Sakura Haruno's Trump Card!
"The Dance of the Early Bracken!"
Kimimaro's final, poignant song resounded across the land!
The bone that pierced through his body suddenly grew into a bone flower with a radius of more than ten meters in just one second. From a distance, it looked like a white dandelion that had fallen to the ground.
The densely packed bone spikes intertwined and extended, the white bone spheres completely filling the space of more than ten meters, leaving no gaps for the ninja to hide in.
"Without your Ice Body Flicker Technique Movement, you can't dodge this attack... Let's perish together!"
This was Kimimaro's last thought.
The moment he unleashed this attack, the fearsome ninja was already dead.
Pale, soft flesh transformed into ghastly, hard bones—this ninja burned everything to ashes, leaving not even a corpse behind.
Therefore, Kimimaro did not see that his final move did not hit the enemy.
The solitary, bony dandelion blooming on the earth did not, as she had expected, extinguish Sakura Haruno within it.
Whoosh--
Just as Kimimaro unleashed the Dance of the Early Bracken, Sakura Haruno found the last ice medium and used the Body Flicker Technique—
Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!
The bone blade that shot out from Kimimaro's body only pierced through Sakura Haruno's afterimage.
In the next instant, the figure of the Anbu girl appeared beside Sasuke in Body Flicker Technique!
"What a formidable opponent..." Sakura, who narrowly dodged Kimimaro's attack, was so unsteady upon landing that she almost fell on top of Sasuke.
That's because the Body Flicker Technique was used too hastily, resulting in a severe sense of imbalance after the Body Flicker Technique ended.
I almost fell to the ground in a sorry state.
I pressed my hand lightly against my chest a few times, still feeling a lingering sense of fear.
His final counterattack truly caught Sakura off guard; Kimimaro was able to go to such lengths to ensure that his Dance of the Early Bracken would hit her.
Sakura Haruno lowered her eyelids and let out a soft breath. Kimimaro's decisiveness and ruthlessness had left a deep impression on her, but ultimately, Kimimaro's counter-strategy was superior.
"Unfortunately, you miscalculated. There's another ice block here that can serve as a medium for the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
She was holding a human-shaped block of ice.
--Ice Clone.
Kimimaro's ruthlessness and perseverance need no further explanation; his combat wisdom was also quite astonishing.
During the battle, he quickly discovered that the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals technique required an ice block imbued with her Chakra to exist within Sakura's perception range as a medium.
At that time, Sakura's final move Ice Prison Explosion, used up all the ice to create an explosion, shattering the Dance of the Early Bracken and nearly killing Kimimaro. With the Bone Forest destroyed, Kimimaro lost his ability to teleport on the battlefield.
However, correspondingly, the Ice Release Girl's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals also lost their medium for casting spells, and Sakura could no longer teleport on the battlefield.
Therefore, in the final Taijutsu duel, both fighters had no choice but to face their opponent's deadly attack head-on.
Sakura, who uses Cherry Blossom Impact and Monstrous Strength Technique, is naturally superior to Kimimaro can only use Shikotsumyaku.
Kimimaro knew this too. He knew very well that if it weren't for the battlefield mobility brought by the Bone Forest of Dance of the Early Bracken and the massive amount of Chakra gained from burning his life force, in terms of Taijutsu alone, it would be very simple: he couldn't withstand his opponent's punches and kicks, and his opponent could dodge his attacks—so he could never defeat Sakura Haruno, whose reaction speed was superb and whose Taijutsu power was unstoppable.
Both he Sakura Haruno knew from that blow that he was doomed.
But he was truly amazing... He used his own life as bait to grab Sakura Haruno at close range with his body.
Indeed, if Sakura were to use the Dance of the Early Bracken at that distance, she would most likely be riddled with holes and die from bleeding from all seven orifices if she couldn't leave that area.
Even in a situation of utter defeat, he can seize an opportunity to take everyone down with him.
This was Kimimaro's true final blow, an opportunity bought with his own life.
But he ultimately made a calculation error.
The clone that was taking care of Sasuke off the field was Ice Clone, not Shadow Clone! In essence, it was just an ice block infused with Chakra.
It can also be used as a medium for the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals Body Flicker Technique Movement!
This is Sakura Haruno's trump card; she is insignificant and unremarkable enough...
However, it is possible to turn the tide.
The outcome of this battle was not unexpected, but the process was full of surprises.
After she finished the fight, she recalled that Kimimaro in the manga wasn't this strong... He actually made that "Dance of the Early Bracken" move feel like the Fourth Hokage's Yellow Flash!
"Perhaps it's due to the butterfly effect..." Sakura sighed, struggling to sit down, and muttered to herself, "After all, it's still unknown how much of Kimimaro's full strength he actually displayed in the original story, given his numerous injuries!"
Moreover, that Kimimaro from earlier seemed to have used a Secret Technique similar to the Eight Gates Released Formation.
Those kinds of demonic disintegration techniques, which guarantee death upon activation, often grant the caster a significant boost in power for a short period. She had recently been researching a lot about pressure points with Hinata and Neji, so it was easy for her to connect this forbidden technique to her mind.
"I thought it would be easy to handle..."
Sakura gave a bitter smile.
The Chakra stored in the Yin Seal had been completely used up in this battle. The two massive Frost Ice Burial and Ice Prison Explosion were the biggest consumers of Chakra, and the high-speed battle between the two using Body Flicker Technique consumed a huge amount of her stamina.
Even his own Chakra was almost used up.
At this rate, even if she were to face another Sound Four she could easily defeat, she wouldn't be able to handle it, let alone Orochimaru.
"If another one comes along who's even slightly stronger, I'll have to fight him like Kimimaro did, risking my life..." Sakura Haruno said, her eyes lowered and her heart heavy.
Fortunately... she still couldn't sense Orochimaru's Chakra. Could that guy really not be coming? She increasingly felt that this seemingly absurd deduction might actually come true!
Not only did she expend too much Chakra, but the battle also left her with numerous injuries.
When she was completely focused on fighting, she didn't feel anything was wrong.
After the battle ended, when Sakura sat down on the ground and relaxed, she felt a burning pain all over her body.
In that kind of high-speed combat, it's extremely difficult to avoid injury.
Moreover, this was the first time she had faced such an evenly matched opponent in a life-or-death struggle.
However, these injuries that do not reach the bone still cause pain.
Her most painful experience stemmed from two prolonged, intermittent uses of Cherry Blossom Impact - Stage Two. This Ninjutsu itself was not yet fully developed, so its prolonged activation time made it quite unstable. When she stopped Cherry Blossom Impact, the girl felt waves of unbearable soreness coursing through her nervous system.
Damn it... Cherry Blossom Impact this Secret Technique open for far too long!
However, in a battle like that, without activating Cherry Blossom Impact, the outcome might not have been a painful death, but rather actual murder.
"Her nervous system is already damaged..." The risks of an immature procedure are indeed too great. She'll probably need several days of recuperation after returning home!
Sakura clenched her teeth so tightly that the grinding sound of her teeth could be heard.
With her hand gripping a Kunai on the ground, she squeezed it so hard when the pain struck Kunai she actually managed to deform the steel with her bare hands!
I barely survived two waves of excruciating pain.
The aftershocks were still churning her nerves, Sakura Haruno forced herself to endure the discomfort and began to check on Sasuke's injuries.
The Ice Clone had already bandaged him up, but after he forced himself to get up and used Manipulated Windmill: Triple Blade, the wound that had just been treated reopened.
We need to treat his wound quickly; he's bleeding too much...
She removed the bandages and used her remaining Chakra to perform Medical Ninjutsu on him.
Sasuke was probably woken up by the pain because the action of removing the bandages was too rough.
Did they win?
That was the first thing I asked when I woke up.
The pink-haired girl glared at him with her sharp eyes.
"Idiot, just lie down and don't talk... You were already seriously injured, and you still tried to use that move just now. Are you trying to kill yourself?" she said calmly, the pain deep in her body gradually subsiding.
"I didn't want to either, my body just moved on its own..." the man said weakly, responding to her sharp gaze with a faint smile. "Besides, if I didn't do it, you'd be dead!"
Sakura tightened her grip, and Sasuke groaned in pain again.
(That concludes today's third update. Please recommend, comment, and add more chapters! Update times are 2 PM and 7 PM. If there's an extra chapter, I'll post it at 9 PM.)
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