Chapter 160: Haruno Sakura's Support
"Water Style - Super Water Gun Jutsu!"
A silver-white water line cut horizontally across the sky!
It was a sneak attack from Haruno Sakura from a distance. The Sound ninja who were besieging Shino and Yūgao had no time to react and were instantly beaten into a rout by this astonishingly powerful water jutsu.
Under the tyrannical might of the water cutter, the Sound ninja had no way to resist. Coupled with the fact that the girl was launching a sneak attack, most of them were killed on the spot with a single blow!
The cat-faced ninja's nimble figure landed majestically on the ground.
"What's the situation?" she asked, scanning the battlefield.
"You've finally arrived, Tobi!" Shino exclaimed as he wiped out the remaining fish that had escaped the net, those who had been lucky enough not to be killed on the spot by the water gun. Most of them were already seriously injured and were quickly cleaned up by Shino and Yūgao with a kunai each.
Shino jumped down from a tree, his tired body even trembling slightly.
"We just fought off three waves of people. They don't have many left. There's another wave up ahead, probably the last one! Sasuke's chakra signature is just ahead!"
"How are you two? Are you injured?"
"It's not a big problem. The ones Orochimaru sent out are all small fry. Apart from their large numbers, they basically don't have much combat strength. I suspect many of them aren't even Sound ninja, just ninja from small villages who were forcibly captured by Orochimaru to carry out this mission..." Shino said, squatting on the ground. "But their numbers are huge. We've probably taken out more than a hundred enemies, and they still have many more! The harassment tactics have cost us a lot of time and stamina..."
Thud!
The long, black-haired female ninja landed heavily on the ground.
"Yūgao is somewhat exhausted."
Yūgao, soaked in sweat, didn't care about the dirt on the ground or her ladylike demeanor and sat down with a plop.
She was the ninja who had charged at the very front, fighting with her sword, and had consumed the most stamina.
Yūgao had forgotten just how many people she had cut down today. Ever since leaving Haruno Sakura, she had been intercepted by Sound ninja all along the way. Her hands had swung her sword so many times that they had begun to grow sore and weak, to the point where she could barely lift them. The sharp sword was now completely soaked in blood, dyed from a shiny silver-white to a dull, dark red.
Although these Chunin and even Genin-level enemies usually couldn't last more than three moves against her before she beheaded them, when their numbers were large, the fight became extremely troublesome. While cutting people down, she still had to be mindful of movements coming from other parts of the battlefield at all times, such as a sudden ninjutsu or a flying shuriken...
Close-quarters combat was, after all, the most dangerous way to fight, especially when dealing with multiple enemies. A battle with sudden perils consumed the most stamina. Even with Shino providing cover and support from the side, she was still exhausted.
Sakura glanced at her.
The soaked bodysuit clung tightly to Yūgao's body, making her look even sexier.
"Can you still fight, Yūgao-san?"
"I'll be fine after a short rest. I still have strength..." Yūgao said with difficulty. In truth, she was already almost unable to stand steadily.
"Tobi, do you still have any ninja tools?" Shino asked, checking his ninja tool pouch. He found that the fierce battle had consumed a great deal of his tools. "My ninja tools over here are almost completely gone."
Yūgao smiled and shook her head. "Tobi never carries a ninja tool pouch. You shouldn't count on her."
Indeed, Haruno Sakura's battles rarely involved things like kunai and shuriken.
In this regard, she was a bit like ninja of the Sannin's level.
Of course, this wasn't to say that ninja tools were ineffective in battles of that level, but just that after reaching a certain level, some ninja's combat systems no longer required the use of them.
"I certainly don't have any ninja tools, but if it's just for a short-term emergency..." Sakura flipped over the white elbow guard she was wearing on her arm, and with a light swipe of her index finger over the hidden sealing formula on its back, she extracted a ball of pure, transparent water from the seal.
*"Are ice ninja tools acceptable to you?"
Simply by manipulating her chakra, she condensed the water into several dozen extremely sharp ice kunai and ice shuriken.
"These are ice ninja tools condensed from real water. I've attached some chakra to them to increase their hardness and toughness. They won't melt for at least an hour."
(Note: Ice formed from pure water at about minus fifty or sixty degrees has a hardness comparable to steel. Coupled with the fact that Sakura had strengthened them with the chakra of her Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, their effectiveness in use was far greater than ordinary ninja tools. At this temperature, the thin layer of water on the surface of the ice, which functions as a lubricant, almost disappears, so they don't feel slippery at all when held, but rather have a rough, astringent feel.)
"Hmm..." Shino picked up an ice kunai and observed it carefully. He then tested its hardness against his own kunai and found that it was the steel kunai that had suffered damage. "Very good. As expected of a ninja tool made from a Kekkei Genkai. The feel is also good, it's not slippery at all. It's just a bit light, and a bit cold to hold."
Sakura shrugged. "Can't be helped. That's just how ice is."
Yūgao also walked over, casually tested a few ice shuriken, and found that they could be deeply embedded in a tree trunk without much effort. She was very satisfied with the effect of the ice ninja tools, and together with Shino, they quickly divided up the pile, stuffing their ninja tool pouches full again.
"Tobi, can you still make an ice sword?" After taking the ninja tools, she was still a little unsatisfied and asked, pulling on Sakura. "This one of mine already has a chip, and the blade is dull."
The pink-haired girl blinked.
Uh... the toughness of ice isn't high enough, is it? And you can't increase its toughness by lowering the temperature; it reaches its limit at minus twenty or thirty degrees. She thought for a moment, But that's okay. If the strength isn't enough, just make up for it with chakra. With chakra, anything that seems unscientific is possible.
This wasn't troublesome either, just a lifting of a hand. Sakura casually created another ice sword.
"Alright... try this one?"
Yūgao took the sword and directly tested it on a nearby tree. Her hand was still a bit sore, and she didn't use much force, but with just a casual wave, the large tree that one person couldn't hug was easily cut in two at the waist by her.
"Amazing! A Kekkei Genkai is really extraordinary!" Yūgao was pleasantly surprised. She had originally just wanted a substitute that could temporarily replace her real sword.
Under her mask, Sakura gave a faint smile. Of course the effect is good when you use a lot of chakra. That ice sword just now used about the same amount of chakra as a C-rank ninjutsu.
However, in Yūgao's hands, it could display the power of an A-rank ninjutsu. The cost-performance ratio was even higher.
After distributing the ninja tools, Sakura fumbled around on her body, remembered that she had also brought some energy pills and soldier pills, and simply gave all the energy pills to Yūgao. With her Yin Seal, she usually wouldn't need them.
Hn... As for Shino? Won't having soldier pills to eat be enough to shut him up?
The battlefield where Sasuke was, was already very close to them.
While Shino and Yūgao were resting, Sakura also took the opportunity to rest a bit and adjust her condition to its best. Further on, they might encounter Orochimaru...
She was still paying close attention to the chakra signature from Sasuke's side. Sasuke's chakra had been very stable. It seemed that his battle was not a big problem for the time being.
But soon, after Kimimaro released his Curse Mark State Two, that evil and vast chakra texture was transmitted over.
"Did you feel that?" Shino was startled and reminded them.
Yūgao nodded with some solemnity. "Hn, a very huge and very evil chakra..."
"Sasuke's chakra is also rising..." Sakura said, closing her eyes. "They're probably about to stake it all on a final blow!"
And at this very moment, the Sound ninja had also pressed forward. Thirty to forty ninja had formed a semi-circle and were blocking their path.
"Captain, Yūgao-san, you haven't fully recovered yet. Leave the support mission to me..."
The cat-faced Anbu said composedly.
"Please hold off these Sound ninja and open a path for me. I have to get to that battlefield before Sasuke and the other one decide the winner!"
The girl's eyes suddenly snapped open.
In her green eyes, an icy killing intent, like frost, enveloped the Sound ninja who were blocking her path.
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