Chapter 412: The Perceptive Sasuke
"Fourth, what are you doing? Just kill him already."
While everyone else was glaring at Li Yao with eyes full of hatred, only the Second Hokage focused on the Obito clone the moment he arrived.
According to the plan, killing the Ten-Tails jinchūriki—Obito—would naturally cause the other nine Tailed Beasts to be released, and then they could concentrate on dealing with the interdimensional invader.
Yet now, neither the Fourth, Naruto, nor the Uchiha brat had attacked the Ten-Tails jinchūriki. What was going on?
"Sorry, Second," Minato said with difficulty, glancing at Tobirama before turning his gaze toward the Obito clone. "That's Obito. He was my student."
Minato was trying to awaken the kindness, the light that still lingered within Obito's heart.
First, because he hadn't given up on his student.
Second, because defeating Li Yao—the invader—required Obito's space-time abilities.
Without Obito's Kamui, if Li Yao vanished into that special dimension again, even the strongest among them wouldn't be able to reach him.
Thus, convincing Obito to return was critical.
That's why Minato and Naruto hadn't attacked Obito directly.
Even edgy Sasuke didn't oppose the idea, which meant he also understood that Obito's space-time ninjutsu was the key to defeating Li Yao.
Unfortunately… it seemed the Sage of Six Paths didn't know Obito had become Li Yao's clone. Minato's attempt at emotional persuasion was doomed to fail.
A pleasant surprise—Li Yao's eyes gleamed.
Back when he turned Obito into his clone, he had done it inside Kamui. It made sense the Sage couldn't observe Kamui.
So, the Sage had no idea Obito was now Li Yao's clone.
Even when Li Yao's Obito clone fought using black hole space, he still used Obito's chakra nature and soul pattern—so it never aroused suspicion.
After all, perfect clones didn't exist in this world until Li Yao created one. Obito was the first, so the Sage's ignorance was understandable.
"This confirms the Sage's intel-gathering isn't as all-encompassing as we feared."
"Heh…"
Li Yao smiled subtly. Now he knew how to proceed.
"Are you all really not going to reconsider?"
With a thought, Li Yao had a shadow clone in the interspatial layer grab Tsunade by the neck.
Staring at the group—Naruto, Sasuke, and the others who were ready to move—Li Yao said coldly, "Remember, Tsunade is still in my hands. Are you really willing to watch her die?"
At his words, everyone froze—except for one.
Sasuke.
Instead of stopping, Sasuke used the distraction as a potential opportunity. He suddenly swung his sword through the air.
To anyone watching, he seemed to be slashing at nothing like a fool.
But Li Yao immediately understood—and launched his defense.
Black iron chains burst from all around his body, filling the one-meter radius around him with a dense web of steel, leaving no room for Sasuke's spatial swap.
Whoosh!
Sasuke appeared one meter to Li Yao's left, his sword aimed for the neck—only to strike the black iron chains, sparks flying from the impact.
Clang!
A chain shot toward Sasuke.
Whoosh!
Sasuke used Amenotejikara to teleport back to his original spot on the ground.
"Sasuke… don't act on your own! That guy's not someone you can take alone!"
Naruto was annoyed at Sasuke for going off-script, mostly out of concern. Li Yao's abilities were too unpredictable—too dangerous to face alone.
"This guy…"
Sasuke ignored Naruto, instead staring up at Li Yao with a furrowed brow. Replaying the moment in his mind, his expression shifted.
"Naruto, be careful. He already knows our abilities."
Amenotejikara didn't just allow swapping with people or objects like kunai or rocks—it could even swap with air.
Until now, Sasuke had only demonstrated swaps with people like Li Yao. Anyone would assume that was the limit of his power.
But Li Yao had already anticipated this. By filling the space around himself with dense chakra chains, Sasuke had been unable to swap close.
Clearly, Li Yao knew how Amenotejikara worked.
This was the first time Sasuke had used his space-time jutsu.
And yet Li Yao had already prepared for it.
How did he know?
If he knew about Amenotejikara, he likely also knew about the Chibaku Tensei sealing technique they could use with combined Yin-Yang powers.
In other words, surprise attacks were no longer viable. If they wanted to defeat Li Yao, they'd have to create their own opening.
"So you really don't care about Tsunade's life, huh?"
Sasuke's attack had irritated Li Yao. But what angered him more was how indifferent the others were.
Did they really think he was bluffing? That he wouldn't kill her?
Li Yao's expression darkened. He gave a mental command—and his clone in the interspatial layer twisted Tsunade's neck without hesitation. Cleanly. Her head was severed.
Whoosh!
As soon as she died, her decapitated body dropped from the interspatial layer and landed beside Li Yao.
He'd made sure to preserve her head and soul—for a possible Edo Tensei resurrection later.
In Li Yao's hands, death wasn't necessarily the end.
"No!!"
The suddenness of Tsunade's death broke Naruto and Hashirama. Itachi and Hiruzen looked equally shocked.
No one had expected Li Yao to be so decisive—to kill her instantly.
"Lady Tsunade!!"
"Granny Tsunade!!!"
Hashirama and Naruto leapt into the air. Six Paths Naruto reached her first, catching her headless body.
Zzz… Blood still sprayed from her neck. Naruto landed, drenched in red. Hashirama, Tobirama, and the others rushed over.
They all stood in stunned silence.
"Sasuke… why?"
"Why don't you ever listen?!"
Naruto turned to glare furiously at Sasuke. He blamed him. If Sasuke hadn't acted, Li Yao wouldn't have killed Tsunade.
Among all the people who helped Naruto grow, Tsunade was the only one who gave him the warmth of a mother.
Now she lay decapitated. How could Naruto not be enraged?
"Sasuke… you were too reckless."
Even Itachi, Konoha's paragon of filial piety, believed his brother had acted rashly. Still, he didn't think Sasuke was wrong.
Sasuke didn't think so either. He coldly responded to Naruto:
"You're still as naive as ever."
"Take a good look around. Kakashi, Sakura, Iruka, Choji, Shikamaru—where are they? Who did this?"
"Do you really think that if I hadn't attacked, Tsunade would've lived? You think she'd be fine next to a guy like that?"
Sasuke pointed directly at Li Yao.
Right now, Li Yao looked every inch the villain. Seeing everyone's reactions, he laughed.
His laughter froze Naruto—his eyes, moments ago full of fury, now blank with shock.
(END CHAPTER)
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