The Genjutsu That Couldn't Be Defended Against

The fighting here continues.

"You won't be able to use such a powerful Water Release again until the new river flows over...?" Sasori smiled faintly, pointing to the dry riverbed at Sakura's feet.

"That's true. Without the river here, even if I were drained dry, I wouldn't be able to unleash such a powerful Water Release." Sakura narrowed her eyes, looking at Sasori with a dangerous gaze. "Then why didn't you use the Fire Style you used earlier against me?"

A slight smile played at the corners of her lips.

"Such a good opportunity and you didn't seize it... Could it be that you can't use that kind of Fire Style anymore?"

"Hehe, don't be in such a hurry," Sasori smiled shyly, pursing his lips. "This is just an appetizer. The Human Puppet I create can retain his Chakra and Ninjutsu from his lifetime, the full power of the Third Kazekage —you haven't experienced it yet! He was the strongest Kazekage of all time..."

He flicked his index finger, and the iron spikes that the Kazekage Puppet had just shot out turned into Iron Sand and returned to the puppet's side. Then--

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Gathering Assault!"

Whoosh! The highly compressed and deformed Iron Sand transformed into an extremely hard iron spear, which became a black shadow, slicing through the air and piercing in front of Sakura in the blink of an eye amidst a shrill sound.

Swish! Just as the sharp edge of the gun barrel was about to touch Sakura's cheek, she deftly swung her neck and turned her head, narrowly avoiding the thrust of the iron spear.

Her movements were light and graceful, her expression calm and composed, as if the girl had simply turned her head and plucked a petal.

Her gaze was never even fully focused on the iron spear.

He simply watched the scorpion's every move from afar.

The iron spear missed its mark, but Scorpion wasn't too surprised; it was just a casual greeting. He was only slightly astonished that the girl could dodge at such a close distance.

She reacted very quickly...

"Well done..." Scorpion said, waving his fingers to control the puppet to activate the mechanism.

The Kazekage Shadow Puppet's mouth opened with a "whoosh".

Countless black Iron Sand emerged from his mouth, merging with the Iron Sand he had just shot out to form huge Iron Sand blocks, which floated in the air in a square formation, densely covering half the sky!

This is the true power of the Iron Sand Gathering Assault.

"So, how are you going to dodge now?"

Scorpion commanded the restless black Iron Sand formation, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

Sakura, who had remained calm throughout, subtly changed color, her expression finally turning serious.

"As expected of the Third Kazekage's Ninjutsu..." she said softly, her voice lowering.

She watched quietly as Sasori transformed the black sand into dozens of enormous, cone-shaped iron spears, each tens of meters long and as thick as her wrist, which floated majestically in mid-air, ready to be unleashed; the Kazekage puppet's Ninjutsu was indeed powerful, extremely fast, and incredibly potent.

It's hard to block, and hard to dodge. But...

She just happened to develop a new Ninjutsu that could counter it.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Kazekage puppet released black sand, Sakura also completed the hand seals for her Ninjutsu.

Just as the scorpion was about to swing his hand...

Water Release: Mirror Flower, Water Moon!

The scene before Scorpion's eyes suddenly distorted. He was slightly startled, his eyes narrowed, but his hands moved without hesitation, manipulating the huge iron spear to shoot towards Sakura Haruno.

Swoosh--

Scorpion was shocked to discover that the Iron Sand, which were originally aimed at Sakura, had inexplicably changed direction slightly during the attack, all brushing past the girl's figure. Sakura stood motionless in place, and not a single iron pellet hit her!

The only effect was that the strong wind made her clothes flutter.

"Genjutsu?" Scorpion suddenly recalled the sudden distortion of his vision just now, and was greatly surprised!

He's already Human Puppet, so Genjutsu that work on the brain shouldn't be effective against him!

Scorpion tried again with his long-forgotten methods of Genjutsu: Release, but to no avail.

What's going on?!

Seeing Scorpion's eyes widen and show surprise for the first time, the girl sneered.

Indeed, ordinary Genjutsu have no effect on scorpions.

However... Sakura Haruno's technique is not Genjutsu in essence!

The effect of "Mirror Flower, Water Moon in the water" is similar to Genjutsu, both distorting vision. However, it is achieved by increasing the moisture in the air to change the refractive index of the atmosphere, much like a mirage.

The refractive index of air varies with four factors: air pressure, temperature, air composition (especially carbon dioxide), and humidity. Humidity, in particular, has a significant impact on the refractive index. When light enters a medium with a different refractive index, it is refracted, causing the light path to bend and resulting in an image that does not match reality.

This phenomenon was actually quite common in her past life; although Sakura had never seen a mirage, she knew that in summer, the ground could appear distorted on scorching hot roads. This was because the air density changed, causing a change in the air's refractive index, which distorted the propagation of light...

In battle, even the slightest difference in the reflection of images can lead to completely Senri results. The location that Sasori saw for Sakura Haruno was not her actual location at all.

Simply put, it's like trying to catch fish with a fork while standing on the water. If you aim directly at the fish and thrust the fork, you'll never hit it...

Of course, the actual results are much better than this.

In short, while the illusionary technique "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" has the effect of Genjutsu, it is actually just an application of Water Release techniques. Trying to counter it using methods that dispel Genjutsu is futile!

Anyone who uses their eyes to see things can be misled by illusions, even by Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

Scorpions themselves are not immune.

Therefore, it is an "Genjutsu" that cannot be defended against!

Sakura, of course, wouldn't explain this profound mystery to Sasori.

Instead, she was forming hand seals during the brief respite when the scorpion's attack failed.

The next tactic will naturally be the same old approach: using Ice Release to flood the field, followed by a combination of Body Flicker Technique and Nintaijutsu.

This combination of moves has proven its effectiveness in previous battles, and she will certainly continue to use it on Scorpion.

She had basically gathered information about the Kazekage puppets; it was nothing more than the various applications of Magnet Release. The powerful magnetic field might have a significant impact on iron ninja tools like swords. If Yugao were standing here now, she'd probably have most of her fighting ability crippled...

It's a pity!

Sakura never carries ninja tools... nor does she wear jewelry, not even metal rings or zippers in her clothes, and she has no metal objects on her body. The straightforward attack style of Magnet Release is not a threat to her when she is in Cherry Blossom Impact mode with extremely fast reaction speed. In addition, there is Water Release: Mirror Flower, Water Moon to confuse her vision, and Sasori will not be able to discover the secret of this technique for a while.

Therefore, this puppet has run out of tricks up its sleeve, at most it still has a few clever traps like poisonous smoke... It's time to take it down!

Ice Release: Frost Ice Burial!

The ground where the super-large Water Release had just been used still had a lot of water left, which made Sakura's Ice Release even faster and more ferocious.

No sooner had the Kazekage Puppet's offensive ended than Sakura's counterattack followed.

Crack! Crack!

The biting cold instantly froze puddles and pools on the ground into ice; the ice began to grow wildly on the earth, and countless ice weapons, such as ice blades and ice spears, sprang into the air like mushrooms after rain!

In the blink of an eye, this area was transformed into a world of ice and frost.

The moment Scorpion uttered a surprised thought, something unexpected happened beneath his feet. He didn't have time to think; instinctively, he leaped up, quickly dodging the encirclement of ice spikes—Sakura's main attack wasn't aimed at him.

The Kazekage Puppet was caught in a siege by ice blades and ice spears.

The ice crystals were crystal clear and sparkling, dazzling on the outside, but they concealed a deadly trap inside: extremely high hardness and incomparably sharp ice blades. The Kazekage Shadow Puppet was unable to defend itself and was soon covered in wounds.

Having just dodged the Frost Ice Burial attack, Scorpion was free to immediately manipulate the Kazekage Puppet to counter it.

"Secret Technique: Thousand Hands Manipulation!"

The puppet swung its left arm forward, the mechanism suddenly activated, and the Sealing Jutsu hidden in the arm was abruptly launched.

Bang!

Hundreds, even thousands, of arms surged out of the mechanism, densely packed together, heading towards the ice spikes on the ground.

Crack! Crack! With a deafening crash, the icicles shattered into fragments, and countless broken puppet arms flew wildly in all directions, scattering across the ground. The continuous sounds of collisions and shattering echoed all around!

The ice generated by the Kekkei Genkai was much harder than the puppet's arm, but as the saying goes, many ants can kill an elephant, Frost Ice Burial's offensive was instantly suppressed.

However, this does not mean that Sakura's offensive has stopped.

Seeing that the icy spikes of Frost Ice Burial were being suppressed, she decisively stopped forming hand seals, interrupting the Chakra supply to Frost Ice Burial, and immediately unleashed another Ninjutsu—

Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!

The girl appeared instantly behind the Kazekage Shadow Puppet!

"Nintaijutsu: Wing Chun Hidden Kick!"

(Guaranteed 1/. Bonus chapter 0/1.)

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