Chapter 74: Iron Hawk
"Trouble…"
Inside the waterfall cavern, Li Yao stood up and rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the mental fatigue.
Because he had maintained constant awareness through his shadow clones, he hadn't slept the night before. And now, after receiving the memory backlash from two dispersing clones, his mind was weary—but still manageable.
He also proactively dispersed his remaining shadow clone.
He had already guessed that the other clone had been found by the tracking squad—it simply hadn't detected them in time.
Most likely, the one who found it was the Hyūga with the Byakugan. The clone's chakra-sensing range was insufficient, and keeping it any longer would've been pointless.
What bothered Li Yao now was that the enemy had been extremely cautious. Against his clones, they had mainly used attrition tactics, never exposing their more targeted techniques.
Furthermore… Li Yao's instincts stirred when he recalled how the man kept using long-range attacks. It was starting to seem like the team didn't actually want to kill him.
Or at least—they no longer had the same kill intent as when they first encountered him.
More like… they just needed to keep tabs on him.
"But why?"
Li Yao frowned. Was the Third still hoping to capture him alive? To continue those damn experiments or force the secret of the Spirit Transformation Technique from him?
Whatever. He shook the thought away.
Regardless of the Third's intentions, Li Yao now understood one thing: even if he sent out more clones, the enemy wasn't likely to reveal their best techniques.
Without that exposure, he couldn't risk sending his real body to face them. Which meant—he couldn't yet copy the chakra nature of the Super Beast Imitating Drawing technique and gain the ability to fly.
Without flight, breaking through the borders of the Land of Fire would be extremely difficult.
And on top of that, Li Yao had no idea where he was.
He didn't know the distribution of border patrols. He didn't know where the strongholds were or where the gaps were.
That uncertainty was dangerous.
Only by flying above the patrol routes could he ensure a safe escape from the Land of Fire.
But… sigh.
There was no solution for now. Copying the ink-style chakra from that woman would take time he didn't have.
However… Li Yao suddenly remembered the ink bird she had been riding.
"Wait… maybe… I can make one myself?"
His eyes lit up with inspiration.
He might not have an ink bird—but what if he crafted one from black iron chains?
If he wove a bird out of chains, animated it, and made it flap its wings—maybe he could fly too?
"Should be possible…"
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
Deidara's clay birds and Sai's ink birds worked on similar principles. Why couldn't a metal chain bird do the same?
"Let's try it!"
Li Yao immediately manipulated countless hair-thin black iron chains to form sheets, which he then wove together into the rough shape of a bird.
The result was… well, more like a fat chick. He lacked knowledge of avian anatomy, and the proportions were all off.
When he disconnected from the bird and tried flapping its wings, it rolled across the ground.
Li Yao: "…"
Damn it. Forget flying—it couldn't even walk properly.
"Fine, I'll get a real bird for reference."
He created a shadow clone and sent it to catch one.
Soon, the clone returned—with a hawk. The hawk's talon even had a message tube attached.
"Must be a messenger hawk."
"Can't believe I caught a Konoha hawk."
Li Yao chuckled and unrolled the scroll, curious to see what intel it contained.
The paper was blank.
But Li Yao could sense a chakra seal embedded in the page.
It likely required the correct chakra to reveal its contents.
He channeled chakra into the seal—
Fwoosh!
The paper ignited and quickly turned to ash.
Li Yao stared at the black ash on the ground, and suddenly laughed.
"So it's a chakra-authentication scroll."
Only the matching chakra nature could activate the ink and display the message.
Li Yao didn't mind. He set the hawk aside and began studying its anatomy.
He compared its proportions, angles, and posture, then replicated those exact details with thin chains to construct a new metallic hawk.
Thirty minutes later—
A hawk-shaped iron construct stood on the ground, its proportions matching the real one.
As he moved it, it came to life—eerily lifelike.
The real hawk looked at it curiously, as if wondering whether this black hawk was male or female.
Li Yao released the live hawk and watched it fly around the cavern, studying its wing angles, flapping speed, and body posture.
As he observed, he made the iron hawk mimic the same movements.
The results… were not great.
Even though the flapping was accurate, the iron hawk only managed to shuffle faster like a chicken in a cage.
It still couldn't fly.
Li Yao quickly realized why.
Though the form was similar, the internal structure and material weren't.
His hawk was essentially made of iron wire. The same motions couldn't generate flight.
Only by drastically increasing the wing-flapping speed could he create enough lift.
So he did just that.
With full concentration, he had the iron hawk flap twenty times per second.
And finally—it lifted off, trembling as it rose into the air.
"It's flying! It's flying!"
Li Yao jumped with joy. But when he lost focus for a moment, the hawk plummeted.
The joy quickly faded.
He frowned in thought.
The heavier an object, the more lift it needs. And controlling something so large consumed immense mental effort.
If he wasn't fully focused, it would crash—just like now.
That wasn't safe in combat.
If he was attacked mid-flight, he wouldn't be able to fight and control the hawk simultaneously.
"How do I fix this…"
Then it hit him.
Just like Naruto using shadow clones to form a Rasengan because he couldn't do it alone—
Li Yao could use clones to help him control the hawk.
One person couldn't do it. But two—or three—could.
He could delegate different functions: one clone for flapping, one for steering, while he issued commands from the front.
"Perfect!"
He snapped his fingers, beaming with satisfaction.
(END CHAPTER)
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