Chapter 200: Ice Style's Zerg Rush
The body of Kakuzu, which had been cut in two, sprouted countless black tentacles from its cross-section.
They entangled, intertwined, and then merged into one.
The young girl was practically dumbfounded as she watched Kakuzu return to his original state with the writhing of his black tentacles.
It seemed that the human form his body displayed was just a layer of disguise, and the real Kakuzu was actually this swarm of long, black threads.
"An immortal body?" Sakura muttered to herself. "But he was clearly cut in half!"
What a headache. How am I supposed to deal with an opponent like this?
Could it be that after stepping into the "Kage" level, all the opponents I meet will be like this?
And opposite Sakura, the chakra on Kakuzu's restored body continued to surge, and a new change occurred!
The girl's brow furrowed tightly as she watched this tentacle monster finally reveal its true face:
Countless black tentacles emerged from behind Kakuzu, flying and dancing wildly in the air. The vast majority of them condensed into four humanoid, tentacled monsters wearing strange masks.
No, it should be three... The fourth one's mask had been cut in half, and just as it had condensed, it collapsed to the ground.
So the Wind Blade Raging Stream did have an effect? Sakura wondered.
"Your ninjutsu is quite powerful. I spent a long time collecting that Water Style heart! But it doesn't matter. This heart of yours is even more perfect... I can't wait to open your chest and take it out!" Kakuzu said, his words chilling to the bone. "Now, it's my turn to attack!"
Astonishing chakra condensed in the black tentacles. The two strange masks on Kakuzu's shoulders suddenly opened their mouths and simultaneously released a terrifyingly powerful ninjutsu!
"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!"
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
The fire took advantage of the wind, and the wind aided the fire's might, instantly starting a prairie fire.
In ninjutsu, there is a concept called Compound Ninjutsu. It's not about mixing two affinities like a Kekkei Genkai, but about releasing two ninjutsu of different affinities at the same time, with one assisting the other, thereby erupting with a power several times stronger than the original ninjutsu!
The combination of Wind and Fire Style that Naruto and Sasuke had once trained was this kind of compound ninjutsu.
And now, this sea of raging flames rushing towards Sakura was also a compound ninjutsu born from the Wind Style strengthening the Fire Style, after the power of Searing Migraine had skyrocketed several times over!
The highly condensed chakra fireball, the moment it landed on the ground, turned into a surging, burning flame, rushing towards the cat-faced ninja like a tsunami.
In the scorching firelight, everything along the path was burned to ashes by the sea of fire. With the help of the wind, the range of this Searing Migraine move rapidly expanded, explosively covering the land within a few hundred meters. Flowers, grass, trees, birds, beasts, and insects were all annihilated in this one blow!
Faced with such a powerful compound ninjutsu, Sakura did not release a defensive jutsu. That would just be a waste of chakra.
Her approach was to avoid its edge.
"Let's try this move..." A considerable portion of the huge amount of chakra released by her Yin Seal was instantly extracted by her.
Manipulating such an astonishing amount of chakra, Haruno Sakura felt the veins on her forehead faintly pop!
"Ice Style: Leviathan's Wrath!"
What should have been the One-Horned White Whale ice ninjutsu had been magically modified in Sakura's hands. A new shape transformation was bestowed upon this ninjutsu, causing it to undergo a world-shaking change!
Perhaps the biggest creature the creator of that ninjutsu could imagine was a whale in the sea.
However, in the splendid and colorful fantasy works of humanity in her previous life, there were countless creatures that were even larger and more terrifying!
And the giant beast that had left the deepest impression on Sakura was the Leviathan from the "Heart of the Swarm" CG of a certain game company that had "spent ten years making a game, and nine years making the CG" that she had seen in her previous life...
So after skillfully mastering the shape transformation of Ice Style, the ninjutsu One-Horned White Whale had been thoroughly sublimated in Sakura's hands—
The already enormous white whale, under the spur of the highly condensed Ice Style chakra, swelled several times out of thin air, turning into a giant creature two to three hundred meters long. Hard plate armor and ferocious bone spikes grew on its smooth back and belly. Its skull elongated and extended forward, and sharp fangs protruded from its mouth... Countless changes were rapidly occurring on the white whale, transforming this crystal whale beyond recognition.
The elegant and simple whale had, in her hands, turned into a ferocious and terrifying Leviathan soaring through the air!
"Hah—!" On the ground, the slender girl squandered a huge amount of chakra that was completely disproportionate to her figure and completed the ninjutsu. She opened her mouth slightly and let out a long breath.
"ROAR—!" In the air, the giant monster, hundreds of meters long, opened its bloody maw and let out a deep roar that was so shocking it made one's chest tighten!
And at the same time as she completed this jutsu, Kakuzu's Searing Migraine had already burned its way before her eyes.
Haruno Sakura just calmly formed the hand seals.
"Ice Style: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!"
As long as there was a large block of ice containing Sakura's chakra, she could use the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals ninjutsu. Thus, the Ice Body Flicker was activated in the blink of an eye. Using the Leviathan as a medium, Haruno Sakura instantly disappeared from the spot. In the next moment, the girl's small and slender figure was already standing on the giant beast's single horn. (Note)
The vast sea of fire only swallowed the girl's afterimage.
Then, summoned by gravity, the giant beast began to fall from a high place, diving down towards Kakuzu!
At the same time, other changes were happening to the Leviathan's body...
From the gaps and pores in its body, countless small Zerg, in the midst of the giant beast's trembling, also crawled out one after another, falling onto the ground that had been scorched hot by the fire jutsu. They converged into a dark sea of bugs composed of tentacled spine-crawlers and hydralisks, and surged towards Kakuzu from all directions like a tide!
"Take this, Kakuzu..."
The girl, standing on the giant beast's horn, facing the whistling gale of the dive, revealed a cold smile.
This was a Zerg Rush, recreated with Ice Style!
Standing on the giant beast's single horn, looking at the swarm of bugs surging towards Kakuzu on the ground like a tide, Sakura felt her heart surge with excitement.
However... thinking about it calmly.
Although Sakura appeared composed and was full of confidence in her jutsu...
Kakuzu must also have his own way of dealing with it.
In essence, the Zerg Rush of Leviathan's Wrath, compared to the ice blade forest of the Cold Frost Ice Funeral, actually consumed a similar amount of chakra.
It could be said that these two were ninjutsu of the same level.
It was just that when Sakura had constructed the Ice Style: Leviathan's Wrath, the ice shape transformation she had performed was more complex, and the biological form she had constructed was more exquisite and colorful, which was why it displayed a richer variety of attack methods and stronger combat power.
But in terms of use, both of these were just ninjutsu that Haruno Sakura used to set up the field for Ice Style—against a "Kage"-level enemy, she was not so arrogant as to think that such a ninjutsu could finish them off.
It was just because Kakuzu had used the compound ninjutsu, Fire Style: Searing Migraine, and had turned the ground into a sea of fire, that Sakura had changed her method of setting up the Ice Style field from the ground to the air.
It wasn't that the Cold Frost Ice Funeral couldn't contend with Kakuzu's Searing Migraine. No matter what, an Ice Style Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu was still stronger than a compound ninjutsu.
However, that would inevitably consume a lot of chakra, a fruitless waste.
To avoid its edge, to dodge the sea of fire on the ground, and to launch an attack from above was a more effective and chakra-saving choice.
After all, the amount of chakra stored in Sakura's Yin Seal was not much. It had not been a very long time since the end of the Sasuke rescue operation, so the amount of chakra stored was not a lot. The consecutive battles had made the Yin Seal a bit stretched.
The field-setting method of Leviathan's Wrath could certainly not cover every piece of land like the Cold Frost Ice Funeral.
But the more condensed behemoth, the more exquisite ice shape transformation, had made its power a cut above that of the Cold Frost Ice Funeral. And against an opponent like Kakuzu, who had already seen through the true face of the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, to use the Cold Frost Ice Funeral, which turned the ground into an ice surface again, might be countered by the enemy.
However, faced with a swarm of bugs attacking from the air and the ground at the same time, how would Kakuzu deal with it?
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