164. Fled

The groaning sound from the ground was Orochimaru's. Indeed, Orochimaru had skillfully created a clone to take his place, and he himself used a Jutsu to hide in the ground for a surprise attack.

If he fought against someone else, Orochimaru would probably be successful. But that was unfortunate for Orochimaru. With Izumi's Haki, he could sense someone's presence even if he couldn't see it directly. Naturally, he immediately knew where Orochimaru was.

Orochimaru came out of the ground with a surprised face. He was not just surprised that Izumi couldn't be fooled, but the attack that Izumi released was also very strong. It could even penetrate the ground, and precisely hit Orochimaru.

However, before Orochimaru could take a breath, Izumi was already in front of Orochimaru while swinging his sword.

*Slash*

Orochimaru dodged barely in time. As a result, his hand fell to the ground. Izumi was about to launch another slash, but he saw something from Orochimaru's other hand. Izumi immediately teleported since he could sense the danger.

Orochimaru shed his skin once again. But, after he shed his skin, his chakra dropped drastically just like earlier when he did the same way.

"Tsk, this snake is really troublesome." Izumi murmured while clicking his tongue. Because he felt that Orochimaru was like an immortal, he had to use a special way to defeat him.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru's view of Izumi also changed, as if he became more and more interested in his prey.

"Looks like this brat is getting serious, his aura changed drastically after taking the sword out of the scabbard. Heh, interesting. Maybe this brat is also suitable to be my vessel."

Orochimaru immediately bit his finger and used his blood to draw something in his left hand that had some kind of formula in it. He formed hand seals, in which Izumi realized what Jutsu he was about to release.

Izumi no longer hid his space magic, he immediately appeared on Orochimaru's left side while swinging his sword to cut Orochimaru's hand that had the formula on it.

Orochimaru was slightly surprised, but with a quick movement, he changed the form of hand seals.

*slash*

What Izumi slashed was a wooden block that replaced Orochimaru's position instead. Orochimaru who suddenly appeared behind Izumi immediately attacked by forming a hand seal. Then, Orochimaru's neck became elongated and flexible like a snake about to pounce on Izumi. His canine teeth also look elongated like the fangs of a venomous snake.

But when Orochimaru bit Izumi with his fangs to cast a curse, Orochimaru's head passed through Izumi's neck as if Izumi was a supernatural being.

Izumi transformed his body with his Devil Fruit power which made him invulnerable to physical attacks.

"I've been waiting for this moment!"

Izumi muttered as he launched a slash into Orochimaru's neck. However, thanks to Orochimaru's agility and reaction, he was able to dodge Izumi's attack even though his neck was still scratched and bleeding.

Initially, Izumi wanted to know what kind of Jutsu Orochimaru had. Especially "Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei", a forbidden Jutsu that could raise people from the dead using only the cells or DNA of that person he wanted to summon.

But Izumi was still worried about Orochimaru's sealing Jutsu, or Fūinjutsu. Orochimaru possessed a dangerous Fūinjutsu. So before Izumi could master it, or at least learn it, he needed to be cautious against Orochimaru.

Orochimaru covered his neck. He also felt something hurt inside his body after being hit by Izumi's sword. But, he didn't know what that was.

Surprisingly, even though he was wounded, Orochimaru still put a smirk on his face. Orochimaru seemed to have found a new target that was more unique, so his face was not annoyed at not being able to get Sasuke, and he looked delighted instead.

Even though Izumi's attack contained a soul attack, Izumi didn't know why Orochimaru seemed to be alright. He saw a change in Orochimaru's expression for a moment. That meant his attack definitely hurt his soul. But it was just a little bit.

Meanwhile, Luffy looked surprised at Orochimaru being able to lengthen his neck, which he finally asked.

"How can he lengthen his neck? Did he eat the Gomu Gomu no Mi like me?"

Izumi denied it.

"It's not a Devil Fruit, but a unique Ninjutsu from him. You shouldn't think there would be the same Devil Fruit, Luffy. It was impossible. Unless it was artificial." Izumi answered without taking his eyes off Orochimaru.

"What do you mean?"

"That means, since you've eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi, there won't be another fruit like that unless you die."

Izumi only briefly explained, then thought of a way to get rid of Orochimaru. However, he didn't want to be in a hurry or he might fall into Orochimaru's trap.

Izumi didn't dare to bring out his full strength since Orochimaru hadn't done so. He didn't know if Izumi could defeat him, but he wanted to try.

He couldn't let his guard down because Orochimaru seemed to save his strongest Jutsu. So, Izumi also had to save his strength just in case Orochimaru decided to go all out.

And his strongest Jutsu wasn't the Edo Tensei, but something else.

"Hufft."

Izumi let out his breath while gripping his sword tightly.

"Luffy, stay back! And protect Naruto's team. This is my fight." Izumi said.

Luffy knew that Izumi's battle was above him. Moreover, he trusts Izumi.

Luffy immediately backed away while bringing Naruto and the others to get away as soon as possible.

Izumi grinned evilly. He seemed thrilled by fighting against Orochimaru. His killing intent soared and assaulted Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was stunned. When he came to his senses, Izumi was already in front of him.

Orochimaru felt danger whenever Izumi attacked using his sword. With no other choice, Orochimaru spat out a sword from his stomach.

*Clank*

Sparks were created after the sword clashed. Orochimaru's sword was too hard. Moreover, the sword flew by itself. No, Orochimaru was the one who controlled it.

Izumi jumped a few steps away from Orochimaru with a delightful expression. It seemed he found an opponent on whom he could vent his emotions.

Orochimaru let out a chuckle.

"Hehehe. You're weird. I thought you would be afraid since I'm stronger than you imagined. I'm a little surprised that you can also control that killing intent of yours. How many people did you kill? Regardless, you're mine soon enough."

But, what he said responded with a laugh.

"Hahahaha."

"What's so funny?"

"It's good if you're strong. Otherwise, things wouldn't be so interesting. Do you want my body? Dream on! I'm not interested in an old fart like you."

Izumi moved in a flash and appeared in front of Orochimaru. He swung his sword diagonally from below.

*Clank*

Orochimaru blocked it by tilting his Kusanagi sword horizontally. However, a cold aura suddenly burst out of Izumi's body.

Izumi pushed aside the Kusanagi sword, spun around, and executed a horizontal slash.

The more Orochimaru fought against Izumi, the more disadvantaged he was. He could feel that Izumi was getting stronger and stronger. And Izumi's attack became more deadly each time he execute the attack.

"Hehe, what's up? Are you just at this level?" Izumi sneered without stopping his attack.

Orochimaru always tried to counterattack with his Ninjutsu or a deadly little snake he summoned. But, Izumi could predict all of his movements already. Orochimaru's attack couldn't hit him at all. Instead, it was Izumi's attacks that landed on Orochimaru.

Lucky for him that Orochimaru didn't use any Fūinjutsu. Otherwise, things would get troublesome.

Orochimaru clenched his teeth. He didn't understand how Izumi could teleport freely around him. It was similar to Hiraishin no Jutsu, but Izumi did it with ease, and without even using a hand seal either.

He could barely avoid any fatal attacks. And his body was filled with wounds and bleeding.

With no other choice, he choose to split and transformed into little white snakes. Most of them went toward Sasuke's direction, and some of them scattered in different directions to get away from Izumi.

Izumi immediately rushed toward Sasuke's place to eliminate all of those snakes.

At that moment, he heard a hoarse and eerie voice from a distance.

"Hehe, you're interesting. A brat from Kaiyougakure village. You will be mine. And Sasuke-kun, if you want to kill Itachi, you can come to find me. I can make you stronger. I can see your talent surpasses Itachi."

Hearing Orochimaru's words, Izumi's cheeks twitched, and said to himself.

"Of course, his talent exceeded Itachi. He is the reincarnation of Indra, a predecessor who was one of Princess Kaguya's grandsons, the first person to possess chakra."

Izumi detected the surroundings with Haki, but couldn't feel Orochimaru's aura anymore. Izumi muttered.

"Finally he's gone. I'm pretty sure, even if I kill him here with a soul attack, he'll still come back alive again."

But what Izumi said was heard by Sakura, she asked curiously.

"Are you sure that he can come back alive by himself?"

"Yup, thanks to his research into studying immortality."

"Immortality?" Sakura was surprised to hear Izumi's statement.

Meanwhile, Kazuma who saw Izumi's expression started to say.

"You seem interested in his research."

"Naturally, he is a genius. All his research results are very valuable when you look at it from the positive side." Izumi nodded in confirmation. He did not deny that he had an interest in what Orochimaru was researching. But this freaked Kazuma as he said.

"You intend to steal his research? You're out of your mind!"

Izumi narrowed his eyes and said.

"What the hell are you thinking? Of course not. Not to mention, Orochimaru has so many trump cards up his sleeve. This time, I was lucky he didn't go all out. Even though I could content him using all my strength, there was no merit in doing so. Don't forget that he can't be killed by normal means!"

"Besides, to get the bonus reward, I should at least be able to make Orochimaru retreat." Izumi added inwardly.

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

Sasuke was curious because Izumi seemed to know Orochimaru's character. So he decided to ask.