Head-on Confrontation (Part Two)

The immense power generated by the Monstrous Strength Technique —even if it's reduced to only 20-30% by Samehada —how enormous is it? The moment Kisame felt the overwhelming force emanating from Samehada, his cold smile froze, his pupils dilated, and his expression changed drastically!

"Damn it!"

Bang!!!

A deafening roar erupted in the valley, the sound waves emanating from the point where fists and knives clashed, distorting the air and spreading outwards like a transparent wall. In an instant, countless splashes of water, ice shards, and dust flew up and enveloped the ground.

Kisame's burly figure shrank into a ball, flung out of the gray dust and soaring high into the air. It was thrown dozens of meters away before crashing heavily to the ground, sprawling like a tattered rag doll with a muffled thud.

"You absorbed all the Ice Release Chakra instantly, but deliberately left the rest behind as a trap?"

Amidst the dust, a clear, cold voice rang out, as chilling as an iceberg, radiating murderous intent that could be easily sensed even through the thick fog.

However, the voice, though firm, carried a hint of weakness. Kisame, lying on the ground, could tell that the owner of the voice must have suffered a serious injury, which was why a battle-hardened ninja spoke with an uncontrollable emptiness.

It seemed that the woman who had just clashed with the broadsword with her fists had definitely not come out on top. This thought flashed through Kisame's mind. But what did it matter? His facial muscles twitched, and as he came to his senses, the excruciating pain emanating from his right side made even this man, who was used to pain, change his expression. Looking down, his right hand, which had been gripping Samehada, was now deformed, a patch of dark red flesh rotting and mangled, interspersed with sharp bone fragments protruding from his body. Even the ribs on his right side were broken, the skin and flesh torn open, and through the wounds, he could even see the internal organs mushy and mangled.

It was as if his right side had been crushed by a massive, unparalleled rock—but then again, isn't the power of Nintaijutsu like the crushing force of Mount Tai? The fact that he wasn't killed by a single punch was thanks to Chakra absorbing a lot of the Samehada in his fist, greatly reducing Sakura Haruno's power, from being killed by a single punch to being seriously injured by a single punch.

However, Kisame's current appearance is not much different from that of someone who died tragically on the spot. Even for a ninja known for his tenacious vitality, such an injury is just a matter of whether he dies sooner or later!

Even in the battle against Suikazan Fuguki, the most dangerous battle in his memory, Kisame had never been so humiliated; to his recollection, this was the first time he had been beaten like this.

Kisame clenched his fists, his body curled up like a shrimp, but slowly opened up. Despite his severe injuries, he struggled to get up from the ground.

His eyes were cold and terrifying, like those of a wounded wild beast, fixed intently on the direction from which the sound came.

"Hmph!" Kisame coldly, and the moment he opened his mouth, purplish-black blood spilled out, filling his mouth.

"Isn't your move obvious?"

Enveloped in dust and mist, Sakura Haruno remained silent for a moment, offering no reply.

The technique of Body Flicker Technique attack is often so obvious that the enemy can't react to it. Take the Fourth Hokage, widely recognized as having the strongest Body Flicker Body Flicker Technique, for example. Everyone knows his move involves Body Flicker Technique moving to strike, but so what? Has anyone broken it? Even the Raikage, whose speed is equally monstrous, combined with the Eight-Tails, was overwhelmed by him. While Sakura Haruno's Body Flicker Technique isn't as monstrous as the Fourth Hokage's, combined with the exceptional reaction speed of Cherry Blossom Impact and the unparalleled power of her Nintaijutsu, it's still an invincible combo that most people can't handle.

After a pause, Kisame, panting heavily, continued, "The Ice Body Flicker Technique can only be performed using ice as a medium. I only left behind that patch of ice, so you can only Body Flicker Technique here from there..."

The biggest difficulty in dealing with the Body Flicker Technique lies in the enemy's unpredictable appearance and disappearance. The opponent can attack from any direction, and no one can be vigilant in front, behind, left, right, up, and down at the same time. Therefore, those who are good at using the Body Flicker Technique always have an absolute advantage in battle and are naturally invincible.

However, if you already know in which direction your opponent will appear, then dealing with them will be much simpler and easier.

--Unless the opponent is an enemy capable of using Monstrous Strength Technique.

"Just as I thought..." Sakura Haruno sighed inwardly.

Sakura truly hadn't expected anyone to counter her Ninjutsu in such a way. After using Frost Ice Burial, she didn't waste a single moment, immediately following up with Body Flicker Technique for a powerful attack. Unexpectedly, in that brief instant, the moment her Ice Release extended to Kisame's feet, the Chakra used to create the Ninjutsu was absorbed. The ice blocks disappeared as soon as they appeared; Samehada's Chakra absorption ability was simply astonishingly fast!

Even more terrifying is that Kisame could precisely control this ability to absorb Chakra, perfectly preserving a layer of ice behind him, so that Sakura Haruno could only Body Flicker Technique to that spot when using the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, thus setting a trap.

Perhaps only Kisame, wielding the Samehada sword, could achieve this level of skill in the entire world?

In this sense, Sakura Haruno was tricked first and lost the first round in this exchange.

That's why the girl sighed inwardly.

Since her debut, she has participated in countless battles, and she has always been the one to sabotage others, rarely being the one to be outmaneuvered. On one hand, this is because she has read parts of the manga, giving her an intelligence advantage against many enemies; on the other hand, the various strange and powerful techniques she has developed are quite different from the style of the Shinobi World, so they often surprise people and even cause them to suffer heavy losses.

This also created a subtle sense of superiority in the girl—whether it was the superiority of knowing the plot or the superiority of developing and using Ninjutsu. She knew it was wrong, but how could a human simply erase such emotions? To be realistic, at least before Shippuden, she could be considered a semi-prophet, especially when she hadn't made many changes to the "plot."

For example, during the Land of Waves incident, she had the illusion of watching a live-action movie. Although it was a sudden event, Sakura Haruno felt as if everything was unfolding according to a script, and the actors' performances were all outstanding. Zabuza's ruthlessness and Kakashi's composure were particularly memorable. Under such circumstances, it was already quite remarkable that she could restrain herself from spoiling the plot and pretend to be completely unaware of everything, carrying out the mission like a normal ninja rather than a prophet.