Spore Technique

A silver streak traced a graceful arc. After slaying the White Zetsu and Kisame in front of her, Sakura Haruno didn't pause. With a flick of her right hand, she drew a large arc in the air, catching up with the group of White Zetsu who had missed their attack and were left behind by Sakura.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The soft water transformed into an indestructible weapon, carrying the Ice Release Girl's fierce killing intent, and slashed mercilessly.

With a flick of her slender fingers, silver threads slashed across the air, their sharp cutting power leaving the White Zetsu defenseless. They crumbled almost instantly upon contact. As the silver threads passed, heads and countless severed limbs fell silently, and blood gushed forth like a fountain!

The densely packed White Zetsu were quickly wiped out by the girl's ruthless attacks. The few White Zetsu that had escaped by hiding in the ground earlier were insignificant and could not cause any trouble.

Looking at the mangled remains of the White Zetsu lying on the ground, Sakura Haruno felt no joy at the end of the battle; instead, doubts arose within her.

"They're not Shadow Clone; they're all real, physical bodies... and there are so many of them, they seem to be just cannon fodder for Akatsuki... Could they really be clones?"

"Could Orochimaru's cloning technique be passed down through generations?"

While pondering, Sakura Haruno suddenly felt itchy all over her body, and a strange change occurred!

"Hiss--"

With a few soft sounds, several white, soft lumps of flesh suddenly appeared on the itchy spots on the girl's arms, shoulders, and chest. They moved as if alive, and then rapidly swelled up like inflating balloons!

"Spore Technique!"

The White Zetsu's counterattack finally arrived, albeit belatedly.

"Their Chakra is being absorbed by them..." Sakura Haruno felt a chill run down her spine as she sensed the strange changes in her body.

"What a careless move! You actually got parasitized by spores!" A White Zetsu clinging to life, emerged from the ground and sneered mockingly.

The fleshy mass absorbed the pure and vibrant Chakra from Sakura Haruno's body, growing extremely fast. It quickly spread throughout her entire body, covering most of the girl's body, and her slender figure instantly became bloated and swollen.

Then, a new change occurred on the mass of flesh: its surface writhed, and a new White Zetsu grew out of it, its head, with only half a face, looking particularly disgusting; and unseen beneath, roots sprouted from the mass, growing downwards and spreading out, the tips of the roots eagerly trying to pierce Sakura's skin and penetrate her flesh, attempting to extract more Chakra!

"Heh heh..." White Zetsu Sakura Haruno chuckled, "The spores will insert roots into your body, absorbing your stamina and Chakra as nutrients to continue growing until they completely drain you dry...!"

The girl's expression did not turn panicked as White Zetsu had expected. Instead, she remained calm, so composed that she seemed almost disdainful of reacting to such a clumsy trick.

"Is that all?" Sakura Haruno looked at him and asked calmly.

White Zetsu was suddenly filled with suspicion. Sakura's expression was far too calm, as if... as if their Ninjutsu were nothing more than crude and inferior tricks in her eyes!

Then he heard Sakura's cold voice--

"You like absorbing Chakra, don't you?" she said, a murderous intent swirling between her lips and in her words, and the fluctuations in her Chakra became dangerous.

"Then let's take as many as we want!"

Ice Release Chakra spread from the girl's body, the white mist carrying a strong chill, instantly freezing the flesh on her body into stiff, lifeless pieces. Sakura Haruno casually tore them off piece by piece!

White Zetsu's Ninjutsu is notoriously unpredictable and difficult to defend against. It would be virtually invincible against ordinary Genin and Chunin... but for Sakura Haruno in her current state, a jutsu of this strength is merely "somewhat interesting." Compared to Kisame and Samehada, it's hardly even a problem!

If Sakura Haruno hadn't wanted to experience the White Zetsu's techniques to probe for information about this mysterious creature, she might have easily destroyed the Spore Technique the moment it was used!

"Hmph... meaningless childish tricks."

"As expected... this level of technique simply cannot work on you." The flippant smile on White Zetsu's face vanished, but he didn't seem disappointed, as if he had expected it. "But... is it really meaningless?"

Yes, he never expected such a technique to defeat Sakura Haruno, who was even stronger than Kisame. This futile attempt was merely to attract her attention and buy her time!

Sakura Haruno was still in a state of high Cherry Blossom Impact, her thoughts racing, and she immediately realized the White Zetsu's true purpose. She turned her head sharply and caught the last moment of the White Zetsu quietly taking the remains of Kisame and Samehada underground.

Smack

The Samehada was pulled into the mud by the strange being that was half human and half plant, making a muffled sound as it sank underwater.

"Wait! Don't even think about running away!" The girl's eyebrows shot up, and Samehada angrily. Not only was Samehada her trophy, but the ninja's corpse was also an important source of intelligence. She couldn't let the White Zetsu steal it away like this!

The azure Chakra light around her flowed like water, and she was about to stop the White Zetsu when a sharp, piercing shriek from afar abruptly interrupted her actions.

Sakura Haruno's heart stirred, and she looked up to see a streak of orange-red light shooting up into the sky in the distance. The orange light was dazzling and drew a brilliant straight line before disappearing abruptly.

"That is..."

Sakura sensed the familiar Chakra fluctuations from Sasuke. How could she not recognize this move! It was the very technique she had personally taught Sasuke—

Super Electromagnetic Cannon!

Even at this distance, the fluctuations in Chakra were still clearly visible, demonstrating just how much Chakra Sasuke had concentrated in this attack...

Sakura Haruno is not a sensory-type ninja. She can forcibly sense other people's Chakra at close range by relying on her powerful mental strength, but this brute-force approach is not very effective at a distance; so even though she was observing intently, she couldn't immediately figure out how far the battle had progressed.

The only thing she could sense was that Uchiha Itachi's unique and immense Chakra perception hadn't diminished significantly...

Did the Railgun miss, or was it deflected?

On the contrary, Sasuke exhausted all his strength in one go, Chakra dimmed instantly in his senses.

Even without sensing it, it was obvious that Sasuke's all-out attack had failed, and he was immediately in a very dangerous situation.

Sakura Haruno's relaxed expression immediately turned serious.

She turned around and saw that the ground, which had been littered with severed limbs and broken swords, had been cleaned up by the remaining White Zetsu in the blink of an eye, leaving Sakura with no clues to gather information.

"Tch." Sakura gave a muffled hum. Faced with two options that required an immediate decision—intercepting the White Zetsu underground or supporting Sasuke— she chose the latter without hesitation.

I don't have time to get entangled with this kind of character.

"I'll let you off this time..." the girl said, frowning.

Turning my head to look into the distance.

"Hold on, I'll be there soon."

(I don't have time to write more today, so this is all I can write for now. Perfect timing to end the chapter here, lol~)