Chapter 80: Acquiring the Chakra of Super Beast Imitating Drawing
"Wake up!"
"Enemies are coming."
In his deep sleep, Li Yao's consciousness was suddenly linked by his shadow clone. He woke up instantly, opening his eyes and feeling a wave of dizziness.
Clearly, he had only just fallen asleep before the shadow clone woke him.
"That fast?!"
After the dizziness faded, Li Yao sat up abruptly, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Within his sensory range, ten flame-like ink swallows had entered the two-kilometer radius.
That was the shadow clone's detection range.
And within Li Yao's own five-kilometer chakra detection range, two humanoid chakra signatures were riding on a large flaming bird and had just entered his area.
Needless to say, Li Yao knew the two people who had found him were members of the pursuit team.
The other two must still be on the opposite side of the Land of Fire.
"How did those two find me?"
Li Yao frowned in doubt, then realized—could it be they saw him when he flew into the sky earlier with the Black Iron Giant Eagle?
If so, then it was just bad luck.
But if they had tracked him by other means… that was troubling.
Because that meant Li Yao had no idea what kind of tracking technique they were using.
And that implied someone might always be on his tail—it would be hard to hide his movements.
"I have to test how they're tracking me."
Thinking this, Li Yao walked out of the waterfall cave and stood at the base of a large tree by the pool, leaning against it as he sensed the incoming ink swallows.
It seemed the enemy already knew he was near the pool.
The closer the ink swallows got, the slower they flew. They glided through Yuzu y branches, using the green foliage to hide their movements.
If not for his chakra sensory ability, Li Yao wouldn't have noticed the tiny birds moving among the leaves either.
"Let's see what kind of chakra this Super Beast Imitating Drawing ninjutsu really uses."
A slight grin tugged at the corner of Li Yao's mouth. Though he was cautious about the unknown tracking method, with the Black Iron Giant Eagle, escape was no longer an issue—so he was feeling bold.
This was a rare opportunity.
As long as the enemy didn't realize he had detected the ink swallows, he could capture one, analyze the chakra structure and transformation within, and potentially learn a new flight-based ninjutsu. Why not take it?
With a thought, Li Yao extended a Black Iron Chain underground, stretching it from his feet to a green tree about a kilometer away.
He then controlled the chain to pass, in its intangible form, through the trunk and quickly approach an ink swallow perched on a branch.
Whoosh!
Before the ink swallow could fly to the next tree, Li Yao's chain shot out from the trunk, turning solid and instantly coiling around the swallow, trapping it in a ball.
Bang!
The solidified Black Iron Chain erupted from the ground, tearing open a long gash in the soil.
Whoosh!
With another thought, Li Yao recalled the chain.
Three kilometers away, as she flew slowly in his direction, Sarutobi Ayase sensed that one of her ink swallows had been captured and her expression changed.
"Li Yao noticed the swallow."
She closed her left eye to connect with the bound swallow's vision, but all she saw was darkness.
"A shadow clone?" Sarutobi Tenchū asked.
"Not sure," Ayase shook her head. "One of the ink swallows was bound by Li Yao's black chakra chains. The view is blocked—I can't see."
"Bound? What do you mean?" Tenchū asked, puzzled.
"He probably didn't want to attack the ink swallow outright in case it splattered and contaminated his chakra chains with ink," Ayase replied casually.
Sarutobi Tenchū frowned. He had the feeling Li Yao's actions meant more than that.
But now wasn't the time to think about it.
"Ayase, take us up," he said.
"Understood," she replied.
Since they'd been discovered, it was better to rise into the sky and observe Li Yao from above for a clearer view.
Back on Li Yao's side, the captured ink swallow was quickly reeled in by the Black Iron Chain.
The chain parted slightly to reveal the swallow, and Li Yao extended his finger, gently pressing it against its back.
In that instant, the chakra's nature and transformation within the ink swallow surged into his perception—he grasped it immediately.
At the same time, the technique's secrets became clear to him.
If he wanted, he could now form chakra similar to that of the Super Beast Imitating Drawing technique.
However, unfortunately… this jutsu wasn't merely about chakra transformation.
Even with the proper chakra, Li Yao couldn't create ink animals.
He also needed actual ink as a medium for the chakra, and a special chakra-infused scroll as the canvas, through which his will could be imbued into the drawing to give it animal instincts and behaviors.
Li Yao had neither the ink nor the special chakra-infused paper scrolls.
So even though he had duplicated the Super Beast Imitating Drawing chakra, he still couldn't actually use the jutsu.
"But… to think a jutsu could work like this!"
Li Yao wasn't disappointed—in fact, his eyes lit up with excitement.
The bizarre, creative nature of ninjutsu was one of the most captivating things about the Naruto world, and Li Yao had always been fascinated by them.
Even if he couldn't use Super Beast Imitating Drawing yet…
Understanding the jutsu's underlying mechanism was a huge gain.
In just an instant, dozens of ideas using its principles began forming in his mind—concepts for developing new, unique jutsu.
But now wasn't the time to experiment.
As soon as Li Yao captured the ink swallow, the others had begun speeding toward his location.
He still needed to test the two pursuers' tracking methods—he couldn't afford to be discovered now.
With a thought—
Bang bang bang!
Three versions of Li Yao leapt into the air from the poolside, launching themselves a hundred meters high using a Black Iron Chain.
Then, each summoned a black eagle from beneath their feet.
The eagles rapidly expanded into full-sized Black Iron Giant Eagles, each with a fourteen-meter wingspan, supporting one Li Yao clone.
"Go."
All three Li Yaos gave the mental command and took off on their respective eagles, flying in three different directions opposite of where the Sarutobi couple was approaching.
One of the Li Yaos flying left looked back and thought, "Let's see if you can really track the real me."
"Damn it, shadow clones again!"
Never before had Sarutobi Tenchū hated the Shadow Clone Jutsu so much.
He had used it in the past to great effect, confusing enemies during pursuits. But now he was the one feeling the sting—uncertain of which target to chase.
And what used to be his pride was now Li Yao's advantage.
"What now?"
"Which one do we follow?" asked Ayase, equally unsure.
Sarutobi Tenchū frowned and thought for a few seconds, then pointed toward the center direction. "That one."
Of the three flight paths, the right led directly toward Konoha, the left toward the Land of Water.
In Konoha, Li Yao's identity would easily be confirmed if he was the real one.
The Land of Water had a barrier center too—if Li Yao kept using chakra to maintain his flight, the center would detect him.
Only the middle path led south within the Land of Fire, where there were few Konoha ninja and no major barrier centers.
That was the Li Yao Sarutobi Tenchū chose to follow.
This gave them the best chance of identifying the real one.
Of course, Li Yao might be using this logic to mislead them. He could change direction at any time.
In any case, shadow clones made everything more difficult.
Very soon—
The Sarutobi couple, riding the Ink Bird, flew past the waterfall, heading after the middle Li Yao.
A short while later—
Once they were five kilometers away from the waterfall, Li Yao emerged from the cave and stepped onto the surface of the water.
"Looks like those two Konoha ninja have weak chakra sensory abilities."
He looked in the direction the couple had flown and smirked slightly.
He was now pretty sure that they had found him earlier because they saw him flying on the Black Iron Giant Eagle.
Apparently, the woman could use her Ink Bird's eyes to see clearly from over five kilometers away.
That must've been how she spotted him in the sky and tracked him here.
Thinking of this, Li Yao smiled and with a thought—poof—disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The one left in the cave, of course, had been a shadow clone.
Li Yao would never risk bringing his real body just to test an enemy's sensory abilities.
(END CHAPTER)
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