Chapter 203: "Turtling" Playstyle
Did Kakuzu escape?
Haruno Sakura was momentarily stunned. She widened her eyes and looked over, carefully observing the clues he had left behind.
She soon faintly sensed a chakra source moving underground—Kakuzu had not left the battlefield!
"Taking cover with the attack just now, escaping underground, and moving with an Earth Style ninjutsu?"
She frowned slightly and realized what Kakuzu was doing.
Is it the "Earth Style: Submarine Voyage Jutsu" or the "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Hiding Jutsu"?
An application of Earth Style, a ninjutsu for moving freely within the earth.
At such a close distance, if Sakura were to launch a Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream, even if Kakuzu had anticipated her ninjutsu, he would have had to scramble to dodge it.
So he had simply hidden underground.
Sakura now had a bit of a headache... Is this a turtling playstyle?
If he just hides in the ground, how am I supposed to fight him?
However, Kakuzu was having an equally big headache.
Normally, with this kind of underground movement, the next action would be the Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Technique. But Kakuzu's tentacles had already tried to launch an attack from underground, and the effect was not ideal.
The crystal-clear ice armor on Sakura's body was still emitting a chilling cold. The tentacles whose ends had been frozen and broken off just now had already retracted back into his main body. The ice fragments on the broken ends reminded Kakuzu not to engage her in close combat. Even a sneak attack would not gain him any advantage.
But he couldn't hide underground indefinitely.
Although in Haruno Sakura's mind, his immortality had been infinitely elevated, and she was extremely wary of it, Kakuzu knew that he was not truly what one would call immortal. He was just relying on his Earth Grudge Fear and several hearts to have a few more lives than others and be harder to kill.
The Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream and the nin-taijutsu sword-drawing slash just now had already consumed two of his hearts and a large amount of his Earth Grudge Fear. Therefore, while the girl was wary of him, Kakuzu was also finding it tricky to deal with Haruno Sakura.
What to do?
Kakuzu did not have much time to think. Having hearts also meant he needed to breathe, and there was no fresh air when moving underground. He had to think of a countermeasure in time...
What is the opponent's weakness? Her ninjutsu, taijutsu, reaction speed, and movement speed were all flawless.
Is her chakra amount and stamina on the low side? That's right. From her age, body type, and chakra perception, the cat-faced girl was not the type with a large amount of chakra. Kakuzu did have the impression that after using that sword-drawing slash, Haruno Sakura had already started to pant slightly.
She was Tsunade's disciple and possessed the Yin Seal, which could store chakra, so it was not easy to estimate how much she had left. But from these few clashes, it should be that she didn't have much left...
However, dragging it out also had a problem. Konoha's ninja would probably arrive here soon. He didn't know how many of them there were. If the fight dragged on, it would probably be troublesome!
BOOM—!
While Kakuzu was thinking, Sakura had gradually sensed his position.
"Nin-taijutsu: Star Cannon Hammer!"
The girl's fist slammed into the ground. The mountain-like force of her nin-taijutsu instantly smashed the entire patch of land to pieces. Large chunks of earth were instantly flipped up, splashing and scattering, blooming and dancing like cherry blossoms!
If it had been the original Haruno Sakura, this move should have been called "Cherry Blossom Clash."
Kakuzu knew that the nin-taijutsu she was using was the Monstrous Strength passed down from Tsunade. One punch carried the force of ten thousand pounds, immense and unstoppable. Even hiding underground was dangerous. Without a second thought, he shot forward, dodging this roughly-aimed blow.
BOOM, BOOM—!
Chasing the tail of the black tentacles, Sakura's two consecutive heavy punches blasted two more large pits in the ground, but Kakuzu's skillful Earth Style allowed him to dodge repeatedly.
"My long-range sensory ability isn't precise enough..." the girl bit her lower lip and thought to herself. Although her perception was sensitive, its range was very small. At a slightly further distance, it wasn't very accurate, because she simply couldn't pinpoint the slippery, loach-like Kakuzu.
Her breathing gradually became rapid. The hair at her temples was soaked with sweat, sticking to her cheeks. Her nostrils flared slightly, and her chest heaved up and down.
She stopped this meaningless game of whack-a-mole, rested slightly, and calmed her rapid breathing.
As Kakuzu had expected, her chakra had also been consumed quite a bit. If she continued to fight like this, it would just be a waste of stamina.
However, the time Kakuzu could hold his breath in the earth had also mostly passed.
The black tentacles suddenly emerged from the ground. A flash of lightning went through Sakura's mind, and she reacted. At the same time as the thought arose, her hands had already made a move—
"Ice Style: Swallow Snowstorm!"
Two ice shuriken, radiating a chilling air, appeared out of thin air with the completion of the ninjutsu. The girl's slender hands waved, and the shuriken shot out at high speed, turning into two points of cold stars like a storm, shooting towards Kakuzu's tentacles.
Thud, thud!
In the blink of an eye, the ice shuriken had pierced straight into the mass of tentacles, cutting the tangled mess of black tentacles into countless severed threads.
It actually worked...!
The success of the ninjutsu actually startled Sakura. She instantly realized that that mass of tentacles was just a feint from Kakuzu!
And Kakuzu's real body had taken this opportunity to appear behind Sakura—
"Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"
—Instantly using the ninjutsu with the fastest activation speed!
Haruno Sakura didn't even turn her head. After the Swallow Snowstorm had missed, she had already keenly sensed the strange movement of chakra behind her. The casting speed of the Flame Bullet was astonishingly fast. She didn't even have a gap to turn her head. If not for the Frost Armor on her body, the scorching heat of the Flame Bullet would have probably already burned her back!
Smelling a wisp of her flying hair being scorched by the fire jutsu, Sakura's hands had already completed the hand seals.
"Ice Style: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
Using the ice shuriken she had just launched as a coordinate, the girl's figure flashed and disappeared from the spot.
The long-planned fire jutsu had failed, only hitting an afterimage. Kakuzu was not disappointed. On the contrary, Sakura's reaction so far had been within his expectations!
"So it's that Ice Body Flicker?" Kakuzu revealed a knowing smile. The masked tentacle monster on his shoulder, in that instant, had completed its ninjutsu!
At the same time as the girl appeared on top of the ice shuriken, the Earth Style ninjutsu cast one after another by the masked monster also suddenly rose up from the ground where the shuriken had been embedded—
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"
RUMBLE!
Amidst the low sound of breaking earth, two rapidly rising hard rock pillars brutally smashed the two ice shuriken on the ground and shot straight up at Haruno Sakura's feet.
The tips of the hard rock pillars were sharp, jagged rock blades. The moment they broke the ice shuriken, they pierced through the shoes on Haruno Sakura's feet.
Faced with the continuous, unending chain of attacks, the girl's face remained unchanged. Her reaction, with her Sakura Rush state activated, was beyond Kakuzu's imagination. Even though the enemy's ninjutsu came one after another, leaving almost no gap, the time it took for the Earth Flow Spears to rise up and break the shuriken was still consumed.
That was enough.
The expression under the cat-faced girl's mask was calm and composed. Her pair of tranquil eyes just rippled slightly, then instantly returned to calm.
She made no further movements, just maintained the hand seal posture. Chakra instantly circulated, rushing to the skin of her feet, wrapping around her slender feet, shedding the pierced sandals, and transforming into the crystal ice shoes of her new Frost Armor.
The ice nature transformation was brought to its extreme. The temperature was close to one or two hundred degrees below zero. The Mohs hardness of the ice had already reached the level of 8, and after being strengthened by the Ice Style chakra, it could even break through Mohs hardness 9, reaching a level comparable to diamond!
The hard granite rock pillars collided with the even harder transparent sandals, making a sharp clashing sound. The latter was completely unharmed, not even a scratch appeared.
Haruno Sakura pushed off with her feet and took the opportunity to stand on top of the rock pillars.
She looked up. What was coming at her was Kakuzu's third, consecutive Wind Style ninjutsu.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!