Chapter 211: Lightning Clone – Konoha's Sakumo
"So this is the secret mission that led to the Sakumo of Konoha's suicide?"
"As expected, politics is filthy."
High in the sky.
Li Yao and Koyuki stood atop a massive clay bird.
They were originally on their way to find Yahiko and the others when Li Yao, sensing a large number of chakra signatures converging near Drizzle City, changed direction to investigate.
They had then witnessed the entire process of Danzo leading Root to disguise themselves as Akatsuki and lure Sakumo Hatake into a trap.
Li Yao didn't know why Danzo and his men had dressed as Akatsuki to surround Sakumo, but the scheme was all too familiar—it was clearly the reason behind Sakumo's suicide in the original timeline.
After all, it wasn't just a simple mission failure. Sakumo had failed while trying to save comrades.
Even in failure, that shouldn't have provoked such relentless public criticism—unless someone was guiding that opinion.
And sure enough, now that Li Yao had seen it from beginning to end, he knew who was behind it.
Danzo—this bastard really did show up everywhere things turned to shit.
Of course, Danzo being the Third Hokage's right-hand enforcer meant that Hiruzen himself was absolutely involved too.
"In the original, Sakumo committed suicide. This time, he definitely won't."
Li Yao grinned, casting one final glance at the retreating Sakumo, then turning his attention to Danzo's departing chakra trail.
"Should I use one of my clones on Danzo?"
"…Forget it. Killing him to make a clone would be doing him a favor."
After a brief thought, Li Yao shook his head and looked away from Danzo.
Sure, turning Danzo into a clone would make it easier to exact revenge on Hiruzen later.
But Li Yao's desire for revenge against Danzo wasn't any less. Killing him quickly would be far too merciful.
For Danzo, only a fate worse than death would be satisfying.
"You'll be the Lightning Clone."
Li Yao's gaze shifted back to Sakumo below. The man had incredibly strong Lightning Release chakra, and his identity as the Sakumo of Konoha was a huge bonus.
If Li Yao turned Sakumo into his Lightning Clone, then Konoha would have a powerful Kage-level ninja backing his Uchiha clone's rise to the Hokage seat. That would greatly reduce resistance.
In terms of talent, Sakumo's White Lightning had already reached the level of Black Lightning—its chakra nature transformation on par with a kekkei genkai.
Though a bit older, he was still formidable.
In the entire ninja world, only Sakumo and the Third Raikage had managed to refine Lightning Chakra to such an extreme level—worthy of a clone.
Li Yao remained in the sky, following Sakumo without striking. He waited for them to get far enough from Danzo's Root before making a move.
Down below—
"Faster… go faster!"
Sakumo looked anxious as he and his three ANBU comrades sprinted toward the border. None of them looked relieved to have escaped—instead, they were more desperate than ever.
The enemy had abandoned pursuit. That could only mean their objective had been achieved.
They didn't know what had become of the Land of Fire. Perhaps some towns had already been attacked.
But they knew—every second counted. The sooner they delivered the intel, the fewer lives would be lost.
After several minutes of high-speed travel, Sakumo suddenly signaled a halt.
"Who's there?"
He tensed, short blade raised, eyes fixed on a nearby tree with a serious expression.
Li Yao calmly stepped out from behind it, his Akatsuki cloak instantly recognizable.
"Akatsuki… No—who are you really?" Sakumo questioned, all while signaling behind his back for the ANBU trio to prepare to escape when the opportunity arose.
This enemy was different.
Not only had he gone undetected until now, but he exuded a calm unlike anything Sakumo had ever felt.
Like the sea—calm on the surface, hiding a storm beneath.
This man was strong—definitely Kage-level.
Their eyes met. In that moment, Sakumo sensed Li Yao's overwhelming power. In his current condition, this would be very troublesome.
But no matter how hard it would be, he wouldn't retreat. He definitely wouldn't let his comrades die.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Both moved at once.
They were fast—very fast.
"Hm?"
In a blink, their paths crossed—but Sakumo noticed with confusion that Li Yao hadn't attacked him. Instead, he passed by.
"No!"
His face fell. Behind him were his three young comrades—the enemy was targeting them!
Zzzzz!
Sakumo turned swiftly—but it was too late. Three bloodied heads had already flown into the air. Li Yao turned to face him again, and behind him, the three ANBU bodies collapsed in unison with their heads.
Thump-thump!
Sakumo's heart thundered. His vision turned red. His face twisted into a monstrous grimace, like a demon from hell.
Zzzzzzzzz!
His short blade surged with white lightning, glowing brilliantly and hissing sharply.
It looked powerful, but Li Yao shook his head.
Clearly, Sakumo was too injured—he couldn't properly control his White Lightning anymore.
Whoosh!
Sakumo didn't scream or shout—he never did in battle. Even in a rage, he remained silent. But his movements turned feral as he lunged with a lightning-coated blade aimed straight at Li Yao's heart.
Guh!
Suddenly, Sakumo felt a crushing pressure around his throat. A moment later, immense force slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
The ground cracked and crumbled beneath him.
Li Yao had him pinned by the throat, slammed hard into the dirt.
In his current state, Sakumo was no match. He was subdued in a single move—his weapon flung aside.
Pfft!
Blood gushed from his mouth. His already injured organs suffered further trauma. His body, already strained from the Eight Gates, was severely damaged once more.
"That injury should be just right."
Li Yao released him and, without giving Sakumo a chance to struggle again, used the Sensory Deprivation Technique to completely sever his control over his body.
Now infused with Rinnegan chakra, Li Yao's genjutsu had reached a new level. Even Kage-level shinobi with kekkei genkai chakra couldn't resist.
Perhaps only someone like Ōnoki with Dust Release could resist—and even that wasn't guaranteed.
Li Yao lifted Sakumo and soared into the sky.
Below ground, White Zetsu finally realized something was wrong.
Once, maybe. Twice, still possible. But three times?
Li Yao had taken yet another person into the sky. There was no way it was just for genjutsu anymore.
"This guy must be doing something to them…"
"But what?"
White Zetsu couldn't figure it out.
After all, creating clones using other people's bodies was only possible with the Rinnegan.
Li Yao didn't have the Rinnegan. For White Zetsu, a firm believer in bloodline supremacy, it was unthinkable that Li Yao had developed a clone technique even more perfect than the Six Paths of Pain: the Five Element Clone technique.
Still, even if he couldn't guess what was happening, White Zetsu understood one thing—he just had to keep a close watch on the three people Li Yao had taken into the sky.
So he contacted other Zetsu clones near Madara and ordered them to monitor the Iwagakure and Sunagakure youths—as well as Sakumo.
High above—
The transformation was completed: Sakumo Hatake was now Li Yao's Lightning Clone.
Afterward, Li Yao returned to the border of the Wind Country with Koyuki, pretending they had been negotiating with Sunagakure's people the entire time.
The Konoha team had been dealt with—no need to return to Yahiko's group. If word of what happened here got out, it would be too difficult to explain.
(END CHAPTER)
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