Li Yu saw that they couldn't reach an agreement. It looked like fists were the only way to settle things. If the Third Raikage wouldn't back down, then they'd fight.
He bent his knees and leaned forward, his black robe snapping in the wind. He pulled several shuriken from his ninja pouch, focused his chakra around his eyes, and activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Li Yu quickly flung a volley of shuriken at the Third Raikage A in front of him, then formed Hand Seals.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone."
Next, he pulled out several Specialized Kunai and threw them in every direction. Then he flung the kunai in his hands at the Third Raikage A's eyes.
Seeing a mass of shuriken shooting toward him, the Third Raikage A didn't dodge or even pay them any mind. He charged straight at Li Yu, punching directly at his face once more.
"You're not supposed to hit someone in the face! Does the Third Raikage A have a thing for punching people there?"
"Clang, clang, clang!"
The shuriken struck the Purple Lightning Armor covering the Third Raikage A and bounced away.
"Whoosh!"
Li Yu decisively used Flying Thunder God. He caught the Specialized Kunai that was about to hit the Third Raikage A in the face, flipped in midair, and slammed the Big Ball Rasengan he'd prepared in his left hand into the Third Raikage A's back.
Then, using the Third Raikage A's forward momentum, he added even more force to the Big Ball Rasengan against his back.
"Boom!"
The Third Raikage A spun through the air and shot forward. He planted both feet on the ground, kicking up a mass of dirt on either side.
Once he'd steadied himself, the Third Raikage A moved his back. A dent in the purple armor there returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
"So this is the Flying Raijin Jutsu mentioned in the intelligence report. You caught me off guard a little, but you won't hit me so easily next time."
"Is Lightning Armor really that strong? My Big Ball Rasengan couldn't even budge him. Looks like I'll have to show him something real."
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Li Yu interlaced his fingers and shouted, "Ah!"
A vast mass of trees and vines burst from the ground beneath him and swept toward the Third Raikage A. At first, the Third Raikage A dodged around and punched apart the vines reaching for him. But he soon found himself surrounded by a tangle of vines, with more surging toward him from every direction.
"The First's Deep Forest Emergence is nothing special."
The Third Raikage A located Li Yu and raised one hand, pointing toward where he stood.
"Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!"
Ignoring the vines reaching for him from every direction, he charged straight at Li Yu with unstoppable force.
Seeing this, Li Yu stopped the jutsu and immediately hurled several Specialized Kunai into the dense woods around him.
"Whoosh!"
He vanished from his spot, dodged the Third Raikage's Strongest Spear, and hid among the dense trees, preparing to enter Sage Mode.
The Cloud Ninja watching nearby saw a dense forest suddenly rise from the barren plain, obscuring the two fighters from view.
"Is this the First's Wood Release?"
"So powerful!"
"It changed the terrain outright!"
"Could something have happened to Lord Third Raikage?"
"Impossible. The Third Raikage is the strongest ninja!"
Li Yu formed Hand Seals and used Multi Shadow Clone, creating five Shadow Clones. He activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye, instructed them to absorb Natural Energy as quickly as possible, then drew all five Shadow Clones into it.
This was the most troublesome enemy he'd ever faced. There was simply no time to use jutsu; once the Third Raikage got close and kept him occupied, Li Yu could only escape with Flying Thunder God. His Taijutsu was no match for Nintaijutsu.
"Konoha ninja, come out! What are you hiding for?"
Li Yu was helpless. Sage Mode took a long time to prepare, and he'd been forced into a hasty fight with the Third Raikage A. Without a chance to use Sage Mode, he could only hide.
Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky as Uzumaki Naruto, who'd eventually mastered Sage Fox Mode and could activate Perfect Jinchuriki and Sage Mode whenever he wanted, without a time limit or needing Shadow Clones to absorb Natural Energy. The blond brat could just turn it on whenever he pleased.
"Boom! Boom!"
The Third Raikage A knocked down one tree after another as he searched everywhere for Li Yu.
Seeing how desperately the Third Raikage A wanted to find him, Li Yu couldn't let him down. He prepared to wear him down in a prolonged battle and deplete his chakra.
He formed Hand Seals and created two Wood Release Clones, giving each one a tenth of his chakra.
"Go keep the Third Raikage company. I'll rest and recover some chakra."
The two Wood Release Clones nodded and headed toward the Third Raikage. Each formed Hand Seals.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A giant fireball and a giant sphere of wind slammed at the Third Raikage from both sides.
"Boom!"
The Third Raikage quickly charged through the gap between the two jutsu, changed direction, and rushed straight at one of the Wood Release Clones.
"Whoosh!"
Flying Thunder God took Li Yu from his original spot, leaving the Third Raikage to charge at empty air. The constant harassment from jutsu and thrown shuriken soon wore on him.
The two Wood Release Clones seized an opportunity and formed Hand Seals again.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
Two dragon-shaped jutsu of different elements roared as they charged at the Third Raikage A from either side.
Although they still didn't hit their target, the attacks caused plenty of scattered impacts to harass him. Just then, Li Yu, who had been hiding nearby, spotted a perfect opportunity: the Third Raikage A was heading straight toward him, completely off guard.
He immediately activated the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye and used its special ability.
"Kamui!"
Kamui had the drawback of taking time to activate. But Li Yu had calculated the timing: as the Third Raikage A leaped and began to land, just before his feet touched the ground, space warped.
"Good! A direct hit!"
The instant he was struck, the Third Raikage A cried out inwardly, "No good! What kind of jutsu is this?"
Centered on the Third Raikage A's back, a tremendous force in space began to wrench at his body. Li Yu suddenly felt the strain on his left eye spike, and his ocular power drained faster than before. Things weren't going as he'd expected.
The Third Raikage A's purple armor blazed with light in midair. After 1.5 seconds, the moment his feet touched the ground, he summoned all his strength and jolted his body, stomping down hard as he burst out of the warped space.
"Boom!"
The ground where the Third Raikage A had stood split and caved in with a deafening crash. Dust billowed, leaving a crater twenty meters across and five or six meters deep.
Only when Li Yu felt warm, red liquid flowing from his left eye did he come back to his senses. He stared in disbelief.
"How is this possible? Someone can actually escape Kamui?"
In the original story, Kamui had been all but unstoppable. It was said that whoever its user looked at would die, and whatever they looked at would disappear. It was an insanely powerful ability.
The Third Raikage A leaped back several times to put some distance between them, warily watching the three black-robed Li Yus. The attack had chilled him to the bone. That powerful spatial force had wrenched at his body as if it were about to tear him apart.
Relying on his formidable body and the strongest defense, Lightning Armor, he'd managed to escape the warped space. He couldn't understand how this Konoha ninja had such a bizarre way of attacking. Anyone else would have died to that ambush.
"Konoha ninja, I bet you can't use that bizarre attack many times, can you? Hahaha!"
"That's right. I don't mind telling you. It won't do much against you anyway. So you can be scared after all!"
Now that he was on guard, Kamui had lost much of its surprise. The spatial force it could bring to bear wasn't enough to tear apart an enemy with such a powerful body.
"Looks like this jutsu isn't as invincible as I thought."