Chapter 133: Buried Alive
BOOM——!!!
Accompanied by a thunderous roar and towering flames, the "Super Flash Brilliant Wind Dragon Flame Heaven Whirlpool Roaring Formation" struck solidly at Kakashi's original position.
The violent fire tornado raged and devoured, turning that area into scorching heat. The rising heated air waves even made Sakura in the distance feel her skin burning.
"Waaah! Wait, wait! You killed Kakashi-sensei!"
Sakura had originally been immersed in shock that her teammates could unleash such a destructive attack, involuntarily feeling inferior and defeated.
But when she saw that Kakashi neither dodged nor avoided, being completely swallowed by that terrifying fire tornado, her shock instantly turned to horror as she couldn't help but scream out.
"Sakura!" Naruto didn't turn his head, his gaze still fixed on the gradually dispersing smoke and flames. "You're really underestimating a Jonin's strength. How could Kakashi-sensei be taken down so easily?"
His tone carried a hint of helplessness, mentally complaining about how people in this world—only one generation removed from the Warring States period—seemed to have no clear concept of truly powerful ninja abilities.
Sure enough, when the flames and smoke gradually cleared, revealing the devastated scene, thick earthen walls had risen around Kakashi's previous position, forming a solid defensive barrier. More conspicuously, each wall's front face was clearly carved with a lifelike dog head sculpture.
However, these earth walls had now been blackened by the high-temperature flames, their surfaces covered with spider web-like cracks. They had obviously endured tremendous impact but ultimately succeeded in defending.
"Is that an earth-style jutsu?"
Satsuki said in a grave tone. As expected, a Jonin wasn't so easily defeated.
However, looking at those earth walls that didn't forget to maintain personal style even during emergency defense, Naruto couldn't help but mentally complain again. There it is... clearly not having particularly abundant chakra, yet still insisting on adding these dog head designs when using Earth-Style Wall...
Satsuki kept her focus locked on those cracked earth walls with dog head reliefs, trying to catch any movement through the gradually dispersing smoke and dust.
However, Naruto was first to sense extremely subtle but unusually rapid chakra fluctuations coming from the soil beneath their feet.
"Run!"
Without any hesitation, in the instant Naruto issued his warning in the most urgent voice, he had already pushed off with his feet, his entire body leaping sharply toward the side and rear.
Almost at the same moment Naruto's voice rang out, though Satsuki couldn't directly sense the underground anomaly, her unconditional trust in Naruto made her body instinctively follow his guidance before her brain could even think, similarly dodging swiftly to the other side.
Both their reaction speeds were astonishingly fast, evacuating their original positions almost simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Sakura on the other side, upon hearing Naruto's sudden warning, first froze for a moment. Just as she panicked and tried to imitate her companions by jumping away during that instant of hesitation—it was already too late.
A hand burst through the soil beneath her feet without warning, firmly grasping her ankle. The cold touch and powerful grip scared Sakura into letting out a short shriek.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!"
The voice came from underground. Immediately after, an irresistible tremendous force violently dragged Sakura downward!
"Waaaah——!"
Accompanied by terrified screams, Sakura felt the world spinning as her body was yanked wholesale beneath the solid ground.
In just the blink of an eye, all struggles and cries were buried by earth. When she recovered from the violent shock, she was horrified to discover that aside from her head still exposed outside, her entire body was buried deep in the ground.
Kakashi was leisurely crouched in front of her, his exposed eye carrying a hint of scrutiny.
"In battle, lacking clear understanding of one's own strength, and even freezing up when the leader issues an emergency warning..."
Kakashi's tone was calm but each word struck home. "How is it? Can't move at all now, right? This is the price of showing an opening."
"How... how could this..." Sakura stammered in shock and shame, murmuring incredulously, "Kakashi-sensei was clearly still over there being protected by earth walls!"
"Using earth techniques for movement and surprise attacks isn't difficult for a qualified Jonin."
Kakashi explained flatly, though his gaze glanced toward Naruto and Satsuki who had regrouped in the distance, standing ready for battle. "Compared to those two, you really have a very long way to go."
Seeing Sakura hanging her head low in defeat and self-blame, Kakashi slowly stood up. His gaze once again turned toward the distant Naruto and Satsuki as his hands began forming simple seals.
"Puff puff puff puff puff..."
A series of light white smoke explosions suddenly rang out throughout the training ground! Kakashi figures appeared out of thin air, their numbers rapidly increasing until there were dozens!
Even more troublesome was that each clone held two jingling bells in their hands.
The next moment, these dozens of bell-carrying Kakashi clones showed no hesitation, instantly scattering and swiftly darting into the dense forests on both sides of the training ground.
At the scene, only one Kakashi remained, still stationed beside Sakura who was buried in the ground with only her head exposed.
This Kakashi looked at the two with grave expressions in the distance, as if suddenly remembering something, and "warmly" reminded them in his characteristic lazy tone that carried a hint of smugness.
"Ah, right, just a reminder—I'm not the real body." He pointed at himself. "The real body is currently holding the bells, hiding somewhere in the forest."
He looked up at the sky; the sunlight was approaching noon.
"It's almost noon, you don't have much time left. I hope that before then, you two can successfully find my real body in the woods and successfully grab the bells."
"Good luck to you."
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