Chapter 426: Shift in Offense and Defense
At first, the battle went just as Li Yao had expected.
Even with their perfect teamwork, Naruto and Sasuke couldn't do anything to him. On the contrary, they were forced into a perilous situation and had to seek help from the Tailed Beasts.
But… as the saying goes—
Real people think. Real people come up with countermeasures. Li Yao, who had too much confidence in his own strength, ended up getting countered by Sasuke, who nearly landed a fatal blow.
The best solution is still to leave no openings.
With that in mind, Li Yao triggered a thought, and the cloak of black hole space extended to wrap completely around his head.
Inside, Li Yao's true body continued maintaining the state of the Time Mirage. To prevent any accidents, he even gathered chakra to cast the Izanagi illusion, the reality-rewriting genjutsu, triggering it once every ten minutes to ensure everything could be reset if needed.
At the same time, his true body activated the passive phasing ability to switch bodies with his self-created Kamui space.
Now, Li Yao had stacked all the defensive life-saving ninjutsu he knew.
Even so, he learned from the previous encounter. He no longer blindly trusted himself and kept a constant eye on Naruto and Sasuke's states, always ready to make combat judgments.
In fact, earlier, when he was being forced to teleport repeatedly by Sasuke's lightning attacks, Li Yao should've immediately teleported five kilometers away to cool down and reassess.
Maybe then he wouldn't have fallen into such a crisis.
But that's all hindsight.
Back to the point.
Having once again stacked multiple defensive jutsu, Li Yao teleported above Naruto's head and punched down.
The punch, wrapped in black hole space cloak, instantly pierced through the golden Nine-Tails chakra cloak.
"Naruto!"
Sasuke shouted, instantly using Amenotejikara to switch their positions.
Boom!
Li Yao created a shadow clone.
Sasuke was too troublesome. He assigned a shadow clone to keep an eye on him, just in case a repeat of the earlier sneak attack occurred.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Li Yao and his clone simultaneously teleported next to Naruto and Sasuke, launching a punch.
Crackle!
The Nine-Tails cloak and Susanoo couldn't resist the devouring power of the black hole space. Once again, Naruto and Sasuke used Amenotejikara to escape.
Zzzap!
As soon as they escaped, Sasuke unleashed another lightning field, covering a thousand meters around them.
But this time, Li Yao was completely covered by the black hole space cloak. Sasuke's lightning could no longer invade his body.
Ignoring the storm of lightning, Li Yao and his clone launched another attack on Naruto and Sasuke.
This time, Naruto finally shook off the shadow of his earlier sealing failure. The moment the Nine-Tails cloak was pierced, he took flight and dodged Li Yao's attack.
On the other side, Sasuke faced with the fully black hole-cloaked Li Yao had no other option but to use Amenotejikara again to dodge.
But Li Yao's shadow clone kept teleporting and following him.
With no other choice, Sasuke used Amenotejikara to swap Li Yao's shadow clone with Naruto's position.
"Annoying!"
Li Yao frowned slightly. After so many attacks, he still couldn't separate Naruto and Sasuke. This ability of Amenotejikara was truly frustrating.
"If that's the case, then let's get serious."
This time, Li Yao teleported next to Naruto and the Nine-Tails but didn't attack—just stayed within a hundred meters.
However, toward Sasuke, Li Yao's shadow clone showed no mercy. Every move was lethal.
"What is this guy doing?"
"Is he really not trying to kill me?"
Li Yao's behavior left Naruto confused. But this wasn't the time to think about the answer. He was safe, but Sasuke was now in serious danger. Without fearing Sasuke's lightning anymore, it was Sasuke who had to keep dodging passively.
Li Yao didn't attack Naruto, and Naruto couldn't do anything against the current Li Yao either.
"Sasuke!"
Naruto rushed toward Sasuke to help relieve some pressure, but... it was useless.
This time, they truly had no way of dealing with Li Yao's black hole space cloak, tougher than a turtle shell.
Faced with Li Yao's shadow clone's attacks, they could only dodge.
"This guy… if he could fight like this, why didn't he do it earlier?"
Looking at Li Yao's fully cloaked body, with no visible line of sight, yet still able to track them precisely and fight unimpeded, Naruto felt a mix of despair and confusion. Why didn't Li Yao fight like this from the beginning?
If he had, they wouldn't have had a chance to use the Six Paths Chibaku Tensei sealing jutsu at all.
Why hadn't Li Yao covered himself with the black hole space cloak from the start?
Because at first, Li Yao was afraid Naruto and Sasuke would fall into despair and give up struggling. He feared Naruto would lose hope and release the Truth-Seeking Orbs, making it impossible for him to copy them. So he had to give Naruto hope to keep him fighting and generating the orbs.
But after what had just happened, Li Yao gave in and saw the truth.
Compared to the Truth-Seeking Orbs, his own life was more important.
Besides, if he couldn't become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki in this world, there were still two more Hokage worlds.
With his current strength and the lesson he'd just learned, Li Yao now knew how to avoid Minato's Flying Thunder God interference.
Next time, he'd use a clone without Minato's mark to become the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, then hide in his own Kamui space. He'd like to see what the Sage of Six Paths could do then.
So now, Li Yao wasn't going to give Naruto and Sasuke another chance.
Of course, he wouldn't kill them either. And killing them in a short time wasn't likely anyway.
Li Yao just let his shadow clone keep attacking Sasuke, while his true body stayed by Naruto's side, sensing the chakra of the Truth-Seeking Orbs on him.
If he could copy that chakra in this world, great. If not, it didn't matter.
And so, the battle between Li Yao and Naruto-Sasuke took on a strange, entangled form.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, things weren't going so well for Minato and the others.
Above a small town closest to Konoha—
Obito's clone had teleported there early. Standing in midair, he looked down at the town of about twenty thousand people, quietly waiting for Minato and the others.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Soon—
Under Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique, he quickly arrived at the town. Beside him, Tobirama brought Hashirama and the others using the same technique.
"They're here."
Li Yao's Obito clone activated his chakra, dark purple energy flashing as the black hole space cloak covered his body, giving Minato and the others no chance.
Then he raised a hand and condensed a black hole space orb the size of a car.
Seeing this, Minato and the others immediately turned pale.
"Stop!!!"
Realizing what Li Yao's clone was about to do, they all shouted. Minato threw his Flying Thunder God kunai and teleported toward him.
Tobirama headed for the ground below the town.
Hashirama clapped his hands, gathering massive chakra.
"Wood Style: Ranking Shield Technique!"
Instantly, two enormous wooden shields with carved demon faces rose on either side of the town, closing in to protect it.
"Too late!"
Li Yao's clone sneered coldly and hurled the black hole space orb downward.
(END CHAPTER)
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