Chapter 148: Warm-up Exercise
"I still need to reduce their numbers a bit more..."
The ninja with the cat-face mask said coldly, her hands clasped together as she began to form hand seals again.
The remaining Sound ninja were instantly stunned. Someone said in a panic, "Be careful, she's going to use that ninjutsu again!"
They had guessed wrong.
An S-rank ninjutsu, even if it had been carefully designed by her, still consumed a considerable amount of chakra. To use such a high-level ninjutsu again in front of these people who had already witnessed her move and were on high alert would not have a very good effect. If one S-rank ninjutsu could only take out one or two enemies, it would be a bit of a loss.
She wanted to save as much chakra as possible for unforeseen needs.
"Don't worry... to deal with just you few, using that move would be a bit too wasteful."
"I'll play with you with my clones first..."
"Ice Style - Ice Clone Jutsu!"
Eight lifelike ice clones appeared in front of the remaining Sound ninja.
"My clones are very strong... in a one-on-one, I wonder how many of you will be left this time?"
"Go!"
In a one-on-one formation, the eight clones rushed towards the remaining enemies and began a bloody hand-to-hand battle!
As a Kekkei Genkai clone jutsu, the Ice Clone indeed possessed a higher level of combat power than the Shadow Clone. Not only could it perform some of the original's ninjutsu, but its taijutsu power was also quite formidable.
In a short period of time, it could probably display the combat power of an ordinary Chunin.
Of course, they could not use nin-taijutsu or Sakura Rush, and their taijutsu strength was still far from that of the original. So the Sound Four quickly dealt with their clone opponents, but the remaining four Sound ninja had a much harder time.
However, it seemed that the Sound Four had no intention of helping them at all. They just stared at Haruno Sakura warily, while taking the opportunity to activate the second state of their curse marks.
The remaining four Sound ninja, without any support, soon had a winner decided: the one-armed Sound ninja was the first to be taken down by an ice clone. But in the subsequent four-on-three battle, the remaining Sound ninja each paid a heavy price to kill all the clones.
However, as a matter of course, this was not the end—
An insidious smile formed on the corner of the mouth under Sakura's mask.
"Ice Style - Clone Explosion Technique!"
The battle-scarred Sound ninja were stunned to find that the ice clones they had just been fighting in close combat had suddenly undergone a violent explosion!
After a cloud of smoke, the Sound ninja, who had taken four clone bombs at close range, could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.
"The warm-up exercise is over."
The cat-faced ninja looked at the only remaining members of the Sound Four, who had completely entered State Two, and said coldly.
It had been too long since she had last read the manga, and she didn't quite remember these people's names.
Her gaze swept over the four of them one by one.
The one with three pairs of arms—this hint was very obvious. He used spider webs.
The second was a woman, who didn't look much older than her, and was very pretty and cute. She never thought Orochimaru would have subordinates who weren't ugly.
"She's Tayuya, right? I think she uses genjutsu. I remember reading a fanfiction with her as the protagonist..." the girl thought to herself.
The reason Sakura had a deep impression was naturally because that protagonist was in the same boat as her. Transformation and transmigration were very interesting when they happened to others. She had quite enjoyed reading that book back then. Now that it had really happened to her, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"She's quite good-looking, but what a pity..."
Because after entering State Two, the ferocious horn-like protrusions and the dark red skin had instantly turned a perfectly good person into a monster. The disgusting appearance formed a huge contrast with her pure and beautiful appearance from just now. The cat-faced ninja immediately felt particularly nauseous.
What was even more of a pity was that under Orochimaru's twisted ninja training methods, these Sound ninja basically all had a corrupt and dark nature. For a perfectly good girl to be twisted like this, Sakura felt it was a great pity. In fact, even the Sound Four, in Orochimaru's eyes, were nothing more than slightly higher-level experimental materials. These Sound ninja basically would not come to a good end.
There was also a fat guy, and a Sound ninja with no distinguishing features.
"Tsk, I've forgotten their information. The fat guy should be very strong, right? And that one with the fierce-looking eyes, his secret jutsu seems to be very strange. What was it again?"
She thought for a moment but still couldn't remember. "In short, I just have to be careful not to be touched by him."
While the cat-faced girl was sizing up the Sound Four, the other party was also carefully observing her.
Without a doubt, her two stunning ninjutsu and terrifying taijutsu had made the Sound ninja's vigilance greatly increase. They felt that the opponent was not an easy person to deal with. But the Sound Four, who were used to acting tyrannically in the Sound base, could not stand Sakura's contemptuous tone.
"A warm-up exercise? We haven't even broken a sweat yet. I wonder if you'll still have such a relaxed tone when we start fighting in a bit!"
Kidōmaru—the one with six arms—said with a sneer.
"Don't think you're so great just because you've taken down those few wastes. We are the subordinates that Orochimaru truly trusts, and we're different from those consumables. We are special!"
"So much nonsense," Sakura said with disdain. "You're just a few of Orochimaru's high-level experimental subjects, yet you have such a big mouth!"
"Shut up!" The Sound ninja's faces changed. They let out an angry shout and said no more, directly casting a ninjutsu!
The fat guy slammed the ground. Chakra seeped into the earth, and a huge rock was instantly pulled up from the ground, blocking Sakura's path like a stone wall.
The perfunctory words before the battle had ended. Seeing that the opponent had already struck first to gain the upper hand, Haruno Sakura had no habit of winning against the enemy with talk-no-jutsu and directly formed the hand seals!
"To deal with you guys, I still have to show a little respect!"
"Water Style - Super Water Gun Jutsu!"
A thick stone wall could not block the cutting of the Water Gun Jutsu, even if it was just a weakened version of the Wind Blade Raging Stream.
The huge rock split in two and collapsed with a roar, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Then the dust settled, and fragmented stones were scattered everywhere.
Where the Sound Four had been standing was, as expected, empty.
"They took the opportunity to hide?"
Although she had used the faster-activating Water Gun Jutsu instead of the Wind Blade Raging Stream, she still hadn't been faster than the enemy's speed in hiding.
"Hehe, even if your move is strong, if you can't find us, it's a completely meaningless ninjutsu!"
A voice came from somewhere in the woods.
Sakura casually waved her hand, and a water line followed, shooting towards the direction the voice had come from!
Crash, crash. It cut through countless rocks and withered trees.
But the opponent's voice just changed direction and sounded again.
It's the voice created by that Tayuya... She immediately realized that the enemy's real body was not there and immediately stopped the meaningless Water Gun Jutsu.
"You guys... you don't really think I can't find you just because you're hiding, do you, little mice?"
The ninja with the cat-face mask stood in place, her voice as cold as an iceberg.
At the same time.
"I've found you..."
A cold voice suddenly sounded.
"...Uchiha Sasuke!"
A white-haired youth in a kimono appeared in front of the hidden Sasuke.
❃❃❃
⤑ Show your support with Power Stones!
⤑ Unlock a Bonus Chapter every time we hit 400 Power Stones!
❃❃❃
♕ Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
🔗 https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to open the link!)
💬 Enjoying the story? Drop a review!
Your support really helps the series grow—thank you!