Chapter 89: Shaking Off the Pursuit
Three days later.
Morning. The sun rose.
At the northernmost border between the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Frost, Sarutobi Tenchū and his team stood in silence before the endless ocean.
"In the end… we lost him."
Tenchū sighed inwardly. Once they left the Land of Fire and its chakra barrier detection network, Li Yao used shadow clones again and slipped away. They could no longer pinpoint his real body.
In the end, they had relied on Echizen Ryōma's memory-reading technique to scour the minds of civilians and wandering shinobi across the border region, tracking down memories of Li Yao's movements until they followed him all the way to the coastline.
Now that they had confirmed Li Yao entered the sea, pursuing him using memory search was essentially impossible.
In the vast ocean, who would be around to provide memories to probe?
With Li Yao's flight ability, he would certainly venture deep into the sea—where few people ever tread. Finding someone who'd seen him would be nearly impossible.
In short, at this point, their mission to track Li Yao had basically failed.
"Seika, Ryōma—you two return to Konoha and report everything about Li Yao to the Hokage. Ayase and I will continue searching at sea," Tenchū ordered.
Even though they had lost Li Yao, the search had to go on. But from here on, Seika and Ryōma were no longer needed—Konoha's battlefronts needed their strength more urgently.
"Yes, Captain."
Seika and Ryōma nodded and turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Tenchū and his wife continued their search, flying deeper into the Sea of War on the Ink Bird, looking for signs of Li Yao.
The Sea of War—situated between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.
This region was once known as the "Whale Fat Sea" due to its abundant whale population and the whalers who came here to harvest oil.
But constant conflict between the two nations—sworn enemies—had left this sea desolate. Gradually, people began to call it the Sea of War.
…
Over the Sea of War.
Li Yao stood atop the Black Iron Giant Eagle, flying steadily northward.
"Why do the Third's son and daughter have a trace of his chakra in them?"
Li Yao had been pondering this for three days and nights—with no answer.
At first, sensing the Third Hokage's chakra within Sarutobi Mina, he assumed it was due to some experiment.
But when he sensed the same chakra signature within the male ANBU member, he realized it was no coincidence—there was a deeper secret at play.
He had only sensed the Third's chakra within Mina and that male ANBU.
If chakra could pass through bloodlines, then he should also sense the father's chakra inside Minato.
Though Li Yao didn't know who Minato's father was, if there were unfamiliar chakra fluctuations in Minato's body, he should've noticed.
And if someone claimed it was because Minato's father was weak—
Then what about the Third's father, Sarutobi Sasuke? He was strong.
Yet Li Yao never sensed Sasuke's chakra inside the Third.
Nor did he sense anything like that in the chakra of those Root ninja from the secret base.
Why then, only in the Third's two children?
Was it because of that half-year of torment—where the Third repeatedly used the Dark Walk technique on him—making Li Yao hypersensitive to his chakra?
Could that be it?
Probably.
Li Yao frowned, thinking that was likely the reason. But given his level of chakra control, it still shouldn't create such a drastic sensing difference.
And aside from the "sensitivity" explanation, he had no other answers.
But something told him—there was a secret here.
The fact that the Third's children carried his chakra signature wasn't normal.
Li Yao was sure of it.
He couldn't figure it out now. But one day, he would.
For now… he needed to find a safe hideout.
Shaking his head, Li Yao temporarily set the mystery aside.
5 p.m.
Deep within the Sea of War, on a small island.
It was more of a lone mountain, covered in vibrant green trees. It looked lively—but in reality, death was everywhere. Every half meter, there was a venomous snake, its colorful patterns glowing ominously.
Li Yao, standing on the Black Iron Eagle, felt a chill down his spine. He didn't dare land.
This truly was a great place to go into hiding.
He had already scouted the area. Within a 1,000-kilometer radius, there wasn't a single other island. Within a 2,000-kilometer diameter zone, this was the only landmass.
No refueling stations. No paths. A normal person would never reach this place.
It was like looking for a single mountain in half a country—on the ocean.
As for ninja… Li Yao chuckled.
This wasn't One Piece—no eternal log poses here. To find this island, you'd either have to have been here before or rely entirely on luck.
From what Li Yao could tell, there were no traces of human presence anywhere on this island of snakes.
This place had likely never been discovered.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Blast!"
Standing on the Black Iron Eagle, Li Yao raised his right hand toward the top of the island. With a thought, his base chakra transformed into Fire Release and gushed from his palm as a stream of intense flame.
Boom boom… Rumble!
His right arm became like the nozzle of a high-caliber flamethrower, spewing fire across the island's peak.
The island, only a kilometer wide, instantly turned into a mountain of flames.
As expected, the Third Hokage's fire chakra was top-tier. High temperature, excellent combustibility—this was no "look scary but can't burn" kind of fire.
Very quickly—
The once lush island vanished, replaced by a scorched, barren rock. Even the topsoil had melted into magma-like slag.
"Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!"
Li Yao raised his left hand. From his palm, a stream of water burst forth—like a waterfall crashing down from the sky, washing over the charred peak.
"Huh…"
Li Yao blinked. The water volume had somehow increased.
Upon closer sensing, he noticed that during his jutsu, moisture in the surrounding air was being drawn in—funneling into his Water Release, enhancing the output.
"Not just that!"
With a thought, he extended his Water Release chakra toward the sea. Instantly, he sensed he could control a portion of the ocean itself.
Splaaash—
A rotating water column the width of a barrel surged from the sea and, under his control, splashed over the mountain.
Before long, the island was cleansed, revealing hardened brown stone beneath the char.
Li Yao landed and dismissed the Black Iron Eagle.
So Water Release chakra could merge with natural water sources to greatly enhance jutsu power.
Then Earth Release chakra, merging with the land, should be able to do the same.
That meant elemental chakra types had direct links to their respective natural elements.
If that was true… then as long as he could find the link, he could develop Earth Release.
Li Yao was a little excited.
He already had Wind, Lightning, Fire, and Water.
Only Earth remained. Then he would have all five basic chakra natures.
In the ninja world, anyone who could wield all five was a prodigy.
In a way—Li Yao was one.
After all, his mutated consciousness was a kind of innate talent—not a cheat system. So yes, he was a genius.
Growl...
Suddenly, his stomach rumbled. Genius Li Yao was hungry.
"Food first. Then rest. Then jutsu research."
That was his plan.
But before he could eat, he needed a house.
"Wood Release: Three-Room-One-Hall Jutsu!"
With a thought, his Wood Release chakra poured into the ground, summoning thick brown logs that interlocked and grew into a decent wooden house.
Windows, doors, a bed—and a scenic front deck.
About fifty square meters. The deck had a wooden beach chair and a round table with seats.
With Wood Release, a villa was always within reach.
In his past life, Li Yao never owned a home. But now, six years into the Naruto world, he had a seaside villa.
He sat in a chair and opened a storage scroll, inputting chakra.
Poof!
When the smoke cleared, five roast chickens wrapped in lotus leaves lay atop the scroll—something he had purchased and sealed away earlier on his journey.
He took one, re-sealed the others, and saved them for later.
"Mmm… delicious."
With the sea breeze in his hair and a fresh, juicy chicken in hand, Li Yao felt completely at peace.
"In this world… I might be the only one using storage scrolls as a refrigerator."
He chuckled to himself as he ate.
(END CHAPTER)
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