Chapter 503: Before the Storm
"You lost, Killer B!"
Haruno Sakura stood on the ground, looked at the Jinchuriki in mid-air, and smiled mockingly.
Smile aside, the girl's hands were unambiguous. Coldness burst from her palms, condensing into ice crystals, combining the two butterfly short swords into one big sword!
A giant ice sword, with a blade wider than the girl's body, condensed from Haruno Sakura's hand.
"You take my sword too!"
She shouted loudly, dragging the ice sword, about to leap high and slash at Killer B who had nowhere to dodge in the air!
"Stop!"
Just then, a loud shout suddenly came from the sideline!
Accompanied by this shout, a figure rushed into the arena where the two were dueling with lightning speed.
A heavy arm guard blocked the ice sword in Haruno Sakura's hand, while the other large palm pressed on Killer B's head.
The newcomer had thick eyebrows and a white beard, burly and robust. It was the Fourth Raikage A.
"The sparring stops here!" A glared at Killer B, who still wanted more, and scolded in a deep voice, "Still not putting away your Tailed Beast transformation, B?"
Haruno Sakura also noticed the changes in Killer B—several giant tentacles thicker than the girl's height suddenly stretched out behind the Jinchuriki!
To dodge Haruno Sakura's attack, he actually entered a half-Tailed Beast state.
"Using this move in sparring, are you out of your mind?! Bastard!" The Fourth Raikage knocked Killer B's head hard, saying angrily.
As a perfect Jinchuriki, Killer B could maintain his self-consciousness to transform into the Eight-Tails form. In that form, every move of his would become extremely destructive; the Raikage was really worried that he would get too excited fighting and evaporate the Konoha envoy with a Tailed Beast Ball, or blast a Tailed Beast Cannon into his own village...
The Jinchuriki laughed dryly and retracted the octopus tentacles behind him into his body: "Just half-Tailed Beast transformation~ I know my limits~"
Started rapping again...
Rarely was he serious for a while during the battle just now. Haruno Sakura put away the ice sword, looking speechlessly at Killer B shaking again, secretly rolling her eyes at him in her heart.
Noticing Haruno Sakura's gaze, Killer B turned his head.
"You use Body Flicker~ I have Tailed Beast~ This match counts as a draw~" He chuckled, feeling that the rap he just did was quite rhyming, hurriedly took out a notebook and wrote it down.
Haruno Sakura smiled faintly: "I used the Body Flicker Technique first... actually I lost."
In terms of swordsmanship alone, she indeed couldn't compare to the weapon-specialized Killer B, there was nothing to deny about this.
The reason she used Ice Body Flicker to reverse the battle situation was just driven by Haruno Sakura's strong competitiveness.
—After all, it wasn't said that this sparring was limited to swordsmanship competition, right?
Of course, she had Ice Body Flicker, and the Jinchuriki also had Tailed Beast transformation. Ninja of Haruno Sakura and Killer B's level, even in mid-air with nowhere to leverage, each had means to deal with enemy attacks.
Continuing to fight would be endlessly stacking their trump cards. Haruno Sakura using Water Release, Ice Release, Water Blade Technique, and even Sage Mode, Killer B using Lariat, entering complete Eight-Tails form, using Tailed Beast Ball...
To decide a winner, they would have to fight until the sky and earth changed colors, rivers changed course, mountains collapsed... until one side was completely down!
There was no need for a small sparring match to turn into a life-and-death struggle like this.
Even if the Raikage didn't intervene, Haruno Sakura would probably stop after probing some intelligence.
"Winning or losing doesn't matter~ Just fighting happily is good~ Konoha envoy, make friends?"
Killer B didn't dwell on winning or losing, readily skipped this part, walked over, and extended his fist to the girl.
"Eh?"
Haruno Sakura was stunned. What... etiquette is this?
"Fist bump." Sai saw Sakura's doubt, leaned over, and whispered in her ear to explain, "A very formal etiquette for Cloud Ninja to express recognition."
"You know quite a lot?" The girl tilted her head and said softly.
"Read it in Root's data before."
Sai said and stepped back.
Haruno Sakura blinked, no longer hesitated, and extended her right hand too.
Fists bumped.
"Konoha Ninja, Haruno Sakura. Please advise." The girl smiled brightly and withdrew her arm.
"Killer B." The man smiled slightly on his rough face and said, "You are very good, I can feel it!"
"Except for the fact that your singing is always out of tune." Thinking for a moment, he added seriously.
"Ruined a good song."
The smile on Haruno Sakura's face froze instantly.
Living two lifetimes, she had no music cells—and Jay Chou's songs were inherently hard to sing with the original flavor.
"Who would be as free as you to study singing every day!" She raised her thin eyebrows and said indignantly.
"Hehe, don't mind this."
Killer B waved his hand and said seriously: "Your eyes are very clear! Not like many people who have prejudice against Jinchuriki..."
This was very rare.
The situation of Jinchuriki was the same in every village. After becoming a Jinchuriki, while gaining power, Killer B also suffered countless eye rolls and discrimination in the village, so he knew how important Haruno Sakura's attitude was to Jinchuriki.
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is your teammate, right?" He asked.
Haruno Sakura nodded: "Yes... to be exact, he is my companion."
"Companion?" Killer B's mouth curled up, "Well done!"
This small sparring match finally stopped in time, making the spectating Cloud Ninja and Konoha envoys secretly sigh in relief.
But for another group of people hiding further away and more concealed, this was not good news.
"The chakra of the two has calmed down." White Zetsu poked his head out of the dirt again and said to Obito, "They should have stopped fighting."
"It seems it was indeed just a sparring match..."
Obito said coldly, not very disappointed with this result.
Unlike White Zetsu, who thought Konoha and Cloud Ninja had a conflict and there was an opportunity to exploit when sensing signs of their chakra colliding; Obito knew very well from the beginning that Konoha people wouldn't be stupid enough to try to kill their Jinchuriki at Cloud Ninja's doorstep.
"However, this won't affect anything." He stood up and said slowly, "My plan originally didn't rely on such accidents to complete."
"When the talks just begin, it is when Konoha and Cloud Ninja are most vigilant..."
Obito hid himself under the mask, slowly pacing in this gloomy small base.
While explaining to White Zetsu.
"During this time, whatever we plan to do, it's easy for them to see through."
Walking a few steps, he paused, turned his head to look at White Zetsu: "Don't forget, a few days ago when you monitored the Konoha delegation, the scene where that girl entered Sage Mode, pulled you out and killed you one by one..."
Recalling that scene, White Zetsu's face turned gloomy.
"Sage Mode... since that Haruno Sakura mastered this technique, it won't be easy to deal with." White Zetsu thought for a moment, smacked his lips and said, "Even you might not win against her steadily, right? Obito?"
"So I said, if you had listened to my advice before and called Pain over, it wouldn't be so troublesome now!"
"You just wouldn't listen."
White Zetsu chattered on.
"Shut up!"
Obito's face turned cold, his scarlet Sharingan carrying a chilling killing intent, glancing at White Zetsu.
"My plan can be completed without that person getting in the way... When the Tailed Beasts collection is complete, Pain's power will also be the time to return to my hands!"
"As for now, we still need to wait... wait for the time when Konoha and Cloud Ninja think they have felt each other's sincerity and lower their guard..."
Obito narrowed his eyes, looking distantly into the nihilistic dark front.
"About that technique... I'm already prepared."
He said, subconsciously touching his eye socket.
Later the same day, when the setting sun was about to fall, in Konoha thousands of miles away.
On a training ground near the Forest of Death.
A purple giant swung its sword fiercely, accurately slashing the two attacking water dragons into countless splashes.
"Huff, huff!"
Under the giant, a black-haired boy rested his hands on his knees, panting heavily, his face pale.
"Alright, Sasuke, let's stop here for today! If you continue to practice, your vision will be affected." Standing opposite the training ground, the white-haired ninja who spewed water dragons from his mouth looked up at the sky and said, "It seems you have basically grasped the Susanoo technique."
Sasuke stood up straight and slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
The purple giant behind him trembled and slowly disappeared into the air.
He rubbed his slightly sore eyes, shook his head and said: "Still far from it, Kakashi-sensei! According to records, the most powerful Susanoo has legs and two wings, stands upright between heaven and earth, with infinite power... and my Susanoo doesn't even have legs yet."
"Even Sakura's Susanoo is much stronger than mine."
Kakashi walked straight over, squinting his eyes and smiling: "Why compare yourself with Sakura... She's not as useless as me, your teacher, who hasn't adapted to the power of the Sharingan in over a decade. Sakura, even without the body of your Uchiha clan, can fully exert the power of the Mangekyo relying on her superb Yin Release ability."
"But then again, your Mangekyo Sharingan has been awakened for less than a month, and having mastered it to this extent is already quite good!"
Sasuke shrugged noncommittally and found a clean place to sit down.
His gaze looked quietly into the distance.
"Speaking of Sakura..." He sat on the wooden stump, propped his cheek with his left hand, looked back at Kakashi, and asked, "She... has been gone for a week, should have arrived at Cloud Ninja Village by now, right?"
The last afterglow of the setting sun printed on Sasuke's face, rendering the boy's handsome side profile into a brilliant gold.
Kakashi stepped forward.
"If fast, she is already on the return journey now." He rubbed his chin, calculated for a bit, and said slowly, "If slow, even at the slowest, she should have arrived at Cloud Ninja Village today."
"So at the latest, she should return to the village next week."
Saying that, Kakashi turned his head, looked at Sasuke and smiled: "What? Are you worried about her?"
"Hn." The boy nodded and explained, "It's said that after they left the village, they found Akatsuki's spies monitoring them."
"I'm worried if Akatsuki people will set up some conspiracy or trap there..."
Kakashi suddenly smiled, patted Sasuke's shoulder: "Don't worry, Cloud Ninja Village is a big village no less than Konoha Village... Akatsuki wouldn't dare to act rashly there!"
"Also, you have to believe in Sakura..."
Sasuke pondered for a moment.
"Let's go, time to go back and have dinner!"
After dinner, Sasuke rubbed his belly, said goodbye to Kakashi, and returned home alone.
"I'm back!"
The deserted living room echoed with Sasuke's words, the unanswered room further highlighting the boy's loneliness.
But different from usual, these past few days, it seemed something else had been added to this home.
Sasuke took off his ninja shoes, walked into the hall, and headed straight for the corner.
There stood a sealing scroll.
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