Yotsuki Clan

Even so, Yotsuki Hayate was ferocious. Li Yi's long blade struck him repeatedly without dealing much damage, a testament to how formidable his Lightning Style Armor truly was.

However, Li Yi was in no rush. As long as Yotsuki Hayate remained trapped in the fray with him, death was only a matter of time.

Yotsuki Hayate was clearly aware of this outcome and kept attempting to break through, only to be blocked by Li Yi every time. After all, every punch Yotsuki Hayate landed on Li Yi was evaded through elementalization, while every slash Li Yi delivered was a solid, physical blow.

This made Yotsuki Hayate's breakout extremely difficult, as no matter which direction he chose, he would be entangled by Li Yi. Gradually, Yotsuki Hayate felt his legs beginning to lose all sensation.

Li Yi clearly noticed Yotsuki Hayate's condition. He withdrew his blade, leaped to the side, and said, "You're a dead man. Do you have any last words you want me to relay to the Third Raikage?"

Yotsuki Hayate took a deep breath, causing layers of charred, gelatinous black residue to flake off his face. His legs, having been subjected to Li Yi's Scorch Style for so long, had been carbonized; they shattered into pieces the moment he tried to move, yet Yotsuki Hayate did not let out a single cry.

"Damn it... to think I couldn't bring your intelligence back to the village. I can only wonder how much disaster you will bring upon us in the future!" Once Yotsuki Hayate finished speaking, he was completely engulfed by flames and fell silent forever.

Li Yi stood quietly amidst the fire as a thick White Spirit Ribbon flew into his Ryujin Jakka. Li Yi was surprised; he hadn't expected this man to provide such a powerful White Spirit Ribbon, thicker than any he had seen before. It seemed the quality was indeed tied to the ninja's strength.

At the same time, Li Yi sighed. It was such a hassle to kill a single Cloud Village jonin, requiring him to exhaust all his methods just to barely trap and kill him. If he were to face the Third Raikage, he probably wouldn't have a prayer if the man decided to leave. As for killing the Third Raikage, that would be even harder—he couldn't even break through his defense.

"I really need to develop the Rasengan," Li Yi muttered before flashing away. Behind him, the remains had already been reduced to ash by his Scorch Style.

After recovering his chakra, a blue sphere of light appeared in Li Yi's hand—the Rasengan. He attempted to infuse it with fire-attribute chakra.

Instantly, the Rasengan turned red, but it shattered almost immediately. Li Yi quickly elementalized to escape the blast; otherwise, injuring himself here would have been pure stupidity.

This served as a reminder to Li Yi that he should only research this Rasengan while in an elementalized state.

And so, Li Yi began "polishing the ball" while wreathed in flames. However, every time he added fire-attribute chakra, it would instantly detonate, which gave him a massive headache. As expected, developing a ninjutsu was no easy feat.

It was no wonder it took Minato three years to develop the Rasengan.

"Fire-attribute chakra is too volatile, which is why it explodes the moment it's added. That's just the nature of the element. What should I do?" Li Yi muttered.

Li Yi tried infusing the Rasengan with the power of the Mera Mera no Mi. This time it went a bit better, but it still shattered.

"How can I neutralize the volatility of the fire attribute?" Li Yi began to ponder. Eventually, he thought of the original series, where Naruto could perform the Lava Style: Rasenshuriken. Lava Style wasn't as volatile, but he didn't know Lava Style and lacked earth-attribute chakra.

He only had Scorch Style.

Li Yi tried it, but it exploded even faster, forcing him to abandon the idea for now. Developing ninjutsu was like this—walking a path no one else had taken was never easy.

At this moment, in the Raikage's office in the Cloud Village, the Third Raikage, Ai, frowned. "You say Yotsuki Hayate and his team have been out of contact for many days?"

The Cloud ninja kneeling on the floor replied immediately, "Yes, Lord Raikage."

Third Raikage Ai waved his hand. After the Anbu ninja left, Ai rubbed his temples. Losing contact usually meant death, but who could possibly kill Yotsuki Hayate?

The Yotsuki Clan's Lightning Style: Chakra Mode was a versatile ninjutsu, and his cousin was highly proficient in it. While not as strong as himself, he was still a rare elite jonin in the village. Under normal circumstances, it wasn't easy to pin Yotsuki Hayate down.

Unable to find the key to the mystery, the Third Raikage had to stop thinking about it. He had no choice; war with Konoha had recently broken out.

The Iwagakure and the Hidden Mist Village had fought to a mutual destruction, with both Second Kages dying together. Could his Cloud Village and Konoha really just sit by? If they did, the others might decide the two remaining villages were too strong and choose to cooperate to wipe one of them out. That would be a disaster.

Because this was an offer no one could refuse, including him.

If Iwagakure and the Hidden Mist Village came to him now and proposed a three-on-one war against Konoha, would Ai refuse? Certainly not. By the same logic, if Iwagakure and the Hidden Mist Village went to Konoha to attack his Cloud Village, would Konoha refuse? No. After all, the Second Hokage had died indirectly because of the Cloud Village; there was blood feud between them.

Once an opportunity arose, Konoha wouldn't let it slip. Therefore, the Cloud Village had launched the war against Konoha while the timing was right. He had even gone so far as to personally intervene and take out Uchiha Kagami, a high-ranking official of Konoha. What he hadn't expected was that the Uchiha clan's Sharingan would be so powerful; escaping from his hands was no small feat.

Thus, the Third Raikage made his decision: if they were going to fight, everyone would fight. That way, Iwagakure and the Hidden Mist Village wouldn't think the Cloud Village and Konoha were waiting to reap the benefits.

As for the Hidden Sand Village, heh, they were called one of the Five Great Nations, but no one took them seriously. It was a desolate, impoverished place without any formidable ninjas. Who would bother with them? Even their Tailed Beast was just a pathetic One-Tail. They were weak as could be.

Of course, as long as the Hidden Sand Village wasn't stupid, they would join in once the Cloud Village started the war against Konoha, hoping to tear a piece of meat off Konoha's back.

After all, the Hidden Sand Village was so poor they were practically eating sand. Now that there was an opportunity, they wouldn't pass it up. With the Cloud ninjas leading the charge, wouldn't it be sweet to just drink the soup behind them? Who else would they target if not Konoha, which possessed the most fertile land and the best resources?

In fact, it went exactly as the Third Raikage had anticipated. At this moment, the Second Kazekage, Shamon, emerged from his research. Previously, he had followed the example of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, by establishing the Ninja Academy and the Anbu. Since then, he had been obsessed with researching Tailed Beasts, which had led to many discoveries, such as the Puppet Technique and sand-manipulation ninjutsu. But things were different now; war had broken out, and he had no choice but to mobilize his ninjas. A large number of them were gathering at the border of the Land of Rivers, ready to intervene in the war at any moment.