Chapter 76: A-Rank Ninjutsu Chakra Fluctuation
Peng! Peng!
After circling in the air a dozen times and getting a preliminary grasp on controlling the Black Iron Giant Eagle's acceleration and steering, Li Yao sat atop the bird, hovering a hundred meters above the pool.
Bang!
With a thought, Li Yao split off a shadow clone who stood behind him on the back of the Black Iron Giant Eagle.
With one more person added, the bird's body clearly dipped slightly, but after a few strong flaps of its wings, it stabilized again.
Li Yao sensed it carefully; with one shadow clone added, the Black Iron Giant Eagle's flight stability wasn't significantly affected.
Logically speaking, it should have been greatly affected.
Li Yao's current body was twelve years old, around 1.6 meters tall, and weighed about 80 jin. The shadow clone he created had the same weight.
Together, that made 160 jin.
A body weight of 160 jin paired with a 14-meter wingspan… truthfully, that shouldn't be enough.
The lift generated by a 14-meter wingspan in the natural world shouldn't be enough to carry 160 jin.
At least, not as effortlessly as the Black Iron Giant Eagle was doing.
At least, it would be impossible on the Earth of Li Yao's previous life.
But thinking about it, this was the Naruto world, a world with the mysterious energy called chakra. Li Yao didn't intend to overanalyze it.
He guessed it was because the Black Iron Giant Eagle was formed from chakra.
Chakra is energy, and energy doesn't have the concept of weight.
Although the Black Iron Chains had physical properties, their essence was still chakra—a form of energy, which inherently lacks mass.
Probably because of this, combined with the special nature of chakra, his 14-meter-winged Black Iron Giant Eagle could easily carry both him and his shadow clone's combined weight of 160 jin through the air.
"Now it's your turn."
Li Yao turned and smiled at his shadow clone. They shared consciousness, so the clone already understood Li Yao's intentions without needing him to speak.
The shadow clone took over control of the Black Iron Giant Eagle.
Whoosh whoosh… The eagle once again soared into the sky.
Li Yao, standing on the eagle's back, had relinquished control of it and could now focus his attention elsewhere.
Clang clang… Four Black Iron Chains shot out from Li Yao's back, dancing rapidly in the air in sync with the eagle's flight.
"Very fluid."
"Very in sync."
Li Yao's control of the chains and the shadow clone's control of the eagle's movement were perfectly coordinated, without the slightest disarray.
When Li Yao directed the chains to swing downward, the shadow clone would simultaneously manipulate the eagle to rotate, increasing the force of the strike.
When Li Yao was practicing evasion, the eagle—under the clone's control—could perfectly assist, truly achieving complete synchronization.
Li Yao smiled, feeling satisfied.
This kind of coordination could probably only be achieved by someone like him, whose consciousness was linked to a shadow clone.
Others couldn't maintain such a perfect mental connection with a clone.
But… Li Yao turned his head, looking at the shadow clone standing behind him, and thought about how, several times, he had to avoid the clone while maneuvering the chains. This disrupted the fluidity of his movements.
In combat, this was a vulnerability that could be exploited.
"I have to hide the shadow clone."
"But how?"
Li Yao instinctively rubbed his chin. Soon, his eyes lit up. With a thought, a hole opened in the back of the Black Iron Giant Eagle, and the shadow clone jumped in, entering the hollow belly of the eagle.
Once inside, the clone sat down and, with a thought, conjured several Black Iron Chains to securely fasten himself inside.
At that moment, outside, Li Yao willed the eagle to ascend.
In an instant, the eagle flapped its wings fiercely and shot upward.
Then Li Yao thought about turning right, and instantly, the eagle veered to the right.
From then on, Li Yao didn't need to manually control the eagle—he only had to think, and it would fly in the desired direction.
"As expected, mental synchronization can be used like this too."
A trace of smugness appeared on Li Yao's face. Although the shadow clone inside the eagle couldn't see outside, because of their mental connection, he could share Li Yao's vision and even all his senses.
The link between Li Yao and his shadow clone was very much like the Rinnegan's shared vision ability among the Six Paths of Pain.
With this shared vision, the clone hidden inside the eagle could safely control its flight, and Li Yao could stand on its back and battle aerial enemies.
When needed, they could even switch places.
Li Yao could hide inside the eagle and control it while the clone fought on the outside—confusing the enemy.
...
While Li Yao was gleefully maneuvering the Black Iron Giant Eagle through intricate aerial acrobatics at an altitude of a thousand meters…
In the Sensory Barrier Center in the eastern region of the Land of Fire...
Underneath a massive transparent sensory sphere, Yamanaka Goka—an elite jōnin from the Yamanaka Clan—wore a head-mounted device linked to the sensory barrier.
During wartime, sensory barrier centers were installed at each border of the Land of Fire, capable of detecting chakra fluctuations within a radius of over a thousand kilometers.
If chakra fluctuations exceeded a certain threshold and reached a dangerous level, the barrier center would detect it and report it to a corresponding ninja squad to investigate.
At this moment, on the massive sensory sphere, a barely visible ripple spread from a point to the northeast. It couldn't be seen with the naked eye, but Yamanaka Goka—wearing the chakra amplification headset—sensed it.
"Northeast direction, southern Yellow-Green Forest. A-Class fluctuation detected."
Yamanaka Goka reported succinctly, stating the location and level of the chakra fluctuation he had sensed.
An A-Class fluctuation corresponds to the chakra signature of an A-Rank ninjutsu.
In the ninja world, a ninja's strength is largely judged by the rank of the ninjutsu they can perform.
A ninja who can perform A-Rank ninjutsu, regardless of their taijutsu or genjutsu prowess, must at least have enough chakra to release A-Rank techniques, along with the talent to do so. Such a person would not be below the level of a chūnin.
That's the most basic strength benchmark.
In the ninja world, chakra quantity and jutsu rank are paramount.
If you have both chakra and powerful jutsu, your strength won't be low.
Based on this logic...
The barrier center's system of identifying danger levels also relied on the level of chakra fluctuations tied to jutsu rank.
An A-Rank ninjutsu chakra fluctuation represents an A-Rank threat level, requiring at least one jōnin to handle it.
At this moment, the A-Class fluctuation Yamanaka Goka reported meant they needed to dispatch at least one jōnin to investigate the source.
Inside the barrier center, along with Yamanaka Goka, was Nara Santō, who was responsible for coordinating emergency response and dispatch.
Upon hearing the report, Nara Santō's expression turned serious. "Which ninja team is closest to the Yellow-Green Forest?"
Yamanaka Goka replied, "It's the team led by Lord Tenchū."
"Lord Tenchū…" Nara Santō frowned in thought for a moment, then his eyes widened suddenly. "Could it be the Konoha fugitive that Lord Tenchū is tracking?"
Sarutobi Tenchū had already notified all border barrier centers to report any A-Rank chakra fluctuations to him as soon as they occurred.
Now, the location of the chakra spike was closest to Sarutobi Tenchū, making it highly likely to be the fugitive.
With that in mind, Nara Santō immediately instructed Yamanaka Goka to inform Lord Tenchū to head toward the chakra fluctuation's location.
(END CHAPTER)
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