Chapter 252: Sasori's True Form
Amidst the roaring sound, the power from Sakura's fist vented through Sasori's body into the earth below. The mountain rocks instantly split apart, and the small hill exploded into a pile of rubble!
With even the earth beneath him shattered, Sasori's body, needless to say, was completely scattered into fragments.
It was just...
"The feeling is wrong." Sakura retracted her fist and silently glanced at Sasori's "corpse" on the ground.
Broken iron pieces and mechanisms from the puppet were scattered on the ground, all over the place.
The only problem was, there was no corpse of Sasori.
She had already felt that something was wrong when she had hit Sasori. That was not the feeling of hitting a body of flesh and blood. Of course, it was also not the feeling of hitting a substitution log or a clone that had been swapped out by a substitution jutsu.
Sure enough, what she had hit was just one of Sasori's puppets. From the beginning, she had not believed that such a direct attack could finish Sasori off.
—Sakura was very self-aware in this regard. She knew that her taijutsu Body Flicker was not considered extremely fast. Even Hidan had only been defeated because of her Ice Body Flicker.
So, what about Sasori?
Just now, she had seen a black shadow flash past out of the corner of her eye. Sakura immediately realized that that was Sasori's real body.
Sakura, in her Sakura Rush state, quickly followed that extremely fast figure with her gaze, watching him stop not far away and reveal his true face.
It was actually a boy with crimson hair, a delicate face, and melancholic eyes.
Sakura was slightly stunned.
Although she didn't have the habit of judging a person by their appearance, and she wouldn't have thought that all the enemies she faced were monsters with ferocious looks...
But... the gloomy and creepy appearance and the rough, dry voice of Sasori just now, compared to this delicate-featured boy, who was even prettier than a girl, the gap was really too big.
"Are you Sasori's real body?" she asked, a little surprised.
Seeing the other party nod, she quickly reacted.
Just now, Sasori should have been hidden inside the puppet she had shattered, controlling this outer shell. The Monstrous Strength Technique had only shattered the puppet that served as a protective shell and had not affected Sasori himself.
The girl bit her lower lip. The attack just now... for a battle of this level, it didn't even count as a warm-up. It was just to give Sasori a show of force and kill his arrogant spirit.
To be able to take out one of Sasori's puppets was an unexpected joy.
After all, a puppet master's puppets are limited! For most puppet masters, having one or two puppets on hand was already pretty good. Even a Jonin-level puppet master, at most, would only have three or five good puppets. Anyone would feel the pinch for half a day if one was smashed.
It was just... counting, Hidan, Kakuzu, and now Sasori of the Red Sand, this was already the third person against whom the Monstrous Strength Technique was ineffective.
The Monstrous Strength Technique, which was always successful when bullying newbies, had failed again and again against the members of the Akatsuki, making her wonder if this jutsu had lost its effect in high-level battles!
Is this jutsu going to follow in the footsteps of the Great Fireball and become the ninjutsu with the lowest success rate?
No... at least it was extremely effective against puppet masters. The power of the Monstrous Strength Technique had already been verified by her—
One punch, one puppet.
If this continued, Sakura really wanted to know, how many puppets did Sasori have for her to smash!
Sasori, who had stopped not far away, gently furrowed his delicate brows.
"Amazing. To shatter my Hiruko with a single punch. This kind of power reminds me of someone..." he said, a little surprised. His voice was no longer the hoarse and low one from when he was hidden in the puppet, but a clear, bright, and crisp one. "What are you to Tsunade? Her disciple?"
"Who knows. Maybe, maybe not," Sakura answered evasively.
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. She looked at the youthful-looking Sasori, a little surprised. He should be in his thirties, right... Why does he still look like a teenager?
Could it be that this is still your puppet, and your real body is still hiding in the dark?
No... a puppet couldn't have such a strong chakra signature. Sakura could feel that Sasori's real body was indeed right there.
Is this another secret technique?
"Tsunade's disciple... Haruno Sakura? So that's how it is." Sasori's expression, from the initial carelessness, finally became a little grave.
He quickly remembered that in a recent Akatsuki gathering, the big-mouthed Hidan had talked about their clash with a Konoha ninja.
A girl named Haruno Sakura had been mentioned by both Hidan and Kakuzu... Although it was just a few sentences, and the other members of the Akatsuki had shown no sympathy for Hidan and Kakuzu at all, Sasori still had some impression of the little girl who could beat Kakuzu into such a sorry state.
For a ninja who could exchange blows with Kakuzu, it was very normal to be full of confidence.
Although from the outside, the other party was just a soft and weak little girl, her slender figure and the deeply hidden chakra texture were indeed extremely deceptive.
However, she should be a ninjutsu-type ninja, right? From Kakuzu's few words, it could be deduced...
But why is her taijutsu so strong?
"Ordinary puppets are meaningless in front of the Monstrous Strength Technique. To rush forward rashly would be to be easily smashed to pieces by that force. When I was young, the Puppet Brigade had once issued an order that was like an iron law: when a puppet master encounters Tsunade, who has mastered the Monstrous Strength Technique, they must retreat three she," Sasori said leisurely. "It seems you have inherited Tsunade's Monstrous Strength... No wonder you are so confident in fighting me."
As he spoke, he took out a scroll from his pocket. "At this rate, no matter how many puppets I have, it won't be enough for you to smash."
"On the premise... that you can hit them."
A new puppet was summoned from the scroll in Sasori's hand.
Strangely, Sakura could actually feel a strong chakra signature from the puppet...
A puppet also has chakra? And the amount is so large!
"Let me introduce you. This is my masterpiece, my favorite collection..."
Satisfied with the surprised expression on the girl's face, Sasori chuckled lightly.
"...A puppet made from the body of the Third Kazekage."
After understanding the nature of the puppet in front of her, the expression on Sakura's face turned gloomy.
"A puppet made from a living person, is that why it retains the chakra it had in life?" She finally knew that the disgusting thing Sasori had said about turning her into a collection was not to scare her, but something he had already done!
"That's right. This is my human puppet," Sasori said with a faint smile on his delicate face.
A pure and clean smile, as if he were just a little boy showing off his toy.
Perhaps, in his eyes, the Kazekage puppet was just an exquisite toy.
But the words that came out of Sasori's mouth were the complete opposite of the bright and moving smile on his face, they were evil.
"First, take out the internal organs, peel off the skin and wash the blood clean. After a series of treatments, install the mechanisms, and the human puppet is complete. However, a girl like you should receive preferential treatment... It would be too much of a pity to just peel off that flawless skin. I must use a special technique to preserve that pretty face of yours!"
Even in her combat state, Sakura, whose negative emotions were suppressed under the influence of the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, felt a wave of nausea at this moment.
Her calm, frozen lake of a heart rippled.
Her thin lips parted slightly, and as they touched, the girl said softly.
"You're disgusting."
"No, you don't understand... This is art."
"Eternity is beauty," he said, staring intently into the girl's eyes.
The gaze in those light green eyes that were staring back at him became colder and colder, and the killing intent condensed, becoming more and more sharp.
It was just that, what Sasori didn't notice was that in a place her gaze couldn't reach, Sakura's left hand, hidden by her side, was quietly forming hand seals.
She stood proudly on the pile of rubble. A spring breeze swept over from the river, playfully lifting her clothes, fluttering the corners of her shirt, caressing her skin, brushing past the faint lines of her abs at her waist, rustling loudly.
"These demonic words," Haruno Sakura said coldly, "you can save them for your cellmates in hell!"
Her fluttering clothes flew up, losing their concealing effect, revealing the curve of her waist, and also exposing the movement of Sakura's hand.
She was forming hand seals with one hand.
Sasori was suddenly startled, realizing that Sakura had taken the opportunity to secretly form hand seals while they were talking!
However, this discovery was already too late.
"Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream!"
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