Chapter 202: The Killing Blow Still Relies on Close Combat
Blunt strikes couldn't harm the resilient tentacles. No matter how strong the explosive power of Sakura's nin-taijutsu was, it was useless if the force couldn't land on a solid target.
Kakuzu, who had taken a Star Cannon Hammer punch head-on, was very clear on this point.
So even when he was approached by Sakura's Body Flicker, he was still fearless.
But...
Who ever made a rule that Haruno Sakura must hit people with her fists?
"Nin-taijutsu: Sword-Drawing Slash!"
The girl grabbed the giant ice horn that was deeply embedded in the ground, a horn that was completely out of proportion with her figure.
The ice horn, which was over forty meters long, made Sakura's figure seem incredibly small. The scene of her grabbing the ice horn was as ridiculous as a baby trying to wield the hundred-plus-pound Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
However, when the several-dozen-ton ice horn was wielded by the girl as if it were weightless, when the forty-meter-long ice sword was lifted by her and slashed at the enemy, the scene was no longer ridiculous, but shocking and horrifying.
Kakuzu's face changed slightly.
"Hah!" she roared!
Using the earth as a scabbard and the ice horn as a sharp sword.
Haruno Sakura had unleashed a heaven-and-earth-shattering sword-drawing slash!
If the power instantly released by Yūgao's iaijutsu was already enough to cut through iron and sever steel, approaching the limit of an ordinary human;
Then this sword-drawing slash of Haruno Sakura's was a power that only a true giant could unleash. The presence of this one slash could even cut down mountains!
WHOOSH—
The giant horn underwent a shape transformation in her hands, becoming thinner and sharper, its edge opening. The place where Sakura was holding it transformed into a hilt, with a handguard extending out.
It had turned into a giant, 40-meter-long ice blade.
It dragged a bottomless trail on the ground and, with the overwhelming momentum of a thunderbolt, it slashed towards the enemy in front of her!
Kakuzu's cloudy yellow eyes instantly shrank to a point.
"Damn it...!"
The giant blade had enveloped his entire body within its attack range!
If this slash were to land true, the entire Earth Grudge Fear would probably be cut in two!
Kakuzu's figure retreated explosively, but this was in vain. The opponent's movements were so fast, how could he possibly dodge it?
A Body Flicker immediately followed by a taijutsu attack, when used by the girl in her Sakura Rush state, was faster than the blink of an eye!
Having said so much, in fact, from the moment Haruno Sakura had used her Body Flicker to land on the ice horn to the moment she had unleashed her sword-drawing slash at Kakuzu, not even a tenth of a second had passed...
And after this instant, the cold edge of the ice sword was already approaching Kakuzu's tentacle body.
SWISH—
As a Kage-level opponent, Kakuzu's reaction speed was definitely not slow. In a single thought, countless black tentacles had already surged madly, rushing towards that giant ice sword, trying to intercept the edge of the sword-drawing slash with their own bodies.
Then, Kakuzu's remaining three masked monsters and his main body simultaneously cast the ninjutsu with the fastest hand seals,妄图 to stop the ice sword!
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter!" "Fire Style: Small Flame Bullet!" "Lightning Style: Lightning Ball!" "Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spear!"
BOOM—!
The ice sword collided head-on with Kakuzu's main body, making a deafening roar and kicking up a cloud of dust that filled the sky!
Crack, crack.
The ice sword in Sakura's hand, even if its toughness had been strengthened with chakra, was, after all, only a temporary enhancement. After being swung out with such force by the Monstrous Strength Technique, it ultimately shattered into pieces of ice slag, leaving only an empty hilt in her hand.
The dust that was obstructing their vision quickly settled, revealing Kakuzu's pathetic figure.
"You've been beaten quite badly..." Sakura said with a sneer.
Broken earth-style rock pillars, messy wind-style cutting marks, scorched black fire-style burn marks, and tree-like lightning-style electrical patterns entered her eyes.
In front of Sakura, the tentacle monster that had been several dozen meters in size was now like a plucked phoenix, with only its core part of less than a few meters left.
Most of the tentacles, because they had been used by Kakuzu to block this one blow, had already been cut in two by the ice sword and were scattered limply on the ground, covering it in a thick layer.
And the giant masked monsters that had been floating in the air just now, their sizes had also all shrunk by more than half. They were listlessly lying on Kakuzu's shoulders, one on the left and one on the right.
Yes, one on the left and one on the right. Only two were left...
Sakura saw it clearly. The masked monster that had used the lightning jutsu, in this one blow, along with its mask and the chakra source behind the mask, had been completely cut in two and had collapsed to the ground, lifeless!
And so the ground, which was already covered with the severed limbs of the tentacles, was now covered with another thick layer...
"It seems that as long as I take you and the remaining two masks down at the same time, you'll die for good, right?"
The girl's clear and cold voice said, a bone-chilling killing intent overflowing from between her lips.
Her chakra amount was already running low. The ninjutsu and the sword-drawing slash just now had both consumed a large amount of her stamina. And next, she might have to deal with that unkillable guy named Hidan...
So, I'll use taijutsu.
The opponent is also in a bad state. Therefore, just relying on taijutsu is enough. I'll save the other large-scale ninjutsu if I can!
In her two hands, she condensed two crystal-clear ice blades.
By circulating the ice nature transformation to its extreme, at an extremely low temperature, the hardness of the ice blades was already extremely high, even reaching about 8 on the Mohs scale. And after being enhanced by the Kekkei Genkai's chakra, their hardness was comparable to diamond!
Her pair of indifferent, emotionless, jade-green eyes cast an icy gaze on the listless and weak Kakuzu not far away.
I can't give him a chance to catch his breath.
"I'll finish you off now," she said, her thin lips slightly parted.
Her body leaned slightly forward, her feet stomping on the ground, preparing to exert force—
But she suddenly stepped on empty air!
Kakuzu's black tentacles, at some point, had already traveled underground to her position, corroding the ground beneath her and crazily winding up from her feet!
Unexpected... to be forced into such a state, and Kakuzu can still spare the effort to launch a sneak attack on me!
Did he send his tentacles into the ground the moment I appeared with my Body Flicker, planning to ambush me from below?
Haruno Sakura immediately realized this. The combat awareness of a Kage-level powerhouse is truly not to be underestimated...
And at this time, the tough and long tentacle lines had quickly extended from under Sakura's feet, reaching up from her ankles, winding around her calves, thighs, around her hips, and wrapping around her waist and chest—her chest suddenly grew a size larger—and her arms. The madly growing black, thin lines soon bound the girl's body tightly!
"Hmph..." the girl let out a snort of contempt. "A petty trick!"
"Ice Style: Frost Armor!"
Before her hands were bound by the tentacles, Sakura had already completed the hand seals and had cast the ninjutsu.
After communicating with Sasuke that day, she had had a sudden inspiration and had further upgraded and changed the ice armor, and had thus obtained this current ninjutsu.
In pursuit of convenience and flexibility of movement, she had further reduced the protective area of the ice armor, turning it into ice armor that only formed on her vital points. This was not enough to rescue her from the tentacles' binding.
However, the ice nature transformation that came with the Frost Armor was the key... That extreme cold, transmitted to the tentacles through the armor, in less than a second, had soon frozen the tentacles stiff, hard, and even brittle. The tentacles, which were originally unbelievably tough and had been squeezing her skin painfully, now shattered all over the ground with just a light touch.
Crack! At an extremely low temperature, even the originally extremely tough tentacles had become as hard and brittle as glass!
This move of Kakuzu's was just a waste of his few remaining tentacles.
This move, apart from disgusting her, making her feel a chill in her heart, a wave of discomfort, and goosebumps all over, was completely meaningless...
Has he exhausted his tricks?
He didn't even take the opportunity to attack me? she thought to herself, and at the same time, raised her head and looked intently in Kakuzu's direction.
But she found that Kakuzu's figure...
had already disappeared!