Chapter 67: Sakura VS Naruto
The Naruto that had collapsed on the ground dispersed into a cloud of light smoke.
Swish, swish, swish!
Dozens of Naruto's figures charged out from all directions, shooting out the kunai and shuriken in their hands!
Faced with the rain of ninja tools that covered the surroundings, Sakura had no way to dodge. She actually stood in place and was simultaneously pierced by over a hundred sharp weapons!
Blood gushed out like a fountain from the wounds on Sakura's head, body, and limbs, instantly dyeing her into a dark red, bloody figure!
Just as the audience on the viewing stands was in an uproar over the sudden turn of the battle and the girl's serious injuries...
Splash—
Sakura's heavily injured body turned into a pool of clear water and scattered on the ground!
"Clones again!" "They're so fast!" "They both fooled each other with clones once!"...
A heated wave of astonished discussion immediately swept through the viewing stands.
"When did they turn into clones? Even my Byakugan couldn't see it!" Hanabi said in surprise.
"When the proctor announced the start of the match, Naruto secretly used the Shadow Clone Jutsu. At the last moment before Sakura's attack hit him, he used the Substitution Jutsu to swap his position with the shadow clone, making Sakura's surprise attack fail! And Sakura, the moment she discovered she had hit a shadow clone, immediately created a water clone from a distance and used the Water Substitution to dodge Naruto's ninja tool attack!"
On the waiting platform, facing the same question, Hinata's Byakugan flared as she explained solemnly.
Beside her, Shikamaru leaned on the railing, watching the two facing off below, and said softly, "The most terrifying part is the timing, speed, and concealment of their jutsu!"
Against such an opponent, even if you come up with a countermeasure, it will be a huge headache! Shikamaru thought secretly.
Shikamaru's casual remark made everyone present nod in agreement.
When the proctor announced the start of the match, Sakura had instantly rushed in front of Naruto, her speed already stunning. But Naruto was not inferior in the slightest. In that short span of a few tenths of a second, he had used both the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Substitution Jutsu in succession. No wonder even Sakura had to praise Naruto for not being slow!
And the latter, being able to continuously use the Water Clone and Substitution Jutsu without hand seals, her familiarity with ninjutsu was even more praiseworthy. If Hinata hadn't been scanning the entire field with her Byakugan the whole time, she probably would have been completely baffled as well.
Hinata's heart was filled with awe.
The Substitution Jutsu was the most basic of ninjutsu, but also extremely difficult to use well. In principle, as long as one could infuse their own chakra into an object of a similar size, they could use the Substitution Jutsu to swap their position with the object.
But in actual combat, it was extremely difficult to grasp the timing and use this ninjutsu at the last moment before an enemy's attack landed. In a ninja battle where every second counts, it would be too late to think about infusing chakra into a distant object when an attack was already right in front of you. Therefore, the object of substitution was usually a pre-prepared substitution log that had been infused with chakra beforehand, or one's own clone.
And this ninjutsu, which Naruto and Sakura had grasped to its absolute limit—if she, with her Byakugan activated, were on the floor below, she would probably have been fooled by the clones as well, unable to react in time!
"The probing is over!"
Sakura smiled and walked out from a distance.
Indeed, the brilliant duel just now, the ruthless attacks, were just a small probe for the two of them.
Thanks to Jiraiya's guidance, the two of them, especially Naruto, had made great progress.
Their understanding and application of ninjutsu had also risen to another level. They no longer one-sidedly pursued the power of a jutsu, but paid more attention to its reasonable use. With just two simple ninjutsu, they could create a stunning combination. This was already the performance of a mature ninja.
Naruto smiled faintly.
Sakura's surprise attack just now was much faster than before. If he hadn't trained with Jiraiya for a month, he might not have been able to dodge that blow.
The current Naruto was very confident. "Then let me show you the results of my recent training! Sakura-chan, you'd better be careful!"
"Ninja Art: Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
A vast army of shadow clones once again appeared on the arena floor!
That exaggerated number made the audience on the viewing stands let out a collective, suppressed gasp.
"Multi-Shadow Clones again?" Sakura's delicate brows furrowed slightly, her smile gone.
Naruto's move always gave her the feeling of a nouveau riche showing off his wealth... showing off his large amount of chakra. But Naruto relied on his large numbers to bully you. He had a high amount of chakra and could afford to play this move, and the effect was good. It seemed... there was nothing Sakura could do about him.
The girl pouted, annoyed.
"Water Style: Super Water Gun Jutsu!"
Without forming hand seals, she directly condensed a ball of water in her hand. With a point of her fair hand, a transparent water line shot out along her slender fingertips.
Although the power of this water cutter was greatly reduced due to the excessive demand for activation speed, losing its sharpness that could cut through iron like mud, it was more than enough to reap the fragile shadow clones.
Naruto's shadow clones fell in rows, turning into clouds of light smoke. However, more shadow clones jumped up and scattered in mid-air, robbing Sakura of the chance to clear the field.
The number of clones eliminated by the water cutter was but a drop in the bucket.
Seeing the shadow clones that covered the sky and the earth already rushing in front of her, it was too late to deal with them with the Water Gun Jutsu. Haruno Sakura decisively stopped her water cutter.
With a powerful stomp of her feet, she leaped up, dodging the pounce of two clones.
A pale blue ultrapure water formed a stepping stone, floating in the air like a staircase suspended in mid-air. She lightly stepped on this blue-green staircase. The water mass steadily supported her foot, allowing her to stand high in the air, looking down on Naruto's clones below.
Using chakra to control the ultrapure water, and then using the ultrapure water to support herself.
In the world of Earth, lifting oneself into the air was a complete paradox. But in the world of Naruto, with the help of chakra, imitating Gaara's flight, the girl had thus simply realized the human dream of flying.
If this could be called flying.
Perhaps describing it as levitation would be more appropriate?
The girl complained silently in her heart.
In any case, to be able to float in the air, against an enemy who couldn't fly, she could be considered to have absolute air superiority! Naruto's imposing army of clones had thus pounced on nothing and could only look up at Sakura in the sky with great helplessness.
"That's so cunning, to actually run up so high in the sky!"
Naruto, or one of his shadow clones, wrinkled his nose and pointed up at Sakura, saying resentfully.
But he was met with a snort from the girl who was looking down at him with her nostrils.
"This is part of the match. If you don't like it, don't fight!"
Although she said that, the current development of the battle also gave her a bit of a headache.
She had thought that the Water Gun Jutsu could clear out most of the shadow clones, but the result was very unsatisfactory. Naruto had very cleverly chosen to continuously create shadow clones instead of summoning them all at once. This tactic of sending in reinforcements was very effective in preventing the shadow clones from being eliminated in large numbers by a large-scale clearing ninjutsu.
More importantly, compared to the clone battle in their spar a month ago, Naruto's current shadow clones were of higher quality and had stronger mobility. Sakura's Water Gun Jutsu had been activated as quickly as possible, but Naruto was a step faster, closing in on her before she could completely clear the field, forcing the ninjutsu confrontation into a form of close-quarters combat.
The experience of almost being drowned by Orochimaru's sea of snakes in the Forest of Death a month ago was still fresh in Sakura's mind. She didn't even think about it and just jumped into the air, avoiding a battle of attrition.
She wasn't so foolish as to compete with a Jinchuriki in chakra reserves.
However, absolute air superiority did not mean an absolute advantage.
At the girl's current height, Naruto was only at a loss for a moment. He would soon be able to think of a way to attack. Floating in the air with no cover made her a target for ninjutsu. Even the shadow clones could threaten her by relying on relay jumps.
Unless she rose to a higher altitude, she could indeed dodge most of Naruto's attacks, but then it would also be difficult for Sakura to launch an effective attack on him.
Seeing the shadow clones below gathering more and more, Sakura did not waste time. She immediately took out a sealing scroll from her backpack and opened it.
Stored inside the scroll was simple, ordinary water.
A huge amount of clear water!
Just free-falling from this height was already very damaging, let alone Sakura turning it into a ninjutsu to attack Naruto!
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Sakura quickly formed the hand seals. With the circulation of her chakra, the large amount of clear water extracted from the scroll condensed into a lifelike giant dragon, slowly swaying its massive body, suspended high in the air!
The hundred-meter-long water dragon, its torso so thick it would take several people to encircle, slowly circled in the sky, dancing gracefully, covering most of the sky!
The girl, beneath the giant dragon, was so slender and small in comparison.
The sun shone through the giant dragon's transparent body, and the dazzling sunlight also became dim and weak.
It actually gave people the illusion of blotting out the sun and sky.
The presence was majestic, soul-stirring!
The audience on the viewing stands couldn't help but let out a continuous and suppressed gasp of surprise!
As if they were worried that this powerful ninjutsu would affect them!
When the clear water in the scroll had completely condensed into a giant dragon, Haruno Sakura unhesitatingly swung down her raised arm—
The water dragon flying in the air, with the momentum of a tsunami, rushed towards Naruto with destructive force!
Naruto's face changed slightly.
The last time they sparred, his wind jutsu had slightly suppressed the girl's water jutsu. But this time, the result was completely different!
Without the process of drawing water from the ground to a high altitude, Sakura's ninjutsu activation speed was a step faster. When the water dragon crashed down, most of Naruto's shadow clones actually didn't have time to use their wind jutsu! The shadow clones sparsely released a few wind jutsu, and before they could even gather into a group, the girl's water jutsu had already reached the city gates!
Damn it, it's too late! Naruto lamented in his heart.
BOOM—!
The giant dragon descended from the sky, crashing onto the ground with a world-shaking sound!
SPLASH—!
The water current roared and poured down from the sky. Naruto's resistance seemed so fragile in front of this overwhelming offensive. The surging water current mercilessly eliminated all the shadow clones, turning them into clouds of light smoke. Even the flat and thick ground was blasted into a large crater by the water dragon!
The water dragon crashed to the ground. The raging flood swept across the entire arena, overturning a few small trees, destroying the forest, and turning the field into a ravaged swamp.
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