Chapter 82: Terrifying Sensory Ability
Night.
The full moon shone brightly.
High above a forest, the black surface of the Black Iron Giant Eagle shimmered faintly with a silvery metallic sheen under the moonlight.
"Ah…"
Inside the eagle's belly, Li Yao—who had slept for ten hours—stretched his arms and let out a contented waking sigh.
After such deep rest, he felt refreshed, relaxed, and full of energy.
Climbing out of the eagle's belly and standing on its back, Li Yao created a shadow clone and had it enter the eagle to take over its control.
The previous clone was then dismissed.
"Should I also dismiss the clone from the other side?"
Li Yao thought for a moment. Enough time had passed that, even if the enemy figured things out, he had already flown far away—dismissing the clone wouldn't affect him now.
"But… let's see if they're still there first."
With a thought, he used his consciousness link to contact the other shadow clone.
Li Yao's ability to link his consciousness to his shadow clones was frankly abnormal—almost like quantum communication. No matter the distance, he could sense his clones' presence.
Part of his consciousness remained infused in the clone's chakra, allowing him to connect or disconnect at will, without interference.
Thanks to this bizarre connection, he had been able to shake off Konoha's pursuit.
Ten minutes later—
Li Yao, who had been feeling smug about his "quantum connection," wasn't smiling anymore. His expression darkened.
Elsewhere—
His shadow clone had been hiding in a tree hollow for ten minutes.
But within its two-kilometer chakra detection range, there was still no sign of any chakra fluctuations.
Earlier, within just one minute of landing, ink swallows had already appeared in the sensory range. But now, ten minutes had passed—and nothing.
"Could they have developed a new sensory method...? No, that's not possible."
Li Yao shook his head. He was sure those two Konoha ninja didn't have chakra sensory abilities—or any kind of smell-tracking ability either.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have failed to detect the clone hidden at the waterfall before.
Then… had a member of the Hyuga Clan with the Byakugan arrived?
Li Yao guessed that only someone with Byakugan could possibly spot him from a distance and cause the pursuers to ignore his presence.
Their mission might have shifted—to tracking rather than killing.
But that was just speculation.
Whether or not a Byakugan user had shown up, Li Yao had to confirm it himself.
Poof!
The clone summoned the pre-woven Black Iron Giant Eagle and soared into the sky, pushing its flight speed to the limit, flying back toward the direction they'd come from.
Ten minutes later—
Still nothing within two kilometers. No chakra fluctuations.
Li Yao finally understood—he'd been tricked by Konoha.
At some point, the enemy had stopped tracking that clone.
"But why?"
He couldn't understand why they'd suddenly stop pursuing the clone. After all, clones were indistinguishable from the real body.
And earlier, the enemy had been in a rush to track him the moment he landed, clearly showing no intention of giving up.
So something must have happened while he was asleep—something unexpected that made them change plans and abandon the clone.
"If they've given up on the clone… then—no good!"
Back in his real body, Li Yao suddenly turned to look behind him. The moonlit night sky was clearer than the day.
His view revealed only stillness—no movement, nothing out of place.
But Li Yao didn't dare relax.
There was only one reason to give up chasing the clone: they had confirmed this side was the real body.
How?
He didn't know. But he was sure—he was being watched again.
Woosh!
The Black Iron Giant Eagle wheeled around sharply, whipping up a gust as it reversed direction.
Li Yao's gaze sharpened. He had to confirm if someone was tailing him.
"Not good, Li Yao has spotted us!"
"He suddenly turned and is flying back toward us!"
On the Ink Bird, Sarutobi Ayase saw Li Yao suddenly reversing course and ordered the bird to stop. She quickly spoke to her husband and their two allies.
On their way back, they had regrouped with Hyuga Seika and Echizen Ryoma, forming a four-person team to track Li Yao once again.
Hearing this, Sarutobi Tenchū's eyes narrowed. After a brief moment of thought, he told his wife, "Ayase, let's turn around and fly back too. He's probably just testing whether we're behind him—not actually spotting us."
If Li Yao had truly detected their pursuit, he would've kept flying forward and created more clones to throw them off—
Not fly straight back at them like this.
"Understood."
Ayase agreed and turned the Ink Bird around, increasing chakra output to speed up and keep a seven-kilometer distance from Li Yao.
As Li Yao flew back, he saw no trace of the Ink Bird, and his chakra sense detected no presence either.
But when he reached the seven-kilometer mark, he finally sensed faint, nearly invisible traces of chakra flames in the sky.
These were chakra traces that only Li Yao's unique sensory ability could detect.
Hovering before those nearly transparent flames, he focused.
"Four people!"
"It's the four-man Konoha team!"
Within moments, he had matched the chakra patterns to those his clone had previously sensed—confirming it was the same team.
Li Yao looked around. No one in sight. Nothing within his chakra range either. But he was sure—they'd been watching from beyond his sensory limit.
"Heh, you think that's enough to fool me?"
Li Yao smiled slightly, then directed the eagle to turn and fly away again.
"Huh… why did he stop where we'd just been?"
"Did he sense something?"
"Wait… now he's flying away again?"
Ayase frowned, puzzled by Li Yao's behavior—stopping exactly where they had just paused, then suddenly reversing direction.
"Wait!"
Hyuga Seika gasped as the realization struck. "Li Yao has extremely powerful chakra sensing. He can detect even the faint traces of chakra we naturally emit into the air."
The others' faces changed at once. Echizen Ryoma scowled. "His sensory ability is that strong?"
Chakra naturally leaks from every ninja's body—it's unavoidable. No one can perfectly contain their chakra.
This passive chakra leakage is like heat transfer—inevitable and irreversible. At best, you can reduce it, not stop it.
Every place a ninja passes will retain faint chakra traces for a short while.
These traces are usually extremely weak—especially for elite ANBU like them, who are trained to suppress chakra. The residual traces would be even fainter and dissipate quickly.
Even the Byakugan would struggle to detect these quickly fading remnants.
Especially in the air, where airflow would scatter the already faint chakra traces almost instantly.
And yet, based on Li Yao's reaction, he had clearly detected what even the Byakugan would miss.
That proved just how terrifying his chakra sensing was.
With that level of ability, combined with his soul perception, ambushing him would be nearly impossible.
Only overwhelming force in a direct confrontation could possibly defeat or seal him.
"Ayase, report this intel back to Konoha," said Sarutobi Tenchū.
"Understood," she replied.
Their mission was to track Li Yao and gather intelligence on his abilities. The more dangerous he proved to be, the better it was to be prepared.
Better to learn it now than be caught off guard in a life-or-death battle.
Still, with every new ability Li Yao revealed, the group felt increasingly uneasy.
Standing on the Ink Bird, maintaining a seven-kilometer distance, the four silently pondered how to deal with the current Li Yao.
Ninjutsu, taijutsu, high resistance, a special constitution immune to genjutsu, mastery of sealing techniques—
Now topped with terrifying chakra sensory powers.
Honestly, with what Li Yao had shown so far, even if he didn't have overwhelming combat skills, he was already a formidable shinobi with no obvious weaknesses.
At least for the four of them, they couldn't find a single clear way to defeat him.
Their only chance was to find an opening during battle and strike a fatal blow.
But considering that even the Third Hokage and Lady Mito couldn't find such an opening in combat, it was clear Li Yao had considerable combat instincts.
Thinking back on the pursuit—
How he used clones to fool them.
How he'd quickly sensed they might be following him and doubled back to confirm.
This cautious nature, combined with strong battle instincts and no clear weaknesses…
Unless they could overwhelm him with power or launch a perfect surprise attack, the four could think of no way to bring him down.
"I hope Father can come up with a way to deal with him soon…"
Sarutobi Tenchū sighed inwardly. Li Yao's growth rate was staggering. Each new ability shattered his expectations.
If things kept up like this, Li Yao might truly become untouchable.
Only by developing a perfect strategy to seal him for good could they eliminate this threat once and for all.
(END CHAPTER)
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