Dangerous Close-Quarters Combat
The girl lifted her leg and swept it horizontally towards the Kazekage Shadow Puppet.
The kick brought with it gusts of wind that stung the skin.
The puppet wasn't a living person and didn't feel pain, so it probably couldn't sense the sharpness of the kick; but Sakura could sense Sasori's surprise from the momentary pause in the Kazekage puppet's movements.
He finally witnessed Sakura Haruno's Body Flicker Technique, which allowed her to dodge his Fire Style, once again.
However, even now, when Sakura used her Ice Body Flicker Technique right in front of him, Sasori still couldn't see it clearly.
That's too fast!
He only noticed out of the corner of his eye that Sakura had suddenly disappeared, and the next moment, she suddenly appeared behind the puppet and launched an attack!
A fierce and powerful flying kick, generating a whistling gust of wind, made Scorpion feel a chill run down his spine even from this distance—if his body still had that function—he could clearly feel the power of the kick.
A Monstrous Strength and unstoppable kick!
Scorpion's face was grim, and his index fingers danced rapidly as he unleashed his hidden attack.
He had anticipated this move...
The opponent seems to have a move that allows for rapid movement; how could Sasori not be prepared for it?
The Kazekage Puppet always concealed some black sand on its body and did not participate in the attack, so that when Sakura Haruno used her high-speed Body Flicker Technique to forcefully rush to the puppet's side, she could block her attack.
The only flaw was that he hadn't anticipated Sakura's Body Flicker Technique being so fast, or her Nintaijutsu being so strong! This meant his movements were almost completely ineffective.
Iron Sand, which had been hidden within the Kazekage Puppet, flew out quickly and blocked the girl's slender legs.
BOOM!
The defense made of black sand was shattered by Sakura's ruthless kick, and Scorpion's confident, hard iron wall instantly turned into a cloud of black sand; the aftershock of the attack hit the puppet, and Sakura kicked off, smashing half of the puppet's body.
However, this hidden trick ultimately worked, buying the Kazekage Puppet some time to dodge and preventing it from being kicked to pieces.
With a kick, Sakura Haruno landed on the ground. The Kazekage Puppet was sent flying with a series of thuds, rolling and plowing several shallow furrows on the ground while scattering its parts everywhere: its left leg, right leg, and an elbow. Fortunately, although it was broken and unrecognizable, it was not shattered by a single punch like Hiruko.
Sasori abruptly pulled on the Chakra Threads at his fingertips, manipulating the Kazekage puppet to escape in a sorry state, supporting himself with his only remaining right hand.
"Want to leave?"
The Kazekage appearance of the Kazekage puppet looked comical, but under the intense pull of the Chakra Threads, its speed was by no means slow, and it covered a considerable distance in the blink of an eye. Sakura raised her delicate eyebrows, snorted coldly, and leaped into the air.
Using Monstrous Strength Technique techniques to enhance her leg power, Sakura's running speed was also extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, she rushed behind the puppet.
He raised his fist and precisely channeled his Chakra into his right arm.
"Nintaijutsu - Star--"
"Huh?" Before her fist could even fly, she heard the faint sound of a sharp weapon cutting through the air behind her. This attack was both fast and insidious. Sakura instinctively dodged, but even with her reaction speed, she barely managed to avoid Scorpion's sneak attack. A dark shadow narrowly brushed past her ear, taking away a strand of her pink hair.
Pink hair flew through the air, Sakura Haruno was startled. Cold sweat from fear ran down her forehead and soaked her clothes.
Scorpion was equally surprised: he had actually dodged the sneak attack from behind!
His meticulously designed blades were extremely fast, highly sharp, and extremely lethal; after all, this mechanism occupied a precious position in the torso—the other two positions in the torso housed the heart and the control ports for the Performance of a Hundred Puppets —its power was unimaginable!
This delay allowed the Kazekage Shadow Puppet to retreat once again.
Seeing that what had sped past her ear was a sharp iron spike tied with a rope, Sakura stopped in her tracks and instinctively turned around to see that it had shot out from Scorpion's belly!
Scorpion activated the mechanisms within his body, revealing his true form as Human Puppet. This image was reflected in Sakura's clear, light green eyes. Sakura's mouth gaped open, and a look of astonishment appeared on her face for the first time.
Although she had already somewhat realized that Sasori's true form was a puppet—the severed head reattached and the iron pipe suddenly emerging from his palm were evidence of this—it was only when Sakura Haruno so blatantly displayed the mechanisms on his body, revealing his emptied abdominal cavity and the noose inside, that she realized that beneath Sasori's delicate and pretty face lay such a hideous and terrifying puppet body.
The stark contrast made the scene incredibly impactful, leaving Sakura utterly astonished.
Have you turned yourself into a puppet?
With the help of Ice Release, Sakura was able to calmly make her next move while still being astonished.
It's as if one side of her is utterly astonished, while another side is rationally analyzing the situation; this ability to multitask may also be related to her unique mental core.
Scorpion's strategy of attacking Wei to relieve Zhao was half successful: Sakura let go of the Kazekage Puppet, which was mostly crippled, and suddenly grabbed the rope that whizzed past.
"You're asking for death..." she said coldly, staring at the scorpion's puppet. "You like saving people, huh?!"
With a sudden burst of strength, he yanked the rope taut and pulled the scorpion over!
"Last Kakuzu, Kakuzu's vital point was his heart... So what about yours?!"
"The rope is exhausted..." Feeling the irresistible pull from the rope, Scorpion was involuntarily pulled towards the girl. His usually calm expression suddenly changed - Sakura's fist was aimed at his heart!
His ten fingers danced wildly, manipulating everything he could to try and stop the girl's fist.
The chaotic, broken swords, manipulated by Chakra Threads, flew towards Sakura Haruno. However, in the rush, the weak and powerless attacks were blocked by the ice walls that Sakura casually conjured from the ground. The clanging sounds were incessant, but they were completely ineffective.
The mechanism behind him activated, and sharp blades pierced the ice to stabilize his body, but he was instead dragged away, plowing several deep furrows in the ice.
The rope was cut by the sharp blade, and Scorpion finally stopped his charge, but he and she were already too close. Sakura's eyes narrowed, and she stepped on the ice, cracking it. She leaped up nimbly, her figure as fast as lightning, and in an instant, she was in front of Scorpion.
"We must catch up...!" Not far away, Kazekage, who was lying on the ground barely Kazekage, raised his broken arm. The dim Chakra light on his chest flickered desperately. The Iron Sand used in the attack just now returned frantically from a distance and gathered in front of Sasori.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Gathering Assault!"
A giant shield formed from Iron Sand appeared between the two just as Sakura's fist was about to strike his chest.
The hard iron wall formed from black sand once again faced off against the fair and delicate flesh and blood of mortals.
"Nintaijutsu: Star Cannon Fist!"
A bright blue Chakra light shone on Sakura's body, flowing like a stream as she exerted her power. The girl lunged forward, her strength originating from her roots, and the blue light surged up from her heels to the Root her kidneys; she twisted her hips and waist, then raised her elbow and punched, the blue light shining from her waist, flowing to her chest, right shoulder, and converging on her fist!
With a standard punching motion, combined with the boost from the Monstrous Strength Technique at each point of impact, the girl condensed her immense power into a single force, amplifying the Star Cannon Hammer's power to an incredible degree!
Drink--!
Boom--!
The girl's shout was clear and high-pitched, while the sound of the iron wall colliding was dull and heavy.
The giant shield, as thick as Sakura's arm, stood tall and disproportionate to Sakura's fist; yet, upon contact, the thick iron wall crumbled under the immense force of her fist! With a loud shout, Sakura Haruno pierced through the Iron Sand wall with unparalleled power!
The iron wall was shattered with a deafening roar, and endless Iron Sand instantly turned into dust, swirling and scattering in the air, obscuring the view.
The power of the Monstrous Strength Technique was more than enough to break through the iron wall, and Sakura's momentum only paused for a moment before she charged forward again.
In the pitch-black fog, where one could barely see their own hand in front of their face, the girl could only bombard the location of the scorpion as she remembered it.
Snap!
She heard a crisp cracking sound.
It felt like something hard had been pierced through.
"... Um?"
Taking advantage of the obscured view, Scorpion seemed to evade her attack.
"So... what did I hit?" Sakura Haruno wondered.
(Guaranteed minimum/Bonus chapter 0/1.)
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