Chapter 162: The Ice Style Ninja Arrives
Screech—!
The sound of bone grinding wildly against ice was ear-piercing.
It was like the sound of fingernails scratching across a chalkboard, so sharp it was unbearable.
But to Sasuke's ears, it was as beautiful as the music of the heavens.
A thick ice wall had completely surrounded him, firmly blocking the countless sharp bone spikes on the outside, giving Sasuke an exceptionally strong sense of security.
"Hmph... you finally made it in time."
The black-haired youth lay weakly in the arms of the cat-faced ninja, forcing a smile onto his lips.
"If you had been one second later, you would have been collecting my corpse!"
It was the first time he had been in such a pathetic state, but he had never felt safer.
"You idiot... just shut up!" the pink-haired girl glared at him irritably, tearing open his clothes to start treating his wounds.
"If you have anything to say, save it for her! I'm not responsible for passing on messages."
"Huh?" Sasuke was instantly dumbfounded, feeling as if he had expressed his emotions to the wrong person. "A Combat-type Ice Clone?"
Hn, an ice clone.
The kind that doesn't feed back its experiences to the main body.
"Ice Style?" Kimimaro was also very surprised by the sudden appearance of the ninjutsu.
"Is it that teammate of Uchiha Sasuke's from the intel, Haruno Sakura..."
At this moment, Kimimaro was in the final moments of his life's resurgence, his mind exceptionally clear, and he had reacted quickly.
The data he had read before the operation quickly flashed through his mind.
"Her signature ninjutsu is—"
"Water Style - Wind Blade Raging Stream!"
The cat-faced girl, who had been hiding nearby, suddenly attacked!
The silver-white thin line that cut across the sky once again cut the enemy in half at the waist.
The upper half of Kimimaro's body, an astonished expression on his face, slid down from the bone forest...
Pat. The cat-faced girl landed lightly on a horizontally extending bone pillar.
She spread her hands at Sasuke.
Although her expression was hidden under the mask, Sasuke instantly understood her meaning: You were beaten this badly by such a weakling?
"You...!" Sasuke glared at her helplessly, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but secretly curve up.
It felt as if he had returned to the time when they were in Team 7, fighting together.
"You idiot, that was just a sneak attack..." He hid his faint smile and put on the poker face he only used in Team 7. "I could have done the same thing if it were me."
If it had been him, letting Sakura fight Kimimaro to the death first, and then having his Raikiri be the sneak attack, the result would probably have been the same. He still would have been able to take him down in one blow.
A frontal battle and a sneak attack from behind—the effects of the two were worlds apart.
Haruno Sakura still didn't speak to him—this girl was pretending to follow the Anbu principle of not speaking casually during a mission—but just lifted her mask halfway, rolled her eyes with half her pretty face, and made a face at him.
Paired with her cat-face mask, the effect was quite festive.
"Cough, cough!" Sasuke laughed so hard he choked on his own saliva and blood, almost suspecting that he would become the first person to die from laughing while seriously injured.
He didn't know why he couldn't help but laugh. Was it because of the festive effect of that face, or the joy of having escaped death?
Or perhaps, these were all just secondary reasons?
"Stop laughing and watch your wounds!" the Anbu girl glared at him. Her voice, coming from under the mask, was muffled and very unlike her usual speaking voice.
This was the first time Sasuke had heard her voice with a mask on.
No, it should be said, this was the first time he had met Sakura while she was on an official Anbu command.
"Let my clone treat your wounds first. I don't know why Orochimaru isn't here. He might still be on his way... so we have to get out of here quickly!"
Sasuke grunted in agreement and casually looked at the surrounding environment. The endless bone forest, Kimimaro's half-bisected, fully-boned body—hn... this body?
The black-haired youth was suddenly stunned.
Huh, wait... that's not flesh and blood...? Is that a substitute made only of a bone shell...?
Sasuke's eyes instantly widened—
"Sakura, look out! He might not be dead!"
He ignored the fiery pain in his lungs and roared subconsciously.
At the same time as he shouted the warning, Kimimaro's figure suddenly appeared on a bone pillar behind Sakura!
Kimimaro... was not dead!
And he had abruptly and instantly appeared behind Haruno Sakura!
—After performing the Dance of the Seedling Fern, Kimimaro's body had, in effect, become this entire forest of bones. Any place the bones reached was a place his body could instantly appear.
This was the true power of the Dance of the Seedling Fern!
That one was a clone, so this one here is the main body!
Hidden deep within the Dance of the Seedling Fern, it was only after confirming which of the attacking ninja was the real one that Kimimaro had decisively struck!
His missing hands had been replaced by madly growing bones, turning into a sharp bone spear and a bone sword. He emerged from behind Haruno Sakura and thrust swiftly at the girl!
Sasuke and Sakura, who had sensed the abnormal chakra, were stunned.
The moment she felt the chakra fluctuation, Sakura knew something was wrong. She subconsciously activated her Sakura Rush state, and then she felt a dark wind attack her from behind her head.
Kimimaro's taijutsu attack was so fast that even the cat-faced girl, with her Sakura Rush activated, could only forcefully twist her waist and turn her body sideways, barely dodging the giant bone spear that grew from Kimimaro's left hand.
CRACK!
The cat-face mask shattered.
The hard bone grazed past her soft cheek, leaving two long bloody gashes!
She dodged it? Kimimaro was a little surprised.
This girl, who was clearly stated in the data to be a ninjutsu-type ninja, her reaction speed was actually so fast that she could dodge his sure-kill blow!
The bone spear had only broken her mask, making a cracking sound. Then it grazed the girl's smooth cheek. The only result was that it left two bloody wounds on her flawless skin.
Is this really a ninjutsu-type ninja?
"Nin-taijutsu - Wing Chun Hidden Kick!"
Before Kimimaro's attack could land, he was met with Haruno Sakura's angry returning heavy leg!
A slender leg kicked out with a ferocious and unstoppable blow. Kimimaro's entire body was turned into scattered dust in this one counterattack!
"Bone dust...?" The girl retracted her foot, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. "Did I miss?"
The opponent was actually able to move so quickly on the battlefield... That kick just now was already her fastest leg technique, and she still hadn't been able to reach him.
She followed the feeling of the chakra... and unsurprisingly, on a bone pillar not far away, she saw Kimimaro's figure.
Sure enough, I didn't hit him...
And I've already activated Sakura Rush. The girl was awestruck. That's ridiculously fast!
"You... how on earth did you dodge that?"
She squinted her beautiful eyes and asked Kimimaro calmly.
"You think I'd tell you..." Kimimaro responded flatly.
But his heart was far from calm...
This girl named Haruno Sakura. He stared coldly at the girl standing proudly before him.
The power of her fists and feet was a little too incredible!
This was a bit abnormal... Her figure, those slender legs, didn't look like a taijutsu-type ninja capable of kicking out with such power.
That one kick, even the half-meter-thick bone pillar behind her had been shattered... With its power, if it had kicked him, it probably wouldn't have been any better than being hit directly by the Raikiri Raging Stream!
His opponent was a super-violent ninja whose reaction speed was comparable to the three-tomoe Sharingan and whose fist and foot power was comparable to the Raikiri Raging Stream!
Without realizing it, Kimimaro furrowed his brows tightly.
Troublesome.
But... she was still no match for him.
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