The Battle Gradually Reaches a Fever Pitch (Bonus Chapter for [lundqvist])

Scorpion's eyes narrowed slightly, his long, thick eyelashes touching each other.

His gaze fell on Sakura's right side. Under his control, the Kazekage Shadow Puppet rushed to the girl's side like a shooting star, raising its right hand to reveal the pipe in its palm.

As Sakura blocked the iron spikes and poison needles, the third wave of attacks was already closing in on the girl's side.

Poisonous fumes.

Sizzle—Thick poisonous mist shot out at high speed from the puppet's palm, rapidly spreading across the open ground and soon enveloping Sakura!

Its ghastly green color hinted at its danger. Sakura knew at a glance that it was extremely poisonous and absolutely could not be touched rashly. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable!

More importantly, it was spreading through the air, surging in from all directions, and the Water Formation Wall was too late to protect her!

In a flash, Sakura's fingers twitched slightly, and her Chakra transformed into Ice Release Chakra. The Frost Battle Armor had originally only covered the vital areas of her chest and abdomen grew wildly under the stimulation of the Chakra, quickly spreading throughout her entire body and covering her exposed skin and head behind the ice armor.

Having visited the Shikkotsu Forest several times, she executed this move extremely quickly. Her full-body armor completely enveloped her, blocking the poison gas from her body.

The girl, fully clad in armor, possessed a unique, heroic charm reminiscent of a warrior; however, Sakura and Sasori clearly had no time to appreciate this dashing scene.

Scorpion merely gave a cold laugh.

If Sakura hadn't used such powerful and fast Ninjutsu, an ordinary Jonin would probably be riddled with holes by now; even an Elite Jonin would likely be in trouble.

This is Kage Level battle pace, so fast it's breathtaking. Wave after wave of attacks give the opponent no chance to rest. The puppeteer's endless traps, the tricks hidden at the edge of the field of vision, the diverse attack methods, and the incredibly powerful Ninjutsu are just the tip of the iceberg of Sasori's strength. When he gets serious, he becomes breathtakingly strong.

However, this was merely a prelude.

The move Scorpion used next was his final trump card!

As he manipulated the Kazekage Puppet to spew out poisonous mist, he leaped high into the air and stood on the floating Iron Sand.

Clatter.

Scorpion activated the first scroll behind him, looked down at Sakura Haruno at his feet, and raised his hands straight up—

"Secret Technique - Flame Prison Formation!"

Sakura Haruno, still enveloped in the poisonous fog, suddenly looked up and keenly sensed a massive amount of Chakra gathering in the air.

Sakura instinctively Hand Seals, "Ice Release— "

Then, a scorching heat wave came from in front.

The girl looked closely and saw a huge, raging fireball, as tall as a several-story building, spewing from the scorpion's hands and crashing down!

The raging fireball was extremely fierce, and the extremely high temperature instantly evaporated the Water Formation Wall several meters thick. Even under the ice armor, Sakura could still feel the scorching heat.

A hundred meters apart, as the fireball fell, Sakura and Sasori exchanged a glance, their eyes meeting in mid-air.

The pair of light green eyes that Scorpion saw were as cold and calm as a still pool, showing no sign of panic.

"--Magic Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"

Then, in the next moment, the spot where the girl was standing was engulfed by a fireball.

Boom--!

The crimson fireball exploded with a deafening roar, unleashing a wave of fire that spread across the ground in a fiery ring hundreds of meters in diameter!

Did you hit it?

As Scorpion watched the ring of fire spread beneath his feet, scorching the earth and rocks to a charred black, burning everything in its path to ashes, but seeing no sign of Sakura, he raised his long, slender eyebrows.

He couldn't believe that Sakura would be killed so silently by his Ninjutsu... When their eyes met just now, those clear and bright eyes showed no fear of his Secret Technique.

However, she did not use any defensive Ninjutsu, nor did she show any sign of using the Substitution Technique —and the Substitution Technique's range was too short to allow her to evade such a wide-range attack.

Sasori's gaze swept quickly across the land, and with the help of his Chakra senses, his eyes soon settled on the girl standing on the ice in the river.

How did she manage to dodge it?

Scorpion shifted his gaze to Sakura's feet. Her Body Flicker Technique was quite impressive... so why didn't she use it from the beginning?

The question only flashed through the mind of the boy—or rather, the handsome uncle—whose appearance was even more delicate than a girl's, before he quickly turned his attention back to Sakura.

The young girl stood gracefully, her light dress fluttering slightly in the spring breeze, the hem of her clothes ruffled, revealing a glimpse of her alluring white skin. However, the Chakra gathered around her was completely different from her seemingly weak and harmless appearance.

She is Hand Seals.

As Sasori attacked, he also revealed a lot of his information: Puppet Technique, the Kekkei Genkai of the puppets, and powerful Fire Style. Taking advantage of the gap created by the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Sasori didn't notice her immediately. Sakura caught her breath and began to counterattack.

Sasori's pupils suddenly contracted, and the amount of Chakra gathered on Sakura's body quickly increased to a level that made even him feel a slight chill on his scalp!

"Water Release: Leviathan's Wrath!"

"Drink!" the girl shouted, her face tense, her long pink hair flying wildly as she channeled her astonishing Chakra, her hands raised high into the air!

Behind her, endless water surged from the river, soaring into the sky with her gesture; the massive amount of water gathered in the air, condensing into an enormous beast!

This is a modified version of the Ice Release technique. Sakura can use Ice Release to perform such Shape Transformation, so she is naturally even more adept at Water Release.

"Ah--!" "Ouch--!"

The girl's high-pitched scream and the monster's deep, heart-pounding shout rang out one after the other, their extremely loud voices even making Shino and the other two, who were hiding in the distance, feel their hearts tremble!

"That's the same move from last time..." Shino's eyes widened.

No... this move is even more terrifying than the last one.

Ice Release, as Kekkei Genkai, is more solid than Water Release, and its impact power is more terrifying; however, it consumes more energy.

This time, the Water Release used, taking advantage of the terrain, was naturally even more powerful!

"Sakura has drained the entire river of water..." Terumi a troubled expression.

At the foot of the cherry blossoms, the once gently flowing green river has completely dried up, revealing a riverbed full of silt. The dark mud stretches for a kilometer before the dried-up river water can be seen!

"Amazing..." Scorpion stared blankly at the huge monster above him, his gaze sweeping over the plate armor, bone spikes, and fangs that Sakura had meticulously depicted with her Shape Transformation. Finally, he let out a genuine exclamation of admiration.

The Leviathan writhed its monstrous body and looked down at the ground.

His deep gaze locked onto the slender figure beneath him.

"Hey, try my Ninjutsu too..." Sakura Haruno twitched her lips and revealed a smile.

Then, with a sudden swing of both hands, as if throwing Ninjutsu technique, he controlled Leviathan to charge down with the force of a mountain crashing down!

What would it feel like to see a colossal, dark brown beast, three or four hundred meters long, swooping down on you with its gaping maw wide open?

There's no escaping it...

Scorpion's eyes turned serious, and his expression became truly earnest.

He extracted the remaining Fire Style energy from the first scroll in one go, transforming it into an equally massive fireball!

They encountered the Leviathan behemoth.

Boom--

The impact was as deafening as a collision between Mars and Earth.

A deafening roar, as if the earth itself were about to split open, resounded through the sky, echoing in the air and on the ground, creating a ring of translucent sound waves!

Buzz--

As the sound waves approached, Sakura instinctively covered her ears, but still felt a spinning sensation, almost losing her balance, and a buzzing echo reverberated in her ears.

Splash--

The giant beast was blasted into countless splashes and clumps of water, which fell from the sky, turning into a torrential downpour, sometimes mixed with water droplets the size of a face or a carriage.

The scorpion landed on the ground, Iron Sand transformed into an umbrella to shield its head from the raindrops, leaving only the Kazekage Puppet beside it to be soaked by the heavy rain.

Sakura Haruno stood in the rain, gazing into the distance, her hair completely dry.

The torrential rain gradually weakened and turned into a gentle drizzle.

"You've drained the nearby river to the point of no flow..." he said slowly. "The new water source is a kilometer away. Until it arrives, you won't be able to use this level of Ninjutsu anymore."

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(An extra chapter for the mysterious and beautiful old aunt [lundqvis]~) 89