167. Gomu Gomu no—

Izumi waved his hand toward Yuki Onna as a gesture to come closer.

Yuki Onna approached Izumi from behind and asked.

"Izumi-sama, what's your order?"

"I just need your help with something."

"What would that be, Izumi-sama?"

Izumi responded to her question by forming a hand seal, and a shadow clone appeared from the smoke.

"Follow my shadow clone and do as I command you."

Yuki Onna nodded, then followed Izumi's clone somewhere.

Kazuma and Hiiro didn't know what Izumi was planning. When they asked, Izumi only answered vaguely, so they didn't ask anymore.

Meanwhile, Neji's face looked furious due to someone who underestimated him so much.

Neji is a prodigy and always feels superior to others at his age. Never did he think that someone else would treat him like that. There was no way Neji would accept it.

"I'll destroy your friend first, then it's your turn!" Neji looked at Izumi with hatred. Neji added. "Lee, step back! I'm going to destroy him!"

Seeing Neji's wrath, Lee couldn't help but back away and say to himself. "You guys are so unlucky to make Neji so angry. You don't know that the best rookie in this Chūnin exam is our team."

Lee felt that his team was the best in the Chūnin exam this time without taking Gaara into account because they felt that they were much stronger than the other teams.

If Izumi could read Lee's thoughts, he would laugh at him. Izumi looked down on them since he knew the strength limit they could bring. However, they didn't think the same way as Izumi.

They underestimate other teams because they believe that they are strong enough and they never estimate the limits of the strength and ability that their opponents can show.

Neji activated the Byakugan, and what he saw on Luffy's body was slightly different from what he usually saw in other people. But Neji ignored it. Neji injected a certain amount of his chakra into his hands and fingers to perform a gentle fist: Pressure Points Needle.

"Juuken: Tenketsushin."

Neji used his fingers to attack Luffy. But when his fingers stabbed Luffy's body, it seemed like his finger bounced back. Neji knitted his brows. All he could think of was the strangeness that happened to Luffy's body. When he was about to try again, he didn't realize that Luffy's hand was already in front of him.

"—Pistol no Jutsu!"

*Whack*

Neji got a hit right in the face which sent him flying backward. Lee who was behind Neji held him from being thrown any further.

Meanwhile, Izumi slapped his own head in amazement. Izumi couldn't tell if Luffy was creative or dumb.

"What the fuck with Pistol no Jutsu? He just change the name of his move."

"Hahahaha."

Izumi commented, while Kazuma laughed out loud. Kazuma just didn't expect Luffy to change the name of his move just to make him more like a ninja.

"Neji, are you alright?" Lee and Tenten asked. But Neji answered coldly.

"You don't need to care about me!"

Neji felt something strange with Luffy because Luffy's body could deflect his attack.

Neji moved quickly to get closer to Luffy.

"Hakke Hasangeki!"

Neji hits Luffy at close range with a powerful wave of chakra emitted from his palm. The attack is a shockwave attack that focuses on Luffy's weak points.

Luffy felt a shockwave inside his body that sent him flying backward. However, Luffy immediately stood up as if the attack didn't affect him at all.

Lee himself was quite surprised to see Luffy was still fine even though Neji hit him seriously.

"How is that possible? Didn't Neji's attack affect him?"

But when he saw Luffy again, he was dumbfounded as Luffy extended both his arms and spun around as if Luffy was warming up.

Both Shikamaru and Neji's teams were dumbfounded. Meanwhile, Sasuke and Sakura weren't too surprised.

They saw Luffy could stretch out his arm like rubber when he punched Orochimaru. And Izumi told them that it was Luffy's Kekkei Genkai ability.

Luffy let out a chuckle.

"Hihihi, you're quite strong. I created this Ninjutsu a long ago, you know. Be prepared, Gatling no Jutsu."

Luffy released rapid punches, creating multiple clones of fists. Neji admitted that Luffy's punches were too fast. What he saw was blurry multiple fists even though he used Byakugan. Still, Neji took a defensive stance, then…

"Juukenhou Ougi: Kaiten."

Neji emitted chakra from all over his body to block them. He then spun rapidly, intending to repel Luffy's punches. Unfortunately, Neji couldn't keep up with the speed of Luffy's punches. And the worst part was, Luffy's punches were getting stronger and stronger.

Failing to withstand Luffy's barrage of punches, the Hyuga clan's famous defensive Taijutsu finally broke. And Neji couldn't help but take the punches that Luffy unleashed.

On the other hand, the members of the chat group couldn't hold back their laughter any longer. The reason was none other than Luffy. Luffy said that he created a Ninjutsu. It turned out that wasn't an actual Ninjutsu, but just his trademark move he renamed it by himself.

Due to their laughter, the ninjas from Konohagakure thought that Izumi and the others were mocking Neji. They didn't understand the exact reason for the laughs. Even if Izumi told them the truth, they wouldn't believe him.

Tenten was furious and decided to attack Izumi's group. When she was about to attack, Izumi whispered to Hiiro.

Hiiro's index finger shone, and he began to write something. Tenten threw the weapons using a weapon technique, or it was usually called Bukijutsu.

Due to her technique, the weapons she threw suddenly multiplied as if transformed into a rain of weapons.

It was at that moment Hiiro activated his magic and those weapons turned back to Tenten as the effect.

Tenten was surprised by the sudden counterattack. She attempted to avoid those weapons while performing a hand seal.

"Kai."

A lot of those weapons dispersed into smoke. But, it was unfortunate for her that the remaining of her weapons flew toward her. As a result, she received wounds that caused her blood to gush out.

Tenten groaned in pain while looking at Hiiro who looked calm as he effortlessly returned Tenten's attack.

"How is that possible?" Tenten still couldn't believe there was a Jutsu like the one Hiiro released where he didn't even use a hand seal.

"Tenten!" Neji and Lee cried out.

Izumi narrowed his eyes. It wasn't because of Neji or any ninjas from Konohagakure, but something else.

"Heh, do you think erasing your presence can fool me?" Izumi sneered inwardly.

All of a sudden, Lee attacked Hiiro to pay back what he did to Tenten. Izumi responded by spinning his body and launching a spinning back kick.

*Wham*

His kick landed on Lee's stomach and he was thrown to Neji's position.

It happened too fast. Even Neji almost couldn't follow Izumi's movement at all.

*Cough*

"Lee. Are you alright?"

"It's fine, Neji-san. As I expected, he's fast. I didn't even see how he kicked me."

Meanwhile, Neji clenched his fists. Izumi's movement was too fast. And he did that with ease as if it was usual for him. That seemed to prove that Izumi's ability was above Neji's. That pissed Neji off. Neji didn't want to admit it. Anyhow, Neji considered himself to be the most talented among others.

While the other Ninjas from Konohagakure felt that Izumi's group was too much.

"What do you mean we are too much?" Kazuma didn't understand why they got angry.

"Didn't you laugh at Neji and his team earlier? You made fun of them." Ino replied.

Kazuma glanced at Izumi awkwardly. And Izumi just responded by shrugging his shoulders.

"Wait, Ino. Looks like we're the ones who misunderstood!" Shikamaru who was quite observant of the situation began to speak and made the other ninja from Konohagakure glance at him.

"What do you mean Shikamaru?" Choji asked, however Shikamaru didn't answer, instead, he looked at Izumi and asked.

"Can you tell me why you were laughing earlier?"

"Guess what? If you think we're toying with that brat called Neji, that's fine as well." Izumi curled his mouth upward after saying that. And his expression showed that he didn't seem to care if the ninjas from Konohagakure had misunderstood them.

"I'm just curious. It seems that this is related to the straw hat, right?"

Izumi responded by giving a smile.

"I see, it means we have all misunderstood. Sorry if we were wrong." Shikamaru realized that they had really misunderstood, so he apologized on behalf of his friends. The others who realized their mistake immediately apologized. But Izumi waved his left hand up without looking at them, which indicated that Izumi didn't mind it.

Sasuke who had been silent all this time began to ask.

"I didn't see anything funny. Can you tell me the reason?"

Kuroneko smiled and wanted to reply, but Izumi interrupted her.

"No need to tell them Kuroneko!"

"Sigh, forget about it. It's too troublesome to think."

Shikamaru wanted to complain because he didn't get a definite answer, but he gave up.