Chapter 249: Li Yao's Clay Explosion—A Solo Assault on Sunagakure
Li Yao stood atop a clay bird, floating a hundred meters above Sunagakure. The megaphone he had bought worked quite well, and with the stone walls surrounding the village acting as natural echo chambers, his voice echoed across more than half the village.
It was midday—bustling with foot traffic in the streets.
People looked up in confusion, following the direction of the amplified voice.
Though the figure was unclear from a hundred meters above the Kazekage Building, the large white clay bird was impossible to miss.
"Who is that?"
"What did he just say?"
"The Kazekage is dead?"
"He killed him?"
"That can't be true!"
"Lord Kazekage is the strongest in history—how could anyone possibly…?"
At first, people wanted to deny it. But soon they remembered Granny Chiyo's report—stating that the Third Kazekage had gone missing.
Suddenly, a heavy silence fell over the village.
Thump, thump...
Chiyo and the others appeared on nearby rooftops.
"Who are you?!"
"You coward hiding behind a mask! Did you really kill the Kazekage and his party?!"
Chiyo shouted up at Li Yao, who wore a white spiral mask concealing his face.
"Aside from one red-haired brat who ran away, the rest are all dead."
Giving Sasori a proper reason to return to the village, Li Yao smirked and added:
"That so-called strongest Kazekage of yours? Not even worth mentioning. Compared to the Third Mizukage, he was a joke."
That did it.
The shinobi below instantly snapped.
It was bad enough that he killed their Kazekage—now he dared come alone and mock them?!
"Kill him!"
Watanabe's face darkened as he gave the order. He didn't want to hear another word from that bastard in the sky.
The enemy's presence confirmed that the Kazekage was likely dead. His whole plan to force Kazekaze into exile had collapsed.
Now, all he wanted was to kill the man who had ruined everything.
"Kill!"
On the rooftops, the shinobi manning the siege ballistae quickly aimed and launched volleys of massive arrows.
"Hahaha..."
Li Yao laughed, guiding his clay bird higher to easily dodge the rain of projectiles.
In moments, he soared to a thousand meters above the rooftops.
At that altitude, the arrows were useless.
"The red-haired one's alive!!!"
Chiyo's heart soared. The Kazekage might be dead, but her grandson Sasori had survived—that was all that mattered to her.
"Damn it! He's too high up!"
"We can't reach him!"
"Rasa—can you?!"
Elsewhere in the village, an elder from Rasa's clan turned to his nephew with excitement.
"You're the only one in the village who can fly and reach him. If you defeat him in front of everyone, you'll become the next Kazekage."
The elder's voice was fervent.
With both Kazekaze and Sasori gone or compromised, Rasa—despite being less experienced—was the only viable candidate.
If he could turn the tide now, the whole village would rally behind him. Only someone with flight capabilities, like his Magnet Release technique, could protect the village from such threats.
"I understand."
Ambitious and aware of the opportunity, Rasa responded firmly. And regardless of politics, someone had to fight.
Rasa summoned a mass of gold dust from the earth using Magnet Release, stood atop it, and took flight toward Li Yao.
"Come, let's see what Sunagakure's got."
Above, Li Yao smirked.
With a thought, a massive white clay sphere materialized. From its surface, dozens of clay birds burst forth, raining down like a storm.
"Big sister! Enemy attack incoming!"
Seeing the sky fill with clay birds, Ebizō's face turned grim and alerted Chiyo.
Now wasn't the time to mourn—first, they had to repel the threat.
Poof, poof, poof!
Ebizō summoned three puppets and launched them into the sky, ready to intercept.
He also issued orders:
Water- and Lightning-style users were to intercept as many birds as possible.
Everyone else was to eBakuate civilians to the shelters.
Despite the shock, Ebizō's quick thinking stabilized the village's response in the absence of a Kazekage.
"Water Style!"
"Lightning Style!"
"Wind Style!"
Elemental jutsu surged into the sky, trying to stop the birds.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Explosions erupted across Sunagakure's skies.
"Magnet Release – Gold Dust Drizzle!"
As Rasa ascended, dozens of clay birds targeted him. He quickly formed defensive spheres of gold dust and fired them like bullets.
Boom boom boom...
The explosions tore through his defenses, but more birds followed.
Li Yao's attacks outnumbered and outpaced Rasa's countermeasures.
Still, Rasa's wide-area defense managed to eliminate many.
Li Yao took notice.
"The next Kazekage candidate, huh?"
"Too bad… I can't let you take credit for my Wind Clone's victory."
More clay birds swarmed toward Rasa.
"Damn!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM—!
The blasts came from every direction. Several birds had even flanked him from beneath.
Rasa panicked and encased himself in gold dust to block the explosions.
When it ended, he realized:
Not only could he not reach the enemy—he couldn't even get close.
If anything, drawing attention made him a primary target.
"Damn it!!!"
Defeated, Rasa retreated to the ground, where his Magnet Release would be more effective.
He shifted strategies. Saving lives came first.
He began shaping his gold dust into a giant lotus—much like the Third Mizukage had done with Black Water—to shield the village.
"Naive."
Li Yao chuckled. His clay birds weren't mindless—they could change direction mid-flight.
And Rasa's gold dust was nowhere near the defensive level of the Third Mizukage's Black Water.
Some birds detonated against the lotus' support pillars, collapsing them.
BOOM!
A violent wave of gold dust crashed through several buildings.
"Damn it!!"
Now Rasa understood the helplessness felt by the shinobi of Kumogakure and Kirigakure during Li Yao's attacks.
The entire village was struggling to keep up.
Sunagakure's famed Puppet Corps had no effective counter.
Even Chiyo, a master who could control ten puppets simultaneously, found herself outmatched against an enemy bombing the entire village.
"His chakra… it's monstrous!!!"
The clay birds were endless. The bombardment seemed infinite.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Explosions rocked the entire village.
No matter how hard they tried, many birds got through.
Clay birds were just too fast—anyone not of elite jōnin level couldn't react in time.
"Help me—!"
"Aaah—!"
"My leg—!"
"Hurry, there are wounded over here—AAAH—!"
Screams echoed from every corner.
Li Yao's attack had been too sudden. It started too fast. Many villagers hadn't reached the shelters in time.
Fortunately, he wasn't targeting civilians.
His clay birds focused on areas where the Ten Great Clans resided and where most shinobi were gathered. They would suffer heavy losses.
Civilian zones still suffered damage—but not as intentionally.
Even so, casualties among non-shinobi were considerable.
But nowhere near as devastating as the areas Li Yao had intentionally targeted.
(END CHAPTER)
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