Indeed, this was the first time Izayoi had been matched against Naruto Uzumaki.
It was as if some kind of karmic force was constantly at play between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.
Out of ten taijutsu sparring sessions, nearly half the time, those two would end up paired against each other.
Meanwhile, Izayoi could never seem to get matched with Naruto.
Thankfully, with the red-tier Ōtsutsuki bloodline, which was on par with the Sage's body, Izayoi possessed an immense chakra reserve. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had any idea how to trigger Naruto's latent Sage Body potential.
Now that he finally drew Naruto as an opponent, Izayoi was thrilled.
It meant that his luck today was off the charts.
And if his luck was this good… could he possibly trigger a rare trait?
Suppressing the excitement bubbling inside him, Izayoi stood up and walked to Iruka Umino's right-hand side.
Facing Naruto across from him — who was gritting his teeth, clearly not ready to give up — Izayoi raised his right hand, held up his index and middle fingers, and smiled gently:
"Naruto, let's have a good match."
Hearing this, Naruto was momentarily stunned.
His anxious heart suddenly felt much lighter.
Looking at Izayoi across from him, a warmth surged in his chest.
He's different!
This guy's eyes are different from everyone else's.
There was none of the disgust he saw in adults' eyes, nor the rejection from his peers — only a pure, genuine kindness that treated him as an equal.
Aside from Iruka Umino, who had recognized him last semester, Izayoi was the second person to treat him this way.
That realization brought a sudden urge to cry.
But Naruto held it in, nodded hard, and gave a big grin:
"Yeah! Let's have a good match!"
Then he also raised his index and middle fingers.
In his blue eyes — the same color as Izayoi's — a new resolve had taken root.
Watching this scene unfold, Iruka couldn't help but smile with relief.
Then he stepped back a few paces and shouted:
"Round seven — begin!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Izayoi and Naruto rushed at each other.
Naruto's attack pattern was extremely simple and repetitive — he had no concept of adaptation.
After closing the distance, he went straight for a punch aimed at Izayoi.
Though Izayoi didn't have the Sharingan, his perceptive ability was so sharp that the moment Naruto's shoulder moved, he already knew what was coming next.
Before Naruto's punch was even fully thrown, Izayoi had already shifted his stance, raising his left arm and deflecting the punch at the wrist with the back of his hand, knocking it away — and followed up instantly with a right hook.
Bang!
His fist connected squarely with Naruto's left cheek.
The sheer power of the blow knocked Naruto straight to the ground, his cheek swelling red and already starting to bruise.
"Ow ow ow..."
Naruto winced and gasped in pain — but he hadn't been knocked out by that single punch.
He quickly got back up and charged at Izayoi again.
However, every punch and kick he threw was completely read in advance by Izayoi.
They were either blocked, dodged, or neutralized with a counterattack.
Even Hinata's rapid-fire Gentle Fist strikes, each laced with chakra and accompanied by sharp bursts of air, could be handled by Izayoi with ease.
Compared to that, Naruto's wild, unrefined flailing was not only ineffective but full of openings.
As Izayoi's punches and kicks landed one after another, Naruto's clothes grew filthy, and his face was covered in scrapes and bruises — he looked utterly battered and miserable.
In contrast, Izayoi was completely unscathed — not even a speck of dust on him.
Even a three-year-old could clearly see the vast difference between the two.
And yet, despite being the one taking a one-sided beating, Naruto Uzumaki didn't choose to give up.
At first, he had been gasping in pain with every hit.
But now, even when getting hit, he stayed silent, his expression focused, and his attacks were gradually becoming less chaotic.
He was growing — even if by the next time he might revert to old habits.
But right now, in this fight, he was getting stronger.
Just then, Izayoi caught another opening and decided it was time to end the battle.
With a quick crouch, he dodged Naruto's attack by squatting low, then used the momentum to perform a sweeping kick, knocking Naruto to the ground.
Before Naruto could get up, Izayoi raised his fist for a finishing blow — but stopped it just inches from Naruto's face.
Seeing this, Iruka Umino immediately shouted:
"Naruto Uzumaki is no longer able to continue — the winner is Izayoi!"
Snap!
Almost the moment Iruka's voice fell, a purple bubble surrounding Naruto — one that only Izayoi could see — suddenly popped.
A beam of purple light shot from it, flying toward Izayoi and merging into his body.
Immediately after, a new tiny bubble reappeared around Naruto.
This new bubble was extremely small, and unlike the usual white-to-red color spectrum, it was completely transparent.
There were no words inside — it was utterly empty.
Izayoi had seen this kind of scene many times before.
He knew that this bubble was in cooldown.
Once the cooldown ended, the transparent bubble would return to its purple state, and the trait inside would reappear.
At that time, he'd have another chance to trigger the same trait.
Yes — traits could be triggered more than once.
Izayoi just hadn't yet extracted the same trait from the same person before.
After clearly seeing which trait had been inside the purple bubble, Izayoi was filled with excitement.
But instead of immediately summoning his personal panel, he extended his palm toward Naruto and smiled:
"Naruto, you're amazing. Let's have another match next time."
Though he had given it his all and still got beaten down, Naruto had originally felt bitter and discouraged.
But when he saw Izayoi looking at him with genuine sincerity, without a trace of mockery…
The usual resentment he felt only when facing Sasuke Uchiha suddenly disappeared.
Naruto grabbed Izayoi's hand, used it to pull himself up, and grinned:
"Izayoi, you really are strong… but next time, I won't lose!"
"You've improved a lot already. I'm really looking forward to our next fight."
Izayoi smiled and held up his index and middle fingers toward Naruto.
Naruto did the same, hooking his fingers with Izayoi's.
This was the Seal of Reconciliation, the counterpart to the Seal of Opposition performed before a battle.
It symbolized that, no matter how great the conflict between two ninjas, reconciliation was always possible.
In the original story, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha ended their thousand-year karmic battle — a reincarnation conflict between Asura and Indra — with this very seal.
If the reincarnations of Asura and Indra could not reconcile, their chakra would continue to reincarnate endlessly.
This centuries-old feud meant that Naruto and Sasuke, even without direct conflict or the influence of Sakura Haruno, were still fundamentally at odds.
Naruto could easily reconcile with Izayoi, yet couldn't bring himself to form the seal with Sasuke.
But all of that had nothing to do with Izayoi.
After completing the Seal of Reconciliation with Naruto, Izayoi returned to the group, casually brushing off the comments from the nearby classmates.
At the same time, he summoned a glowing screen only he could see, and responded to the system prompt that rang in his mind after the light had entered his body:
"Ding! You have acquired the talent trait [Uzumaki Bloodline (Purple)]. Fuse or Dismantle?"
"Fuse.
The next second, a new talent trait appeared in his trait panel:
Uzumaki Bloodline (Purple)