Chapter 328: Sealing Mukade
Why did the big brother who saved Sāra say he wasn't one of them? Then he said he wasn't an enemy, yet Minato clearly remained on guard against him?
Naruto wasn't good at dealing with such complicated matters.
Fortunately, he had sharp instincts, and compared to the suddenly-appearing Li Yao, the man with a Konoha forehead protector—Minato—was easier to trust.
Li Yao glanced around—there were quite a few Flying Thunder God kunai hidden nearby.
In just a few seconds, Minato had managed to scatter so many of them. Clearly, he was taking Li Yao very seriously.
Li Yao smiled faintly and didn't bother answering Naruto, instead turning his gaze back to Mukade.
Mukade, now in his massive Sasori puppet form, was furious. That newcomer's gaze stung him—just like the disdainful looks he used to receive from the so-called higher-ups of Sunagakure, full of scorn for his puppet techniques.
"Die!"
"I don't care who you are! With the power of the Ryūmyaku, I am invincible. You all die!"
Mukade roared, swinging the massive pincers of his puppet Sasori toward Li Yao.
At that moment, Li Yao had at least a hundred ways to instantly kill Mukade, but to hide his abilities, he chose a long-unused ninjutsu.
Boom!
Li Yao formed hand seals and slapped them together.
"Ink Art Technique!"
Black ink quickly formed around him, instantly surging into a massive wave dozens of meters tall, crashing forward.
Mukade's Sasori puppet had just reached Li Yao when the ink wave slammed it aside, smashing it into the base of a tall building.
"Naruto, escort Lady Sāra away."
Taking advantage of Li Yao and Mukade's clash, Minato quickly instructed Naruto.
"Right." Naruto responded instinctively, then realized how naturally he obeyed.
But this wasn't the time to think about that.
Naruto and Sāra led the remaining Loran citizens toward the tower where the Ryūmyaku chakra resided. Beneath it was a secret tomb of the past Loran queens protected by a barrier—Ryūmyaku chakra couldn't reach there.
Li Yao sensed their movement. After a moment of thought, to prevent any accidents, he created a shadow clone.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
"Who exactly are you?"
Nearby, Minato's expression changed again upon seeing the clone—his wariness toward Li Yao deepened.
The Shadow Clone Technique was a secret jutsu of Konoha, never passed outside the village.
And yet this unknown man had mastered it.
Not to mention that strange black-ink ninjutsu—though it looked similar to the Ink Beast Painting technique, it wasn't fully formed artwork.
Who was this man?
Could he also be someone from the future, like Naruto?
Minato silently questioned, still keeping a vigilant eye on the man. He didn't act rashly, watching as Li Yao's clone melted into black water and sank into the ground. Frowning, Minato quickly formed seals and sent a shadow clone after Naruto and Sāra.
He realized immediately—whatever this man's identity, he had definitely come to Loran for the Ryūmyaku's power. That meant Naruto and Sāra might be his targets as well.
Li Yao noticed Minato's little maneuver, but didn't stop him. As long as the Ryūmyaku power wasn't sealed, that was all that mattered to him.
First, he had to deal with Mukade.
At this point, Mukade's massive puppet body was full of cracks after being struck by the ink wave.
"It's useless! As long as I—huh?!"
"Where's my Ryūmyaku chakra?!"
Mukade screamed, preparing to summon the Ryūmyaku chakra to regenerate, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing came. Looking up, he immediately flew into a rage.
"Who did this?!"
"Who destroyed my technique?!"
The antenna converter atop the tower wasn't just a simple device—even if damaged, it could recover under preset jutsu formations to condense Ryūmyaku chakra again.
But now, the converter was gone.
That meant someone had destroyed the formation too.
Of course, that person was Li Yao.
Earlier, that ink blade didn't just cut the converter—it also severed the jutsu formations Mukade had embedded into it.
With Li Yao's current sealing knowledge, it was easy for him to recognize and destroy Mukade's technique while breaking the device.
Now, without time-reset Ryūmyaku chakra, Mukade's puppet body could only rely on what little Ryūmyaku chakra remained stored within.
It was no longer infinite.
Panic overtook him. Ignoring Li Yao, he scrambled toward the tower housing the Ryūmyaku, hoping to absorb more chakra at the source.
His puppet body was also inscribed with formations that could convert raw Ryūmyaku chakra into the time-reset variant. If he reached the source, he would become invincible again.
However… while he could think it, he couldn't act on it.
"What is this stuff?!"
"Water Style? No… what kind of ninjutsu is this?!"
"Damn it… let me go!!"
The ink tide hadn't vanished. It still wrapped tightly around the lower half of his Sasori puppet. And now, under Li Yao's property transformation, it had become a thick, glue-like fluid with extreme stickiness.
Puppets were vulnerable to such sticky substances—Mukade's Sasori could only thrash helplessly inside the ink glue.
"Damn it, Fire Style—Great Dragon Fl—ugh!"
Squelch!
A massive ink serpent shot out from beneath Li Yao, straight toward the puppet's chest where Mukade was located. It bit down hard, pulling Mukade out of his Sasori puppet.
The Fire Style jutsu Mukade was preparing was instantly cut off.
"How…?"
Mukade was stunned. He couldn't understand how Li Yao had pinpointed the exact location of his real body.
"In front of my soul-sensing, you can't hide!"
Li Yao smirked coldly, forming seals once more. The giant ink serpent opened its mouth and swallowed Mukade whole. The sealing formation activated, shrinking the serpent into a small ink sphere.
Mukade was now sealed inside a ping pong ball-sized ink orb.
Li Yao stored the seal orb in his pocket—he had no intention of killing Mukade just yet.
Mukade bore the space-time sealing formation from Naruto's Hokage-era world. If he died, Naruto and Yamato would be rejected by this world and forcibly returned.
Li Yao hadn't marked Naruto with the Flying Thunder God seal yet—Mukade couldn't die now.
Besides, he worried that Mukade's death might cause the Ryūmyaku chakra to collapse and disappear entirely.
He still wanted to use the last month to observe and study the Ryūmyaku chakra's property changes.
"Who is he?"
"So strong!"
"He took down that massive puppet in a single strike."
Beside Minato, Akimichi Chōza and the Aburame clan ninja had arrived. They had witnessed Li Yao sealing the Sasori puppet that had left them helpless—and knew immediately that this man wasn't ordinary.
They exchanged glances, then turned toward the still-cautious Minato.
(END CHAPTER)
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