Storm Style 1

All the Second Hokages had died, yet only Shamon remained alive. What did this signify? It signified destiny.

Therefore, the Second Kazekage, Shamon, carried out extensive pre-war mobilization, causing the morale of the Hidden Sand Village's ninjas to soar to unprecedented heights.

As the number of ninjas along the border increased, Mitokado Homura, who was defending the frontier, wore a grave expression. He summoned Utatane Koharu and said, "It seems the Hidden Sand Village is no longer content to remain idle. There are more and more Sand ninjas along the border of the Land of Rivers. We must notify Hiruzen about this matter."

Utatane Koharu looked into the distance and nodded. She formed hand seals, quickly summoning a small beast. After passing the intelligence to it, the creature vanished before her.

At Utatane Koharu's home in Konoha, the small beast appeared out of thin air. Carrying the scroll, it hopped and skipped its way toward the Third Hokage's office building.

Upon reading the intelligence, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression turned somber. He had not expected the Hidden Sand Village to truly enter the war. Once they joined, Konoha would be fighting on two fronts, and the situation would inevitably become dire.

With no other choice, Sarutobi Hiruzen had to continue mobilizing ninjas from every clan, dispatching them one after another to the border. Among them, the Senju Clan was particularly proactive. Although the First and Second Hokages had pushed for the "civilianization" of the Senju, one branch of the family had maintained its traditions. Now, with the war intensifying, ninjas from this branch of the Senju Clan appeared on the border of the Land of Rivers.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with Li Yi for the time being, as he was still active in the Land of Hot Water.

Quite a few Cloud Village squads had fallen victim to Li Yi's lethal strikes.

This had bolstered Li Yi's confidence significantly. So, it turned out that not everyone was Yotsuki Hayate. He had thought to himself, if every random Cloud Village Jonin were that strong, wouldn't the Cloud Village already be ruling the ninja world?

Because of Li Yi's assassinations, the Cloud Village's patrol squads had merged into groups of three. Each group contained at least three Jonin, along with several Chunin and Genin.

However, Li Yi did not hold three Jonin in high regard.

At this moment, Li Yi had his sights set on three such squads. The Jonin were chatting casually, clearly believing that as long as they stayed together, they would be safe unless they encountered a specialized Konoha Jonin team.

"Many of our Cloud Village ninjas have been ambushed lately. I don't know how many people are in the enemy force, but they are certainly bold. If I run into them, I'll make sure to wipe them out!" said a dark-skinned man wearing sunglasses.

"Haha, Kujokawa, if you take the lead, there will certainly be no problems!" a Jonin beside him flattered.

"Indeed! Being in a squad with you, Kujokawa, makes me feel much more at ease," another Jonin agreed. It was clear just how formidable this man named Kujokawa was.

"Hahaha!" Kujokawa laughed twice, clearly sharing the same sentiment.

As a ninja with a Kekkei Genkai, Kujokawa had the right to be confident; his strength was among the best in the entire Cloud Village.

"Scorch Style: Great Flame Dragon Technique!" At that moment, a massive black-red flame dragon head descended from the sky. The dragon opened its maw wide and lunged at the three men.

"Water Style: Water Wall Technique!" The three Jonin were worthy of their rank. One of them quickly formed hand seals and spat out a massive volume of water, creating a wall that blocked the path of the dragon.

The other two Jonin did not doubt their comrade's strength for a second. Instead of dodging, they quickly formed seals. One of them shouted, "Lightning Style: Lightning Flash!"

Instantly, layers of electrical defense appeared around his body—a technique somewhat similar to the Lightning Style Armor.

The other, Kujokawa, declared, "Storm Style: Thunder Cloud Inner Wave!"

In an instant, a thick, pitch-black cumulonimbus cloud appeared in the surrounding area, and arcs of flickering electricity began to dance across Kujokawa's body.

However, the Scorch Style: Great Flame Dragon Technique passed through the water jutsu with ease. The massive jaws snapped shut, swallowing all three Jonin.

The first to scream was the Jonin who had cast the Water Wall. He could not comprehend it; his water technique was not some amateur effort—it was infused with chakra nature transformation. Ordinary fire techniques should not have been able to penetrate it, and even if they did, their power should have been greatly diminished.

Yet, this technique showed no signs of weakening; instead, it swallowed all three of them in one bite.

The other two fared better because they had activated their defenses, but he was miserable. Having activated nothing, he was quickly charred black by the black-red flames.

The other two were not having an easy time either, but they were smart enough to activate their defenses as a reflex. They managed to break out of the dragon's maw. Although they were scorched in several places, they had made it out. Unfortunately for their teammate, he had no room to react and died under the technique.

Li Yi ignored the Jonin and appeared beside the squad they had brought with them.

"Konoha Style: Willow!" As Li Yi's scarlet Sharingan spun, he unleashed a genjutsu while simultaneously executing his Konoha Style swordsmanship. These Chunin and Genin had never faced such a trial; under the influence of the Sharingan's genjutsu, they could not even move.

With just one strike, Li Yi took down three Chunin and two Genin.

Just as Li Yi prepared to continue his harvest, a beam of light shot directly toward him.

Li Yi knew this was Storm Style, a technique with homing capabilities. He did not dodge, instead letting flames ignite across his body as he activated his elemental form.

The beam pierced through Li Yi's chest. He frowned, as the light had stripped away a significant amount of his fire element, slowing his body's recovery and increasing his chakra consumption.

Li Yi immediately realized that this Storm Style countered him to some extent.

Thinking about the composition of Storm Style, Li Yi suddenly understood. Storm Style was a combination of Lightning and Water chakra. When the beam hit him, it extinguished much of his fire element, which was why his chakra consumption had spiked and his recovery had slowed.

He would have ignored ordinary ninjutsu, and while Water Style was a bit troublesome, he now had to be wary of this Storm Style as well.

"What?" Kujokawa exclaimed in shock. His Storm Style had clearly hit the opponent, so why was the target completely unharmed?

"Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon!" The other Jonin had clearly prepared his own technique. A massive dragon formed of lightning roared as it crashed toward Li Yi.

The three tomoe in Li Yi's eyes spun frantically. Just as the lightning dragon was about to reach him, he dodged to the side. The dragon roared past him and slammed into the area behind him, where several terrified Cloud Village Genin were standing.

"No!" the Jonin cried out, never imagining that Li Yi would dodge his technique in such a way, having calculated the position long in advance.