thorn armor. Purple fluid coats the pointed ends of the thorns as they shine with a deadly hue.

Two giant eyes appear on top of the trunk as the tree morphs into a humanoid form.

'Secret Technique: Heavenly Tree of Punishment'

Whoosh… BAM…

The giant tree monster jumps on top of Izuna in an attempt to crush him.

Whoosh…

Izuna avoids the attack and cancels his jutsu.

'The bait worked. Initially, I wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible; but his weird abilities piqued my interest.

His fighting skills may not be top notch, but his hiding skills sure are. He can even fool the sensory abilities of Sage Mode and Sharingan.'

Izuna raises his head to inspect the giant tree monster attacking him.

"F***!!… It is the Swamp Thing."

Izuna curses loudly as the appearance of the tree reminds him of a character from comics in his past life.

"What the heck!? First! A giant Torterra… now swamp thing… what would be next?!… a blue speedy hedgehog!"

Izuna unsheathes his Katana and slashes it at the giant tree.

"Kenjutsu: Moonlight Slash"

Slash… slash…

He releases a flurry of slashes as the vines and branches of the tree fall apart.

Roar…

The giant tree releases an agony of pain as green liquid drips from its branches.

Drip… drip…

A patch of small grass grows in place of the green liquid.

"What strong vitality!!"

Izuna squints his eyes as he notices the effect of the green liquid.

'I bet Mom would be happy to get this liquid. She won't have to worry about her orchids.'

Swoosh… swoosh…

New branches sprout from the slashed spots as the giant tree raises them to form a giant fist.

Bang…

He slams the fists towards Izuna.

Whoosh…

Izuna dodges the fists as they collide with the ground.

Rumble… Rumble…

Dust and debris rise in the air.

Hmm…

Izuna easily deflects the giant green tree monster as he ponders the possible origin of the tree.

'Is it some sort of mutated plant creature which absorbed large amounts of chakra? Or is it another abandoned lab experiment of that snake Orochimaru? He has been trying to replicate the Wood Release for a while.'

Thwack… thwack…

The giant tree continues to flay its arms around and Izuna nimbly dodges all its attacks.

Gulp…

Sweat appears around the eyes of the tree as they have an ugly expression.

'I can't maintain this form for too long. At this rate, I will exhaust myself and I will be forced to enter in hibernation.'

The giant tree continues to attack wildly as its momentum dies slowly.

'Has it hit its limit?'

Izuna stops and stares at the tree.

"Guess! There is only one way to find out."

Izuna slowly raises his palm as white flames appear in them.

"Inferno Release: Searing Flames"

He manipulates the flames and directs them towards the tree.

Ah!

The giant tree monster feels foreboding as the intense heat of white flames assault it.

Rumble…

The giant tree instantly falls on its knees as it bows before Izuna.

"I… I surrender. So… Please… don't kill me. Please spare my life."

Huh!

Izuna and the group are surprised to see this.

Swoosh…

Izuna makes some hand signs and disperses the flames as he scrutinizes the tree.

"Who are you?!"

Izuna slowly walks in front of the tree as his guard is up.

"I… I…"

The giant tree hesitates to answer.

Izuna confronts the giant tree as his eyes contact the eyes on the trunk.

"I presume… this is not your actual form. Revert to your original form and you might talk your way out of it. Or else, I can only get rid of you."

Izuna threatens the giant tree.

"Yes!!"

The giant tree gulps its saliva as it shrinks rapidly.

Whoosh…

A man with green eyes appears in front of Izuna. The roots, branches, vines, and sprouts withdraw into the man and revert into small seeds.

'Woah! He is tall."

Izuna raises his head to look him in eyes.

'I look a dwarf in front of this man. He is at least seven and a half foot tall.'

The man has long green hairs and there are two green seed-like marks above his brows. He has pale skin, and his arms and legs are skinny.

The man bows in front of Izuna as he introduces himself.

"My name is Kozue and I am a member of the Shinrin clan."