Chapter 253: A Feint-Based Tactic
Sakura suddenly raised her right hand, pointing at Sasori of the Red Sand.
SWISH—!
A silver-white, slender water line shot out from the girl's fingertip, piercing the air with a sharp whistle. It crossed the distance of several dozen meters in an instant and struck Sasori's neck.
Her pale, slender fingers swayed, and she easily cut off Sasori's head!
Plop.
It fell to the ground, rolled a few times, and then stopped. A pair of dull eyes stared blankly at the sky.
Is he dead? Haruno Sakura stopped the ninjutsu, but her slightly furrowed brows did not relax.
Her sneak attack had worked. The Wind Blade Raging Stream had indeed hit Sasori's main body, but... his chakra showed no fluctuations of being seriously injured at all.
It remained stable, as vast as the sea.
Looking at his body again.
A person who had been beheaded, the blood from their carotid artery, due to the extremely high blood pressure, would, in the instant the blood vessel was cut, spurt several meters high! In that instant, the blood would gush out like a fountain, blooming into dark red flowers in the air...
But the place where Sasori had been cut by the water blade was clean, without a single trace of blood.
In any case, it did not look like the condition of a person who had been beheaded.
She stared intently at Sasori's head, which had fallen to the ground.
Right under Sakura's eyelids, a sudden change occurred—Sasori's severed head actually flew up into the air and returned to his neck!
The girl watched all of this, dumbfounded: she saw Sasori reach up and straighten his head. His neck swayed a few times, and then a faint sound of mechanisms turning was heard. After a click, he was like an unharmed person, his eyes beginning to move again!
Uh... what is this?
Haruno Sakura blinked. What word would be more appropriate to describe her mood?
Hn... in her previous life, there was a saying "WTF," and her current feeling was just like she had really done that!
The Wind Blade Raging Stream was her trump card ninjutsu, but in her recent high-level battles, every time she had used it, it had not had any good effect!
So, last time, the reason she hadn't killed Kakuzu was because his main body was tentacles. Then what about this time...
He can be fine even after his head falls off. Could it be that his main body is also a puppet?
These people's secret techniques are truly endless, each one more tenacious about life than the last.
It seems that next time I fight these Kage-level enemies, I can't use the Wind Blade Raging Stream as an opening move. I have to confirm if the opponent is the real body first. Otherwise, it's easy to waste a trump card ninjutsu, turning it into just a probing jutsu!
Her face darkened.
Then, before I've figured out the enemy's bottom line, it seems I have to temporarily change my tactics... not to force a strong attack, but to adopt a combat style of striking second.
This guy has too many secret techniques. I'll play with him first, probe for information, and then use a killing move, Sakura thought, looking at the restored Sasori.
Opposite her, Sasori, having reattached his head, praised her nonchalantly, "What a brilliant ninjutsu and battle plan! It seems you're not just skilled in taijutsu; your ninjutsu is indeed very formidable..."
"You're not bad yourself, being able to put your head back on after it falls off!" the girl said indifferently. "Could it be that this is also your puppet?"
"Who knows. Maybe, maybe not," Sasori said, a cold smile on his exquisite face, answering her question with her own words.
His gaze swept over the scattered pieces of Hiruko on the ground. Under his calm, pretty face, his mind was racing, calmly analyzing.
That punch from Haruno Sakura just now, Hiruko had been shattered, but it wasn't just because Sakura's strength was great!
The extremely high speed that the girl had suddenly erupted with, and the reaction speed she had shown in the face of the poison needles in battle, were factors more worthy of attention than her monstrous strength.
And she had also mastered Ice Style and some strange Water Style. That ice shield just now looked to be only a thin layer, but it had completely blocked the poison needles shot out by Hiruko! As for that strange water jutsu, if she had been aiming for his heart just now, instead of his head... the battle might have ended long ago.
He appeared calm on the surface, but his heart had already raised its guard.
If the person standing in front of him now was Tsunade, Sasori was absolutely confident that he could defeat her and break the iron law that a puppet master could not fight Tsunade head-on! It could even be said that this Kazekage puppet in his hands had been created precisely to deal with Tsunade.
But if the opponent was Haruno Sakura—
"You are indeed a very troublesome opponent..."
"In that case, it seems I'll have to use some of my true skills..." Sasori's words became colder and colder. A vast killing intent, completely inconsistent with his beautiful and delicate face, gradually permeated the air. The thick killing intent seemed to bring with it a smell of rust that the wind could not disperse.
He bent his waist, lowered his body, and the human puppet of the Third Kazekage in front of him released a large amount of black iron sand, which floated in the air.
He was ready for battle.
Having said this, the two of them said no more, just silently looking at each other for two seconds.
A great battle was on the verge of breaking out.
The river breeze blew quietly, lifting the corners of their clothes, making the atmosphere even more desolate.
Their killing intents collided in the air. One was as cold as frost, the other as thick as blood. A silent contest began in the air between them. It was as if it were tangible, stirring up a gentle breeze that rolled up the sand and dust on the ground, which swirled and fell between them.
Sakura stared intently at the Kazekage puppet in front of Sasori. The black iron sand floating around it made her extremely vigilant. Her hands were already ready to form hand seals.
Suddenly, Sasori's fingers moved. The chakra of the Kazekage puppet suddenly surged, instantly gathering the iron sand in the air into countless fine iron spikes, which turned into a series of black lights and shot out!
"Secret Technique: Iron Sand Drizzle!"
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH—!
The iron spikes cut through the air, emitting a sharp and piercing whistle as they shot towards Haruno Sakura at high speed, like bullets from a chamber.
Using the repulsive force generated by the Magnet Style, the iron spikes were fired extremely quickly. They shot towards Haruno Sakura at a super-high speed that was difficult for the normal person to see. In almost the blink of an eye, they had already rushed in front of her!
Sakura's eyes widened slightly. She was a little surprised. This was the first time she had encountered such a Magnet Style Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu.
This one ninjutsu had a surging presence. Just by listening to the sound, she could tell that its power was extremely strong!
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
The moment she saw the iron sand being fired, Sakura's hands had already completed the hand seals—her super-high Water Style attainments had allowed her to cast this ninjutsu with just a single seal.
The environment, with a large amount of flowing water nearby, made it even more effortless for Sakura to cast Water Style, bringing out the power of the jutsu to its extreme.
Thud, thud, thud—
A water wall, several meters thick, instantly stood in front of Sakura. The surging waves cut off the line of sight between the two.
The iron spikes inserted into the Water Formation Wall, making a dull sound and stirring up countless air bubbles. The thick water wall quickly exhausted the kinetic energy of the incoming iron spikes, causing them to sink to the bottom of the water one after another.
Sasori's eyebrows rose slightly. To be able to block even a Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu, this one-handed Water Style is quite stunning! But if you block the front, how will you defend against an attack from the side?
His fingers moved slightly, and a hidden hand that he had been hiding for a long time was suddenly activated.
SWISH— Not far from Sakura's feet, a relatively intact fragment of Hiruko, which she had just smashed to pieces, suddenly leaped up!
It was the mechanism cannon on Hiruko's left arm.
Inside the cannon were dozens of cylinders filled with poison needles. Once the mechanism was triggered, it could shoot out the cylinders, firing countless poison needles in all directions!
Sasori had, without her noticing, connected to that part with a chakra thread and had regained control of its mechanism.
"Hiruko Prosthetic Arm: Senbon!"
The mechanism cannon leaped up under the control of the chakra threads, and then, at a position extremely close to Sakura...
It exploded with a roar!
The poison needles instantly covered the area in front of Sakura!
The Iron Sand Drizzle from the front was just a feint to attract her attention. The real killing move was the foreshadowing he had laid down when Hiruko had been shattered!
But Sakura's expression was as calm as if Mount Tai were collapsing before her.
Her fingers swayed slightly, and the already-formed Water Formation Wall ninjutsu drastically changed its form, instantly extending to her left side and blocking the poison needles.
Sakura's Water Style was not just about fast casting speed...
Even a ninjutsu that had already been cast and formed outside her body could have its shape changed at will. This was the true strength of a great Water Style master.
This was the true flair of the genius ninjutsu girl!
"Amazing..." Sasori muttered to himself.
His consecutive attacks had been blocked by her Water Style. Sasori's expression changed, and he was slightly surprised in his heart. A ripple was stirred in his heart, which had been as calm as an ancient well.
It was just that Sasori's attack was clearly not over with just these small tricks.
"A physical attack was blocked. Then what about this one?"
His slender fingers gently moved.
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