Chapter 133: Explosive Clay Release
Thinking of the terrifying nature of Dust Release, Li Yao's confidence slightly waned.
Dust Release — a fearsome Kekkei Tōta that could reduce even Uchiha Madara's Susanoo to ash.
Could his new black iron chains withstand that?
Li Yao shook his head. Probably not.
But it didn't matter — his speed now was fast enough. If he couldn't withstand it, at least he could outrun it.
Besides, with his chakra sensing ability, he only needed to keep his distance from Ōnoki.
"...Hm? Someone's coming!"
Li Yao suddenly frowned. Within his five-kilometer chakra sensing range, a man riding a large bird had intruded.
That bird... it wasn't an ink eagle nor a summoned giant hawk — it had to be something conjured by a new secret technique.
Judging by the chakra quantity on the man, he should be a relatively strong jōnin — around three Kakashis worth. With a special secret jutsu, his effective combat strength was likely at the elite jōnin level.
Of course, that was just going by chakra levels.
Actual strength — he'd have to fight to find out.
Li Yao stood up, dispelled all his shadow clones, stepped outside the wooden cabin, and pulled out a massive scroll from his black water storage space.
Placing his hand on the scroll, he began absorbing chakra from within.
The massive sealing scroll was the same one Sarutobi Tenchu used to store the chakra for the Adamantine Sealing Chains. Since Li Yao couldn't yet inscribe a Devouring Seal Array onto his body, he used this to store chakra accumulated over time — a backup supply in case of emergencies.
Just like now — his dantian chakra reserve quickly refilled.
"Hmm… I'm almost reluctant to leave."
After storing the scroll away again, Li Yao glanced back at his wooden cabin with a smile. Then he leapt into the air, summoned an ink eagle, and flew toward the intruder.
He no longer needed to flee at the first sign of an enemy.
But staying here was no longer an option.
"How did they find this place?"
As he flew, a faint unease lingered in Li Yao's mind. It was as if his movements kept getting tracked — and that was not a good sign.
"That island, huh?"
One thousand meters in the air, Dalaran Tsuchidai stood atop a clay bird, bundled in thick furs. Through a long telescope, he scanned the mountainous island up ahead, looking for any trace of Li Yao.
"That's... Li Yao!"
Suddenly, a pitch-black eagle appeared in the lens. Dalaran spotted Li Yao standing on its back — and it even looked like he was waving at him.
"So, I've been spotted, huh."
Dalaran smiled faintly and reached into the pouch at his waist, pulling out a lump of white clay. After injecting chakra, he molded it into three small, aerodynamic birds with three sets of tiny wings each.
"Go."
He threw the three clay birds and then formed a hand seal.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
In midair, the birds instantly expanded into three one-meter-long flying creatures. Two of them shot toward Li Yao like arrows; the third turned and flew back to report to the Third Tsuchikage that Li Yao had been found.
"I heard this guy can use the Third Raikage's Black Lightning!"
"No good. I need to keep my distance."
Dalaran steered his clay bird to turn and increase the gap between himself and Li Yao, positioning to face him from afar.
Powerful Lightning Style techniques were a natural counter to his Explosive Clay Release.
His explosions relied on earth chakra infused into specialized white clay — if struck by lightning chakra, the clay would become inert and useless.
"I wonder if Li Yao knows about that weakness."
Dalaran eyed the rapidly approaching Li Yao and pondered silently.
There weren't many users of Explosive Clay, and even fewer people knew that lightning chakra countered it.
Ninja intel was notoriously limited — especially the kind involving technique interactions. Such details were often kept secret to maintain the element of surprise.
Whoosh, whoosh!
The three-winged clay birds sped forward, their flight paths erratic — zigzagging left and right, up and down — making them hard to lock onto.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
Dalaran counted down in his mind as the birds neared Li Yao. He didn't need a direct hit — just to detonate within 20 meters. That would release C4-level microscopic nanobombs that would instantly envelop and infiltrate Li Yao's body.
Facing a man capable of wielding the God of Shinobi's Wood Release, Dalaran went for the kill from the start — no testing.
"Hm?" Suddenly, Dalaran's brow furrowed, and he exhaled lightly. "Trouble."
Zzzt... Crackle...
Before Dalaran could count to one, just as the clay birds entered within 100 meters of Li Yao—
Li Yao formed countless thin lightning senbon with Lightning Style chakra and launched them forward.
A dense storm of lightning needles rained down. No matter how fast the birds flew or how erratically they weaved, they were instantly skewered like pincushions and fell out of the sky.
"As I thought — same technique as Deidara's clay bombs."
Seeing the white clay birds drop dead like powerless toys after being struck, Li Yao's eyes lit up.
He had long been interested in clay bombs. Maybe he could combine them with the technique formula from explosive tags?
Ever since replicating the chakra technique from explosive tags, Li Yao had struggled to find a stable medium. He'd been planning to replicate Konan's Paper Release someday to produce paper for making explosive tags.
But now, it seemed clay might also serve as an excellent medium for storing the explosive tag technique chakra.
If successful, merging explosive tag techniques with clay bombs would surely result in even more powerful explosions.
"...Wait, what's that?"
Li Yao suddenly frowned.
Roughly 1.5 kilometers ahead, the enemy had abandoned his clay bird, created a new one, and was flying off on it. Meanwhile, the discarded bird flew toward Li Yao, its body steadily swelling.
Li Yao quickly adjusted his ink eagle to fly upward, aiming to bypass the explosion from above.
That massive clay bird — its explosion would be enormous.
He wouldn't be injured, but if it detonated early, the shockwave would slow him down.
The new clay bird the enemy summoned also had three sets of wings and flew very quickly.
"Hrah!"
Before Li Yao could ascend further, the original clay bird — now inflated to the limit — detonated from a kilometer away.
But instead of the expected massive shockwave, only a huge cloud of white smoke erupted — and quickly dissipated.
"Shit... it's a C4 nano bomb."
In his chakra sense, a vast swarm of tiny chakra signatures surged toward him. Though Li Yao didn't have Sasuke's Sharingan to see chakra visually, his chakra sensory ability was sharper and more detailed — and he could tell those dots were nanoscopic clay bugs.
Instantly, he realized — these were the same C4 nanobombs Deidara used in his fight against Sasuke. They had nearly killed him back then.
(END CHAPTER)
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