Chapter 151: Four Red Yang Formation
The departing Li Yao, through his shadow clone, observed the reaction of the mother and daughter—especially Kushi —and his lips twitched slightly.
Well, this woman was already completely immersed in her own fantasies. No matter what decision he made, unless it was a moment of absolute despair, she wouldn't suspect there was anything wrong with Li Yao.
However… it was hard to tell whether the mother and daughter were lucky or if the enemy was simply too clever.
The Third Hokage and the others were still closely pursuing Li Yao and hadn't been misled by the mother and daughter. The enemy didn't even spare anyone to chase the shadow clone but came straight after his real body.
Now Li Yao could confirm that either the enemy could directly see him using shadow clones, or they had a method to see through shadow clones.
In either case, using shadow clones was now useless. He immediately dispelled all of them, leaving only the one with the mother and daughter to escort them away.
Li Yao himself retracted the Black Iron Giant Eagle and switched back to the ink eagle, which did not require his active control, continuing to fly ahead.
"Let's see who can outlast whom."
Although being chased by the Five Kage together, Li Yao wasn't worried at all.
The reason was simple. As a certain drama character once said: "There may be a bunch of Emperors chasing me, but I'm not worried because their horses can't outrun mine."
The Five Kage working together didn't stir any fighting spirit in Li Yao.
However, their movement speed was clearly on par with his. His chakra reserves were ample, and he had plenty of food. It would come down to stamina—who would last longer.
"Hmph!"
A cold gleam flashed in Li Yao's eyes.
Once this pursuit was over, he would head to the battlefields of the Five Great Nations and slaughter every ninja who couldn't withstand his genjutsu.
He'd make them understand that chasing him came with a price not everyone could afford.
"Stop. Right here."
"Activate the barrier."
Just as Li Yao was about to step out of the encirclement formed by four ninja from different nations, each holding a sealing scroll for the Four Red Yang Formation, Dan Katō used his spirit body to instantly inform them to activate the barrier.
The four didn't hesitate. Upon hearing Dan Katō's words, they immediately stopped, unrolled their scrolls, and pressed their chakra-infused hands against them, swiftly undoing the seals.
"Four Red Yang Formation!"
In an instant, four crimson beams of light shot from the scrolls. Very quickly, a searing red barrier shimmered into existence between them, forming a square cube four kilometers on each side, trapping Li Yao… No, there wasn't enough time—Kushi and her daughter also failed to escape and were caught inside the barrier with him.
"This barrier… such a huge range?"
Atop the ink eagle, Li Yao looked stunned. He had considered the possibility of being trapped by a barrier and then besieged.
But such a wide-range barrier required a terrifying amount of chakra. All Five Kage had gathered, and he hadn't noticed the four ninja who hadn't been traveling with them… It turned out—it was Uzumaki Mito's chakra.
"So that's it!"
Now Li Yao sensed the familiar chakra from the scrolls in front of the four—Uzumaki Mito's chakra—and everything became clear.
If anyone in the ninja world could cast such a massive barrier technique alone, it would be Uzumaki Mito, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails.
He just hadn't expected that such a large-scale barrier technique could even be sealed into a scroll by her…
Smack.
Li Yao suddenly slapped his own forehead.
He had let his guard down.
Where had he gotten his own giant scroll from? Wasn't it originally a Vajra Sealing Barrier scroll made by Uzumaki Mito, used by Hiruzen Sarutobi?
He should have known that Uzumaki Mito was capable of this.
In the end, it was Li Yao's carelessness.
Humans always forget past lessons—it was obvious Li Yao hadn't outgrown his human nature.
Whoosh!
Li Yao continued flying toward the edge of the barrier. Although the barrier technique was complete, it was still worth testing to see if he could break through.
Tap tap tap… The Third Hokage and others arrived at one corner of the Four Red Yang Formation.
When the barrier was activated, they were outside and couldn't get in. They needed the formation controllers to open a temporary passage for entry.
"Ayase, you're not going in."
As the passage opened, Biwako blocked her daughter-in-law, who had followed them and was preparing to enter.
The now-married Ayase had already given birth to Li Yao's son and had regained her original figure—but her heart had not returned to how it once was.
"I must kill Li Yao." Ayase stared into Biwako's eyes, expressionless.
Biwako shook her head. "Let the Five Kage handle killing Li Yao. You know you can't resist his genjutsu."
The other Kage also entered alone, without their guards.
Li Yao's massacre on the Kusagakure–Takigakure border had honestly scared them.
Kusagakure was one thing, but Takigakure had been the only non-Great Nation village to receive two tailed beasts during the division.
Even Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Nations, had only gotten one.
This showed that Takigakure's strength wasn't weak, with many strong ninja among them.
Yet even such a formidable village—with likely many jōnin among its thousand-plus border defenders—had no one able to resist Li Yao's genjutsu.
Altogether, nearly three thousand ninja from both villages were completely wiped out by Li Yao's illusions.
Such overwhelming genjutsu… anyone below Kage-level had no chance of withstanding it.
More high-level jōnin would only mean more human-shaped chakra fruits for Li Yao to consume.
It was Li Yao's absolute dominance over lower-tier ninja that made the Tsuchikage and others realize—if they didn't kill him today, and he ever turned against their villages…
Li Yao could slaughter everyone unable to resist his illusions.
And, crucially, he had the heart to carry it out.
That was terrifying.
The Five Kage had now made up their minds: no matter what, Li Yao had to die today. He couldn't be allowed to survive.
"Let Ayase in," said the Third Hokage.
This time, besides Sarutobi Getsuishi, Ayase was also a backup plan. Bringing her had been to add another layer of possibility for killing Li Yao.
"Hiruzen, you…" Biwako began.
"No time. Now!" the Third Hokage snapped.
With the Hokage speaking directly, and time being short, Biwako had no choice but to step aside despite her reluctance.
Whoosh whoosh… The married Ayase joined the assault force targeting Li Yao. The eight-person team rushed toward him.
The ones involved in this siege included the Five Kage, Dan Katō (possessing the Third), Sarutobi Getsuishi who could activate the Eight Gates, and Ayase, who held a secret technique.
At the crimson barrier, Li Yao stood on his ink eagle. In his hand, a water ball the size of a ping pong ball was transforming from transparent to pure white.
The Four Red Yang Formation was primarily composed of fire-natured chakra.
Water counters fire. Li Yao furiously compressed the water ball, injecting it with water-style chakra until even he felt the pressure of its density.
The condensed white ball looked like a solid object, brimming with terrifying water-style chakra—barely held together under Li Yao's control.
"Go!"
Li Yao pointed toward the barrier, and with a thought, the high-pressure water ball shot out like a bullet.
Boom!
The highly compressed water ball exploded instantly like a high-pressure grenade.
Splash!
Water surged everywhere—despite being only ping-pong-sized, the explosion released over a hundred cubic meters of water, a testament to the immense chakra packed inside and the resulting power.
But… seeing the undamaged red barrier, Li Yao sighed inwardly. As expected, this barrier technique that could block a Tailed Beast Bomb was truly formidable.
At this moment, Li Yao fully recognized the Four Red Yang Formation.
Water-style was ineffective. Li Yao tried the Vajra Sealing Chains—but they were instantly ignited by the flames of the Four Red Yang Formation.
"Well then, this is a fight to the death."
Since he couldn't escape, he'd fight and see who would live.
With a thought, puff puff… Li Yao created seven shadow clones and charged toward the Hokage and his team.
Puff puff puff… On Kushi and her daughter's side, inside the Black Iron Giant Eagle, Li Yao's shadow clone produced five more clones and took out a giant scroll from the Black Water Space. All six clones began absorbing chakra from it, filling themselves up.
"Ayase, Getsuishi, wait here. Watch for your chance to join the fight."
With 1.5 kilometers to go, the Third Hokage had Ayase and Sarutobi Getsuishi stop. The Five Kage would go ahead first, while those two awaited the right moment.
The Five Kage continued charging toward Li Yao.
"Hokage-sama, the ones rushing us are Li Yao's shadow clones. His real body is still on the ink eagle behind them."
Through the mental link, Dan Katō conveyed what his soul sensed to the Third, who immediately informed the other Kage. They were not to waste time on the clones but head straight for Li Yao's real body.
They knew Li Yao could draw chakra from the giant scroll. If it came down to chakra reserves, they would lose. They had to kill him quickly.
"Earth Clone."
"Iron Sand Clone."
"Shadow Clone."
"Lightning Style Clone."
"Water Clone."
Each Kage produced a clone of their own to hold back Li Yao's clones while they rushed for the real him.
(END CHAPTER)
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