Chapter 285: Amaterasu Black Flame
Danzo was also among those feeling frustrated—but could only bottle it up.
"Damn that Orochimaru!"
"Even you're using the Hokage title to suppress me!"
In the eastern coastal region of the Land of Fire, during his battle against Kirigakure, Danzo was more stifled than he had ever been—furious beyond words.
That upstart Orochimaru dared to use a Hokage order as an excuse to withhold the details of the Wood Release transplant from him. Unforgivable.
"Hokage, Hokage, always the Hokage!"
"Just wait. This war won't end anytime soon. And I won't give up on Wood Release so easily."
"You won't tell me? Then I'll find out myself. Hmph!"
Danzo sneered internally. He had long since mapped out every messenger hawk route in Konoha, and had cracked the seal release techniques used on classified messages. The correspondence between Orochimaru and Hiruzen had already been intercepted and decrypted by him.
So the test subject might be in Sunagakure? Then he would simply send agents to infiltrate the village.
In Danzo's view, any ninja village without a sensory barrier was easy to sneak into. Coincidentally, he had a spy specialized in infiltrating foreign villages.
If that still didn't work, he could always strike a deal with the Fourth Kazekage.
With Sasori of the Red Sand's rising fame already threatening the Kazekage's authority, Danzo believed the Fourth Kazekage would gladly cooperate to eliminate him.
As someone who operated in the shadows of the shinobi world, Danzo knew all too well the darkness inside each village.
A figure like Sasori—rapidly rising in power—was bound to draw suspicion from the Kazekage.
That was Danzo's thinking.
Removing Sasori would not only eliminate a threat to Konoha, but could also compensate for his inability to obtain Wood Release.
Danzo was very interested in a puppet-based ninjutsu powerful enough to overwhelm Orochimaru's Wood Release.
Unaware that Danzo had set his sights on him, Li Yao's Wind Release clone had quietly left a shadow clone in place and arrived in the Land of Rivers shortly after the intel about Orochimaru acquiring Wood Release reached him.
He had already mastered Sasori's combo jutsu: Iron Sand Thunder Realm.
Ten thousand meters above the ground, Li Yao's Wind Release clone was toying with a ball of lightning in his hand.
Yes—toying.
The lightning in his palm shifted at his whim—one moment it was a bird, then a tree, then a sword, then a perfectly smooth mirror.
All of them shimmered with sparks of electricity.
"Impressive. So Magnet Release and Lightning Release can be used like this… Sasori really had an idea I hadn't considered."
"Go!"
With a flick of his hand, the lightning shot out like a bolt. Its speed rivaled true lightning—"faster than lightning" was no exaggeration.
Unlike normal lightning, which dispersed after striking, this bolt stopped midair twenty meters out, frozen like someone had hit the pause button.
Looking closely, it wasn't pure lightning—it was a strand of iron sand about the width of a finger, like a wire, encased in electricity.
With a thought, Li Yao's Wind Release clone recalled the lightning, which formed a smooth electric orb and floated around him.
This was Sasori's Iron Sand Thunder Realm—combining Magnet Release's malleable control over iron sand with Lightning Release's conductivity, granting attacks both incredible speed and piercing power.
"In close combat, this jutsu would be nearly impossible to block."
"Too bad Sasori's chakra control is lacking."
So Li Yao's Wind Release clone concluded.
From observation, he had learned that while Sasori had also fused his soul into chakra, it wasn't the same as his own method.
Sasori's soul was fused only within the chakra housed in the puppet core. Once the chakra flowed out of the core, it no longer carried his soul.
Well… that was the same as Li Yao. His soul only fused with the chakra inside his body—once it left the body, only his consciousness remained.
In Sasori's case, chakra outside the puppet core functioned like any other ninja's—it carried no soul, thus his chakra control was subpar.
This meant Sasori couldn't control Iron Sand Thunder Realm with the same precision Li Yao's Wind Release clone could.
Additionally, Sasori didn't seem to have gained strong chakra sensory abilities from fusing soul and chakra, which was another weakness.
And then there was the puppet core.
If it were destroyed, Sasori would die—and die instantly, with his soul burned to nothing.
That made the puppet core an obvious weakness.
And Li Yao's Wind Release slash or his Black Hole Space could easily target it.
Which meant Sasori's threat level had plummeted in Li Yao's estimation.
What concerned him more now… was Orochimaru suddenly acquiring Wood Release.
He couldn't help but wonder: would Orochimaru, now empowered with Wood Release, abandon his obsession with the Sharingan?
Perhaps he would chart a different path of scientific pursuit.
Li Yao's Wind Release clone pondered.
While Orochimaru and Sasori were locked in a stalemate in the Land of Rivers, Konoha's other fronts began to ignite, and the pressure of war increased exponentially.
In the blink of an eye—
Six months passed.
Konoha.
Uchiha Clan grounds.
In the training chamber, before the Fire Release clone—Fugaku—a deep, abyssal black flame hovered silently in the air.
No glow, no heat, not even the crackle of fire—it looked like nothing more than a plastic flame prop, utterly devoid of power.
But… hahahaha!
Fugaku laughed—genuinely, joyfully.
"One month!"
"It's been burning for a whole month!"
The Fire Release clone had finally completed the development of Li Yao's long-desired Fire Release Kekkei Tōta-level jutsu: Amaterasu.
He was certain of it.
The black flame hovering in the air had been released a month ago. Without any additional chakra input, it had continued to burn this entire time without diminishing.
Why could it burn so long?
Because this black flame consumed both matter and energy. As long as the air contained either, it would keep burning.
However, without chakra input, it wouldn't grow larger—only maintain its current form.
A limitation… but not truly a flaw.
A flame that could consume all matter and energy was no weaker than Dust Release. In terms of raw destructive power, Amaterasu was perhaps the strongest.
Unless the target was a Rikudō-level Kekkei Mōra user, even senjutsu wouldn't withstand Amaterasu's flame.
Now that the Fire Release clone—Fugaku—had normalized the use of Amaterasu, his power had skyrocketed. He could easily be called one of Konoha's strongest shinobi.
Though of course… the Lightning Release clone—Sakumo —was still around too.
Knock knock knock!
A knock came at the door, followed by the gentle voice of his wife, Mikoto.
"Honey, the Hokage sent someone to summon you for the jōnin meeting."
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997