Chapter 87: Black Iron Cage
A Black Iron Chain suddenly burst out from Li Yao's right eye, blocking Minato's kunai from stabbing any further.
Tap!
Minato flipped backward, landing behind Li Yao and immediately spinning around to face him, a rare expression of disbelief flashing across his face.
Huff… huff…
Li Yao also turned, a Black Iron Chain emerging from his right eye and phasing through his right hand, which was covering it. The sight was unsettling.
He looked toward Minato in the distance, slightly hunched, breathing heavily even though he wasn't actually tired, his left eye filled with lingering fear.
"That was close… way too close… almost died!"
Li Yao's body remained tense, shaken by how near he'd come to death.
"Impossible."
"His instinctive reaction… was to shoot a black chakra chain from his eye?!!"
"That's not a natural reflex!"
Minato was stunned. It didn't make sense. Normally, when the brain can't react in time, the body instinctively dodges or flinches—blinks, turns the head—those are physical reflexes.
Not summoning a chakra weapon to block an attack.
That wasn't a physical reflex. It wasn't logical.
Yet this guy—this monster who had stolen his friend's body—had done exactly that.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Poof!
Minato instantly formed a seal and created a shadow clone to charge at Li Yao, while he himself turned and fled without hesitation.
With his taijutsu and ninjutsu both unable to break through Li Yao's defenses, and even his surprise attack blocked by that bizarre reflex, Minato knew in that instant—he had no chance of winning this fight.
No matter how fast he was, even attacks too fast to react to would be blocked by Li Yao's abnormal reflexes.
Fact was, he couldn't kill Li Yao.
Of course, Li Yao couldn't kill him either.
But Kushina was still here. If Li Yao realized he couldn't defeat Minato directly, he would likely target Kushina to force Minato into close combat.
At that point, he would lose for sure.
The only viable option now was to use a shadow clone to stall Li Yao and escape with Kushina.
Minato's retreat caught Li Yao off guard—he hadn't expected Minato to run.
But what surprised Minato was Li Yao's response.
Using chakra perception, Minato sensed that at the moment he created his shadow clone and turned to escape, Li Yao also thrust two Black Iron Chains into the ground behind him and launched himself skyward.
It looked like… he didn't want to keep fighting either?
But… how could that be?
Tap!
Reaching a height of over a hundred meters, Li Yao summoned the Black Iron Giant Eagle from within his body, expanded it mid-air, landed on its back, and flew toward Minato.
"Incredible speed!"
"Incredible reflexes!"
Just like Minato had realized Li Yao's close-range tactics wouldn't work, Li Yao also knew his chains couldn't touch Minato.
No matter how deadly they were, if they couldn't land a hit, they were useless.
Against Minato's lightning-fast movements, only a wide-range jutsu could limit his mobility.
Li Yao had that—his combined Lightning and Water Release could form large-scale attacks Minato couldn't avoid.
But chakra capacity was his weakness.
And who was to say Minato didn't have large-scale jutsu as well?
If it came to an all-out chakra clash, Li Yao would lose.
Right now, Minato had the burden of protecting Kushina, so he couldn't afford to drag out the fight. Similarly, Li Yao had the Konoha ANBU squad on his tail and couldn't afford delays either.
"Hurry!"
"It's Kushina! We can't let anything happen to her!"
Behind them, Sarutobi Tenchū and his team rode Sarutobi Ayase's ink bird at top speed, racing toward the site of Li Yao and Minato's battle.
Tenchū was extremely anxious. Kushina wasn't just the next Nine-Tails Jinchūriki—she was close to the Hokage himself. He knew how important she was.
If they hadn't encountered her, fine.
But now that they had, there was no way he could let her come to harm.
The team pushed to their limits. Just as Li Yao leapt back into the sky and stood on his eagle's back, they entered his five-kilometer chakra sensory range.
In fact, the moment Li Yao encountered Minato—
Hyūga Seika had already seen Minato and Kushina in the forest with his Byakugan.
Thanks to rigorous training, Seika could observe incredible distances with his eyes, which was exactly why the Third Hokage had brought him into the ANBU.
And now his eyes were proving invaluable.
Both Minato and Kushina were on ANBU's watch list—especially Kushina.
All ANBU operatives were familiar with her appearance.
Seika recognized her immediately.
What had been a slow pursuit turned into an urgent dash to support Minato and rescue Kushina.
"Too late, though."
Li Yao glanced behind him, shook his head, and gave a cold, mocking smile.
Tenchū's team would need at least thirty more seconds to reach him.
And thirty seconds… was more than enough to finish off Minato.
"You won't escape, Minato."
Hovering 200 meters in the air, Li Yao looked down at the rapidly fleeing Minato, smiled slightly, and raised his right hand.
Whoosh whoosh…
In an instant, countless hair-thin Black Iron Chains shot from his palm, spreading out like an umbrella before falling.
Hiss hiss hiss…
The falling chains drove deep into the ground, then began converging toward the center. Within three seconds, a cage of chains covered a 500-meter radius—trapping Minato and Kushina within.
The scene resembled Doflamingo's Birdcage from One Piece.
Only instead of string, it was made of Black Iron Chains in a grid-like pattern.
After forming the cage, Li Yao thickened the threads—expanding them to the width of a finger, then layering them again and again, forming an interlocked mesh only wide enough for a fist to pass through.
Clang clang…
"Wind Release: Wind Blade!"
"Wind Release: Wind Pillar!"
Boom boom…
Minato's two shadow clones attacked the cage walls with kunai and Wind Release ninjutsu.
But no matter what they tried, the Black Iron Chains didn't budge.
"It's useless, Minato."
"Chains formed by Adamantine Sealing Chakra are extremely durable. Ordinary ninjutsu won't work. The only way to cancel the jutsu is to kill the caster."
Kushina herself stepped forward to strike the chains. The feedback force shocked her. The chains were as sturdy as her clan's legendary Adamantine Sealing Chains—completely unbreakable.
If only she were older and mentally stronger, she could use her own chains outside her body.
Then she wouldn't fear these black chakra chains at all.
"But…"
Minato's two clones looked up in frustration. Outside the cage, Li Yao sat coldly on the back of his eagle.
Their attacks couldn't break the cage. They couldn't even touch the enemy.
Despair surged through both the clones and Kushina.
Minato, having caught up, saw the expressions on their faces and the towering cage around them—he understood the situation immediately.
"What now?"
His eyes were anxious, but his mind was sharply focused—racing to find a way out of this trap.
Li Yao wasn't going to give him time to think.
The moment the Black Iron Cage was completed, he phased out part of it, flew out, and extended his right hand.
Then he clenched it.
Instantly—
The entire cage began rapidly contracting toward the center.
(END CHAPTER)
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