Third Generation Raikage (2)

Li Yu saw that the time was right and used his Mangekyo Sharingan to contact his clone within the dimension.

"Poof."

After a puff of white smoke cleared in the Kamui dimension, a green dot appeared in the center of Li Yu's forehead, beneath the mask. A circular green pattern spread around it, and green eyeshadow manifested at the corners of his eyes.

Opening Sage Mode without the opponent's knowledge, he extended his hands to condense a blue Rasengan. Beside him, two Wood Release Clones quickly injected Wind-style chakra into the sphere.

In no time, he had completed two Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Li Yu held one in each hand, took a deep breath, and charged straight at the Third Raikage A, intending to finish him off in one go.

Seeing Li Yu's sudden shift in momentum and his explosive increase in speed—nearly matching his own—the Third Raikage A braced himself.

"Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite."

It was that same technique again. Relying on the confidence he had in his Lightning Release Armor, the Third Raikage intended to neither dodge nor parry, but to quickly dispose of this troublesome Konoha ninja.

Seeing the technique again—the Third Raikage's "strongest spear"—Li Yu couldn't help but reveal a smile of a scheme successfully set in motion.

Only a fool would go head-to-head with you.

Just as the two were five meters apart, Li Yu hurled both Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and activated the Flying Thunder God to vanish from the blast zone.

I bet you didn't know I could throw my Rasengan.

"BOOM!"

Two flashes of white light erupted, accompanied by two spiraling spheres of energy that expanded outward. Nearby trees and foliage were swept into the sky, and everything caught within the white light was pulverized into dust.

The forest, which had been lush and green just moments ago thanks to his Deep Forest Emergence, was instantly shredded and blown apart by the two white, spiraling meat grinders.

The nearby Cloud Ninja, who had been intently observing the battle within the forest, watched as the woods simply vanished.

"What kind of jutsu is that? Two semi-circular orbs of light?"

"The whole forest is just... gone."

"I wonder how Lord Third Raikage is doing."

"He should have taken care of that Konoha ninja by now."

Li Yu actually thought the same. Having taken two hits of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, the Third Raikage should have been sent to the afterlife in a double dose of misery.

Just then, a purple figure burst through the two spheres of light, charging toward Li Yu with unstoppable momentum.

"He's actually fine?"

The Third Raikage A's body was covered in dense, tiny lacerations from the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, but his Lightning Release Armor was rapidly regenerating. His aura intensified as he sprinted, his right hand held level with purple lightning crackling around it, his fingers pointed directly at Li Yu.

"It's Lord Raikage's Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite!"

"The strongest spear!"

The surrounding Cloud Village ninjas cheered in excitement, waiting to see the Konoha ninja defeated by the Third Raikage's ultimate weapon.

Li Yu dodged and circled constantly, trying to disrupt the trajectory of the "strongest spear," but to no avail. He fired two more Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, creating two massive spiraling white explosions, but they only managed to slow the Third Raikage A down slightly.

"Multi Shadow Clone!"

Li Yu created thousands of shadow clones, intending to use them to interfere with the Third Raikage A. After a series of "poof" sounds and a massive cloud of white smoke, the thousands of clones were wiped out in moments.

The clones were simply too weak; despite their numbers, they were ineffective against such raw power. It was a massive waste of chakra, intended only to stall for time and distract the enemy.

He fired four more Wind Release: Rasenshuriken in quick succession, but they only dealt minor damage to the Third Raikage A, and two of them missed entirely.

The Third Raikage A's "Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite" seemed to have a homing effect; it could turn corners—even 90-degree turns—and it felt as though it would pursue Li Yu until the end of time.

Forced to hide in a pathetic scramble, Li Yu had to activate Sage Mode for the fourth time. After so many failed attacks, he had even considered running away, though he remained confident in his Mangekyo Sharingan and Earth Release to escape underground.

In all his years of training, Li Yu had never faced such a troublesome enemy. No matter how many tricks he pulled, the Third Raikage A was simply a tank that could hit back—a master of single-target destruction.

Considering this Third Raikage A fought ten thousand Hidden Stone Village ninjas for three days and three nights, I can't outlast him, even with my massive chakra reserves.

For instance, if Li Yu spent 50 points of chakra on a jutsu, the Third Raikage only needed to spend 5 to 10 points to defend against it. The exchange was far too disadvantageous.

Li Yu had considered using his Sage Mode techniques like the Wood Human Technique or the Sage Art Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands, but that would play right into the Third Raikage's hands. Spending massive amounts of chakra to land thousands of blows that might not even connect—or wouldn't be enough to finish him—was pointless.

It was like using an elephant to swat a mosquito or a hammer to drive a nail; he would lose more than he gained.

Seeing Li Yu reduced to dodging and refusing to engage head-on, the Third Raikage A sneered.

"Konoha ninja, let's see how much chakra you have left to burn."

Li Yu had never felt so stifled, as if he had all this power but nowhere to put it. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead. "I developed a new jutsu, didn't I? I've been so rattled by this fight I completely forgot."

Suddenly, Li Yu felt the familiar Naruto BGM playing in his ears. His eyes sharpened, shedding their look of defeat as he quickly put distance between them and began weaving hand signs.

Multiple wooden tentacles sprouted from his sides, and he split off two more Wood Release Clones. One clone dashed off in a different direction to take up a position.

Seeing the Third Raikage A charging straight at him, Li Yu stopped dodging and stopped running. He intended to defeat the enemy before him head-on.

Success or failure hinges on this.

Watching the Third Raikage charge, Li Yu bit his finger and wove hand signs at high speed.

"Summoning Technique: Fivefold Rashomon!"

He slammed his hands onto the ground, and black runes spread across the earth. With a massive "poof" of white smoke, five giant, demonic gates rose up to block the path between Li Yu and the Third Raikage A.

This was the first time Li Yu had used the full Fivefold Rashomon in combat; the last time had been during a sparring session with the Third Hokage, where he had used the Triple Rashomon to block a powerful Wind-style jutsu.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The first three Rashomon gates exploded into clouds of white smoke under the Third Raikage A's Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite. The momentum carried him straight toward the fourth, which began to crack under the Third Raikage's assault.

"Bang!"

After the fourth gate also vanished into white smoke, the Third Raikage's momentum was significantly reduced. Upon colliding with the fifth Rashomon, his body was suddenly forced to shift laterally in an uncontrollable direction.

"Bang!" The fifth Rashomon completed its task of altering his trajectory and dissipated into a massive cloud of white smoke.

"Now!"

"Earth Release: Underworld Swamp!"

The Wood Release Clone had been waiting for a long time, having prepared this jutsu for quite a while.

Nearby, Li Yu held a blue Rasengan in his right hand. Under the manipulation of his Wood Release Clone's hands, it slowly transformed from blue to cyan, surrounded by a halo of white shuriken blades.

"Sage Art: Wood Release Rasenshuriken!"

"Third Raikage, let's see how you like this exclusive new jutsu."

The Third Raikage A, having been redirected by the fifth Rashomon, had just burst out of the white smoke when his feet became immobilized, his entire body beginning to sink.

At that moment, "Swish!" Li Yu used the Flying Thunder God technique, teleporting to the edge of the swamp by way of a special kunai he had planted earlier, the cyan Rasenshuriken in his hand.

Without giving the Third Raikage A a second to react, he hurled the Wood Release Rasenshuriken at him.

A burst of cyan light erupted, and wooden vines coiled around the Third Raikage A like pythons constricting their prey. The vines spun at high speed, tightening and crushing him with a grating, screeching sound.

Li Yu didn't stand idle; he remained where he was, fingers interlaced, his gaze burning as he watched the Third Raikage A, continuously pumping chakra into the jutsu.

Trapped in the middle of the swamp, the Third Raikage A roared, attempting to break free with brute force as the lightning from his Lightning Armor flickered across his body.

"Argh!"

The high-speed spinning wooden vines whipped the mud from the swamp into the air, splattering it across Li Yu's body and face, but he remained unmoved, his fingers still tightly locked.

As the last clone in the Kamui dimension vanished into a puff of white smoke, Li Yu entered his final Sage Mode.

With Wood Release Clones guarding his flanks, Li Yu poured even more power into the technique without reservation.

"Aha!"

Blood began to stream rapidly from the Third Raikage's eyes, ears, nostrils, and the corners of his mouth.

"Die!"

"Snap, snap!"

After a series of bone-crushing sounds throughout his body, the Third Raikage A spewed a massive amount of blood from his seven orifices. As his purple Lightning Armor faded, so too did his life.

"Bang!"

A spray of bone fragments, viscera, and blood erupted into the air, shooting up over ten meters high.

It was like crushing a jelly with one's palm; the scene was too gruesome for words.

Li Yu lowered his hands, gasping for air.

"Finally finished off the Third Raikage. Damn, that exhausted me."

The nearby Cloud Ninja, who had initially watched the Third Raikage get bound, were not overly worried at first, fueled by their worship of his strength. Unfortunately, reality proved far different from their expectations.

"Has Lord Third Raikage been defeated?"

"How is that possible?"

One by one, they lost their will to fight, but seeing the Third Raikage die such a bloody death at Li Yu's hands ignited the ferocity of the remaining Cloud Ninja.

"Avenge Lord Raikage!"

"His chakra is nearly depleted, kill him!"

"He's only one man, we'll wear him down!"

Li Yu let out a few mocking laughs, looking at the filth and bloodstains on his body with visible disgust. He had wasted quite a bit of chakra to end the battle, consuming sixty percent of his reserves.

"I'm going back to rest for a bit. You two go finish them off."

With that, he activated the Mangekyo Sharingan in his left eye and vanished into the space-time distortion.

The two Wood Release Clones exchanged a glance before charging into the crowd of Cloud Ninja to begin the slaughter.