On the other side, Li Yu, wearing an Anbu mask and dressed in a black robe, hurried along the road toward Kumogakure.
Whenever he grew tired, he found a cave to rest in. He activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye, and after space twisted around him, Li Yu entered the Kamui Dimension. It had every household necessity imaginable. Aside from being a little spacious, it had no drawbacks.
He took off his mask and black robe, lit a fire, and cooked himself a meal. Then he leisurely opened a bottle of soda and lay down on the bed, feeling as if this mission were more like a vacation.
"Ah, I've been away for so long, and I still miss the bed at home. It's big and soft, and I even have a beauty to keep me company."
"The stretch of road I've traveled lies between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning, yet it's been so peaceful. I haven't seen a single corpse."
"Shouldn't the Land of Lightning be fighting the Land of Earth right now? Could the battlefield be somewhere else?"
"Forget it. I'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow."
Most people would never imagine that Li Yu had turned the Kamui Dimension into a living space. No one could sneak up on him in there, and there were no bugs. He even had a comfortable bed—all he lacked was someone to warm it.
The next day
"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Roused by his alarm clock, Li Yu climbed out of bed in his boxers, got himself ready, and ate breakfast.
He put on his mask and black robe, activated the Mangekyō Sharingan, and emerged inside the cave after a brief distortion.
"Who's there?"
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Several Shuriken shot toward Li Yu. He had just appeared and still looked half-asleep. When he suddenly saw the Kunai flying at him, his body reacted on instinct, leaping to one side to dodge.
Once he had left the cave and put some distance between himself and his attackers, Li Yu took a closer look.
"Damn, there are so many of them. I'm surrounded."
A crowd of Cloud Ninja had surrounded him. Li Yu scanned the area: tents stretched as far as the eye could see, and he was right in the middle of their camp. He had somehow ended up surrounded.
"A Konoha Anbu Ninja!"
"Quick, inform Lord Third Raikage! A Konoha Anbu Ninja has infiltrated our camp!"
"It's just him. Take him alive!"
After hearing the Cloud Ninja, Li Yu wasn't sure whether he was lucky or unlucky. He'd run straight into the force from the Land of Lightning that had come to raid the Land of Earth.
"No warning, no hesitation, just like that, I show up."
"Saves me the trouble of going to Kumogakure to cause trouble. I'll take care of them right here."
As the Cloud Ninja slowly approached and tightened the circle around him, their numbers kept growing. Li Yu couldn't help but smirk. "That might work on other people, but it won't do a thing to me."
He pulled out a Specialized Kunai and tossed it into the sky.
Seeing Li Yu throw a Kunai skyward, the surrounding Ninja had never seen anything so absurd. They couldn't help laughing at him.
"Is this Konoha Ninja an idiot?"
"He just pulled out a few Kunai. I thought he was going to fight to the death, but instead he throws one into the sky."
"Hahaha!"
Li Yu saw that there were too many of them packed together. Killing them with Flying Thunder God would take too long, so he shot back, "You're laughing so brightly now. Just wait until you're crying in terror."
"Whoosh!" Li Yu vanished from where he stood and reappeared in the air, his hands rapidly forming seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
Li Yu took a deep breath in midair and drew on a vast amount of chakra. He blew compressed gusts of wind from his mouth. As he whipped his head around in erratic motions, the wind lashed out like countless razor-sharp, many-pronged whips, striking at the densely packed Cloud Ninja below.
"Argh!"
"How is this possible? Our Lightning Release can't defend against it!"
"Spread out!"
Li Yu's wind whips were as sharp as sword energy. But where sword energy traveled straight, these whips consisted of irregular sections of blade-like wind, curving in circles and arcs. Ordinary Taijutsu couldn't help anyone evade them.
"Wind Release counters Lightning Release. When powered by a massive amount of chakra, how many people can withstand a Wind Release Ninjutsu?"
This B-rank Wind Release Ninjutsu caught thirty or forty Cloud Ninja before they could dodge. Some couldn't get out of the way in time and tried to withstand it with their bodies cloaked in Lightning Release chakra. Their bodies were sliced into several pieces, while jagged, winding cracks crisscrossed the ground.
Blood poured from the severed bodies and ran into the cracks in the earth, like illegible symbols and words written in blood. The scene was horrific.
When Li Yu was five meters above the ground, he caught the Specialized Kunai in midair and threw it again, embedding it in a large rock. "Whoosh!" Li Yu landed steadily atop the boulder and looked down at the Cloud Ninja below.
That maneuver had successfully shown off in front of the Cloud Ninja. The whole sequence had flowed like water. This spur-of-the-moment idea had even inspired Li Yu to come up with more flashy ways to use his Ninjutsu.
Li Yu nodded to himself repeatedly as he thought, If I wanted to, I could throw a few Specialized Kunai in different directions and unleash several large-scale Ninjutsu, burying the enemy in an instant.
But at that moment, a fist as big as a sandbag, wreathed in a layer of purple light, slammed toward Li Yu's face. The attacker arrived before the sound.
His whole face visibly twisted out of shape, and his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. Just as it seemed his head was about to burst—
"Poof!"
After a cloud of white smoke, he turned into a log. Wood chips burst out and shot off in one direction.
"Boom! Bang!"
Only after the log had been smashed to pieces did the wind rushing around the purple figure and the sonic boom from the punch ring out in quick succession.
Li Yu reappeared some distance away after using the Substitution Technique. His face beneath the mask was grave. This speed and strength far surpassed Might Duy's Sixth Gate of the Eight Inner Gates. Perhaps Might Duy's base stats were too low, or perhaps the Sixth Gate wasn't enough.
His opponent's first strike had been an impressive display. If that powerful, long-charged punch had hit him, he would have been in serious trouble, and it might have affected the rest of the fight.
The Third Raikage A stood on the boulder in a flamboyant pose, frozen mid-punch: bent at the waist, knees flexed, right fist extended, left fist ready to strike. Li Yu couldn't help wishing he had a camera to take a picture.
"Did he throw his back out or something?"
The Third Raikage A slowly stood up and shouted to the Cloud Ninja below.
"Fall back! I'll deal with this Konoha Ninja myself!"
The Cloud Ninja below quickly shook off the bloody, brutal atmosphere left by their companions' deaths. Their eyes burned with excitement as they shouted back.
"Yes, Lord Third Raikage!"
From what Li Yu could tell, the Third Raikage A's charged sneak attack had clearly missed. To save face, he'd held the pose for more than ten seconds before standing up and raising his arm with a shout.
The people below were like brainless fans of a pretty-boy idol, their gazes feverish and their excitement beyond control.
"So this is the Third Raikage. I hear he can single-handedly suppress the rampaging Eight-Tails."
Once most of the nearby Cloud Ninja had retreated, the Third Raikage A pointed at Li Yu, who was slowly approaching in an Anbu mask and black robe.
"You're Zi Yu, an Anbu Ninja from Konoha, aren't you?"
"That's right."
"You used the Substitution Technique, one of the Three Lives Technique, to dodge my attack. You're the first person ever to use that Ninjutsu to avoid one of my strikes."
Li Yu had heard the Cloud Ninja mention the Third Raikage, so he had been on guard from the start. He formed a Hand Seal with one hand, ready in case the Third Raikage A made a move.
"You came here alone. Judging by your direction, were you planning to sneak into my Kumogakure and do something?"
"Nothing much. I just wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you and put an end to this pointless war as soon as possible."
"If you won't tell me the truth, I'll capture you and question you at my leisure."