197. Yo, We Meet Again!

On that day, Sasuke had a day off. Kakashi told him to train by himself. But, he didn't know what kind of training he should do.

He wanted to find Kakashi by walking leisurely along the riverbank. Just then, he felt a tremor as if someone was fighting nearby.

He was curious about who made such a commotion, so he tried to get closer to the location.

When he saw those people who made a commotion, he was stiffened. His blood boiled. His anger, hate, and hatred shrouded his mind.

"Uchiha Itachi!!!"

He gathered his chakra on his palm, and a spark of lightning gathered around his palm with a loud screeching sound. Then he dashed toward Itachi without caring about how strong Itachi was.

"Wait, don't!" The Jōnin-level ninjas warned Sasuke. But, Sasuke's ears seemed deaf by ignoring them all.

However, Sasuke's aim was off the mark after Itachi easily grabbed Sasuke's wrist and changed the direction of the attack target. Itachi tightened his grip and caused Sasuke to roar in pain.

Sasuke fell to the ground while holding his wrist. At that moment, a wind suddenly pulled Sasuke to the back and he fell in front of Izumi.

Due to Sasuke's appearance, Kisame jumped back to Itachi's side, and the Jōnin-level ninjas also backed off.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't reply to Izumi's question, instead, he said to him.

"Don't get in the way. I want to kill him. To avenge the Uchiha clan."

"You're not on his level. Just back off!"

Hearing Izumi said that, Sasuke's anger rose.

"Shut up! What do you know about me? He killed my parents. They are his parents as well. I won't back off unless I kill him."

Izumi was annoyed by him. Not only did he just suddenly appear and intervene in Izumi's battle, but he also recklessly charged at Itachi without knowing the difference in their level.

"YOU'RE GET IN THE WAY, MOTHERF**KER!" Izumi screamed at Sasuke.

Izumi immediately unleashed his Haki. Although Izumi couldn't control it perfectly, he could unleash it freely and it was strong enough to knock out the weak-willed people while intimidating them with his willpower.

Naturally, Sasuke immediately passed out, Kurenai trying to withstand the intimidation while kneeling. Guy, Asuma, Itachi, and Kisame felt the pressure in their spirits. They didn't know what that was. But it definitely came from Izumi.

Kakashi himself was also taken aback after feeling Izumi's Haki. Although he was already strong enough, he didn't think that Izumi's Haki could affect him.

After Izumi knocked out Sasuke, his gaze turned to Itachi while Izumi's eyes were still closed.

"Now then, you two still seem to be hiding your real strengths. If you want, you can also bring out all your abilities. Especially Itachi. Don't you want to use the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

Itachi looked at Izumi solemnly. The longer he listened to Izumi's words, the more he crept as if Izumi grasped all his secrets.

Itachi didn't respond to Izumi's words.

And then, Izumi silently activated his space magic.

Izumi took a step while using his right foot, but he suddenly appeared at a different spot, three meters away from the previous spot. He took another step with his left foot, and the same thing happened.

Izumi smirked.

"How is it? Using Tsukuyomi is impossible for you since I always close my eyes. Or perhaps, you want to use Amaterasu? Or Susanoo? That's fine as well."

Although Itachi was expecting Izumi to know his secrets. Itachi didn't think that Izumi knew that much. If Itachi really fought all out against Izumi, Itachi would be at a disadvantage.

Itachi immediately told Kisame to get away since they were still in Konohagakure. Itachi wasn't just at disadvantage in his leaked abilities, but he was also at disadvantage with numbers and location.

And after a split second, their figures disappeared out of thin air.

Izumi clicked his tongue.

"Tsk."

Izumi immediately walked away with annoyance while carrying Sasuke, ignoring the Jōnin-level ninjas behind him. They didn't know the reason for Izumi's displeasure. Fending off S-class criminals like Itachi and Kisame should be worthy of a feat.

After Izumi was out of sight, Asuma asked Kakashi.

"Kakashi, he dragged Sasuke. Don't you want to follow him?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"No. Sasuke already decided to go with him. So, I just let Izumi bring Sasuke back with him."

Kurenai stepped forward.

"By the way, Kakashi. Is that kid really 15 just as you said back then? I find it unbelievable with such strength."

"He is. That's why he becomes the central figure of his village." Kakashi replied.

They questioned Kakashi one by one. And Kakashi just calmly replied to their questions.

— — — —

Izumi got back to his living quarters while carrying Sasuke. After entering his living quarters, he met the others and sat on a long chair while squatting. Then resting his chin on his knees while explaining what happened earlier. After that, Izumi asked Hiiro to restrain Sasuke with his magic. Sasuke was too reckless. If he met Itachi, his head filled with thoughts of revenge and he went blind as a result.

If Sasuke really wanted revenge, at least he should be calm and level-headed to keep things under control. If his mind was filled with only negative thoughts when confronting Itachi, it wouldn't end with a good result.

"How are they?" Rori asked.

Izumi took a glance at Rori before answering.

"Pretty strong. But, if I want to defeat them, I need to use my Haoshoku and Busoshoku Haki. It's a good thing that I know their strengths and how to deal with them." Everyone already knew that he could use Busoshoku Haki after his match against Luffy. So, everyone wasn't that surprised.

"Why didn't you just kill them? If you used your IS, you could burn them to ashes." Tabane commented.

"Nah. I doubt it. Itachi can use Susanoo. So, unless I tire his eyes. It's impossible to win against him. Furthermore, I don't want to kill them."

"Eh, why? Are you gonna invite Itachi to the chat group?"

"Not really."

"So, you already have another person in mind?"

"Yup, there are actually two candidates."

"Sasuke is one of them?"

"Out of the question."

Izumi waved his hand to deny it. Then he added,

"One of them is Kisame. As for another one, let's talk about that later. I'm gonna find those two first with Rori. Then I'll go to Orochimaru's base since I marked him thanks to Rori who put something on his body."

Everyone had already guessed what Izumi would do with Orochimaru, so they didn't need to question it. But they were taken aback since Izumi intended to invite Kisame to the group.

— — — —

A few hours later.

Just like what happened in the canon, Jiraiya was lured by a woman who had been hypnotized. He left Naruto at the inn alone.

All of sudden, someone appeared beside him while carrying a girl. Naruto was scared shitless by those two.

"Ahahaha. Your expression is too amusing, Naruto."

"Ufufufu. You're so cute, little cat boy."

The two of them laughed at Naruto. And naturally, those two were Izumi and Rori.

"How did you suddenly appear beside me, Izumi-san?" Naruto held his chest while asking. His heartbeat started to calm down after a while.

"I put a Jutsu formula on your body when we trained with that old man, Jiraiya." Izumi pointed at Naruto's shoulder.

"A Jutsu formula?" Looking at Izumi's index finger, Naruto took off his jacket to find out what was on his shoulder.

Then, he saw words in kanji such as endurance, love, and sword. But he didn't understand what those meant at all.

"Is this a Jutsu formula? Jutsu formula for what?" Naruto asked in wonder. Izumi just smiled lightly while replying.

"It's for Hiraishin no Jutsu."

Naruto lit his eyes

"Ah, you mean this is a Jutsu formula required for that Jutsu?"

He naturally knew that Jutsu since Izumi already told him once when they met for the first time. But, Naruto never thought that Jutsu needed something like a Jutsu formula.

"In that case, Izumi-san, can you teach me?"

"I'm not sure if you can do it. After all, this Jutsu is more difficult and troublesome than your Rasengan. Unless you understand the concept of space, you won't be able to learn this Jutsu."

Space is a form of coordination of coexisting objects and states of matter. It consists of the fact that objects are extra-posed to one another in three linear dimensions.

Izumi was lucky enough to learn and understand the concept of space through his space magic. However, the other people weren't as lucky as him since learning the concept of space was too difficult. Space was everywhere, but no one could feel it. Different from other things such as fire, wind, etc.

Just as Naruto was about to ask, Izumi felt two familiar auras.

He put his index finger on his lips, gesturing for Naruto to quiet.

Naruto didn't know why, but Izumi's expression was so serious. It was the first time Naruto had seen such an expression from him.

The sound of footsteps could be heard after a moment. And the footsteps were getting closer each second.

The moment they slammed the door, a powerful wind blast launched at them from zero distance before they couldn't even react.

In an instant, both of them blasted out of the town.

"Rori, let's go!"

Izumi immediately grabbed Rori's waist. He created a whirlwind on his feet while holding Rori, to launch themselves to catch up with the other two.

Naruto was thrown backward due to the impact. He immediately got up although didn't understand what happened. Then, he immediately jumped and rushed in Izumi's direction.

— — — —

The two who were thrown out of the town were Itachi and Kisame.

They weren't expecting that someone would launch an attack on them. They were confused. They were sure that Jiraiya already took the bait and left Naruto alone. But, there was still someone who protected Naruto despite believing that Naruto's partner was Jiraiya only.

Not long after, two people appeared in front of Itachi and Kisame. Both of them closed their eyes as if they had already anticipated Itachi's Sharingan.

"Yo, we meet again, Itachi."