Chapter 114: I See Now
"No 'but'—this is the best opportunity we'll ever have."
Sarutobi Tenchu shook his head firmly. Right now, Li Yao was at his weakest. This was the best time to strike.
If they let him recover, considering how quickly his body adapted to Wood Release cells, they might never get another chance like this again.
Of course, Tenchu understood his wife's concerns.
They hadn't seen Li Yao kill the four Kumogakure shinobi—there were trees blocking the view.
But the fight had ended far too quickly. That meant Li Yao still had other unknown powers.
Attacking him now was dangerous. Tenchu might very well die.
But—for Konoha, he was ready. He had resolved himself.
Only his wife... He turned to look at her, reached out, and gently removed her ANBU mask, revealing her delicate and beautiful face.
That beautiful face was now silently streaked with tears.
Tenchu smiled and said, "Don't worry. Maybe Li Yao has already lost his ability to fight back."
Thump... Ayase suddenly threw herself into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm going with you," she said firmly.
"No."
Tenchu pushed her back abruptly and grabbed her shoulders tightly, speaking gently: "Our child can't grow up without a mother. You wouldn't want our kid coming home from school with no one there to pick them up, would you?"
"No. If you go, I go." Ayase shook her head, eyes full of resolve.
Tenchu frowned and pulled rank. "That's an order!" he snapped, invoking his status as ANBU captain.
Ayase stood unfazed, silently staring back at her husband, her gaze saying one thing:
You're not going to face Li Yao alone.
Even if this was Li Yao at his weakest, that didn't mean he couldn't fight back.
Based on how quickly Li Yao had dispersed his shadow clone after killing the four Kumogakure shinobi, it was clear that although the secret technique had cost him, he still had plenty of fight left.
Ayase couldn't bear the thought of her husband facing him alone.
One more person meant one more layer of protection. One more chance of survival.
She would never let him go alone.
Maybe it was her unwavering gaze, maybe something else, but Tenchu sighed, the sternness on his face softening. "Fine. We'll go together."
As shinobi—ANBU shinobi—they had long accepted the possibility of dying for Konoha.
Now aligned in purpose, Ayase directed the Ink Bird toward Li Yao's location.
Along the way, Tenchu unrolled a large scroll, the word "Seal" prominently inked at the center. Around it were intricate, dense patterns of sealing formulas.
This was a sealing scroll prepared by Lady Mito Uzumaki herself, containing the powerful sealing jutsu: Vajra Binding Barrier Technique.
If they could restrain Li Yao's real body and bind him with Vajra Chains, Ayase's Twin Dragons Pearl Seal could potentially finish the job.
The only reason they hadn't used it earlier was because they could never confirm Li Yao's real location.
Now, Tenchu was certain—Li Yao's true body was in the cave within the mountains.
Swoosh... Ayase also spread out a large blank scroll and began painting two spiraling dragons chasing an unseen pearl into the sky, preparing the powerful sealing technique for activation.
Originally, Tenchu was meant to carry and activate this scroll himself.
Now, it would be Ayase who executed the jutsu, allowing for better adjustment based on the situation.
With their synergy, if nothing unexpected happened, they had a good chance of sealing Li Yao—or at the very least, forcing him to abandon Kimura Yao's body.
Still, the many techniques Li Yao had displayed so far left them with no sense of certainty.
What they didn't know, however, was that Li Yao didn't actually possess any spirit transformation or possession techniques.
Had they attacked earlier—Li Yao would've been finished.
From beginning to end, the Third Hokage had been outwitting the wind.
…
Meanwhile, completely unaware that danger was closing in again, Li Yao sat cross-legged on the cold floor of the cave, eyes closed, focusing all his strength on restraining the Gate of Death with his acupoint chakra.
Right now, his acupoint space was like a collapsed dam for a massive reservoir that combined the Yangtze, the Yellow River, and countless others. All the water (his life force) was pouring out at once.
If he didn't rebuild the dam, every drop would be lost.
That's what he was doing now—using acupoint chakra to reconstruct the seal on the Gate of Death, to prevent the limitless loss of vitality and make it controllable again.
But the breach was too massive.
He was stuck.
To fully seal the Gate of Death, he needed an enormous amount of acupoint chakra.
But to produce that much chakra, he had to open the Gate of Death again—release his body's limits—and draw upon his life potential.
It was a catch-22.
A deadlock.
Unless someone came and allowed him to devour their chakra, he had no way to fully re-seal the Gate.
With his hair now gray and his skin loose and wrinkled, Li Yao doubted whether he could survive another week of continued life force loss.
"Looks like I'll have to stop playing low-key."
A decision formed in his mind. Once he stabilized the Gate a bit more, he'd go out and hunt shinobi—devour their chakra to seal the Gate.
Hmm!
Suddenly, Li Yao's eyes snapped open. Someone had entered his one-kilometer sensing range.
He had kept his sensing limited to one kilometer to conserve chakra while maintaining the Gate seal.
But even with that small range—someone had found him.
Two familiar signatures.
One of them… was the Third Hokage's son.
So that's it...
Li Yao stood up, a flash of understanding passing through him.
He finally realized why, even after repeatedly escaping the Raikage, he had been found every time.
Those two had been monitoring him from just outside his range all along.
And now that he thought about it—his hidden base on Viper Island being discovered by the Raikage couldn't have been a coincidence.
Probably the work of Sarutobi's son.
"Well, perfect. Time to settle old and new grudges."
"And I needed someone to donate chakra."
Li Yao smiled coldly, his eyes gleaming.
Right now, he was both at his weakest—and his strongest.
Normally, taking down two ANBU jōnin who understood his abilities would be difficult.
But now? Heh.
He didn't bother hiding. He stepped out of the cave to welcome the Konoha ANBU pair.
They were coming straight at him, likely thinking he was too weak to fight.
They weren't entirely wrong.
Most of his chakra was being used to restrain the Gate of Death. He had very little left for battle.
Unless...
Unless he was willing to let go of the Gate's restraints and burn more life force.
Was he willing?
Of course.
From the moment he sensed Sarutobi Tenchu and Ayase, he knew—
There was only one path forward: eliminate them.
Otherwise, he would never know peace again.
(END CHAPTER)
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