165. Meet Kuroneko's Team

"Wait a moment! You've been speaking as if you knew very well Orochimaru was. Who is he really?"

Hearing Sasuke's question, Izumi wondered how he could not know the Legend of the Three Ninjas.

When Izumi's gaze landed on Sasuke, Izumi was surprised to see the tomoe in Sasuke's eyes increase by one. He was already one step away from upgrading to the Mangekyou Sharingan.

What Izumi had in mind was, perhaps Kakashi's training method was different from what he did in canon. Izumi pretended not to notice that Sasuke had upgraded his Sharingan. Then, he began to tell everyone who Orochimaru was.

Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to find out that Orochimaru was one of the Legendary Three Ninjas from Konohagakure village.

"Then, why is a ninja as excellent as him expelled from Konohagakure village? Isn't that detrimental to the village?" Sakura asked in wonder.

Izumi held his chin for a moment, then shook his head.

"This kind of thing is a little bit sensitive. I feel like it's better if you ask Kakashi or someone else from Konohagakure."

Sasuke and Sakura couldn't reply. Sure enough, that was not the right thing for Izumi to say.

Izumi walked slowly, then sat beside Naruto who had been unconscious since earlier. Naruto's condition was only weakened and there was no danger whatsoever. He lifted Naruto's shirt slightly to see the seal on his stomach. However, Izumi did not see the seal on it.

"I see, no wonder Naruto didn't realize there was a seal on his stomach." Izumi said to himself. His voice was so low that only Izumi himself could hear it.

The seal on Naruto's stomach is the seal of the nine-tailed fox. The seal will not appear unless Naruto concentrates on using chakra.

"Is he all right?"

Sakura asked, but Izumi shook his head.

"The chakra flow in his body is in disorder due to Orochimaru's attack. This will make him unable to control his chakra properly from now on."

"Didn't he really not be able to control chakra that well in the first place?"

"Half right, and half wrong, Sakura. If my deduction is correct, there is something in his body that disturbs his chakra flow. However, when the first time we met, he could manipulate his chakra already. He could even perfectly use a large number of shadow clones. That meant he was already getting used to it even if something in his body disturbed the chakra flow."

"You're kidding, right? If your statement is true, does that mean his control over his chakra is better than mine?" Sakura almost couldn't believe it. Among the Genin-level ninja from Konohagakure, Sakura is number one in terms of chakra mastery. But, it seems that is not the case anymore.

Izumi nodded.

"Exactly. Also, you might not know, Naruto's chakra capacity is actually at the same level as a Kage-level ninja."

"Wait wait! Did I hear it wrong?"

Not only Sakura, even Sasuke felt that their hearing was having problems.

"I can sense someone's strength. Well, let's just say I'm a sensor-type ninja who can sense auras, powers, presences, and more. For now, something is hindering his development. And once Naruto is released from his shackles, his strength will increase drastically."

Sakura was silent for a moment, then she glanced at Naruto who was lying down while saying quietly.

"So all this time, he wasn't as stupid as I thought?"

"When it comes to Naruto's talent, Sasuke, his talent is on par with yours." Izumi turned his gaze to Sasuke.

"With mine?" Sasuke turned to Izumi while pointing at himself with his index finger.

"Yeah, your talent is in your eyes, Naruto's talent is in the chakra capacity. You both have the same talent, but at the same time, different."

"That should be the case. But with the nine-tailed fox in Naruto's body, his talent exceeds yours, Sasuke." Izumi added in his mind.

Thanks to Izumi's statement, Sasuke's gaze turned to Naruto. Sasuke himself seemed to believe in his disbelief that Naruto also had talent. He also realized that Naruto's progress, which was arguably slow before, was now starting to catch up with him. Even Sakura, who incidentally had perfect chakra control at her age, has been surpassed.

Talking about Naruto, Sasuke remembered something. He wanted to ask Izumi, but he decided to keep quiet.

Sasuke was still curious about Naruto who sometimes seemed to change. Just like when Naruto's eyes were like a cat's eyes, his canines looked sharp, and his strength increased.

The transformation made Sasuke curious. And maybe that's what made Naruto avoided by the people in the village.

After that, Izumi and his group left. Izumi's goal to approach Sasuke wasn't just to drive away Orochimaru, but also to prevent Sasuke from going to Orochimaru's place to increase his powers.

However, since Sasuke did not receive guidance from Orochimaru, Izumi had to find a way to utilize and develop Sasuke's talents.

Then, Izumi let out a smile. Since Kaiyougakure and Konohagakure villages were allied with each other, it might be good if he invited Sasuke for special training. And before that, he had to let everyone show their strength.

"But, if we do that openly, Danzo will get in the way. It seems I need Kakashi's help." Izumi muttered in a low voice.

With that in mind, he decided to bring Sasuke. And it was also to prevent Orochimaru as well since he wouldn't give up on Sasuke, the easiest target for his future vessel.

— — — —

Izumi was looking for Kuroneko's team, and because Kuroneko was always changing places, Izumi met them when evening arrived.

Izumi's team who was walking toward Kuroneko's team made a rustling sound from the bushes. This surprised them which made Kuroneko and the others wary of someone coming. But when Kuroneko saw Izumi and the others, she sighed in relief.

"I thought you guys were another team."

"We're also another team, you know." Izumi shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, what have you guys been doing since the exam started?"

Yuki Onna immediately explained to Izumi. She said that Kuroneko had defeated two teams and was spying on Gaara. But since Gaara immediately finished the current exam by going to the tower in the middle of the forest, they went around to watch the ninja battles since Hiiro was also interested in Ninjutsu in the shinobi world.

"If you want to learn, just ask me! Learning by yourself is quite hard, you know."

"Tsk." Hiiro didn't expect that Yuki Onna would tell anything, including his interest in Ninjutsu.

"You're really a troublesome tsundere, Hiiro."

Then, Izumi also told them how he and his team immediately went to find Naruto's team and fought against Orochimaru. After that, they managed to seize 3 other scrolls apart from snatching Orochimaru's.

"Anyway, Orochimaru is too troublesome. He is too hard to kill. And it seems like he's also interested in my body."

Just after he said that, Kuroneko and Hiiro took a step back.

"Y-you're actually a ghey…?" Kuroneko pointed at Izumi.

"What the fuck are you thinking? Your brain seems to be infected by BL novels, are you? Anyway, let's put aside this joke."

Izumi looked around while sensing if someone was approaching or not. Sensing that no one else was around, he told his backup plan to others. And in the backup plan, Hiiro's role was very important, so Izumi explained in detail what Hiiro had to do.

— — — —

The next day, Izumi wanted to see if the trio from the Otogakure village had appeared in front of Team 7 which consisted of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. Or perhaps, Orochimaru himself would come again because he hadn't cast a curse on Sasuke yet.

Izumi led his team and Kuroneko's team toward Naruto's team's location. Kuroneko also seemed to be looking forward to the events that should occur in the anime by seeing them in person.

They made their way by ignoring the other teams. Unless the other teams got in their way, he would ignore them completely. And after an hour and a half had passed, they were already quite close to the location.

Kuroneko and Kazuma who weren't used to running long distances looked breathless. Izumi commented on them with a sneer.

"That's why you need exercise. Don't be like Kazuma who likes to lock himself in his room and skip school. Kazuma's future already looks dreary."

"Are you…picking…a fight?" Kazuma replied with a heavy breath. Everyone burst out laughing hearing how Kazumo spoke.