Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 108 Desperate Situation

"Boss, Li Yao has split up again," Damocles said, frowning.

As soon as the Black Iron Shark was taken down, Li Yao immediately created shadow clones that continued to fly away in different directions.

The Third Raikage and others will once again face the choice of which path to follow.

This time, however, Li Yao was four kilometers away from them.

At this distance, if they chase the wrong direction and then turn around, Li Yao will be even further away from them.

This process will continue until Li Yao eventually disappears from the sight of the summoned beast, the giant eagle.

"Is the Konoha Anbu still pursuing them?" the Third Raikage suddenly asked.

"Let me see." Damocles activated his Eagle Eyes and looked around. He quickly spotted two Konoha ANBU ninjas standing on the ink-colored bird eight kilometers away. Judging from their flight direction, Damocles said, "Boss, they've already gone after Li Yao, who's flying north."

The Third Raikage said, "Then let's go after Li Yao, who is flying west."

Damocles immediately commanded the psychic beast, the giant eagle, to fly west.

"Huh...not bad luck."

As Li Yao flew north, he smiled inwardly. Then, his eyes flashed, and he suddenly remembered that the Third Raikage had no way to deal with the black iron shark that had entered the seawater. He realized that the Third Raikage did not know water jutsu or was not good at water jutsu.

Since that's the case... Li Yao had a sudden thought.

The shadow clone sank into the belly of the Black Iron Giant Eagle and then disappeared. Li Yao retrieved some of the Black Iron Chain Chakra from the Black Iron Giant Eagle, and the rest condensed into the shape of a shark before plunging into the sea again.

At the same moment, the shadow clone on the other side did the same thing, putting itself inside the black iron shark and then plunging into the sea.

Once in the sea, Li Yao maneuvered the black iron shark to a depth of 25 meters, then slightly changed its direction and swam away.

At this depth, even if the opponent's spirit beast, the giant eagle, had excellent vision, it would be impossible for it to see him at a depth of 25 meters.

In particular, the seawater in this area is not clear, and various planktonic objects block out the light.

"Boss, Li Yao has gone into the sea, I can no longer see him," Damocles reported.

The Third Raikage, upon hearing this, remained calm and asked, "Where is Li Yao on the other side?"

Damocles replied, "It has also entered the sea."

The Third Raikage frowned and asked, "At the same time?"

Damocles replied, "Almost at the same time."

Was the same action performed at the same time pre-planned?

They're really difficult to deal with.

Li Yao.

The Third Raikage's inner thoughts.

This way, he wouldn't be able to determine which one was Li Yao's true form based on the differences in Li Yao's actions on both sides.

"Come with me, Druid," said the Third Raikage.

"Yes, boss." The druid, a bald black ninja, jumped off the summoning beast giant eagle after the Third Raikage.

Upon landing on the sea, the druid braced his hands on the surface, closed his eyes to sense the moment, then opened them and looked towards the direction of Li Yaoying's clone swimming four kilometers away, saying, "Over there, four and a half kilometers away."

"Over there."

The Third Raikage looked in the direction the Druid was looking, and then, with a thought, activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode. In an instant, with a "sizzle," he transformed into a bolt of lightning and sped toward Li Yaoying's clone.

The druid got up and followed, but he wasn't as fast as the Third Raikage.

No problem, his task was to use his special water-style sensory ability to locate Li Yao and then communicate with the Third Raikage via earpiece.

At the speed of the Third Raikage, he will catch up with Li Yao soon. Then he will ride the summoning beast giant eagle to catch up with the Third Raikage and use water jutsu to spray Li Yao out of the sea again.

"So fast!!!"

Li Yao was startled; the Third Raikage's movement speed on the sea was faster than the flight speed of the summoning beast, the giant eagle.

"No, we have to speed up, or the Third Raikage will catch up with us very soon."

Li Yao's expression changed slightly. After a moment of thought, he made a decision. With a thought, he disregarded the consumption of chakra and immediately condensed water-style chakra, which then spread out and disappeared into the surrounding seawater.

"Water Release: Water Manipulation Technique"

Li Yao casually chose a name for his Water Release technique, and the effect was exactly as the name suggested. He used Water Release chakra to manipulate the water around the Black Iron Shark to flow, which in turn propelled the Black Iron Shark forward, further enhanced by his ability to control the Black Iron Shark's movement.

In an instant, the black iron shark in the seawater shot out like a sharp arrow, creating a hollow stream of water behind it.

However… sensing the speed of the Third Raikage, Li Yao was speechless. He had used all his strength, but he still couldn’t stop the Third Raikage from rapidly approaching him.

Thinking of this, Li Yaoying's clone immediately controlled the black iron shark to change direction.

But no matter how he changed direction, the Third Raikage always moved in his direction.

Recalling the Cloud Village ninjutsu user he had sensed earlier, with his hands braced against the sea surface, Li Yao realized that the other party had the ability to sense his location from a distance through the seawater.

Thinking of this, Li Yao frowned and pondered for a while, but did not choose to immediately go to the surface.

"Let's see how it goes; we'll stop it for as long as we can."

The shadow clone continued to use Water Release to accelerate, and Li Yao's main body also used Water Release to accelerate.

Now we'll see how long the shadow clones can hold off the Third Raikage in the seawater.

A short while later, about ten seconds had passed.

When the Third Raikage approached within 1.5 kilometers of Li Yao, he immediately unleashed a black lightning attack.

The seawater conducted the black lightning, which instantly reached the black iron shark in the sea and attacked Li Yaoying's clone hidden inside.

Li Yao used the Vajra Lock to defend against the black lightning, but his own whereabouts were also locked by the Third Raikage.

"Is that Li Yao?"

Sensing that his black lightning attack had been blocked, the Third Raikage knew that there was a person inside the black iron shark in the sea, but he didn't know if it was Li Yao himself.

The only solution now is to find Li Yao out of the sea to determine if he is a shadow clone.

"Druid, you can go up now," the Third Raikage said into the headset.

"Yes, boss." Upon receiving the Third Raikage's message, the druid immediately stood up and leaped onto the back of the giant eagle summoning beast that flew close to the sea, quickly approaching the Third Raikage's direction.

Five seconds later, the summoning beast, the giant eagle, caught up with the Third Raikage, who had been using black lightning to lock onto Li Yao's location.

Soon, the druid used the same trick again, going into the sea once more to use water magic to force out the black iron shark.

However, this time, Li Yaoying's clone was inside the Black Iron Shark, which could use water-based techniques to fight back. It took the Druid fifteen seconds to force the Black Iron Shark to the surface.

As soon as he emerged from the sea, before the Third Raikage could attack, Li Yao took the initiative to recall the Black Iron Shark and dispel the Shadow Clone.

One minute has already passed in the round trip.

In one minute, Li Yao had moved five kilometers away from the Third Raikage and his group. Combined with the previous four kilometers, Li Yao was now nine kilometers away from the Third Raikage.

To be honest, at this distance, if Li Yao had encountered an ordinary person, he would have already escaped.

Unfortunately, he encountered an elite squad led by the Third Raikage, specifically there to pursue him. Each ninja in the squad possessed their own mastery of ninjutsu.

At a distance of nine kilometers, and in the seawater, Li Yao could not see the summoning beast, the giant eagle. However, the water-sensing reaction of the water-style ninja far exceeded Li Yao's expectations.

Soon, relying on the Druid's perception ability, the Third Raikage entered Li Yao's five-kilometer perception range again.

"Grass……"

Li Yao's expression changed, and he cursed inwardly, realizing that the other party's perception in the water was even broader than he had imagined.

Bang!

Suddenly, a splash of water erupted from the calm sea as a black iron shark leaped out of the water, quickly expanding into a giant black iron eagle.

Li Yao stood on his back, personally controlling the Black Iron Giant Eagle to fly.

In the water and in the sky, his perception was not as broad as that of his enemy. Li Yao realized that only the sky was the key to his escape.

After flying a hundred meters into the air, Li Yao quickly created shadow clones and divided his forces again.

Unfortunately, this time they were unlucky; the Third Raikage and the others were following his main body.

He immediately deactivated the other shadow clone and created more shadow clones to fly in different directions.

This time they were lucky; the Third Raikage and the others were chasing a shadow clone.

However, soon, seeing that Li Yao's main body had not disappeared on the other side, the Third Raikage and the others immediately changed direction and chased after the direction in which Li Yao's main body was flying.

Upon sensing this, Li Yao subconsciously deactivated his shadow clone.

"Grass……"

As soon as he dispelled the shadow clone on the other side, Li Yao immediately cursed inwardly. This time, he was cursing himself. He realized that he had just made a stupid mistake.

He dispelled his shadow clone too quickly.

When the Third Raikage sees that he is chasing the main body, Li Yao will release the shadow clones in another direction and then create new shadow clones to split the path.

If the target is a shadow clone, the original body will not disappear unless the shadow clone is dispelled.

Even a fool would know that if Li Yao doesn't disappear in either direction while being chased, then the Li Yao being chased is just a shadow clone used to lure the enemy.

Realizing he had made a foolish mistake, Li Yao did not dispel the shadow clones on the other side even though the one being chased was his main body.

Instead, Li Yao risked having his shadow clone also create a shadow clone to split the path, combining with the shadow clone created by his main body to create four directions, thus deceiving the Third Raikage and his group at the cost of no resistance.

However, every time Li Yao thought he had gotten rid of the Third Raikage and the others, they would soon re-enter his five-kilometer chakra perception range.

Time and again, Li Yao's chakra reserves dwindled.

Desperate situation!

Li Yao once again felt the same sense of desperation he had when facing Mito Uzumaki after escaping Konoha.

Sealing technique.

Illusion.

He had exhausted all his abilities to escape the pursuit of the Third Raikage and others, but he still could not shake them off.

(End of this chapter)