Chapter 258: A Perilous Close-Quarters Battle
The girl lifted her calf and swept it horizontally towards the Kazekage puppet.
This kick carried a gust of wind, scraping against the skin and causing pain.
It was just that a puppet was not a living person and had no sense of pain. It probably couldn't feel the sharpness of this kick. But from the momentary pause in the Kazekage puppet's movements, Sakura could feel Sasori's surprise.
He had finally witnessed, with his own eyes, that Body Flicker technique Haruno Sakura had used to dodge his fire jutsu.
It was just that, this time, the Ice Body Flicker that Sakura had used in front of him, Sasori still had not seen it clearly—
It's too fast!
He had only noticed Sakura suddenly disappear from his peripheral vision, and in the next moment, she had suddenly appeared behind the puppet and had launched an attack!
A fierce and sharp flying kick, stirring up a whistling wind. Even from such a distance, Sasori could faintly feel his scalp tingle—if his body still had that function. He could clearly feel the power of this kick.
A kick launched with the Monstrous Strength technique, an unstoppable blow!
Sasori's face was grim. His index fingers danced, and the hidden trap he had laid was instantly activated.
He had been on guard against this move long ago...
The opponent seems to have a move that can move quickly. How could Sasori not be prepared for this?
A small amount of black sand had always been hidden on the Kazekage puppet, not participating in the attack. It was precisely for this moment, when Haruno Sakura used her high-speed Body Flicker to forcefully close in on the puppet, that it could block her attack.
The only small flaw was that he had not expected Sakura's Body Flicker to be so fast, and her nin-taijutsu to be so strong! This had caused his little trick to barely have any effect—
The iron sand that had been hidden in the Kazekage puppet quickly floated out, blocking the girl's slender leg.
BOOM—!
The defense formed by the black sand was brutally shattered by Sakura's kick. The hard iron wall that Sasori had been so confident in had instantly turned into a cloud of black sand. The aftershock of the attack slammed into the puppet. With a kick from Sakura's calf, half of the puppet's body was smashed to pieces.
However, this hidden move had, in the end, played its role, buying the Kazekage puppet a little time to dodge, so that it was not shattered to pieces by one kick.
After the kick, Haruno Sakura landed on the ground. The Kazekage puppet was sent flying, tumbling on the ground and plowing several shallow grooves, while scattering a floor full of parts: its left leg, right leg, and an elbow. Fortunately, although it was already tattered and no longer in human form, it had, after all, not been smashed to pieces like Hiruko.
Sasori suddenly pulled the chakra threads on his fingertips, controlling the Kazekage puppet to escape in a sorry state, supporting itself on its one remaining right hand.
"Trying to run?"
The Kazekage puppet's limping appearance looked comical, but under the pull of the high-strength chakra threads, its speed was definitely not slow. In the blink of an eye, it had already run a considerable distance. Sakura's fine eyebrows rose. She let out a cold snort and leaped up.
Using the Monstrous Strength technique to strengthen her leg power, Sakura's running speed was also extremely fast. In a flash, she had rushed behind the puppet.
She raised her fist, and her chakra was precisely circulated and enhanced into her right arm.
"Nin-taijutsu: Star—"
"Huh?" Before her fist had even struck, she heard the sound of a sharp weapon cutting through the air from behind her. This blow was really fast and insidious. Sakura instinctively dodged. Even with her reaction speed, she had only just barely avoided Sasori's sneak attack. A black shadow grazed past her ear, taking a wisp of pink hair with it.
Her pink hair scattered in the air. Haruno Sakura was shocked. A cold sweat of lingering fear trickled down from her forehead to her back, soaking her clothes.
Sasori was equally surprised: She actually dodged this sneak attack from behind!
His meticulously designed sharp blade, its ejection speed was extremely fast, its sharpness extremely high, and its killing power extremely strong. After all, this mechanism occupied the precious position of his torso—the other two positions in his torso were for his heart and the operation hole for his Hundred Puppets—its power could be imagined!
With this delay, the Kazekage puppet had once again gotten far away.
Seeing clearly that what had grazed past her ear was a sharp iron spike tied to a rope, Sakura stopped her steps and subconsciously looked back. It had actually been shot out from Sasori's stomach!
The sight of Sasori opening the mechanism in his body and revealing his true human-puppet form was imprinted in Sakura's clear, light-green eyes. Her mouth fell open, and an astonished expression appeared on her face for the first time.
Although she had already somewhat realized that Sasori's real body was a puppet—the reattachment of his head and the sudden appearance of the iron pipe from his palm were evidence—but to see him so brazenly (meow) unfold the mechanisms on his body, revealing the abdominal cavity that had been hollowed out of its internal organs and the wire within, only then did Haruno Sakura know that beneath Sasori's delicate and pretty face was such a ferocious and terrifying puppet body.
The sharp contrast made this scene full of impact, and Sakura was extremely astonished.
He turned himself into a puppet?
With the help of the power of Ice Style, Sakura, while being astonished, could calmly make her next reaction.
—It was as if one of her was extremely surprised, while another of her was rationally analyzing. This ability to do two things at once was perhaps also related to her special spiritual cores.
Sasori's "saving Zhao by besieging Wei" had been half-successful: Sakura had directly given up on the half-destroyed Kazekage puppet. She shot out her hand and grabbed the rope that had just brushed past her.
"You're courting death..." she said, looking coldly at Sasori's puppet. "You like saving people, do you?!"
She suddenly exerted force in her hand, and with a sharp pull, the rope was pulled taut, pulling Sasori over!
"Last time, that guy Kakuzu's vital point was his heart... What about you?!"
"The rope is at its limit..." Feeling the irresistible pulling force from the rope, Sasori was involuntarily pulled, flying towards the girl. The expression on his always-calm face finally changed color—Sakura's fist was aimed at his heart!
His ten fingers danced madly, controlling everything he could to try and stop the girl's fist.
Broken blades and swords, under the control of his chakra threads, flew and stabbed at Haruno Sakura. However, in his haste, the weak and powerless attacks were blocked by an ice wall that Sakura had conjured up from the ground. They clanged endlessly, but to no avail.
The mechanisms behind him opened, and sharp blades pierced into the ice layer to anchor his body, but he was forcefully dragged away, plowing several deep grooves in the ice layer.
The rope was cut by a sharp blade. Sasori finally stopped his forward momentum, but he and she were already too close. Sakura's eyes narrowed. She stomped her foot, shattering the ice, and her figure nimbly leaped up, her body as swift as a thunderbolt. In an instant, she had rushed in front of Sasori.
"I have to make it...!" Not far away, the Kazekage, lying on the ground, struggling for its last breath, raised its broken arm. A dim chakra light on its chest flickered desperately. The iron sand that had been used in the attack just now madly rushed back to defend, gathering in front of Sasori.
"Magnet Style: Iron Sand Gathering Assault!"
The giant shield, condensed from iron sand, appeared between the two of them in the nick of time, just as Sakura's fist was about to imprint itself on his chest.
The hard iron wall, condensed from black sand, and the fair, delicate, mortal body of flesh and blood once again met head-on.
"Nin-taijutsu: Star Cannon Hammer!"
A blue chakra light lit up on Sakura's body. Following her power-generating motion, it flowed like a stream. The girl took a lunge step, and the power was born from her roots. The blue light also surged up from her heels, all the way to the base of her thighs; she turned her hips and twisted her waist, then lifted her elbow and punched. The blue light then lit up from her waist, flowed to her chest, right shoulder, and along her arm, gathering on the surface of her fist!
A set of standard punching movements, paired with the enhancement of the Monstrous Strength Technique at various force-generation points, the thick and heavy, immense force was condensed into a single point by the girl and gathered on her fist. The power of the Star Cannon Hammer was thus raised by Sakura to an incredible degree!
Hah—!
BOOM—!
The girl's shout was clear and high. The sound of the collision with the iron wall was dull and heavy.
The giant shield was as thick as Sakura's forearm, standing tall, and was completely out of proportion to Sakura's small fist. However, when the two came into contact, it was the thick and heavy iron wall that was smashed to pieces by the immense force of her fist! Haruno Sakura let out a loud shout and, with her incomparable power, directly pierced through the iron sand wall!
The iron wall was smashed to pieces with a roar. The endless iron sand immediately turned into a cloud of dust that filled the sky, flying and scattering, filling the air, and blocking their vision.
The power of the Monstrous Strength Technique was still more than enough after piercing the iron wall. Sakura's forward momentum only paused for a moment, and then she charged forward again.
In the black mist, where she could barely see her hand in front of her face, the girl could only punch at the position where she remembered Sasori to be.
SMACK—!
She heard a crisp, shattering sound.
As if something hard had been pierced.
"...Hn?"
Taking advantage of the blocked vision, Sasori seems to have dodged her attack.
Then... what did I hit? Haruno Sakura had a question.
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