Accident and Freezing

Watching Tobi disappear into the basement of the hall, Obito remained silent for a long time, standing motionless without saying a word.

His eyes were extremely cold.

After Madara's death, Obito, who inherited his will and carried out the Eye of the Moon Plan, operated in the shadows. With his exceptional strength and the intelligence support of White Zetsu, he rarely encountered setbacks.

Uchiha Itachi was the first unexpected person to break free of his control.

Select thoughtful teenagers, who are at a crucial stage in establishing their values. If they are given appropriate "guidance" at this time, it is easy to lead them onto the path you want them to take.

From Madara to Orochimaru, many successful examples under their command have proven this point.

However, when Obito used this technique on Uchiha Itachi, Obito failed miserably. Instead of slaughtering his entire clan and falling into endless darkness as Obito had imagined, becoming a pawn he could manipulate, Itachi became an obstacle that might hinder the plan—although so far, Itachi has not shown any signs of betraying Akatsuki.

If Itachi was at least a highly capable individual personally selected by him—though being too outstanding made him difficult to control—then Sakura Haruno's rise was a truly unexpected turn of Obito Uchiha.

Hmm, an unexpected turn of events.

Conspiracies hate accidents, especially unpredictable ones. Because conspiracies are always carried out in the shadows, they gain an asymmetric advantage in intelligence and information by hiding themselves, thus using their power to manipulate the entire world. So once an accident occurs, faced with something unexpected, the conspirator's asymmetric advantage disappears, either the plan is exposed, or an intractable problem arises that was not prepared for beforehand.

In Obito's eyes, Sakura Haruno was just such an unexpected turn of events.

He couldn't believe that a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, without any inherited Kekkei Genkai, without a highly skilled teacher, without powerful Secret Technique, and without outstanding talent, could have grown to this level. Keep in mind that at thirteen, Obito was the Minato Namikaze's team, his combat strength only slightly greater than that of his classmate, the medical-nin Rin Nohara; even the once-proud Minato Namikaze was only Chunin with decent speed at that age.

Obito could understand that characters like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha possessed great strength at such a young age. Itachi was also very strong at that age. As for himself, he combined the power of Wood Release and Sharingan, and had Madara personally teach him Secret Technique. His strength only increased rapidly after he awakened the Mangekyou Mangekyō.

But Sakura Haruno... why?

This does not conform to the common sense of identifying Obito.

But if it exists, it must have a reason.

The deed is done, and shouting "This is impossible" with your eyes closed won't help. Since Sakura Haruno has clashed with Akatsuki time and again, seriously injuring, killing, and possibly even destroying one of his important pawns, Obito has no choice but to face the problem head-on.

Obito Uchiha strolled into another secret room in the cave, took out a thin document from the table, which contained portraits and information about the top ninjas from various countries in the Shinobi World. He pulled out Sakura Haruno's paper, pinned the forehead of the girl in the picture to the wall with Kunai, and casually stuck it in the wall.

Also stuck to the wall were about ten pieces of paper scattered about. The one closest to Sakura had a drawing of a handsome blond man's face, with several large, blood-red characters written below it:

Minato Namikaze.

Processed.

"You're next..."

Obito coldly. He removed his mask, his brows furrowed, his icy gaze fixed on the smiling girl on the wall for a long time, a faint killing intent emanating from him. Only when the Chakra fluctuations of battle came from the far distance Obito suddenly snap out of his reverie, bringing his thoughts back to the battle between Kisame and Sakura Haruno—

"Can you feel it all over here?"

He muttered to himself, somewhat surprised.

Compared to Obito Uchiha's slight surprise, the White Zetsu who were watching Sakura Haruno's battle with Kisame were so shocked by Sakura's technique that they were almost speechless.

The colossal water sphere created by Kisame was frozen into a solid ice ball by Sakura Haruno!

"How... how is this possible?!"

"It's all... frozen?"

Several bizarre beings, half-human and half-plant, hid on a hilltop a little distance from the center of the battlefield, cautiously peeking out to observe the fight between the two. Staring at the enormous, seemingly endless, crystalline ice sphere before them, their voices trembled with astonishment.

Just seconds ago, that icy ice ball was a shimmering water ball!

After a moment of stunned silence, the White Zetsu finally realized what had happened.

"Ice Release can actually do that...? That girl completely froze Kisame's Water Release into her Ice Release!"

"Compared to Samehada's ability to steal Chakra, Sakura Haruno's Ninjutsu is even more domineering... In that case, even the strongest Water Release would be completely ineffective against her!"

Sakura Haruno certainly hasn't reached the point where she can completely ignore the enemy's Water Release abilities.

Freezing ordinary water is vastly different from freezing water imbued with Chakra created by an enemy!

This time, the Ice Release "Frost Ice Burial," which froze the water sphere containing Kisame Chakra, was specially enhanced by her; the preparation alone took a long time!

It could even be that she prepared for a year—starting from the moment she first became aware of the power of Yin Release.

Yes, this is Ice Release incorporating Yin Release properties... That's why it has such power, able to forcibly bypass Kisame's powerful Chakra and freeze the water in the Water Release! This is something that ordinary Ice Release users could hardly do— Kisame is no pushover like Suigetsu! (From Chapter 0, Haku vs. Suigetsu)

The power of Yin Release is the power of will. It suppressed and stripped away Kisame's Chakra in the water. No, to be precise, it suppressed the spiritual part of Kisame 'Chakra, causing it to degenerate into a power without will, thus making it completely frozen by Sakura Haruno's Ice Release!

Sakura Haruno doesn't seem to have developed any new large-scale Ninjutsu over the past year, and her strength has stagnated.

But those who truly know her understand that this girl hasn't slowed down her pace of becoming stronger... it's just that her progress isn't as obvious as before.

Combat experience, the application of Ninjutsu... and so on.

In those unseen places, Sakura Haruno is quietly growing.

On the battlefield.

In ice hockey.

Ice Body Flicker Technique, Sakura Haruno appeared on the surface of the ice ball and let out a long sigh of relief.

Beneath my feet is a transparent layer of ice, through which I can see Kisame's figure, as tiny as an ant.

Kisame's Ninjutsu, Great Shark Bullet Technique, was ultimately not frozen. The giant shark created by the Ninjutsu looked like a mudfish leaping out of a pond from the girl's height, struggling desperately inside the ice ball.

The shark's sharp teeth continued to gnaw at the ice inside the sphere, absorbing the Chakra within the ice shards.

It looks like if it keeps gnawing on Sakura's ice hockey puck, it will take quite a while before it finishes eating it.

The best way to deal with Chakra absorption is to use an excessive amount of Chakra so that Samehada can't absorb it all at once!

Samehada needs time to develop.

Only...

Will Sakura Haruno give it that much time?

"So..." The girl stood on the ice hockey puck, forming Hand Seals as she spoke softly.

Even after using this level of Ninjutsu, Sakura's Chakra remained abundant and unfathomable.

"It's time to say goodbye."