Chapter 63: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals
The long, black-haired girl's fair face was flushed, and she was dripping with sweat.
The continuous high-speed attacks were an immense drain on her stamina and spirit. The crystal-clear senbon was still held firmly in her hand, but her arm was growing weak.
After a bitter fight, a winner had still not been decided.
This was a very rare thing for Haku.
Haku's ultimate Ice Style technique, the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, had always been invincible whenever she used it in the past.
Even when she had faced Sasuke and Naruto two-on-one, if she hadn't held back, Haku could have completely defeated them both within a few moves.
But at this moment, it was returning no results.
Because the one she was fighting was an equally powerful ninja who had also mastered Ice Style.
Beneath the short pink hair was a delicate face without any makeup. Hidden within her refined features was a dignified and heroic spirit.
The girl's delicate and beautiful demeanor and the youth's graceful confidence, two completely different auras, were perfectly fused in her. This contradictory temperament made her seem to have a unique attraction.
Haku had a feeling that the more one spent time with her, the more one would be unconsciously drawn to her.
She was Haku's only friend at present, Haruno Sakura.
The method Sakura used to counter Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals was the same ninjutsu.
Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals VS Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!
On the training ground, the two of them used the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals at the same time!
Ting, ting!
The crisp clashing sounds of ice senbon and ice kunai first appeared sporadically. Then, they became more and more rapid, more and more dense, until they merged into a continuous sound.
The beautiful, black-haired girl's body was light, her figure turning and folding like an elk, nimble and agile.
The heroic, pink-haired girl was swift and fierce, her movements like a cheetah, fluid and full of a different kind of beauty.
Within the nested Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, the two figures rising and falling at high speed gradually became so fast that only a pink and a black afterimage remained.
In the small open space surrounded by the ninjutsu, they constantly collided, separated, merged into a mirror, and then in the next instant, strangely emerged from another mirror, once again colliding, separating, merging into a mirror...
The battle had entered a chapter of ultra-high-speed combat from the very beginning!
Even Haku and Sakura began to feel that their reaction speeds could not keep up with the rhythm of the battle. The constantly accelerating high-speed duel made the two's stamina drop rapidly, their spirits stretched tighter and tighter.
In an instant, the pink-haired girl's stamina, being slightly inferior, was the first to give out. With a light leap backward, she withdrew from the battle.
She shrugged, admitting defeat.
Haku, who had won the duel, felt not the slightest bit of pride. Her gentle personality, which disliked conflict, made it difficult for her to produce such an emotion.
Besides that, Haku didn't feel there was anything to be proud of in winning a duel by relying on being three years older and having more stamina.
The habits left from her time wandering with Zabuza made Haku subconsciously compare their strengths.
On the surface, in this duel, Sakura's strength was slightly inferior to hers. But both of them had held back many immensely powerful moves that were not suitable for use in a spar.
The Super Water Gun Jutsu, which had struck after the enemy had moved and left a deep impression on Haku.
The ultrapure water, whose physical defense was extremely high, which Haku had personally tested.
These two moves from Sakura's core ninjutsu system—Haku could not think of a way to deal with them.
The consumption of the Water Gun Jutsu was not high for an Ice Style user; it wouldn't be a big problem for Sakura to use it eight or ten times in a battle. But Haku did not have the confidence to dodge it every time.
A ninjutsu like that, a single hit would result in the loss of combat ability.
Under such a deterrent, most of Haku's tactics seemed to have too many openings and could not be executed.
If it were a life-or-death battle, the only method Haku could think of was to bombard her with ultimate moves from the very beginning, until she had exhausted her chakra and had to surrender obediently.
This was the deduction she made based on her current strength.
Although she disliked conflict, this kind girl would work hard at her training in order to protect the people important to her!
In fact, Haku's strength was a notch higher than it had been in the Land of Waves.
Before the Land of Waves mission, although Haku was exceptionally talented, she had not learned much while following Zabuza.
Although Zabuza was strong, he was slightly clumsy when it came to explaining theories and was not a good teacher.
Following him, the training Haku received was nothing more than practice in actual combat. The rest was left to Haku to comprehend on her own.
Compared to the ninja who came out of the academy, Haku was roughly self-taught.
After joining Konoha, Haku received a formal ninja education for the first time. The stubborn rock that had long restricted her progress was thoroughly removed.
A pearl covered in dust, once polished, would shine brilliantly, radiating a bright light.
Before this, she wasn't even very good at gathering chakra in battle to burst with speed and power. In fact, Zabuza had wanted to teach her properly, but his teaching method of just yelling "follow what I do" was truly incapable of teaching a student well.
To have been poisoned by Zabuza's crude teaching methods for so many years and still be able to grow to her current level showed how astonishing her talent was.
These two or three months of isolation, for Haku, were also an important process of studying at ease, systematically reorganizing everything she had learned in the past, consolidating her foundation, and filling in the gaps.
After this, Haku's strength had progressed by leaps and bounds, and she gradually showed the potential to soar.
The path to the Jonin level had already opened up for her. It was no longer a pipe dream for her to grow into a ninja of Zabuza's or Kakashi's level.
But compared to the still slightly inexperienced young girl opposite her, this was nothing.
"To have learned my ultimate technique, Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, in just three weeks. As expected of you, Sakura!"
Haku said with a smile.
Three weeks, just over twenty days, and Sakura had mastered this ninjutsu from scratch. Although her application of it was still slightly unskilled, this exaggerated learning speed was enough to shock Haku, who was witnessing her talent for the first time.
However, Sakura was still not satisfied.
Compared to the speed at which she learned Water Style, her progress with Ice Style could only be considered a turtle's pace.
However, unless she spent another six years practicing Ice Style day and night, she couldn't hope to learn it the way she had learned Water Style.
The learning speed was secondary. What Sakura was truly dissatisfied with was that the effect of this long-awaited ninjutsu was a bit different from her imagination.
In her original idea, this move could make up for her difficulty in dealing with high-speed ninja.
This idea had also come up after watching the match between Lee and Gaara. After opening five gates, Lee was practically dominating Gaara. Even the so-called absolute defense of the sand seemed so weak and powerless under Lee's absolute speed and strength.
Although Sakura was not afraid of a three-minute superman like Lee, this also reminded her that a ninjutsu-type ninja could easily fall into a passive position when facing an extremely high-speed ninja.
And the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, she had thought, could increase her speed and control the rhythm of the battle.
By creating special Ice Style demonic mirrors, the caster could hide within the mirrors and move at high speed between them, waiting for an opportunity to attack the enemy. This was a space-time ninjutsu. Of course, even the most basic Substitution Jutsu was a space-time ninjutsu, so this title was not actually that impressive.
However, after truly mastering it, Sakura found that she couldn't quite handle this jutsu.
Just now, in the high-speed battle with Haku, they had exchanged dozens of blows in just a few short seconds! In a short while, she had exhausted her stamina and was defeated.
The rhythm was too fast.
With this kind of fighting style, before Sakura could defeat her opponent, she herself would be dragged down. Fighting speed with speed was most unwise.
To integrate this move into her ninjutsu system, she would probably have to make major modifications.
She just didn't know if she would have enough time before the third round of the Chunin Exams!
Sakura's training had hit a snag, and far away from Konoha, in a certain part of the Land of Fire—
Sakura's opponent in the first match, Naruto, had also hit a bottleneck. He even had to undergo a training that risked his life!
Two weeks ago.
Relying on his understanding of Tsunade, Jiraiya didn't spend much time finding her.
Tanzaku Town, at an izakaya.
At a small table, cups of clear sake were in disarray.
A blonde woman with a mature aura and a young, black-haired girl were sitting at the small table.
"Hmph, long time no see... what are you doing here?"
The blonde beauty suddenly stopped her chopsticks and spoke calmly with her back to the door.
A white-haired man pushed the door open and sat down directly opposite Tsunade.
"Long time no see, Tsunade!" the white-haired man said solemnly. "Let's skip the pleasantries, I'll get straight to the point! Tsunade, the village needs you now. Come back to Konoha!"
The robust, middle-aged man before her, with his serious expression, though his features were plain, possessed the heroic air of an extraordinary hero!
Tsunade sneered.
"Hmph, Konoha... what's wrong with it now, Jiraiya?"
"Orochimaru has returned to Konoha. His intentions are not good. I'm worried he wants to overthrow Konoha!" Jiraiya said faintly, dropping news that would be enough to give countless people sleepless nights. "Right now, the Chunin Exams are being held in Konoha. We can't be careless. The old man has to keep an eye on the exam grounds, and I have to watch from the outside... so Konoha is very short on manpower right now."
"Especially the old man. It's very likely he'll have to face Orochimaru or even the Kazekage. He's already so old, and he's still trying to be strong. He could die if he's not careful! So, I hope you can be by the old man's side at that time and lend a hand!"
"How about it, Tsunade?"
Tsunade's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She closed her beautiful eyes tightly, her heart as if in a fierce struggle.
A long silence.
Finally, she parted her red lips.
"Konoha has nothing to do with me anymore... I'm sorry, Jiraiya, this request—"
The blonde beauty, Tsunade, looked at Jiraiya indifferently and said coldly.
"I refuse!"
Jiraiya stared intently into her eyes for a long time, saying nothing.
"Konoha really needs you... Tsunade! I'll come find you again! Please reconsider!"
After speaking, Jiraiya stood up gracefully and pushed the door to leave.
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