You're Already... Dead!
"Naruto!" Sakura couldn't help but shout.
She blinked, somewhat unable to believe it.
The figure that appeared before him, displaying overwhelming fighting power, was none other than Naruto.
Weren't you on a trip?
With Naruto's help, she finally caught her breath.
In an instant, from being driven to the brink of despair to suddenly finding a way out, Sakura felt the situation suddenly become clear, and her thoughts surged uncontrollably.
She flipped over abruptly, and without even looking, hurled Rasengan, shattering an approaching puppet. Only then did Sakura realize that a giant Chakra hand had extended from Naruto's body, gripping the puppet in its grasp.
Clang clang clang--!
Several puppets that had also approached them were also grabbed by Naruto's Chakra hand!
Then, he exerted all his strength and crushed them all.
The last puppet that charged forward was instantly sliced to pieces by the water gun, and all the nearby puppets vanished in an instant.
"Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto asked in a deep voice, looking at the enemies surging in from afar.
He walked over to Sakura and extended his hand.
Naruto has entered puberty, and his voice has changed so much that even Sakura Haruno can hardly recognize him.
However, that feeling, that sense of trust forged in life-or-death friendship, remains unchanged.
Sakura grasped his hand and used it to stand up.
"Hmph... Don't look at me, how could I possibly be in any danger!" she said with a laugh, completely ignoring the fact that Naruto had just entered the battlefield when he saw her fall flat on her face.
After a brief smile, Sakura Haruno said seriously, "There are two enemies on the other side. One is called Sasori of the Red Sand, who controls puppets. The puppets can use Ninjutsu, have mechanisms, and are very insidious; the other is hiding above."
She looked up and pointed to the black dot hovering above, saying, "That's him. His Ninjutsu uses white puppets to create powerful explosions; you have to be careful..."
Sakura glanced back at Naruto.
The last time I stood side by side with Naruto was probably a year ago.
After nearly a year apart, Sakura and Naruto were no longer familiar with each other's techniques; however, their tacit understanding remained in their hearts.
Fighting side by side, it returned to the deepest part of my heart.
Just like that time, during the mission to rescue Sasuke, she said to Sasuke, "You and Naruto, you can stand before me without hesitation during the battle."
It is precisely because of this trust that we have such a tacit understanding.
Of course, Naruto's current fighting style is different from his past Shadow Clone Techniques, which also surprised her a bit.
His dense Chakra formed a garment-like structure, and he had two tails behind him. In her previous life, Sakura had seen Naruto use the One-Tail- Tailed Demon Fox Cloak in the manga, but she didn't remember the details, only that it was very powerful, but Naruto hadn't used it skillfully. In the Hokage world she experienced after transmigrating, Naruto hadn't used the Demon Fox Cloak technique before his journey, and this was the first time she had seen it with her own eyes.
The enormous and dense Chakra Cloak, almost tangible, was truly astounding.
Sakura was filled with curiosity about his current state; was he able to use this technique now because he had a basic grasp of the Nine-Tails Chakra and could freely use the Demon Fox Cloak form?
While she was using her Wind Blade Torrent to dart at the puppets in the distance, she also glanced at Naruto's battle.
In this state, Naruto charges around like a wild beast, but his combat power is extremely strong, and his strength and speed are incredibly fast. Moreover, with the Chakra Cloak protecting him, even slightly weaker Ninjutsu cannot cause him any harm!
A puppet charging at him with a knife was pinned down and knocked to the ground. Naruto 'Chakra Cloak transformed into claws that bound the puppet's mechanisms, and with a few punches, he smashed it into pieces!
Following closely behind were all sorts of ninja tools attacking in a chaotic manner. Naruto roared, creating a sound wave that blew back all the incoming swords and spears!
A Wind Release: Great Wind Breakthrough followed closely behind, but Naruto's shout sent it flying backward.
Another Fire Style: Flame Bullet flew from behind him, hitting the Demon Fox Cloak, but it didn't budge.
In contrast, Sakura Haruno, who lacked sufficient defense, was in a much worse state when facing these low-to-mid-level Ninjutsu!
However, Sakura's battle was extremely easy at the moment. After Naruto took on half of the pressure, she had plenty of room to unleash her true fighting power. After setting up her Ice Release, she used Cherry Blossom Blizzard, Ice Clone, Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, Ninjutsu, Nintaijutsu, Wind Blade Torrent, and even various Water Release with ease, leaving Sasori's puppets in a sorry state.
When the two fought side by side, they were simply unstoppable, a far cry from when Sakura fought alone.
The first dozen or so puppets that rushed up were quickly wiped out by the two of them.
When the second wave of puppets surrounded them, Scorpion became much more cautious; he had already lost about a hundred puppets in the battle, and if he continued to lose them like this, the Performance of a Hundred Puppets would have to be renamed the Ten-Puppet Training!
The Human Puppet's opening act was still a chaotic display of various Ninjutsu and ninja tools.
"Nothing new," Sakura snorted, sneering.
She and Naruto were either incredibly fast and had exceptional defenses, or they could teleport instantly to other locations. Despite the density of their attacks, they posed no threat to either of them.
Then came the puppets using Earth Release, which stealthily approached, launching surprise attacks from underground or harassing the enemy with Earth Release. Following that, a large number of melee puppets also began to charge forward, charging fearlessly. Meanwhile, Ninjutsu puppets continuously used Ninjutsu from the edge of the battlefield, showing no regard for the puppets on their side that were still inside the arena.
This fighting style put immense pressure on the two of them in a short period of time, but it also drastically reduced the number of Sasori's puppets, making it a losing proposition. Sakura was suspicious of Sasori's unusual fighting style; he wasn't crazy, so why was he fighting like this?
She soon found out the answer.
Call--!
A familiar, high-pitched whistling sound!
"Naruto, watch out above!" Sakura looked up when she heard the commotion and saw yet another doll bomb hurtling down at breakneck speed!
Scorpion did this to entangle them here, so that the other person's bomb could hit the bullseye!
"That's an extremely powerful bomb!"
She continued fighting while shouting: with her right hand, she used Water Gun Technique to kill a nearby enemy; with her left hand, she grabbed the leg of a puppet and used her Monstrous Strength to throw it violently at another charging puppet. The two collided with a loud crash and fell apart.
The moment she broke free from the puppet's grasp, she Body Flicker Technique vanished from her spot, gracefully dodging the barrage of Ninjutsu attacks.
Then he appeared behind Naruto, his back to Naruto, and said, "Stop fighting, prepare the defensive bombs!"
She quickly Hand Seals, and seeing Naruto kick the puppet in front of her away, she erected Ice Release: Absolute Defense ice ball, enveloping Naruto and her, isolating them from the outside world.
This bomb can't distinguish between friend and foe; even Scorpion's puppets will be damaged in the explosion.
Therefore, there's no need to attack the puppet anymore!
She raised her hands high, and a large amount of Chakra flowed into the ice puck along with her arms, increasing the hardness and thickness of her Absolute Defense to a certain extent before stopping; based on experience, this level of defense was more than enough.
She looked up as the doll bombs fell.
It descended very quickly; less than a second after the Ninjutsu was completed, the ground suddenly stopped!
Boom--!
The third shot—number eighteen—exploded above the ice hockey puck that was covering the two players!
The shards of ice rustled and fell continuously from above Ying's head, and the ice layer, which was tens of meters thick, was completely sheared off after this one blow, leaving her bald.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Naruto, and smiled.
"That thing has a powerful explosion, but as long as you're careful—"
As she was working, she suddenly heard another familiar shriek!
Sakura Haruno's face paled. "One more shot!"
Moreover, because the sound was masked by the explosion, the whistling sound of the falling doll was extremely high and sharp when it was found this time!
"It's too late!" She reacted quickly and immediately began to re-inject Chakra into her Absolute Defense to form a new ice layer defense, but she knew in her heart that it was already too late!
Boom--!
The fourth shot—number eighteen—exploded.
With this attack, the Absolute Defense ice layer was razed to the ground, becoming a thing of the past.
The strong wind quickly dispersed the dust, leaving a crater in the ground.
Sakura climbed out of the pit unharmed.
Naruto, lying unconscious beside him, had his Demon Fox Cloak blown off, his back torn and bleeding profusely.
Naruto protected her just now.
Sakura Haruno's eyes were colder than ever before.
It was as cold as ice that had stood for millennia.
It was so cold it seemed to freeze everything in sight.
She created a clone, carefully protecting Naruto: "Idiot, I have a way to dodge it myself..."
She spoke softly, then stood up and looked up at the sky.
Deidara kept the bird flying very low, confident in the power of his bomb. His eyes were coldly smiling as he searched for the debris on the ground after the explosion.
He soon saw the boy curled up to one side, covered in wounds and unconscious, and the girl standing solemnly beside him; there was also her clone.
Their eyes met.
"So you're still alive," Deidara sneered, "And you're still glaring at me with that terrifying look! Hmm!"
Sakura Haruno didn't want to say a word.
She silently Hand Seals, moving with incredible speed, her fingers becoming a blur of afterimages.
Ice Release: Swallow Snow Storm!
Sakura suddenly waved her hand, unleashing hundreds of ice darts that shot towards Deidara at an unprecedented speed!
Puff puff puff--
No matter how agile the giant bird beneath Deidara's feet was, it couldn't dodge the dense attacks and was hit in the abdomen several times by darts.
However, this posed no threat to Deidara whatsoever.
Sakura coldly gazed at the white bird high above, her hands continuing to Hand Seals, "Water Release: Wind Blade Torrent..."
On the ground, Sasori suddenly shouted, "Get out of the way, Deidara!"
"Huh?" Deidara tilted his head, confused. "Get out of the way?"
It's too late.
He had barely uttered the sound of "dodge" when Sakura Haruno appeared behind him.
"Nintaijutsu: Star Cannon Fist!"
A single punch pierced through Deidara's body!
"Uh..." Deidara stared at Sakura's fist emerging from his chest, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened!
Is he dead?
Then...
Deidara then transformed into a human-shaped clay figure, tightly binding Sakura's right hand!
--The moment Sasori reminded Deidara, he unleashed the Clay Clone Ninjutsu!
He's not dead...
Sakura's expression remained unchanged, as cold as an iceberg, her sharp, knife-like eyes showing no fluctuation.
Deidara's true form was hidden inside the bird's belly, and then he suddenly jumped out— the Clay Clone would tightly entangle the enemy that attacked it, and then violently detonate, blasting the enemy who fell into the trap to pieces!
You're already dead.
Deidara sneered, preparing to Explosive Clay clone with a "Hah!"
But then they discovered...
Something's not right...
Why am I seeing my own back? Deidara... suddenly felt very confused!
You are already... a dead person.
Sakura Haruno stood high atop the giant white bird, her clothes fluttering wildly in the fierce winds of the high altitude.
His left hand pointed straight at Deidara, the silver line at his fingertips slicing through the air.
A pair of icy, frosty eyes coldly looked down at his feet!
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