"Brave choice."
For Sasuke Uchiha's decision, Izayoi wasn't surprised. However, he still gave Sasuke a thumbs up.
This choice was a good thing for Izayoi.
In a taijutsu battle, one couldn't fully unleash their potential. Even if they won, the chances of triggering any skill-related events would be smaller than in an unrestricted match.
Izayoi had confirmed this. When Hinata didn't use her gentle fist technique, and instead, just focused on chakra control, Izayoi defeated her, and no event triggers occurred.
The difference in power between them was just too vast.
Although a one-sided battle could trigger an event, the chances were extremely small, and Izayoi hadn't encountered such an event in a year.
However, when Hinata used the gentle fist technique, giving her all, Izayoi had gotten two event triggers from her in the past year—one purple and one blue.
Those triggers were the Byakugan (Purple) and Chakra Control (Blue).
Izayoi didn't think Sasuke Uchiha was weak, but with his deep knowledge of the plot and his amazing talents, he'd taken shortcuts since he was three.
He'd been ahead of others by three or four years.
If Sasuke hadn't mastered Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, he wouldn't pose any threat to Izayoi.
But the Fireball Jutsu raised Sasuke's chances of triggering an event.
Thus, an unrestricted battle was the best choice.
"Let's begin!" Izayoi took a few steps back, creating some distance between them and then raised his index and middle fingers.
Upon seeing this, Sasuke also made a hand seal and prepared to fight.
Then, the two rushed at each other.
When they got close, Sasuke threw a punch.
Izayoi swiftly dodged by leaning to the side, then performed a 180-degree spin, kicking toward Sasuke's face with surprising flexibility.
Sasuke didn't have time to dodge and could only raise his other arm to block, his body being pushed back several steps.
By the time Sasuke stabilized, he had already fallen into an extremely passive position.
Izayoi rushed forward, launching a barrage of punches toward Sasuke's face and chest.
Although the punches weren't very strong, their speed was so fast that Sasuke could barely react.
After blocking the first punch, Sasuke found himself wide open for the second, which landed squarely on his face.
Once Sasuke was hit, he lost his rhythm entirely and became a moving punching bag.
Izayoi didn't stop, his arms keeping the rhythm of his attacks, just like the Eight Trigrams Palm of the Hyuga clan. Without chakra being inserted into the body, the damage wasn't great, but during the flurry of attacks, his opponent couldn't retaliate.
Izayoi wasn't sure how many times he'd struck, but eventually, he stopped and performed a 360-degree spin, channeling his energy into a powerful kick that sent Sasuke flying.
This kick was even more painful than the previous punches, making Sasuke struggle to breathe.
But then, something strange happened.
Despite the blows he'd taken, Sasuke suddenly saw an image of Itachi Uchiha in Izayoi's figure.
The words of Itachi echoed in his mind:
"You're too weak now, you will live a life of ugliness... do your best to survive..."
Sasuke's expression twisted.
"I'll kill you, Itachi!" he screamed. "Fire Style... Fireball Jutsu!"
He threw a fireball toward Izayoi, the intense heat of the attack quickly growing.
"Just in time," Izayoi said, genuinely pleased. He quickly performed a hand seal and exhaled, summoning an invisible force that took form and became a wind blade, a transparent white scythe.
The wind blade collided with the fireball in the air, cutting it into two, its power severely weakened. The wind continued to move forward, striking Sasuke.
With a tearing sound, Sasuke's clothes were shredded, and blood sprayed from his body as he fell to the ground.
Izayoi wasn't worried. He walked over to Sasuke's fallen form, knowing that Sasuke and Naruto were the only ones who couldn't die in this world.
The news of the Six Paths Sage learning about the Outer Path Ten-Tails was likely already circulating, and it was only a matter of time before the Sage intervened to protect the next reincarnation of Indra and Ashura.
Thus, even if Sasuke were struck by a weakened C-rank wind technique, he wouldn't die. He certainly wouldn't be killed off in such an anticlimactic way.
When Izayoi reached Sasuke's side, he confirmed that Sasuke still had a pulse.
The wind blade had only torn Sasuke's clothes and left a deep scratch across his body, not even touching bone.
Izayoi crouched down, using basic medical ninjutsu to heal Sasuke.
Crack!
Suddenly, Izayoi thought he had heard something. A clear, crisp sound, like the pop of a balloon being punctured.
He looked toward the sound, eyes focused.
Only Izayoi could see the bubbles forming around Sasuke.
He caught sight of a bubble that had just popped, and from it came... a red beam of light.
"Huh?" Izayoi was taken aback, his eyes widening in surprise.
Red? How many red ones does Sasuke have?
Red was supposed to be the highest level, wasn't it? Or was it purple?
Then, Izayoi's system notification rang in his head:
"Ding! You have obtained the talent entry 'Sage Eye (Red).' Would you like to fuse or decompose?"
"...Fuse!" Izayoi shouted inwardly, unable to hide his excitement.
Though he kept his emotions in check to avoid being watched, he couldn't help but smile with the corner of his mouth twitching slightly in the most unusual way.
Izayoi's heart couldn't be described.
With Hinata as an example, he had expected it to take a long time to trigger Sasuke's red talent entry.
He had already prepared himself for the next five years, planning to fight Sasuke whenever he had time.
If he hadn't triggered the red entry by the end of ninja school, he would have slowed his progress to match Sasuke and Hinata's level.
But to his shock, in his very first unrestricted battle, he had triggered Sasuke's Sage Eye (Red).
This rare event was something that could only be described as luck.
At that moment, Izayoi finally understood the feelings of those who were extremely lucky with rare drops.