Chapter 404: Obito's Clone Appears
"Soul reincarnation… why didn't the Sage of Six Paths collect the souls of both his sons into the Pure Land?"
Li Yao furrowed his brows. He had never been to the Pure Land himself, but with the Sage of Six Paths' abilities, it should have been entirely possible to gather the souls of his two sons.
Yet the souls of Indra and Asura continued to reincarnate throughout the ninja world.
Meanwhile, none of the souls of other shinobi ever left the Pure Land to reincarnate again.
Was it a conspiracy, or were Indra and Asura's souls just that unique?
Was the Pure Land simply incapable of stopping their reincarnation?
Li Yao had no answers to any of this.
Still, it made him all the more wary of the Sage of Six Paths.
Li Yao looked at Naruto. The tailed beast chakra mode faded from his body, and he was soon clad in the golden Nine-Tails chakra cloak.
"I wonder if the Sage of Six Paths will interfere."
With that thought, Li Yao instantly teleported backwards through space.
Bang!
Boom!
Where Li Yao had just stood, a golden fist carrying overwhelming force smashed down, shattering the ground like a spiderweb—an indication of just how powerful the punch had been.
"He dodged it!"
Naruto retracted his fist and looked at Li Yao in the distance, a little disappointed that his punch hadn't landed.
His senses were razor sharp now.
That moment's Li Yao wasn't in the same heightened state he'd been in while fighting Guy-sensei. Had Naruto landed that punch, even if it didn't kill him, it would've caused serious injury.
Unfortunately, the opponent's reflexes were too fast. Even a surprise attack failed to connect.
Still… he saw it!
Naruto's eyes lit up. This time, he had clearly seen Li Yao's movement. Even with space-time teleportation, Naruto could now sense an enemy's movement instantly using his malice perception—something he hadn't been able to do before.
With his current physical reaction speed and control over the Nine-Tails' chakra, that tiny window of time was now enough for him to respond to many threats.
"Speed and power have both increased… about half of Might Guy's full Eight Gates power."
Li Yao observed Naruto from a distance. During the brief moment he couldn't move, Naruto had already entered Sage Mode.
Sage Mode combined with the Nine-Tails chakra cloak—this dual-mode gave Naruto an enormous power boost.
Just his speed and strength alone were already half of Might Guy's full Eight Gates state (excluding Night Guy or similar ultimate techniques).
That might only sound like half, but it was already shocking. Compared to the Third Raikage, whom Li Yao had fought before, this dual-mode Naruto had completely surpassed the Raikage in both speed and strength.
But the Third Raikage's strength didn't lie in speed or power—it was his unbeatable defense and devastating Hell Stab attack.
With speed and strength alone, Naruto could dominate the Raikage in a fight, but he wouldn't be able to break his defense.
However, Naruto's ninjutsu in dual-mode was also incredibly powerful.
Like the technique he was using now—
"Bijuu Dama: Rasenshuriken!"
Though only a moment had passed in the real world, within his sealed mental space, Naruto—now fully familiar with his power—had already learned to form a Bijuu Bomb using the Rasengan. Naturally, he knew how to combine it with Rasenshuriken's wind release.
Using the Rasenshuriken's principle to create a Bijuu Bomb—its destructive power was undeniable and terrifying.
Even the Third Raikage wouldn't be able to block this move.
Not just the Third Raikage—even Li Yao, if he wanted to tank it with just his body, would need to invoke at least a million tons of hypothetical mass to achieve the required defensive density to endure it silently.
However, for Li Yao—who had already experienced the intensity of Night Guy—Naruto's attacks in this dual-mode no longer interested him in terms of combat experience.
As the attack flew toward him, Li Yao simply moved with a thought, vanishing from real space and entering the interspatial layer.
Naruto's Rasenshuriken flew a hundred meters before detonating.
BOOM!
Its power was immense, leaving behind a crater over a hundred meters wide in the ground.
"There!"
Before the explosion had even ended, Naruto in dual-mode suddenly dashed twenty meters to his left and punched out.
"…Did I miss?"
Naruto hadn't expected to hit nothing. His momentum carried him forward, and he quickly turned back to look.
There had definitely been malice at the spot he struck—it had to be Li Yao. So why had his punch missed?
"Right—he's in that special space Granny Tsunade mentioned!"
Naruto quickly realized and leapt backward, putting distance between himself and Li Yao's position.
Tsunade had told him that within that special space, one could observe and sense everything in reality, but couldn't interfere with it—nor could reality affect them.
Since Li Yao was inside that space, and Naruto had no space-time abilities, all he could do was keep an eye on the presence of malice, giving Li Yao no chance for a sneak attack.
"Malice perception really is powerful."
In the interspatial layer, Li Yao was a little surprised that Naruto had been able to locate him.
He had always assumed that in the original work, Naruto's ability to sense Madara's shadow clone in the interspatial layer came from the Sage of Six Paths' Six Paths Yang Power—not malice perception.
But now it seemed malice perception was even more formidable than he had imagined—or perhaps Naruto's version was especially potent, able to pierce through dimensions and locate malicious intent.
Still… Li Yao looked at Tsunade beside him and smiled slightly.
Naruto could only sense those who bore malice toward him. He couldn't sense Tsunade, who held no ill intent. Otherwise, that last attack wouldn't have swept her up as well.
This proved that malice perception functioned more like a passive trigger rather than an active radar. Naruto's will wasn't like Might Guy's, which could penetrate the interspatial layer.
Compared to Guy, Naruto was still too weak. He couldn't excite Li Yao's fighting spirit at all.
"Well then… time to switch players."
Li Yao, carrying Tsunade, flew high into the sky.
He had already experienced an intense fight.
He had already witnessed Naruto's despair.
Tsunade had already been thoroughly "reshaped" by him.
Now, the only thing left in this world was to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki and master Kekkei Mōra.
It was time for Obito's clone to take the stage.
Buzz!
A hundred meters in front of Naruto, space twisted, and a figure stepped out—it was Obito's clone.
Naruto, looking up into the sky and wondering why Li Yao had flown off, suddenly felt a wave of malice and turned instinctively.
"The masked man!"
Naruto's heart sank. Why was the masked man here—and more importantly, why did it look like he was working with Li Yao?
But how could that be?
Wasn't Li Yao… Naruto suddenly thought of Mukade.
Back then, Mukade had entered Rōran just one or two moments before him, yet arrived years ahead.
If Li Yao had known the masked man from twenty years ago, then it was entirely possible that Li Yao had arrived in this world long ago.
With that realization, Naruto's expression grew grim. One Li Yao was already a major problem—now there was also a masked man who wielded space-time jutsu…
He had no choice but to face it.
Still, he felt confident in his current form.
Even if he couldn't defeat them, they wouldn't be able to beat him either.
That was Naruto's confidence now.
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997