Chapter 259: The New Puppet
In the pitch-black fog, Haruno Sakura could only rely on her memory and chakra sense to swing her fist forward.
BOOM—
She did indeed hit something extremely hard and thick. It seemed to be some kind of outer shell. The power of the Star Cannon Hammer pierced through it, and then she hit empty air.
"Cough, cough," the black sand scattered in the air was as choking as dust. Sakura coughed twice and pulled her hand back. "What did I hit?"
Her expression changed, and she looked up to her upper right.
And then, a fierce wind came from there.
Sakura looked intently. In the hazy mist of black sand and dust, a huge, indistinct black shadow loomed over her head and pressed down on her like Mount Tai.
Ice slag and crushed stones flew, and thick smoke rolled. The black shadow unceremoniously smashed through the thick ice layer and also hit Haruno Sakura's... afterimage.
The moment she had sensed the strange movement, Sakura had already used her Body Flicker to leave that spot, appearing on the ground not far away.
"What did he do?" Haruno Sakura emerged from an ice mirror, looking in Sasori's direction with confusion, some guesses forming in her heart.
He probably summoned another puppet.
Sakura thought. Dust and black sand flew in the air, blocking the vision of both sides. In the haze, she could not see Sasori or the Kazekage puppet, only an extremely huge shadow.
She couldn't see clearly what it was, but just its size was already terrifying enough.
Sakura's mind raced, thinking of how to deal with the new enemy. Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, but they could all be summed up in one sentence:
Whatever that is... I have to find a way to take a shot at it first!
Such a large body is just a living target for me. What's more, with the black fog obscuring his vision, Sasori doesn't know that I'm preparing this ninjutsu.
Someone, bring me my Italian... pfft, I mean, my Wind Blade Raging Stream!
The thought had just arisen in her mind, and the hand seals were already complete.
"Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream!"
SWISH—!
The silver water line lit up, cut across the black-fog-shrouded clearing, and slashed horizontally at the black shadow, whose outline was not even clear.
SWISH! The first slash cut through, and then the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground was vaguely heard from the opposite side. The girl's slender fingers turned in a circle, and the water line traced a graceful arc in space. Just as she was preparing to make a second slash, a rumbling sound came.
The black shadow had already disappeared.
"This is big trouble..." the girl bit her lower lip and said, a little annoyed. "It can actually burrow into the ground. It ran underground."
For such a huge object to burrow into the earth, the commotion it created, even with intentional suppression, was astonishingly loud. Even from so far away, Sakura could feel the vibration from the ice layer under her feet.
This way... I can't hit it.
However, by the same token, the opponent's body was too large. It was impossible for it to move in the earth without a sound. In that case, she also had no fear of Sasori launching a surprise attack from underground.
Sakura let out a breath.
She glanced at her right hand, which was covered in black sand. It was a dark patch, both ugly and obstructive. Sakura was just about to wash it off with Water Style, but she found that the scattered black sand on her hand was swishing and flying into the sky.
Following the path it was drifting, she saw the fine powder of the black mist in the air constantly squirming and contracting. In a short while, it had once again gathered into a huge iron block. The air had returned to being clean and clear.
And so, the scene opposite her also became clear.
Haruno Sakura finally saw what she had done just now.
Sasori had the Kazekage puppet draped over his body, and his feet were stepping on a dark brown, shiny, giant pincer. It was several dozen meters long, and on it was a gap that she had broken just now. The flat and smooth cross-section showed that it was precisely the part that had been cut off by her water blade jutsu.
The newly summoned puppet should have been made from some kind of giant,-shelled scorpion... In the depths of the Land of Wind's desert, the so-called savage lands, it was not strange for a giant scorpion of this size to exist. But just from the size of its pincer, the giant scorpion's body, including its tail hook, was at least two hundred meters long!
There was also a thick, mountain-like black iron block in front of Sasori, guarding against Sakura's Wind Blade Raging Stream.
Haruno Sakura actually really wanted to try and see what would happen if she used this ninjutsu of hers to cut a tens-of-meters-thick iron wall... Theoretically, as long as she continuously injected chakra, increased the intensity of the water pressure, and further enhanced the nature transformations of water and wind, a defense of this level could also be cut open like tofu.
She raised her hand and slowly extended her index finger. Sasori's eyes moved slightly. As if facing a great enemy, he stared intently at the girl's straightly extended index finger. His fingers moved repeatedly, controlling the iron wall to firmly block the vital points of his chest.
The girl blinked, and the corner of her mouth curled up, revealing a faint smile.
Her pair of clean eyes seemed to be speaking as they roamed.
"Want a shot?"
Hn, her eyes... that's what they mean, right?
Sasori's indifferent gaze was as calm as an ancient well. His gaze met Sakura's, his face expressionless.
"Come on, hit me head-on!"
Sakura felt that that was probably what he meant... uh, it should be right!
"Are you not going to use that move to attack?" Sasori asked, after waiting for a while and seeing that she was just striking a pose but not attacking.
He hated waiting the most.
"Forget it. I won't use this move," the girl smiled and curled her index finger back.
No, it wasn't that she was deliberately toying with her opponent... She had just thought about it for a moment and had decided not to rashly use the Wind Blade Raging Stream to face the enemy's prepared defense head-on. Although Sakura was confident that she could easily cut open Sasori's defense, that would mean that she would have to push the power of the Wind Blade Raging Stream to an extremely high level.
A waste of chakra.
She clearly had a better way to deal with the enemy!
Sakura lowered her eyelids, faintly scanned her surroundings, and then returned to the iron wall in front of Sasori. "No wonder you value that Kazekage puppet so much."
Her voice was faint. At such a great distance, an ordinary person couldn't possibly hear the girl's voice. But for a ninja with sharp ears, especially ninja of their level, this was not a problem at all.
"That ninjutsu of yours, its cutting power is too strong... in order to guard against that ninjutsu of yours," the corner of Sasori's mouth curled up. A pretty smile, one couldn't tell at all that this person was a ruthless character with blood on his hands. "The Third Kazekage's Magnet Style is necessary."
The two of them, in unspoken agreement, glanced at the giant pincer that had been cut off by Sakura.
"You're very confident," Sakura said, looking up.
Her gaze became cold. "Are you that sure that Magnet Style can block this move of mine?"
"If you don't believe me..." Sasori's smile faded. "...you can just try."
His face gradually darkened.
Haruno Sakura was silent. She kept her mouth shut. Sasori's faint provocation was meaningless to the icy-calm Sakura. She would not be angered by this, nor would she launch a strong attack on the Magnet Style's defensive system just to prove herself. And even if she could cut it, Sasori probably had a backup plan. In the black mist, what he had done was unknown.
With the help of Ice Style, she could always maintain a rational state of mind. All her negative emotions were suppressed deep in her heart. Her heart's lake seemed to have been frozen, as hard as ice, without a ripple, not surprised, not angry, not anxious, not impatient, not shy, not embarrassed.
Haruno Sakura was now gradually realizing that perhaps this was the biggest improvement that Ice Style had brought to her combat power.
The two of them calmly faced each other for a moment.
Both were looking for a good opportunity to start the battle; both were also silently recalling the battle just now, analyzing the opponent's intelligence.
Sasori of the Red Sand's abilities...
The first was the Kazekage puppet's Magnet Style. He could use the black sand to create iron walls and iron shields, which could defend against the Monstrous Strength Technique and the Wind Blade Raging Stream to a certain extent.
The Monstrous Strength Technique could pierce through an iron plate dozens of centimeters thick. An iron wall several meters thick might not be impossible to shatter, but if it were an iron mountain dozens of meters thick... the power of nin-taijutsu would probably only be able to send it flying, not shatter it.
The Wind Blade Raging Stream, on the other hand, could shoot through an iron wall of this thickness, but in that case, the amount of chakra consumed would be very large, and the effect would not be great—this was a battle, not a pissing contest!
There was no need to be so fixated on the Kazekage puppet's Magnet Style defense.
That puppet was already on the verge of being scrapped. The power of its jutsu had greatly decreased, and the Magnet Style could only be used for a barely-passable defense...
Sakura's eyes swept over the surrounding ground, and the prototype of a tactic had already formed in her mind.
This would require... Phase Three of the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
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