Li Yu woke on Yan Xing's back and asked weakly,
"Yan Xing, where are we?"
"Zi Yu, you're awake. We're in the Land of Birds, and we're about to enter the capital. Hang in there."
"You don't need to carry me. I'm feeling better."
"I can't draw on much chakra, so my recovery is slow, but my body's holding up."
"No. We can't go to the capital of the Land of Birds."
Yan Xing asked in confusion, "Why not?"
Li Yu pulled out a map from behind him and pointed at it.
"Look. The Land of Earth is to the north, the Land of Wind is to the south, and we're in the Land of Birds, between the two great nations. To get back to Konoha from here, we'd have to pass through the Land of Rain."
"There's another group behind us, chasing us and driving us into this trap."
"Zi Yu, how did you figure all that out?"
"I sensed that among the people chasing us, there was one ninja skilled in Earth Release and another skilled in Wind Release."
"My worst fear is that someone from Konoha is going to die here. In the Land of Birds, I'll have no way out."
"I just passed out. Otherwise, we wouldn't have entered the Land of Birds. We should've gone around and headed into the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth before they could complete their encirclement."
"We'll go around now and head to the Land of Earth. It's worth a gamble."
After saying that, the two of them changed course and cut diagonally straight toward the Land of Earth.
They hadn't been traveling long when they neared the border between the Land of Birds and the Land of Earth. They ran straight into more than a hundred Iwagakure ninja. Zi Yu's weakened state had greatly diminished his ability to sense them.
They dodged and charged in every direction, but in the end, they were surrounded.
"Haha, Konoha's Anbu, Zi Yu and Yan Xing!"
"So it's you two!"
"Looks like we can finish you off here without needing any other countries to get involved."
"The credit goes to our unit!"
Li Yu shouted,
"Wait! How did you know we'd come this way?"
An Iwagakure ninja who looked like the leader replied,
"We have a special tracking method."
"We've been gradually closing the encirclement, keeping you within a two-kilometer radius. We've paid quite a price to kill you this time."
Seeing their situation, Yan Xing knew there was no hope of escaping. He looked back at Li Yu.
"Zi Yu, you have to survive. You're the only person in Konoha who inherited the First's Wood Release."
"I know you don't have much chakra left. You have to survive."
Li Yu grabbed Yan Xing's hand. "I have Space-Time Ninjutsu. I have enough chakra to get you out of here, too."
Yan Xing flung Li Yu's hand away.
"Using Space-Time Ninjutsu to take someone with you consumes a huge amount of chakra. Even if we escape this time, what then? Will that solve our problems?"
"If you save more chakra, you'll have a better chance of surviving."
"Zi Yu, you have to make it back to Konoha alive."
As he spoke, he charged into the crowd of Iwagakure ninja without looking back.
Watching Yan Xing charge forward without hesitation, Li Yu thought he understood something.
A ripple in space later, Li Yu appeared on top of a mountain. He watched as Yan Xing charged into the enemy ranks and killed eight Iwagakure ninja before being riddled with Shuriken and Kunai.
After fighting for so long and fleeing such a great distance, Yan Xing must have nearly exhausted his chakra. To take eight enemies down with him against such overwhelming odds was no small feat.
Li Yu's eyes suddenly throbbed with pain. His Sharingan activated on its own, and the Three Tomoe spun rapidly as his ocular power continued to grow. Then, all at once, it stopped.
His eyes hadn't evolved into Mangekyo. He simply hadn't had enough ocular power to reach that stage.
After the pain passed, he realized that apart from the increase in ocular power, nothing else about his eyes had changed.
"What a pity."
After using the Flying Thunder God, Li Yu could only draw on ten percent of his chakra.
Yan Xing's death made Li Yu resolve to move again. He quickly headed back toward the Land of Birds.
"If I can't get away, then I won't run."
Li Yu decided to enter the encirclement himself, at the border between the Land of Birds and the Land of Rain.
After traveling through the night, Li Yu found a mountain peak, sat down to rest, and closed his eyes to recover his chakra and strength.
By then, the army surrounding Li Yu had also arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Li Yu looked down. Iwagakure had brought nearly five hundred ninja, the Hidden Sand had sent a hundred, and Amegakure had sent another hundred.
He carefully sensed the area and detected three powerful, unusual chakra signatures. In the Iwagakure ranks, he spotted people wearing purple clothes and red hats.
"The Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han. Good."
"The one from the Land of Wind must be the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Bunpuku."
"Excellent. Saves me the trouble of looking for you later."
The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki was flying in the air. The Third Kazekage and Hanzo the Salamander had come, too. They really thought a lot of me.
The formation made Li Yu feel as if he were Uchiha Madara himself, standing alone against an army of ninja.
Though Li Yu could only draw on thirty percent of his chakra, his spirits soared.
"Everyone down there, listen up!"
"I'm an Anbu Ninja from Konoha. My codename is Zi Yu."
"Today, I'll show you the Senju Clan's strongest Kekkei Genkai!"
As he spoke, a green dot appeared in the center of Li Yu's forehead, surrounded by circular green markings. Green eyeshadow appeared at the corners of both eyes, and the Three Tomoe Sharingan blazed in his gaze. A powerful aura erupted from his whole body.
With his face covered by a mask, the army couldn't see the changes in Li Yu. They could only judge by his aura.
Ōnoki said, "What's going on? Wasn't he out of chakra?"
The Third Kazekage said, "Who cares? We've got so many people."
Hanzo the Salamander said, "The brat hasn't even grown hair everywhere yet. He's nowhere near the First."
Li Yu hurled all his Specialized Kunai, scattering them among the enemy ranks.
Space rippled, and Li Yu appeared in the middle of the Iwagakure army. He swiftly formed Hand Seals, then crossed his hands and clasped them together.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Centered on Li Yu, trees and plants began to grow at a furious pace. Driven by Senjutsu, this technique was vastly stronger than the Birth of the Deep Forest he'd used before.
The forest spread rapidly. Vines wrapped around the ninja and absorbed their chakra, then grew further and reached for even more people.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Explosive Tags flew through the air.
"Get away! Get away!" Their ninja tools couldn't cut through the trees. They could only leave deep gashes that quickly healed on their own.
"Ah!"
"This is the First's technique!"
Within a dozen breaths, the entire stretch of forest fell silent.
With the help of the Flying Thunder God, Li Yu vanished from where he stood and appeared beside the disheveled Ōnoki. He immediately pummeled the old man.
With Senjutsu amplifying his speed, Li Yu moved so fast that Ōnoki didn't even have time to form Hand Seals.
Ōnoki's Kekkei Tōta was the greatest threat. As expected of the Third Tsuchikage, he seized an opening and used an Earth Clone to escape.
Hovering in the air, Ōnoki panted heavily. He clutched his aching stomach, his eye already blackened, and shouted furiously,
"I'll kill you!"
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
Dust Release, formed by combining the nature transformations of Wind, Earth, and Fire,
A transparent cube-shaped barrier trapped Li Yu inside. Ōnoki wore a smug smile.
"Kid, that felt pretty good when you were hitting me just now. Now die!"
This was exactly the moment Li Yu had been waiting for. Back when he played video games, the easiest way to guarantee a hit was to strike while your opponent was using a skill.
Did Ōnoki think he was safe just because he'd flown into the air? Li Yu gathered a huge Rasengan in his hand and slammed it straight into Ōnoki's back.
"Old man, try a taste of this blockbuster from yours truly!"
"Senjutsu: Big Ball Rasengan!"
Ōnoki spun through the air and crashed straight into the ground.
"Rumble!"
He smashed a huge crater into the earth.
The nearby ninja shouted,
"Lord Tsuchikage!"
"Lord Tsuchikage!"
With the Flying Thunder God Formula marked on his body, flying into the air hadn't helped him at all.
Seeing Li Yu descend from the sky, all the remaining Iwagakure ninja hurled Kunai and formed Hand Seals to unleash countless ninjutsu.
Li Yu sneered. He'd stayed in the air just to bait the army into wasting a round of techniques.
Using the Flying Thunder God Formula marked on Ōnoki once more, he appeared in the crater.
"Ancestral Strength of a Hundred!"
He slammed another punch into Ōnoki's back before the old man could get up.
"Boom!"
"The ground split wide open. Cracked stones spread out from Ōnoki, and the earth sank several more feet."
Ōnoki let out a terrible scream. "Ah!"
A fitting requiem for Ōnoki. Li Yu knocked him unconscious.
"Third Tsuchikage!"
"Third Tsuchikage!"
The two Jinchūriki of Iwagakure shouted, then charged toward Li Yu in the crater, their eyes blazing with murderous intent.