Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 102 Turning Around

The next morning, as the sun rose above the horizon, its rays turned the sea a deep crimson.

High in the sky, Damocles and his giant eagle, who had been there for a day and two nights, remained alert and vigilant, surveying all directions.

Suddenly, the giant eagle, which had been turning its head to survey the surroundings, stopped and stared at the west, letting out a soft cry.

Damocles, standing on the back of the giant eagle, immediately formed a hand seal, and his eyes instantly transformed into a pair of eagle eyes as he turned to look.

Twelve kilometers away, a twelve-year-old child standing on the back of a giant black eagle was flying towards them.

"It's Li Yao, he's back."

The voice of Damocles came through the earphone. The Third Raikage, hidden in the rocks next to the wooden house, remained motionless, but secretly became alert.

The other three lurking members were also alerted by Damocles, who was standing on the back of a giant eagle, monitoring the surroundings.

The giant eagles bred by the Damo family can be contracted to become summoned beasts. Not only are they powerful in combat, but their eyesight, primarily used for reconnaissance, is also terrifying.

You can clearly see a person's face and figure from twelve kilometers away.

It was precisely because of this terrifying visual detection that the Daruma family was able to secure a place in Kumogakure, responsible for patrolling and scouting the borders of the Land of Lightning and protecting Kumogakure.

At this moment, Li Yao had no idea that he had been discovered, and that his hideout had been ambushed nearby, just waiting for him to be captured.

Sarutobi Tensuke and his wife were also unaware that they had been discovered.

After Li Yao was discovered, he and his wife were also quickly spotted by Damocles. However, the large ink-colored bird at their feet was always looking in Li Yao's direction, which caused a partial loss of their view ahead, so they did not see Damocles and his eagle.

"As expected, Konoha has been deliberately leaking information about Li Yao!"

When the Third Raikage on the island heard that Konoha's Anbu had been following Li Yao, a question that had been bothering him was immediately answered.

So how did the underground bounty agency obtain Li Yaoshi's real information?

A flying Li Yao wouldn't be someone whose whereabouts could be easily tracked down.

Now that we see Konoha ANBU ninjas controlling a giant ink-painting bird by Li Yao's side, this makes sense.

All the information about Li Yao had always come from Konoha.

but……

Why?

A question flashed through the Third Raikage's mind. He didn't understand why Konoha would leak information about a precious experimental subject who had successfully awakened Wood Release, and why they would use the Immortality Technique to lure people away from Li Yao.

Aren't they afraid that Li Yao will be kidnapped and the secret of Wood Release will be obtained by other ninja villages?

The Third Raikage couldn't understand why this was.

But he knew that Li Yao must have other secrets.

Once he catches Li Yao, he will naturally know everything.

"Boss, it seems Li Yao has spotted us."

After a while, Damocles' surprised voice suddenly came through the earphone, which startled the Third Raikage.

He knew the visual surveillance range of the eagle, the spirit beast bred by the Dharma family.

At this point, only a minute had passed since Damocles announced Li Yao's return. Even at his fastest speed, Li Yao could only cover seven or eight kilometers per minute.

Li Yao should be at least four or five kilometers away from here now.

At this distance, Li Yao already noticed something was wrong?

Does he possess such a wide range of perception?

Before the Third Raikage could figure out why Li Yao had noticed something was wrong, Damocles' urgent voice came through the earpiece again.

"Boss, Li Yao turned around and flew back."

"hateful!"

The Third Raikage cursed under his breath, realizing they had been discovered. He immediately burst out of the ground, followed by the three elite Jonin guards who had been lying in ambush.

The Third Raikage is now certain that Li Yao indeed discovered their ambush from a distance of four or five kilometers.

Whether his sensory abilities are chakra perception, visual perception, or some other kind of perception, it means that it will be much more difficult to launch a sneak attack on Li Yao.

In the sky, Damocles rode down on a giant eagle.

The Third Raikage and the others leaped onto the giant eagle's back, and the five of them and the eagle flew rapidly towards Li Yao's direction.

Since a sneak attack failed, a direct assault was the only option.

"I never imagined there were three hidden on the island!"

On the back of the giant black iron eagle ahead, Li Yao sensed three people suddenly jumping out of the rocks around the wooden house, which startled him.

The distance was too great, and his chakra perception ability failed to detect the three people hidden in the rocks.

They could only perceive the giant eagle high in the sky, the people on its back, and the people hidden in the sea.

Fortunately, after noticing someone was lurking over the island, he immediately turned around and left, without any intention of going to investigate.

If the other party was able to find Viper Island, they were obviously after him, so they must have intelligence about him and made the necessary preparations.

Li Yao wouldn't risk his life to test whether these preparations could kill him.

Turning around and leaving is the best option.

As it turned out, his choice was correct.

Among the three ambushing enemies, one of them possessed a chakra strength that moved Li Yao; even the Third Hokage couldn't match that chakra power.

The opponent was undoubtedly a Kage-level expert, and a top-tier one at that.

With Li Yao's current strength and the loss of his chakra acupoints, he is no match for a Kage-level expert, especially when the opponent is not alone.

It's best to escape first.

To reiterate, if he were given another four years and faced the same situation again, he wouldn't need to run; he could simply turn the tables and kill his opponent.

Unfortunately, it's not four years from now.

"Shadow Clone Technique".

Li Yao immediately created two shadow clones, and then, along with the two shadow clones and the naked woman in a vegetative state, he sank into the interior of the Black Iron Giant Eagle.

This prevents the shadow clones and the original body from being seen through.

Then, Li Yao's shadow clones each summoned a black iron giant eagle and emerged from the belly of the current black iron giant eagle. Li Yao's main body, along with the gray soil, entered the black iron giant eagle formed by one of the shadow clones and hid inside.

Thus, the giant black iron eagle outside split into three, with Li Yao on the back of each eagle, but only the eagle flying southwest had Li Yao's body and ash inside its belly.

"Boss, Li Yao has created clones and two black chakra giant eagles, which have flown off in three different directions."

Behind them, on the back of the summoning beast giant eagle, Damocles reported to the Third Raikage about Li Yao's splitting of forces.

"A clone..." The Third Raikage frowned slightly, turned to one of his subordinates, and asked, "Cavus, can you tell which one is the real body?"

The Cloud Village ninja named Kafu formed hand seals, closed his eyes, and shook his head, saying, "No, the distance is too far, I can't sense it."

The ninjas brought by the Third Raikage this time include Damocles, who has super-visual perception, and his summoning beast, the giant eagle, as well as elite Jonin like Kafu, who is proficient in chakra perception.

There are also elite Jonin who are proficient in memory detection techniques.

It can be said that all those who came were ninjas with top-tier combat strength from Kumogakure, as well as special sensory abilities.

I never expected that Li Yao would also possess amazing perception abilities.

"Which direction is the Konoha Anbu in?" the Third Raikage suddenly asked.

"Li Yao is to the right," Damocles replied.

"OK, let's determine which one is the real Li Yao, the one on the left or the one in the middle," said the Third Raikage.

The right-hand Li Yao was handed over to the Konoha Anbu. It is believed that after seeing their actions, the Konoha Anbu will know which side of Li Yao to pursue.

As the Third Raikage had predicted, things happened afterward.

Seeing the Third Raikage and the others chasing after Li Yao on the left and in the middle, Sarutobi Tensuke and his wife worked in perfect coordination and chased after Li Yao, who was flying to the right, which was in the northwest direction.

The couple had already realized they had been discovered, but the Third Raikage simply ignored them.

This brought a sigh of relief to the couple.

That's the Third Raikage. Once he sets his sights on them, given their current condition, they'll have almost no chance of survival if they're stopped.

Fortunately, the other party was even more eager for Li Yao.

(End of this chapter)