Slash!

Kisame's awe-inspiring Water Release, unfathomable Chakra reserves, and Samehada's power—enough to disrupt the balance of a Kisame game—were so striking that Sakura Haruno initially forgot his original identity.

It wasn't until Kisame unleashed his unparalleled swordsmanship, wielding a large sword so skillfully that it was impenetrable, that Sakura realized what had happened! He completely neutralized Swallow Snow Storm's carpet-like attacks and even charged back towards the girl.

Kisame leaped into the air like a ferocious beast, his muscles bulging, his Chakra surging and bursting forth. He raised his Samehada sword high in the air and smashed it down on the girl with the force of a mountain crashing down.

An expanding killing intent rippled through the air, reaching Sakura Haruno with a sharp blow that whipped her pink hair high behind her head; a shrill blade aura emanated from the heavy blade, carrying unparalleled power, its cry both mournful and resolute, signifying that Kisame's attack would be a world-shaking strike!

"Sharp."

Two thin lips lightly touched, Sakura Haruno gently uttered the word with her breath.

The moment she uttered those words, she moved.

The knee-deep pool beneath Sakura's feet suddenly froze into ice. The Ice Release Girl abruptly lifted her leg and leaped into the air; the ice beneath her feet cracked under the reaction force, drawing a circular crack tens of meters wide on the ice surface. In the center of the crack, a deep and clever sandal print was clearly visible.

Her hands hung at her waist, and without her noticing, she grasped a long icicle. The icicle stretched into the ice pool, more than a meter long, and widened abruptly near the surface, seemingly hiding most of its length in the pool. The girl gripped the long stick tightly and pulled it out of the ice pool, only then could she see clearly that it was a huge ice blade.

And that long stick, more than a meter long, was actually the hilt of this large knife!

If the hilt alone was like that, what about the blade? Kisame, looking down, could see clearly that Sakura Haruno had almost held the ice blade horizontally, with a section of the blade still remaining in the ice pool. His pupils suddenly contracted. Compared to Samehada, which had been swelled to twice its size after absorbing Sakura's Chakra, the ice blade in the girl's hand was completely dwarfed, as insignificant as a child's toy.

A gigantic ice blade, tens of meters, thirty meters, or even forty meters long, with a blade two meters wide, seemed weightless despite its immense weight, and was held firmly in the hands of the Ice Release ninja.

"Drink."

The black glove on his left hand contrasted sharply with the fair skin on his right, and the enormous ice blade seemed completely out of place with his not-so-tall figure. Yet, this seemingly incongruous combination exuded a powerful and imposing aura!

Step, step.

The girl took two running steps on the ice, her strides so powerful and swift that they widened the newly formed circular cracks on the ice, as if a heavy beast had stomped on them; her body exuded the aura of a ferocious beast!

"What a pity..." Suddenly, Sakura Haruno raised her head, her eyes meeting Kisame's directly, a faint smile curving her lips.

Kisame a chill run down his spine!

Sakura finally pulled the long sword from the ice pool. The girl dragged the sword backwards, the tip scraping across the ice with a sharp, unpleasant scraping sound. She took two running steps, then leaped up with such force that the ice pool beneath her feet instantly crumbled into dust with a loud boom!

Boom!

The girl's figure shot up, the ice blade in her hand held upside down, driven by the unparalleled power of her Monstrous Strength Technique, she swung it from bottom to top, the blade cutting through the air with a violent howl!

In the blink of an eye, from Kisame raising his greatsword to slash at Sakura Haruno, to Sakura conjuring an ice blade in her hand and advancing instead of retreating to meet Kisame, many words were written, but in the midst of the battle, it was only a blink of an eye, less than half a second!

However, with the help of Cherry Blossom Impact's neural acceleration Secret Technique, Sakura Haruno's thinking and reaction speed became extremely fast, so the whole world seemed to be in slow motion, with everything happening at a leisurely pace!

At the moment Kisame launched his attack, she amplified the effect of Cherry Blossom Impact to its maximum, so much so that everything that seemed swift became slow motion in the girl's vision:

Fine water droplets and ice chips scattered and flew in the air;

Kisame slowly leaped up and raised his sword;

With each step, the ice beneath my feet groaned under the immense force, deep cracks spreading and extending outwards.

He gripped his right hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and the pale purple veins were faintly visible beneath the almost transparent skin; the artery on his slender wrist was pulsating slowly.

The ice blades in his hands, under the effect of Ice Release, absorbed ice from the ice pool, extending and lengthening segment by segment.

Then, she jumped up.

"Unfortunately..." Her thin lips touched lightly, as if whispering, yet Kisame could hear it clearly, "It's not enough."

The ice blade swept upwards in a huge, perfect arc, accompanied by a furious howl, as it slashed towards Kisame!

Kisame felt his ears filled with the howling wind, a noisy cacophony; the fierce wind that Samehada had created when it slashed down from above was whipped back by the wind from the girl's ice blade, the terrifying wind howling like a knife, stinging his cheeks.

Before he could even blink, he saw Sakura Haruno take two quick, light steps on the ice, then leap up at incredible speed. In an instant, all that remained of the girl's figure in his sight was a blurry, distorted afterimage!

Blood rushed to Kisame's head instantly, his expression tightened, and he gripped Samehada tightly, Chakra absorption power!

Then, the two knives collided.

Clang!

A chilling clang of metal striking metal rang out from where the blades met.

Faintly, a low groan and inhuman screams could be heard.

The next moment, the ice blade exploded with a bang, breaking into several pieces and spinning away into the unknown; a burly figure dragged the blade as he flew backward, carving a deep furrow in the mud!

Then, another gaunt figure wielding a broken knife crashed down, but remained standing on the ground without swaying at all.

Kisame another defeat!

Sakura Haruno took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She looked at Kisame, who had fallen into the distance, but did not give chase. Kisame looked disheveled, but in fact, Samehada had already healed his injuries while he was in the air.

"Your Samehada... can absorb the chakra of any object it touches or the Chakra of Ninjutsu, but it has one drawback," the girl said calmly as Kisame stood up as if nothing had happened. She had expected this and wasn't disappointed. "The farther away you are, the weaker the Chakra absorption becomes. Mine is right, isn't it?"

Kisame narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the broken sword in Sakura's hand. Instead of answering her directly, he said, "So that's why you created such a long ice blade... Is this what you call special Ninjutsu? What a clever move!"

The point where the blades clashed was a good ten meters away from the handle of the ice blade. This meant that Samehada couldn't easily absorb Sakura's Chakra when it came into contact with the ice blade. Otherwise, with Samehada absorbing Chakra at full Samehada, it would be questionable whether Sakura Haruno could maintain her Monstrous Strength Technique, let alone knock Kisame away with one blow!

"It seems you've put a lot of effort into dealing with Samehada! But these childish tricks won't last long..." Kisame said coldly. "Besides, even if your tricks work indefinitely, you still won't be able to defeat me!"

He didn't continue spouting arrogant words just because he lost a move.

In the previous exchange, Kisame was indeed defeated, but Samehada quickly healed his injuries, rendering Sakura Haruno's efforts futile. Thus, Kisame seemed to have suffered no loss, while Sakura had wasted a considerable amount of Chakra.

If this continues, even if Sakura Haruno's Yin Seal on her forehead has a lot of Chakra stored up, it won't be able to withstand such waste!

Kisame, leaning on his greatsword, stood there and sneered, "I will grow stronger according to the strength of my enemy... The longer the battle lasts, the more Chakra you will consume, and the weaker you will become. Conversely, I will not tire, nor will I be truly defeated!"

You have absolutely no chance of winning!

Sakura Haruno had been watching him indifferently until he stopped speaking, then she lowered her eyelids and coldly replied, "A guy who has failed in every attack since the start of our fight dares to spout such arrogant words. Who gave you the courage?"

Is it Liang Jingru?

"What you rely on is nothing more than Samehada's abilities. As long as you are killed with a single blow instead of severely injured, Samehada's healing ability is meaningless!"

Sakura Haruno has many ways to defeat or even kill Kisame! However, before that, the girl, having learned her lesson, needs to put in a little more effort to gather accurate information about him...

"Or..."

The cold voice suddenly stopped. The girl lowered her body slightly, her eyes sharpened, and then she charged towards Kisame!

At the same time, the broken blade in her hand began to grow back rapidly, repairing itself.

"Taking Samehada from your hands is also a good idea?"

Accompanied by the ear-piercing scraping sound of the ice blades dragging on the ground as they cut through the ice, Sakura Haruno's slightly mocking words reached Kisame's ears precisely.

As she spoke, she suddenly sprang up, her restrained aura exploding outwards like an explosion, covering a distance of dozens of meters in just a few steps!

Boom!

The near-sneak attack did not faze Kisame. His expression remained solemn. After two close-quarters battles, Kisame had clearly understood Sakura Haruno's unparalleled brute strength in her Nintaijutsu, and that ferocious and overwhelming power was something that no ordinary person could withstand!

The figure charging forward, though slender and thin, appeared to Kisame like a raging behemoth!

Even after Sakura Haruno said that she "absolutely has no chance of winning," Kisame still felt the hairs on his hands stand on end, and a dangerous and piercing alarm suddenly sounded in his mind!

He stared intently at the approaching figure of the Ice Release ninja. From the overwhelming momentum, the icy killing intent, and the surging Chakra fluctuations, Kisame could sense that this attack would be even more powerful than the two previous probing moves.

This is the true power of Sakura Haruno's all-out attack!

Kisame had a premonition that once the ice blade in the girl's hand made a solid cut, the force, like a flash flood, might shred Samehada and his own flesh into a bloody pulp!

Without hesitation, he formed hand Hand Seals, his Chakra surging wildly within him, then rising to his throat. The immense amount of Chakra instantly swelled Kisame's upper body, his chest, neck, and cheeks puffing out.

"Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

An unparalleled volume of water was spewed out of Kisame's mouth like surging tsunamis, sweeping away everything around it, turning the land into swamps, pools, and lakes... and then, with surging waves, crashing towards the oncoming Sakura Haruno!

On one side were the boundless tidal waves created by Kisame's Ninjutsu, towering into the clouds, stretching endlessly, and unstoppable; on the other side were the Konoha Ninja charging at high speed, like thunderbolts, coming on strong and crushing everything in their path. Both, carrying their own resolute wills, clashed violently!

Boom boom boom--!

This is the impact of a flash flood on a tsunami!

A tremendous roar instantly erupted from the arena.

The girl stopped in her tracks, raised her giant sword, and fiercely slashed at the massive wave, shattering it in an instant. Then, the sharp sword energy sliced through the waves, parted the water, and carved a channel through the endless wall of water, extending for hundreds of meters until it was just close to the tip of Kisame's nose. After a brief stalemate, she exhausted her strength and was swept away by the surging water spewing from Kisame's mouth.

Pure brute force, while able to break through this Ninjutsu for a moment, lacks staying power and will eventually be pushed back by the continuous flow of water...

The clearing that Sakura Haruno had cleaved open quickly shrank as the force of the blade disappeared, and was once again enveloped by the water.

The water kept gushing out until Kisame's seemingly inexhaustible Chakra began to run out, and only then was the Ninjutsu finally completed. At that moment, a giant water sphere, hundreds of meters in diameter, appeared on the ground!

The sheer volume of water in this Water Release can only be described as "terrifying"!

Sakura Haruno raised an eyebrow and floated slowly into the air with the current; opposite her, Kisame jumped up, panting.

"Hoo, hoo!" He grinned maliciously, the large sword in his hand seemingly melting away and slowly merging into his body. "So, how are you going to take Samehada from me now?"

As Samehada began to wriggle into his body, Kisame and Samehada merged into a bizarre creature! It had fish fins, gills, and a fish spine, as well as human limbs and Kisame's face... Its half-fish, half-human appearance could probably only be described as a mermaid!

The familiar Chakra fluctuations made Sakura Haruno quickly recognize what kind of Ninjutsu it was: Combination Transformation Technique! She was the one who introduced this technique to Sasuke. However, Sasuke fused with a cat, while Kisame fused with a sword... In that case, Samehada was indeed essentially a living being.

Moreover, compared to Sasuke, who only had a few cat ears and tails on his body, Kisame's appearance changed more drastically because Samehada was stronger—he almost lost his human form! Correspondingly, Kisame's abilities were also stronger after transforming. Since Sasuke gained the agility and abilities of a cat after fusing with it, Kisame should have gained Samehada's Chakra absorption and healing abilities, as well as the characteristics of an aquatic animal.

Compared to Sasuke's somewhat immature Transformation Technique, this is truly an unfair Ninjutsu.

(I recently heard a song called "The End," and I think it's really good.)