The Beginning of the Battle of Kannabi Bridge

Three months passed in the blink of an eye.

During those three months, after Long Ye and Shisui returned to Konoha, they continued carrying out missions, but they acted as a team less and less often.

After more than a year of experience in the war, the Hokage had come to believe that the two of them had gained the ability to operate independently.

Unless they encountered an invincible combination like "Killer B and A" again, they began acting alone more often.

During this period,

Long Ye's cultivation of the Mysterious Peacock Method entered a deeper stage, reaching the level of transforming chakra into a beast.

Perhaps because he wore the Star Core, his cultivation speed was extraordinarily fast.

Three months of progress would have taken other shinobi from Hoshigakure perhaps three years to achieve.

Moreover, his chakra beast had undergone some kind of mutation, whether because of the Star Core or some other power within his body.

The chakra beast he manifested was humanoid, with a crow's face, a pair of black wings on its back, and a long blade in its hand. It stood a full three meters tall.

Even Long Ye himself had no idea why he had ultimately manifested such a thing.

Only after looking through some records did he manage to figure out the name of this monster.

This fearsome creature was called a Tengu, a monster from mythology.

It had surpassed the level of an ordinary beast, so its power was naturally far greater than that of a typical chakra beast.

Because his chakra currently possessed the nature of Explosion Release, every attack unleashed after he summoned the Tengu could trigger a violent explosion.

Of course, his strength was still quite a distance away from the level of the "Star Shadow."

At the same