Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 98 The Hidden Stone Ninja - Gray Earth

When you use ninjutsu, deliberately call out the name of the genjutsu to mislead the user.

Those who don't understand might mistake it for an illusion and try to disrupt the chakra using methods meant to dispel illusions, thus falling into the trap and being unable to undo the Sensory Deprivation Technique.

Although the Dark Travel Technique's chakra is a genjutsu-type chakra, it is easily affected by the disruption of chakra flow.

However, because the principles are different, merely disrupting the flow of chakra is insufficient to remove the signal-cutting effect of the Dark Travel Technique's chakra.

This is due to the difference in their operating principles.

Illusions that disrupt the brain's perception are like the moon's reflection in water; they require a calm, mirror-like surface to maintain their effect.

Once the slightest ripple appears on the water's surface, the previously indistinguishable reflection of the moon in the water will instantly become apparent.

Disrupting one's own chakra flow is like creating ripples in the moon's reflection in water, breaking the disruptive effect of the genjutsu chakra and dispelling the genjutsu.

The Dark Travel Technique's chakra acts like a thin curtain of water, blocking the transmission of signals just as it blocks the propagation of sound.

Disrupting the flow of chakra is like creating ripples on a thin curtain of water.

"It's no use!"

As long as the water curtain remains intact, the propagation of sound will be blocked, and the signal will remain cut off.

Therefore, it's not enough for someone afflicted by the Dark Travel Technique to simply disrupt their own chakra flow.

Like the two wandering ninjas just now, one needs to unleash chakra within their body to gain enough power to break through the water curtain, thwart the Dark Travel Technique's chakra's cutting off of signal transmission, and thus dispel the Dark Travel Technique.

However, unleashing chakra within the body is no easy feat, especially in the brain, an extremely vulnerable and dangerous place. One wrong move and you could end up like the two wandering ninjas.

The two wandering ninjas are now useless.

Living is also painful. After absorbing the chakra of the two, Li Yao casually crushed their heads and sent them to the Pure Land.

"Puff puff..."

Li Yao suddenly turned his head in surprise to look at the bed. The fat man had recovered his strength so quickly and started groaning again, which made him... feel a little overwhelmed.

Li Yao looked down and suddenly realized that this body didn't seem as youthful as he had imagined; it already possessed some of a man's desires and impulses.

"Pfft!"

A black iron chain shot out from Li Yao's palm, piercing through the fat man and the woman beneath him, and the wicked squeak stopped abruptly.

Li Yao retrieved the black iron chains. The experimental comparison was complete, and there was no longer any need to keep the two people on the bed.

Upon arriving at the fourth floor, which was entirely a kitchen, a bustling place filled with people controlled by Li Yao using genjutsu chakra to cook for him.

Roasted chicken, rice ball sushi, various oden dishes, as well as ramen and grilled meat.

Everything is proceeding smoothly and efficiently.

Li Yao walked to a wooden chair by the window and sat down. Gazing at the night view outside, he quietly waited for the chefs to finish their meal.

"Um……"

Li Yao suddenly frowned. During the day, he sensed that the ninjas, who appeared to be a ninja squad, seemed to be heading this way.

"Have I been discovered?"

Li Yao was guessing what was going on in his mind, but he remained seated in the chair, showing no intention of running away.

From what I sensed, the largest female ninja in that squad had a chakra level close to that of a Jonin, while the other three were Genin, so they were not a threat.

"Perfect timing to test the power of this new illusion!"

A glint of anticipation flashed in Li Yao's eyes, and a cruel smile appeared on his lips as he waited for the ninja squad, suspected to be from Iwagakure, to come knocking.

Stop.

On a rooftop 500 meters from the building, a female ninja in a reddish-brown fitted robe that accentuated her curvaceous figure suddenly twitched her round, pert nose. Her expression changed slightly, and she half-squatted on the sloping rooftop, waving to signal the team to stop.

One of the three kids following behind her, a black-haired boy wearing goggles, asked, "What's wrong, Ms. Gray Earth?"

Haito is the name of a female ninja, a Jonin from Iwagakure, and also the instructor of three kids who have just graduated from the Ninja Academy.

She sniffed the air and said, "It smells of blood."

A strong smell of blood wafted from the building ahead, indicating that someone had died there.

Thinking of this, Gray Earth formed hand seals and created an earth clone, sending it to check the situation. At the same time, he turned to his three students and said, "Prepare for battle; there may be ninjas involved."

"Ah, a ninja!"

"Yes, Mr. Gray Earth!"

The three inexperienced genin who had just graduated from the ninja academy were all excited upon hearing this.

Having been doing some meaningless D-rank missions, they've long wanted to fight their ninja enemies.

The young ninjas had no idea that missions were dangerous and sometimes cost them their lives.

Hui Tu's face was not relaxed at this moment; it was full of vigilance.

This is wartime; anything can happen.

Like this mission, it was originally just to help a man find his wife, and it didn't involve ninjas.

When the investigation revealed that the man's wife might have been arrested by the city's richest man, Haido instantly realized that the ninja village had been deceived by the man.

The wealthy man was protected by two wandering ninjas; this was common knowledge throughout the city.

It's impossible for a man not to know that his wife has been abducted by a wealthy man.

He just didn't dare to openly take action against that tycoon, so he issued a task to find people and lure them over to deal with the city's tycoon.

This should be a B-level mission, not a D-level one.

Hui Tu was in a bad mood after being cheated, but not because of the man, but because of the rich fat man who stole another man's wife.

Gray Earth had planned to come here tonight to find the man's wife and teach the rich fat boy a lesson, but before he even got close to the rich man's building, the strong smell of blood was already wafting over.

Hui Tu realized that something had happened at the Rich Man's Building, but he didn't know whether the Rich Man had committed murder or his people had been killed.

Whatever it is, it's always good to be cautious, after all, she still has three students to take care of.

"So cautious!"

On the building side, Li Yao was both surprised and unsurprised to sense that the female ninja had created a clone.

In the ninja world during this period, battles between ninjas were determined by who could gather information about their opponents faster, possess greater combat wisdom, and ultimately, by how much stronger their own abilities were.

Creating clones is a good way to gather intelligence on your opponents.

"bump!"

With the glass shattered, Li Yao, clad in a black iron feather robe and aided by two black iron chains, bypassed the female ninja's earth-escape clone and shot towards the female ninja's main body, five hundred meters away.

"Earth Release - Earth Dragon Bullet".

The ash soil reacted quickly, immediately forming hand seals. In an instant, a dragon head made of ash emerged from the sloping roof, opened its mouth, and fired a stray ash projectile the size of a football at Li Yao, who was attacking from the air.

Bang bang... In mid-air, Li Yao had a thought and shot out two black iron chains crackling with lightning, shattering the incoming earth projectiles one by one.

"You all need to leave quickly."

The moment Hui Tu saw the black iron chains binding Li Yao, her beautiful eyes narrowed, and she immediately turned to the three students and shouted, "Wait for me at the assembly point!"

The information about Li Yao has been making headlines in the ninja world recently, and Hai Tu heard about it from his father.

Although everyone was skeptical about Li Yao's claim of immortality.

However, everyone acknowledges Li Yao's ability to escape from Konoha, which was guarded by the Third Hokage and Mito Uzumaki.

No one doubted the power of Li Yao's Black Chakra Chain Sealing Technique, and Iwagakure also longed for it, but they didn't have the energy to find Li Yao during the war.

Unexpectedly, Li Yao actually came to the Land of Earth, and she even ran into him.

Hui Tu understood that it was dangerous for the three students to stay there. Only when the three little ones left could she deal with Li Yao.

However, the three boys were unaware of Li Yao's danger. How could they abandon their teacher and run away? The three boys immediately formed hand seals, intending to use their respective Earth Release ninjutsu to help their teacher fight the enemy.

Seeing this, Hui Tu shook his head inwardly, thinking that they were still too young.

"Earth Release..." Gray Earth had no choice; time was running out. She turned around and tried to use an earthen barrier to block Li Yao.

However, it was too late; Li Yao had already entered the fifty-meter radius of the dust.

This range might not be enough for other genjutsu ninjas to cast genjutsu, but it's very easy for Li Yao, who has absolute control over chakra.

"Illusion - Perception Stripping Technique!" Li Yao deliberately clapped his hands together and said aloud.

In reality, his genjutsu chakra had already entered Ash's body, enveloping her brain and severing all pathways for her physical sensory cells to transmit signals to her brain.

In an instant, everything went black before Hui Tu's eyes, and he lost all physical sensation.

The senses of smell, touch, hearing, sight, and sensation—all physical senses—are no longer present in the dust.

As long as her brain was still clear and her consciousness was still intact, she clearly heard Li Yao's words, "Illusion - Perception Stripping Technique".

(End of this chapter)