The day after, even though it was almost noon, the sky was still dark with black clouds covering the sky while the dropping waters that fell from the black clouds dampened the land.
Everyone wore all black. The expressions of the people, as well as the Konohagakure's ninjas, were as gloomy as the weather at that time, depicting the sadness that everyone radiated.
With such a heavy atmosphere, Izumi and his group didn't want to go outside. Even Luffy was put to sleep with Hiiro's magic so he wouldn't make trouble.
All of them successfully defend Konohagakure and prevent destruction. In canon, when Orochimaru attacked Konohagakure, many people fell and a lot of damage was caused by the three giant snakes that attacked the village. If not for Jiraiya's help, Konohagakure would take more damage.
However, with the help of the members of the chat group, apart from the Third Hokage, there were no other victims. In fact, there was almost no damage to the buildings since the enemies were killed outside the village. As for the enemies inside, most of them were killed by Rori.
The problem was the next enemies that should be arriving in Konohagakure soon, Itachi and Kisame.
Itachi might have joined an organization called Akatsuki to prevent the one-eyed Sharingan, self-claimed to be Madara, a legend of the Uchiha clan, from getting closer to his younger brother, Sasuke. However, Kisame was not the case.
Kisame joined Akatsuki because he was sick of the shinobi world that was full of lies and bullshit. Honestly, Izumi felt sorry for Kisame because he was betrayed by his village even with his devotion of loyalty. It might be a good option to invite Kisame to join the chat group. Although convincing Kisame to join the chat group was not an easy matter.
The reason Kisame became a villain was because of how deceitful his village was. He had been trusted since he was always assigned to carry out brutal and sadistic secret missions, including killing traitors or killing his friend in his mission so that the secrets of Kirigakure village won't spread out.
Unfortunately, the Mizukage betrayed him. By carrying out a decree that Kisame killed his teammates, Kisame lost his trust in his village. Following, he mercilessly killed everyone he deemed deserving of death.
It was until the one-eyed Sharingan appeared before him while controlling the Mizukage, then offered him to join Akatsuki. After hearing about the Mugen Tsukuyomi project, Kisame didn't hesitate to accept the offer since it piqued his interest.
— — — —
After the funeral ended, Izumi went outside to check on the situation. He didn't know when Itachi and Kisame would come, but there was no doubt that they came after the funeral. Be it one day after, or the day after that.
Izumi flew into the sky using his Devil Fruit power. He went to Konohagakure's great walls and looked at it from afar, however, he didn't find anything suspicious. Since he didn't find those two yet, Izumi intended to go back. While on his way, he found Jiraiya and Kakashi on the roof.
He went down and greeted two of them. Jiraiya frowned when looking at Izumi.
There was no doubt that Izumi could fly. It was not the first time he had seen such a Jutsu. If Izumi came from Iwagakure, it might be believable if Izumi mastered Kekkei Tōta from that village, which could let him fly into the sky. But, Izumi wasn't.
Rather, he was too suspicious of people from Kaiyougakure village since no one could be said "weak". It was as if they had an ulterior motive. "If they were that strong, why did they need to ally with Konohagakure?" That was the question that was always on Jiraiya's mind.
As if Izumi understood from Jiraiya's gaze, Izumi immediately turned to Kakashi and said,
"By the way, it would be better if you took Sasuke somewhere. He's already moving. It would be bad if Sasuke met him. His strength is in a different dimension after all."
Jiraiya didn't understand what Izumi meant.
Meanwhile, Kakashi replied.
"It's time, huh? Alright, I'll take Sasuke away and train him harder. Then, do you have a plan against him?"
"Heh, that's easy."
"Wait, wait! You two knew each other pretty well? And what are you talking about?" Since Jiraiya didn't understand their conversation, he stopped them.
Izumi turned to Jiraiya.
"Ah. He was the first person from Konohagakure who knew the people from my village. Anyway…" Izumi immediately created a wind barrier to block the sound. Naturally, Jiraiya was shocked by what Izumi did since Izumi didn't even form any hand seal. Izumi carried on.
"Anyway, we're talking about Uchiha Itachi. I don't know if you already heard it beforehand. He joined a certain organization called Akatsuki. And now, their target is over here."
"You know them as well?"
"Oh, it seems you also know them, old man."
After Izumi mentioned "Akatsuki", Jiraiya gradually let go of his suspiciousness. If Izumi was one of them, there was no way he would talk about that organization so casually.
Jiraiya explained.
"It began when I followed Orochimaru after he betrayed Konoha. Even though his nature has changed, I still consider him my friend. I followed him out of concern. However…"
Then Jiraiya said that Orochimaru joined Akatsuki, and the members consisted of some S-ranked ninjas. And recently, they began to look for a source of chakra by teaming up with a two-man team. He wasn't sure whether his hypothesis was correct or not. In any case, it wouldn't be a good thing if they started to move.
"That was easy to guess what they wanted to do." Izumi smirked.
"The nine-tailed fox's chakra."
"Exactly. But, we must avoid them as much as possible for the time being!" Izumi nodded.
"Why do you think so?"
"I'm afraid we're not strong enough."
"Hoho, you underestimate me, don't you?" Jiraiya smirked. Jiraiya's level was already on par with a Kage-level ninja. So, it was understandable if he had such confidence. But, Izumi shook his head.
"Anyway, our strength is nothing compared to Akatsuki."
Jiraiya frowned. He just recently found out about the organization called Akatsuki. Or at least, a few months ago. And he was certain that Akatsuki was hidden pretty well since he rarely heard about that organization. However, the kid in front of him seemed to know.
Izumi said further.
"They have 10 members and 1 mastermind. Their strength was at least the same level or above Orochimaru's level."
"What? In the first place, how did you know about them?"
"Oh, you believe me?" Izumi let out a smile. Jiraiya frowned in response.
"Are you lying?"
Then, Izumi narrowed his eyes. He had a serious expression on his face.
"I have my own way to get a little information about them. Each of them has the power to flatten a ninja village. Let me be honest with you, don't even think about fighting them unless the 5 great shinobi countries ally against them! And that's one of the reasons our village formed an alliance with Konohagakure."
Jiraiya looked down in ponder. When Tabane, Warrod, and Luffy took care of enemies a day before, Jiraiya was there and saw how strong they were. That was why he put on guards against Izumi a while ago. However, never did he think that there were also incredible enemies that he didn't know about.
Jiraiya didn't fully believe Izumi's words because what he said didn't make any sense. But at that moment, Kakashi added.
"One of them is targeting my Sharingan. And that person excels in space-time Ninjutsu."
Jiraiya turned to Kakashi in astonishment.
"They target your Sharingan? How come?"
"I don't know, but that person also has Sharingan." Kakashi shook his head.
"That's troublesome. Not just the nine-tailed fox's chakra, but your Sharingan as well." Jiraiya scratched his hair while in thought.
On the other hand, Izumi didn't think that Kakashi would be able to fool Jiraiya.
After that, Kakashi asked if Jiraiya was willing to become a fifth Hokage or not. Since Konohagakure needed a powerful ninja as a leader, there was no one else but Jiraiya. However, Jiraiya refused. Instead, he prepared to look for Tsunade. And Jiraiya suggested that Kakashi's duty to protect Naruto be left to Jiraiya since he was afraid that Kakashi would be in trouble if he met Akatsuki's members.
"By the way…" Izumi voiced out.
Then, Izumi took out several small things and a tablet from the storage space and showed them to him.
Jiraiya looked surprised when several items suddenly appeared out of thin air. It looked like Izumi took out the items without using the storage scroll. He wanted to ask, but Izumi interrupted his thoughts.
"These are devices we made to spy from afar. I used these to spy on the Akatsuki members, but I couldn't get too close because they would notice these things."
Then Izumi explained that the device had a microphone to transmit sound, so not only images were transmitted, but he could also hear sound through the device. There was a touchscreen controller in the tablet, and Izumi explained that the device could be controlled through the tablet. After that, Izumi whispered to him.
"By the way, you can peek at women's baths with this, you know!"
*gulp*
Hearing Izumi's words, Jiraiya swallowed his saliva and his face immediately turned red with a lecherous grin.
Then Jiraiya moved his hand and slapped Izumi's back.
"How about you give me these things to me?"
"This old man is so easy to bait." Izumi said in his mind.
Izumi's mouth curled up and said.
"Sure, but lemme ask one thing!"
"What is it?"
"How about teaching me and Naruto how to use Senjutsu?"
If he only asked Naruto to be trained in Senjutsu, Izumi would be at a loss. Even if he couldn't use Senjutsu later because his body wasn't compatible to draw natural energy to his body, at least he wanted to try it first.
"I don't think it's possible."
"Why?"
"I can't tell the reason."
"I see. That's unfortunate." Izumi just thought that he might be in too much of a hurry. He just wanted to learn Senjutsu, even if he would succeed or failed, it was up to fate.
Meanwhile, Jiraiya who saw Izumi's expression scratched his head. He had no idea which side Izumi was on. Thus, a doubt arose in his heart.