Chapter 204: Though Defeated, Still Victorious; Though Victorious, Still Defeated
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
Kakuzu's third ninjutsu was cast at the same time as his Earth Flow Spears. As the rock pillar rose up to stab at Sakura's feet, the wind sphere containing high-density chakra also arrived.
Before the heavy cannon of the Wind Style had even struck, the fierce wind it swept up was already blowing crushed stones and sand against Sakura's cat-face mask, making a rustling sound.
"It came so fast!" Haruno Sakura was slightly surprised.
If Sakura had been injured by the Earth Flow Spears just now, then this next jutsu from Kakuzu would probably have been her death sentence.
However, Kakuzu had also underestimated her, Haruno Sakura.
Did he think that without the Ice Body Flicker, she had no ninjutsu to defend herself?
She just needed to extend the coverage of her Frost Armor to her feet. After the ice nature transformation was brought to its extreme, the ice shoes, with a hardness comparable to diamond, were not afraid of the rock spear's thrust at all. The hardness of the granite rock edge, although not low, was completely unable to break through the defense of her ice shoes.
Looking at the oncoming heavy cannon of Wind Style, Sakura's eyes narrowed, and the Frost Armor on her body quietly expanded its coverage.
Only when Kakuzu's wind cannon had almost touched the ice armor did she lean back from the stone pillar and flip down.
Hiding behind the rock pillar.
BOOM—
Kakuzu's wind bullet and the rock pillar he had released suddenly collided!
The Earth Flow Spears, constructed by Kakuzu from the hard rocks extracted from the earth, were tough, thick, and astonishingly hard.
But similarly, his wind sphere, containing high-density wind-natured chakra, was even more outstanding in terms of killing power. With the enhancement of the extreme wind nature transformation, the wildly spinning vortex of the storm was comparable to a high explosive, capable of blasting any target it encountered into fragments!
Amidst the roaring sound, Kakuzu didn't even have time to retract his Earth Flow Spears. His wind jutsu had smashed his stone pillar to pieces, kicking up a cloud of dust that filled the sky.
"Using my Earth Style to block my Wind Style... what a cunning brat!" Kakuzu's face was gloomy. He looked coldly at the wind sphere, which had vented most of its power on the Earth Flow Spears. After shattering the rock pillar, its killing power was almost negligible.
When it scraped across Sakura's face, the residual chakra broke a few holes in the girl's mask, and then it completely lost its killing power, turning into a clear breeze that blew her pink, shoulder-length hair, making it flutter and dance in the wind.
The girl simply took off her mask, revealing her fair face, which was still unharmed after the battle so far.
The dust gradually settled. Through the hazy, turbid air, the indistinct figure of Kakuzu appeared in Sakura's vision.
She formed hand seals without hesitation.
"Water Style: Super Water Gun Jutsu!"
As a lower-tier version of the Wind Blade Raging Stream, the Water Gun Jutsu's killing power was slightly lower, but its activation speed was a notch faster, making it very suitable for use in a抢攻 or surprise attack.
The white water line cut through the air with a "hiss," sweeping across a fan-shaped area and enveloping Kakuzu's afterimage within it.
Cut in two.
SWISH—
The dust finally completely settled. Haruno Sakura finally saw clearly the result of this ninjutsu: it was just an earth clone that had been cut in two.
"You're too impatient..." Kakuzu's figure suddenly sounded from a distance in another direction. "I won't be hit by a ninjutsu like that again and again!"
Sakura subconsciously turned, wanting to launch another Super Water Gun, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and stopped this thought.
As Kakuzu had said, when the enemy was on guard, to want to use the Super Water Gun to directly one-shot a Kage-level enemy was indeed a bit naive.
Of course, she could also use small moves to probe for a couple of waves and find a suitable opportunity before delivering the killing blow...
But in that case, the battle would turn to a slow rhythm, and she would no longer be in a hurry.
The one who should be in a hurry should be Kakuzu... After all, Konoha's support troops were already on their way.
The two of them were in a brief standoff for a moment.
This was the first time Kakuzu had seen Sakura's real face. Her features were basically the same as the large-foreheaded girl in the photo he had seen in the black market intelligence, but the real Sakura was much more exquisite.
The widely experienced Kakuzu deduced from the intelligence that since she had acquired the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai after birth, then this should be a side effect of the ice chakra beginning to feed back into her body and strengthen it. If it went on for a long time, the extent of the change would probably be even greater. Next time, if he were to look for her using the photo from the black market intelligence, it might not be accurate...
He subconsciously thought about the next time he would meet Haruno Sakura, because a thought of retreat had gradually萌生 in his heart.
The set of three consecutive ninjutsu just now, although it had not caused any trauma to Sakura, and the only result was that it had broken a mask, it had also basically allowed him to see through Sakura's reality.
To use his rock spear to block his wind ball, although the tactic was exquisite, it also showed that the girl's stamina was already quite insufficient, and she needed to start nitpicking details to save chakra.
She didn't even bother to protect her mask with chakra.
And it was precisely because of this that Haruno Sakura's combat thinking had now changed.
She no longer used high-intensity ninjutsu in a wide, open manner to seize the initiative in battle and launch active attacks.
Instead, she had switched to using small, clever tactics to save stamina and stall for time. With Konoha having support troops, a delaying tactic was extremely disadvantageous for Kakuzu. He also had no confidence in being able to finish off Haruno Sakura in a short period of time. Therefore, Kakuzu began to feel that if he continued to fight, he would only fall into the predicament of being surrounded.
He should go.
Haruno Sakura must have also realized this.
The amount of chakra left in the girl was no longer enough for her to launch another confident attack.
Ninjutsu like "Leviathan's Wrath" and "Cold Frost Ice Funeral," even if she still had the strength to use them, she would not be able to follow up with a subsequent attack.
She could still use "Wind Blade Raging Stream" a few more times, but Kakuzu had already seen the power of this jutsu and was on guard against it. With Kakuzu's shameless, ground-drilling fighting style, it would probably be very difficult to achieve any results.
The gazes of the two met in mid-air.
The orange-yellow eyes were gloomy and sinister, the killing intent complex and thick.
The green eyes were cold and clean, the presence icy and sharp.
Their presences clashed in mid-air, seeming to stir up a gentle breeze.
The two, who would not back down, stood unmoving in the wind, staring intently at their opponent.
While Kakuzu was sizing up Haruno Sakura, the girl was also carefully observing this opponent of hers, who was less like a person and more like a tentacle monster.
The opponent was very strong.
To be fair, she really couldn't beat Kakuzu right now.
The fact that she had achieved some results was more or less due to the factor of Kakuzu being misled.
At full power, she had indeed suppressed Kakuzu for a time, but her chakra amount did not support her continuously activating her ultimate moves.
So after that wave of eruption, without having directly finished off the enemy, Sakura had decisively switched back to a chakra-saving fighting style.
At this point, the winner and loser were actually clear.
The girl no longer launched a strong attack, which meant she realized that her chances of winning were not high.
After switching to a strategy of attrition with small moves, consuming stamina, and stalling for time, Kakuzu's advantages in stamina and experience gradually became prominent.
The three ninjutsu he had used just now, the timing of their release, the precision of the ninjutsu, and the coherence of the moves, all showed the style of a Kage-level powerhouse.
Although the power of these three ninjutsu had been simplified in pursuit of release speed, Sakura instead felt that such ninjutsu were even more threatening to her than the moves he had released with all his might just now.
Of course, this was just an illusion she had because she temporarily did not have a medium for the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals and could not easily dodge others' big moves.
In fact, this kind of ninjutsu rhythm was the combat rhythm that Kakuzu usually used: through a continuous barrage of ninjutsu, he would make the enemy run ragged, either being toyed with to death while fleeing, or being consumed to death by various powerful ninjutsu in a clash of ninjutsu...
His five hearts, the ninjutsu he could casually use were all high-level ninjutsu of B-rank and above. Each one could take the nature transformation of that affinity to a very deep level. Even if taken out individually, he was an elite Jonin-level ninja.
In addition to the strange ability of the Earth Grudge Fear, the vast amount of chakra, and the coordination ability of being five-in-one, these factors all made Kakuzu's four clones plus his main body surpass the level of an elite Jonin, displaying a strength where 1+1+1+1+1 was far greater than 5. Even among the Kage-level, he was a very strong type.
So just now, without directly one-shotting Kakuzu, and letting him catch his breath, the situation had instantly become disadvantageous for Haruno Sakura again.
Sakura was very self-aware. The her of now was indeed not yet Kakuzu's opponent.
She could not win against him.
From a tactical point of view, adopting a delaying tactic was a slow death for Haruno Sakura.
From a battlefield perspective, the rescue troops were about to arrive. If this dragged on, it would be a self-destruction for Kakuzu.
Therefore, this battle, Haruno Sakura, though defeated, was still victorious. And Kakuzu, though victorious, was still defeated.
In the end, the one who wanted to escape was not Haruno Sakura.
A brief standoff.
Both were silently thinking about the current tactics and situation.
Next up, how to fight?
And then Haruno Sakura suddenly formed hand seals—
"Ice Style: Legion Ice Clone Jutsu!"
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