Chapter 327: Clash with Minato Once Again
"Got it!"
At the top of the tower, blue-violet ionized chakra crackled like lightning, wrapping around Li Yao's body.
The moment the antenna converter transformed the Ryūmyaku chakra into time-reset ionized chakra, Li Yao successfully copied it.
His speed in doing so was thanks to his prior two years of thoroughly analyzing the properties of Ryūmyaku chakra.
Though he still couldn't replicate the full Ryūmyaku chakra, duplicating the ionized version that only possessed the time-reset attribute was easy for Li Yao.
In truth, since he had already figured out most of the chakra's properties, even if he couldn't replicate the complete form, it was more than enough for him to develop some space-time-based jutsu chakra.
However, compared to directly copying Ryūmyaku chakra to gain temporal and spatial abilities, self-research and development would undoubtedly be much slower.
After all, Li Yao never considered himself particularly gifted at creating new jutsu.
Ssshhh… In an instant, countless bloody cuts appeared across Li Yao's body—he had used Wind Release to slash himself repeatedly.
Zzzzt!
The time-reset ionized chakra flickered across his body.
Instantly, all the bleeding wounds vanished, restored to their original uninjured state.
This restoration was similar to accelerated regeneration, but it wasn't a reversal of time where blood flowed back and wounds closed up.
Instead, the body reset—or you could say "loaded a save"—to a moment before injury.
The chakra within his body also reverted to the amount he had at that particular moment.
That, in itself… could be seen as a flaw, albeit a manageable one.
With a thought, Li Yao triggered another reset using the ionized chakra, this time reverting his body to the moment it had the highest chakra reserves.
This way, he'd remain at peak chakra, and just had to keep resetting to that moment to maintain it.
"Who are you?"
Minato appeared in a flash at the top of the tower, standing on the opposite side of the antenna converter, staring cautiously at Li Yao.
Had this man not emitted several waves of chakra, Minato wouldn't have even noticed such a powerful individual was present in Loran.
Even now, standing face-to-face, his chakra sensory abilities couldn't detect the slightest bit of chakra from this man—it was as if he were facing a statue.
Minato had never seen anyone suppress their chakra this completely.
And he noticed something else.
The Ryūmyaku chakra on this man wasn't being absorbed from the converter in front of them—it was being generated from within his own body.
Minato knew exactly what that meant.
The power of the Ryūmyaku was never something anyone had been able to generate on their own.
Without a doubt—
He was strong.
The man before him was very strong.
In that moment, Minato had an intense gut feeling—like a heavy hammer pounding against his chest—warning him: this man was dangerous. A single misstep could mean death.
Li Yao, however, wasn't surprised by Minato's arrival. With his current sensory ability, no soul-bearing life form within dozens of kilometers around Loran could escape his notice.
Minato was no exception.
"Long time no see, Minato-kun."
Li Yao wore a gentle smile. For some reason, that smile felt familiar to Minato—it was the same sunny smile he had when people used to call him the "Little Sun."
Only… Li Yao's sunshine-filled smile felt a bit forced.
Still, for a brief moment, it left Minato puzzled.
Who are you?
Why are you smiling at me like that? Do we know each other?
Minato was completely confused and subconsciously asked, "Who exactly are you?"
Whoosh!
Li Yao appeared before Minato in an instant and threw a punch at his stomach.
"So fast!"
Minato's expression changed. He was stunned by the sheer speed—faster than anyone he'd ever encountered. Even he had to admit this man surpassed him in raw movement speed.
But… Flying Thunder God!
Whoosh!
Just before Li Yao's punch landed, Minato used his monstrous reaction speed to teleport to Naruto's side using the Flying Thunder God kunai.
"This guy's reflexes are just as monstrous as ever!"
Li Yao stopped and stared at the empty space where Minato had been, shaking his head in awe.
He had even distracted Minato with words to make him lower his guard for a split second. Yet, with all his speed, he still couldn't touch him.
His reflexes were just insane!
People always said Minato was fast—most assumed they meant his Flying Thunder God was fast.
But Minato's true speed came from his absurd, almost time-slowing reaction speed.
Only with such inhuman neural reflexes could he do things like throw dozens of kunai at Iwagakure ninjas and instantly teleport to each one using Flying Thunder God, killing them all in an instant.
The jutsu's instant teleportation, combined with Minato's terrifying reflexes, was what made him the fastest shinobi in the ninja world.
Many enemies didn't even know how or when they died against him.
That was Konoha's Yellow Flash—a ninja with godlike reflexes.
Li Yao once thought that after so many upgrades, his own reflexes were nearly equal to Minato's. But now he realized… he was still a bit short.
"If I want to capture Minato, I can't reveal too many abilities that would make him overly wary. I need to lure him into attacking, make physical contact, and use that chance to seal him."
With that in mind, Li Yao didn't go after Minato.
Down below, Mukade was now chasing Queen Sāra in his giant Sasori puppet, sending several chakra threads shooting toward her.
"First, I need to deal with the Ryūmyaku."
Even with just a month left, Li Yao wanted to make the most of it to study more variations in the Ryūmyaku chakra's properties.
And eliminating Mukade was key. Although the man couldn't seal the Ryūmyaku, his years of research gave him the knowledge to trigger its premature collapse.
Clang!
Li Yao reached out and formed a long ink sword, slicing through the antenna that was converting Ryūmyaku chakra into its time-reset form. Without it, Mukade couldn't use that ability anymore.
Then Li Yao leapt down and, mid-air, flicked his wrist—an ink blade sliced through Mukade's chakra threads, saving Queen Sāra who had been bound by them.
Naruto, who was rushing over, stopped in his tracks and quickly ran to Sāra's side, asking if she was hurt.
"I'm okay..."
Sāra shook her head, looking at the man who had landed in front of her with confusion.
"Is he one of your comrades, Naruto?" she asked.
Before Naruto could reply, Minato appeared in a flash beside them, grabbed both Naruto and Sāra, and moved them thirty meters away.
"He's not one of us!" Minato said with a grave expression.
"But he's not an enemy either," Li Yao said with a smile as he looked back. "My goal is also to stop Mukade, so we're technically not enemies."
Minato didn't respond. Naruto looked at Li Yao, confused. "Then… who are you?"
He glanced from Li Yao to the older brother-like figure who felt so familiar, and for a moment, couldn't make sense of the situation.
(END CHAPTER)
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