"Summoning Technique!"
Danzo bit his finger and slammed his palm onto the ground.
As the summoning rune unfolded, a brown, clawed, elephant-like creature was summoned into the area.
"Baku, crush her!"
Baku opened its mouth wide, using Wind Release to suck in all objects in front of it. Soil, rocks, grass, and trees were all ruthlessly devoured by its gigantic maw.
However, the Spear of Elbaf tore through the atmosphere, piercing the Baku's body and leveling a vast stretch of forest behind the crowd.
The giant beast gushed blood, let out a painful howl, and exploded into a cloud of smoke, vanishing.
Yet, thanks to this brief delay, the Root Ninjas finally had a chance to counterattack, hurling shuriken wildly at Sakura in the distance.
"Wind Release: Rotating Shuriken!"
Danzo himself also flung a barrage of shuriken wrapped in Wind Release at Sakura.
Sensing the sharpness of the Ninjutsu, Sakura used Observation Haki to lock onto its trajectory, swaying her body to evade.
"Don't stop, keep attacking!"
Seeing this, Danzo shouted at the Root Ninjas to increase the density of their attacks.
Meanwhile, his own hand-seal speed accelerated rapidly, Chakra spiraling and gathering in his chest.
[Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!]
Danzo took a deep breath and exhaled a sharp, scythe-like gust of air from his mouth.
The air, wrapped in Wind Attribute Chakra, emitted a piercing shriek, as if it aimed to sever both Sakura's chakra and her body.
"Gather!"
Sakura formed the Ram hand seal, releasing a multitude of shadow clones that activated her Devil Fruit's Ability from different directions against the Ninjas before her.
The cold spread, frost singing triumphantly.
Amid the figures of ninjas who had no time to retreat, the low temperatures transformed the earth and surrounding trees into a snow-covered land, completely freezing them.
"Hinoe! Execute the plan!"
The rapidly retreating Danzo calls upon a Ninja called Hinoe, one of the few surviving Root's Jonin after the Shisui Incident.
At the same time, his hands swiftly formed hand seals, his chest swelling as Chakra accumulated within.
[Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!]
The rapid, short bursts of air were fired like machine gun bullets, gradually narrowing Sakura's evasion routes.
"Mind Body Switch Technique!"
Ignoring the severe cold, the Root Ninja, Hinoe, forced his way into the snowy field. At the final moment before his body was frozen solid, he used the Yamanaka Clan's signature technique, Mind Body Switch Technique, to materialize his spiritual energy into a spirit form, infiltrating Sakura's mind.
Then, he saw...
In the darkness, emerald-green eyes capable of containing the vast ocean slowly opened, looking down upon all things with disdain.
An uncontrollable, turbulent will emanated from them, shaking the entire spiritual world.
"Cough!"
Forced out of the technique connection, Hinoe coughed up a mouthful of blood. He tried to turn his head but was encased in ice.
Though he failed to seize Sakura's body, he had bought precious time for his comrades.
"Ninja Art: Sealing Binding Array!"
Seizing the brief opening, a Ninja wearing a black headband rushed to Sakura's side.
He raised his hands, and a flood of sealing talismans flew from his sleeves, attaching themselves to Sakura's body.
The symbols on the paper instantly elongated, tightly binding Sakura's limbs and torso.
"Sealing Technique? Nice try! But this level isn't enough!"
Sakura took a deep breath, her Chakra boiling and forming a layer of fiery light around her body.
Her underdeveloped chest swelled abruptly, and scorching steam erupted from the pores all over her body!
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
The next moment, steam with intense acidity erupted violently.
Like raging flames, it swept through, eroded, and corroded the sealing chakra that had penetrated her body.
The sealing talismans were corroded into green residue, falling onto the ice and quickly freezing in the cold air.
"What?!"
Danzo was shocked. He hadn't expected Sakura to possess a second Kekkei Genkai.
Though he missed the opportunity created by Hinoe, it only made his gaze grow more fervent.
Kekkei Genkai Users were extremely rare… this was common knowledge throughout the Ninja World.
However, the true value of these Ninjas lay not in their combat prowess or the brilliance of their techniques-
The key was that this special Ninjutsu, known as Kekkei Genkai, could be inherited through bloodline!
In an era where Ninja Clans still monopolized military power and wealth, using Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, Ninjutsu, and knowledge to oppose the village, Sakura's value was immense.
"Sora, can you do it one more time?"
Danzo withdrew his right arm from his robes, unraveling the layers of seals wrapped around it.
"Huff... Huff... Lord Danzo, I will not fail your expectations!"
The Root Jonin, codenamed Sora, whose stamina was rapidly draining due to the extreme cold, panted heavily as he pulled a sealing scroll from his chest.
With a forceful flick, he unfurled it, revealing densely packed intricate symbols.
"Good, you take the lead, I'll support you!"
After issuing the order, Danzo used Wind Attribute Chakra to accelerate himself, vanishing into the pristine white forest.
"Haruno Sakura, face me in direct combat!"
The ninja codenamed Sora assumed a fighting stance, draping the sealing scroll over his body.
The symbols on the scroll spread across his own skin, unveiling the combat methods of a sealing master!
He looked up at the figure standing tall on the snowfield, ready to sacrifice himself for Danzo.
Hum-!
The earth rumbled, the ice plain rapidly spreading toward him. Alongside the blizzard, a petite yet ferocious shadow arrived.
"Ice Armor!"
Sakura spread her hands, transparent ice crystals forming gauntlets over her palms and spreading across her entire body.
Her fists stirred layers of ripples, surging through the void like raging waves crashing toward Sora.
'No good, that ice layer...'
Sora's pupils contracted, his expression turning anxious. A crucial aspect of living seals was the need for the caster to directly contact the target's body.
'Now, with the opponent clad in ice armor, if this continues, both Danzo-sama and I will... fail!'
"Is this the only way?!"
The eyes of the Ninja codenamed Sora filled with resolve as Chakra rapidly gathered in his abdomen.
He allowed Sakura's fist to strike him, coughing up a mouthful of blood, then unleashed his Chakra violently in all directions.
"Secret Technique: Reverse Five Elements Seal!"
'Danzo-sama, this is all I can do for you!'
Boom!!!
In the earth-shattering explosion, the seal that should have been constructed following the order of the five elements was brutally reversed by the Chakra.
The imbalance and conflict of various elements, under the chain reaction of the reversed five elements, caused an unprecedented explosion.
"Cough!"
Sakura, with her arms crossed protecting her chest, emerged from the flames and thick smoke. Cracks spread across the ice layer on her face before finally shattering completely.
"Choosing to sacrifice yourself... what a cheater."
Behind her, from the void, a figure suddenly appeared and struck ruthlessly.
"Got you!"
Danzo completely ignored his pale, withered right arm being corroded by Sakura's Boil Release, directly gripping her neck.
"Self-Cursing Sealing!"
Band-like patterns spread across Sakura's entire body, completely sealing all her movements.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, Hiruzen, who had been tracking the massive explosion caused by Sora, arrived on the scene.
"Stop, Danzo!"
Hiruzen's reprimand echoed from the distant forest, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio behind him also showing grim expressions.
Danzo paid no heed to his old friend's roar. He eagerly pulled away the bandage over his left eye, revealing a Sharingan with four-pointed shuriken pattern.
The scarlet pupil reflected Sakura's figure… the strongest genius of the new generation was about to fall into his grasp.
"Too late, Hiruzen. This time, victory is mine!"