After joining the Touki organization, Izumi immediately took on the task of training the divine order's first ninjas, a group of samurai apprentices with excellent aptitude for introduction to the Shinobi arts. The primary focus of their training is on developing individuals specialized in infiltration and counterintelligence, the samurai's greatest weakness.
At first, Izumi struggled to adapt to her new job, evidently due to the change of environment and the moral dilemmas of having to work for a different side than the village where she had spent her entire life. Added to this, her recent emotional trauma from the massacre of her clan, Izumi went from being a caring and patient leader to a brutal and extremely demanding teacher with her students, something that ironically suited them perfectly, as they had always been accustomed to the strict, martial leadership of the samurai.
Izumi, with Yuina's help, took a year to train the organization's first official genins, individuals mostly not very capable of confronting the ninjas of the large villages, but very effective in the arts of espionage, a job they began to perform immediately.
After the first course, Yuina decided to continue teaching new students, unlike Izumi, who couldn't bear the thought of continuing as an instructor. The young ninja concluded that she needed much more practice to master her new powers, so she dedicated her time to espionage and eradicating potential threats both within and outside the Land of Fire.
Izumi was instrumental in eliminating foreign ninja in the southern cities of the nation and was in charge of eliminating evidence whenever a member of the order died and their artifacts fell into the hands of the authorities. She was crucial in recovering much of the evidence that fell into the hands of the Daimyo's supporters after the Nakatani disaster, an act that prevented many problems for the order.
Touki understood Izumi's motivations for wanting to become stronger, so he gave the young woman more and more responsibilities within the order, including dangerous reconnaissance missions in places outside the Land of Fire.
Izumi, taking advantage of the fact that her vision can be regenerated by Touki's artifacts, abused her Mangekyou to her heart's content, transforming her into a real threat to her enemies and wreaking havoc among the agents of the large villages operating in the divine order's domains. Touki even had to admonish her the day she returned almost completely blind and had to spend a whole month undergoing treatment to regain her sight.
Already two years into the organization and with her own high-level armor and artifacts, Izumi has entered the ranks of the strongest ninja, perhaps not at the level of the S-class, but a threat to anyone under the right conditions.
…
Weeks after the second commemoration of the Uchiha massacre, a heated discussion takes place in the Hokage's office, where a clearly angry Danzo tries to convince Hiruzen to increase the powers and funding of his 'Root' organization.
"You have to understand that the situation in the south is not what everyone thinks. There is a real antagonistic movement against the current Daimyo throughout the region. If we let it continue to expand, they will have enough strength to cause chaos in the nation," says Danzo.
"I understand your point of view and share your concerns, but we cannot intervene in the Daimyo's court affairs without his authorization. He has been very clear about that. From what I understand, he is well aware that there are some groups in some cities spreading strange ideas, but nothing that threatens his control so far," the Hokage comments.
"He's mistaken and he's a fool. The situation is worse than he thinks. The movement that's formed is completely antagonistic to the ninjas. They're eliminating all agent presence from all nations within their borders."
"If what you say is true, it doesn't seem bad from our perspective."
"The problem is that they don't discriminate against nations, and they've also wiped out our people."
The Hokage's face turned serious, staring into Danzo's single visible eye. "I don't recall having agents deployed in the southern cities, and our border patrols haven't encountered any problems as far as I know. Is there something I don't know?"
Danzo tries not to be intimidated by the Hokage's gaze and answers somewhat roundabout way: "Some of my agents, who... Cough... were doing certain work in the area, were victims of attacks by unknown enemies, but I suspect they have a relationship with the current administrators of the cities."
"But as far as I understand, you have no authority outside the village, much less the personnel to operate anything other than certain sensitive projects. Two years ago, I made it clear that I didn't want to see you expand 'Root.' What were you doing in that region? How many ninjas did you lose?" Hiruzen's voice grows harsher.
Danzo is surprised by the Hokage's harsh attitude, especially his mention of what happened two years ago, where Danzo lost much of the power he once had and 'Root' was significantly reduced. "I was following the trail of some strange deaths within the region, several nobles, samurais, and ninjas. I sent two reconnaissance teams to investigate, neither returned..." Sweat begins to accumulate on the man's forehead, while Hiruzen emits a threatening aura. "Then I sent a special team, four jounin... The only thing I managed to receive was an emergency message from the team leader before we lost all contact."
"What did the message say?" the Hokage asks in a deep voice.
"'Great enemy, ice, Mangekyou Sharingan'… Itachi must be involved, we must intervene with force, otherwise a new threat will fall upon Konoha" Danzo insists.
Hiruzen remains seated, staring at Danzo, who returns his defiant look, before saying, "As much as I want to believe you, I can't. So far, we haven't had any problems in the southern cities, not even our mission requests have been affected. After the Nakatani disaster, many of the samurai are still unhappy with the Daimyo, so it's understandable that there are rumors against him throughout the nation. The last thing I want is to cause another disaster by interfering in internal court problems."
"But the lost ninjas…"
"Your missing agents," Hiruzen interrupts. "Clearly members of 'Root' who aren't supposed to exist and were where they shouldn't have been. If what you're saying is true, then it means you're overriding my orders. I made the limits of your authority clear. I don't want to hear anything like that again. This is your last warning. Now, leave."
Danzo can't do anything to convince his former comrade of what he believes to be a major problem, so he simply leaves the Hokage's office in a huff.
A few seconds after Danzo disappears, the Anbu commander, wearing an eagle mask, appears in front of the Hokage's desk.
"How much of what he said do you believe is true?" Hiruzen asks.
"Most likely, he lost more agents than he dares to admit, the vast majority involved in illicit activities. On the other hand, there are no conclusive reports of rebel activity in the area, except for rumors of an organization with anti-ninja tendencies, but that's so common in so many places, not just in the southern region," the ninja replies.
"I'm worried that there might be someone capable of eliminating jounin so easily. Then there's the matter of the Mangekyou Sharingan, which was supposedly mentioned in the emergency message."
"Do you think it could be Itachi?"
"Not necessarily, if the information from two years ago is correct, there may be two more individuals with those eyes… This is getting troublesome," the Hokage says, as he begins to smoke from his pipe.
"Shall we begin a thorough investigation?"
"I was not lying when I said that we cannot interfere in the cities under the control of the Daimyo. Today the court is a powder keg and there are many things that can go wrong if we enter completely into territory that does not concern us. Nobody wants to repeat another Nakatani"
"Then we don't have many options left, except sending a small group or asking Jiraiya for help."
"Jiraiya isn't an option right now. His spy network is much more focused abroad, and I need the intelligence he provides from the other hidden villages. We're going to have to call in an elite Anbu team... Where is Kakashi right now?"
"Keeping an eye on Naruto."
"Send him along with a team specialized in espionage and investigation. I don't want unnecessary confrontations; the mission is to find out what's really happening in the region. File it as Class A, but keep the details secret, and don't let it last more than two months," the Hokage concludes.