The night wind gently brushed against Sakura's long hair. She remembered the time she had traveled with Lord Jiraiya to find Master Tsunade.
She had been so weak back then, easily killed by any slightly stronger enemy. They had eaten together, bickered together, laughed together.
These images flashed through Sakura's mind, one by one. She had never been a heartless person, but reality had beaten her down mercilessly. If she wanted to complete her final plan, she had to cast aside all unnecessary emotions. If she couldn't, those feelings would eventually become a stumbling block.
A single, clear tear traced a path down her cheek. Reaffirming her resolve, Sakura took out another kunai. A blue-white light enveloped it, extending forward until it formed a long blade.
Her knees bent slightly. The ground beneath her feet, unable to withstand the pressure of her explosive speed, cracked and shattered. In the next instant, she was gone.
Jiraiya had been earnestly replaying the battle between Shuying and the kid in his mind. He had finally noticed something unusual, but he no longer had time to react.
Pfft!
As the kid's long blade pierced through his body and embedded itself in his chest, Jiraiya felt a hot surge in his throat. A spray of crimson blood erupted from his mouth.
"Little Jiraiya!"
"Little Jiraiya!"
The two Sages cried out in alarm at the same time.
"If you were facing any other opponent, Lord Jiraiya, our positions would likely be reversed by now," Sakura said.
"So… so it was… too much to ask…" Jiraiya wiped the blood from his mouth with his left hand, his eyes fixed on Sakura. "Nearly infinite Sage chakra… you were invincible from the start… Although… although I finally… found a slight… weakness… I… I couldn't… act on it…"
Against an enemy with infinite Sage chakra, the best strategy was to use skill and tactics to take them down in one swift blow. A battle of attrition was a guaranteed loss.
Jiraiya had done his best to avoid a prolonged fight, but Sakura had used her infinite energy to compensate for her lack of combat experience, forcing the battle into one of attrition.
At the beginning, he had managed to draw the kid into his rhythm, but she had neutralized each of his attacks. Then, he was faced with her endless barrage of large-scale ninjutsu. It was the one situation Jiraiya wanted to avoid most, but he had no better option and was forced to meet each attack.
In the past, Jiraiya could face any enemy with composure. But she was the one opponent he found difficult to fight. She had the same Sage Mode, and even her ninjutsu was similar.
After all, she was, in a way, a student of both him and the Third Hokage. Although he had never taught her ninjutsu himself, she had received a scroll of techniques from the Third Hokage when she was a child. And he had never hidden anything from her when he was teaching Naruto.
Honestly, aside from her Storm Release, all her other ninjutsu were basic five-element techniques. She didn't have any particularly bizarre jutsu; like him, she walked the path of traditional ninjutsu.
Although her arsenal was vast, not many of her techniques were self-developed. She had learned the Rasengan from him, the Chidori from Kakashi, and the rest were all jutsu that could be learned in the village.
This gave Jiraiya the illusion that he was fighting another version of himself. The only difference was that his opponent had infinite Sage chakra.
"My weakness?" Sakura was taken aback. "What is my weakness?"
It is often said that your enemy knows you best. Sakura firmly believed this. Although she knew her own weaknesses, hearing them from an enemy's mouth would surely be more comprehensive.
"Your… weakness…" Jiraiya panted, a mocking smile on his lips. "You…"
The air around her began to distort in a subtle way. She felt as if something was seeping into her body. Every muscle fiber, even her internal organs, screamed a single word: "Danger."
Sakura sensed an indescribable peril directly above her. If she didn't get out of here, she would… die.
She made a split-second decision. Releasing the long blade, she shot backward. Without a supply of energy, the blade gradually dissipated, reverting to an ordinary kunai.
The moment Sakura left the spot, a massive pillar of blue-white light descended from the sky, piercing through the place where she had just stood. The beam silently carved a bottomless pit into the earth.
After retreating and steadying herself, Sakura looked up at the sky from where the attack had come.
A girl in a black combat suit and a fox mask, her feet bare, floated leisurely in the air. Her arm was outstretched, her palm aimed at the bottomless pit on the ground. The attack had clearly been unleashed by her.
The girl slowly descended and landed beside Jiraiya. Green chakra appeared in her palm and then covered his wound.
"You… you are?" Jiraiya looked at the masked girl. She seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her.
"Little Jiraiya, is this a friend of yours?" Fukasaku wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The crisis was averted, for now.
"No, I… I don't know her," Jiraiya said, then glanced at her well-defined figure and added with certainty.
"To say you don't know me… Lord Jiraiya, you break my heart," the girl said in a mournful tone.
"You!!! You're Shuying!!!" Hearing the familiar voice, Jiraiya was shocked. He tried to jump to his feet and get away, but the sudden movement pulled at his wound, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"You're injured, so don't move around. Do you want to die here?" Shuying said, pushing Jiraiya back down and continuing to treat his injuries.
"Who… who are you? Why are you saving me?" Jiraiya asked in a low voice.
He never thought he'd see the day. The enemy who had attacked the village was healing him, while his former comrade was trying to kill him. The irony was staggering.
"It would be very troublesome for me if you died. So, to save me the trouble, you can't die just yet," Shuying said with a playful lilt.
"…" Jiraiya fell silent.
Sakura had never, in her wildest dreams, expected Shuying's sudden appearance. Even if she let her imagination run wild, she couldn't have predicted Shuying would show up here.
But Shuying had appeared, and she had even fired a shot at her, seemingly to save Jiraiya. What… what was going on in her head? Shouldn't she be running as far away as possible right now?
And that technique just now, it had to be Storm Release. So it was true. She could copy any ninjutsu. Back in the Waterfall Village, Sakura had already suspected that Shuying could imitate various techniques. Yakumo's genjutsu was a Kekkei Genkai, yet she had been able to replicate it. And the Hozuki clan's Hydrification Technique as well.
So, using Storm Release now was not surprising. The ability to copy any ninjutsu… as far as Sakura knew, there was only one explanation. And that was… a Kekkei Mora.
"Heh… but that's impossible." Sakura shook her head, dismissing the absurd thought.
If it really were a Kekkei Mora, she would be the one running right now. Besides, a Kekkei Mora couldn't be learned through training alone. It required a specific bloodline—the bloodline of the Otsutsuki clan.
There was only one way to find out who Shuying really was: defeat her, and tear off her mask for good!