Chapter 547: Hand-to-Hand Combat
Let's temporarily skip a certain couple of infatuated man and resentful woman in Konoha.
Let us shift our perspective from Konoha Village back to the ocean between the Land of Water and the Land of Fire, thousands of miles away.
The storm that had raged for more than half a month was nearing the end of its life, slowly shrinking and weakening.
The violent wind and torrential rain gradually calmed down.
However, in a small sea area close to the Land of Water, although the wind and rain gradually calmed down, the sea waves did not lose their momentum, still surging turbulently.
Crash, crash... crash!
The monstrous wave crests, which could even reach a hundred meters high, lifted seawater that blotted out the sky, like a water wall cutting across the sky. Accompanied by muffled loud noises, they exploded on the calm sea surface from time to time, stirring up patches of terrifying waves on the otherwise unruffled sea!
That posture was as if two shockingly huge sea beasts were chasing and playing on the sea surface, crashing the seawater into turbulent rapids, with fierce winds and high waves.
However, when the waves crashed down, the sea surface was calm; where were the giant beasts tossing about between the sea and sky?
What appeared in the vast sea were clearly two women with clothes fluttering in the wind, standing gracefully and elegantly.
Flying high in the air, with pure white wings fluttering behind her, having a slender figure, beautiful as an angel yet with an awe-inspiring momentum, Akatsuki's White Tiger, Konan.
Standing pretty on the sea, her beautiful hair swaying in the wind, her figure slender as a willow, but her eyes cold as frost, killing intent like snow, Konoha's Jonin, Haruno Sakura.
Those mountain-toppling, sea-emptying wave crests and the strange noises resounding through the clouds were surprisingly just the aftermath of the two's clash.
There was no gorgeous ninjutsu bombardment, only perilous close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, yet the momentum of the battle between two Kage-level powerhouses was actually so earth-shattering!
More than half of this was due to Haruno Sakura's unique Taijutsu attacks.
Born from Tsunade's Monstrous Strength, integrating some techniques from Wing Chun of her previous life and Hinata's Gentle Fist, supplemented by Sakura's originally created auxiliary secret techniques, and finally smelted in life-and-death struggles with various Kage-level powerhouses, what was born was Haruno Sakura's unique Nintaijutsu.
Nameless.
She had never named this tyrannical Nintaijutsu, but it didn't hinder its power.
Using extraordinary, exquisite, and delicate techniques to manipulate chakra, making it bless the physical body, accurately infiltrating every muscle fiber, thereby making the physical body gain astonishing speed, strength, and precision—this was the essence of Sakura's Nintaijutsu.
Its tyrannical power was probably best known by the enemies who faced it head-on—
A whip kick sweeping horizontally, the top of the foot could actually kick out a sonic boom out of thin air; a straight punch blasting forward, the fist would blast a deep crater into the sea surface!
That rapid and ear-piercing explosive sound and the abruptly sunken sea surface were exactly the best footnotes to the power of her Nintaijutsu's punches and kicks! (Note)
Theoretically, Konan's Dance of the Shikigami could turn her body into a paper form to immunize against physical attacks, innately putting her in an invincible position, completely countering Haruno Sakura's Taijutsu.
Before setting off on this trip, she had believed this from the bottom of her heart.
But after truly engaging with Haruno Sakura, Konan finally realized the trickiness of her opponent:
Extraordinary reaction speed, concise and efficient punching and kicking movements, and unstoppable Taijutsu power!
The battle between the two women quickly developed to a situation beyond Konan's expectations.
This was different from what she imagined!
Konan, who theoretically held an absolute advantage, actually... became entangled with Haruno Sakura, making the situation fall into a stalemate!
She didn't overwhelmingly defeat Haruno Sakura, and the opponent couldn't even be considered struggling to hold on. Konan had truly gone all out, but only fought the girl to a standstill, hard to distinguish who was superior!
A battle she thought could decide the victor in a few moves actually turned into a bitter struggle.
In this battle, neither could gain the upper hand, and neither could even effectively hurt the other...
Swish swish swish—!
Konan's offensive was continuous, her face like a delicate flower, but her sword light was as vicious as a poisonous snake.
She utilized the ability of the Dance of the Shikigami to perfection, frequently turning her body into thousands of flying papers, then abruptly condensing her figure, repeatedly slashing out a sharp and vicious sword from various bizarre or even impossible angles, making it impossible to defend effectively!
Boom boom boom—!
Haruno Sakura's pretty face was cold, her killing intent menacing.
She pushed the effect of the secret technique Sakura Dash to the extreme, accelerating her neural reactions and thinking speed to the limit. During the battle, the girl's field of vision obviously slowed down, as if time had been stretched; even though the opponent's offensive was biting cold, under the gaze of Sakura's green eyes, Konan's sword light was like an insect struggling in slime, becoming dull and slow.
Haruno Sakura handled the Angel of Akatsuki's unpredictable and chilling sword light with ease.
The power of Nintaijutsu was displayed incisively and vividly in this battle.
Straight punches, whip kicks, hidden kicks, elbow strikes; blessed by Monstrous Strength, every strike of the girl was vigorous, carrying surging, high-spirited momentum and unparalleled mighty power, blasting onto Konan with a crushing momentum like brilliant light, forcing her to constantly consume chakra to enter the state of Dance of the Shikigami, cutting the latter's offensive into fragmented pieces, unable to form a system.
From the very beginning, the battle formed this bizarre scene where you can't hit me, and I can't hurt you.
Neither could do anything to the other.
In the blink of an eye, accompanied by the strange noises and heavy giant waves transmitting from the center of the battle, the two had exchanged dozens, hundreds of rounds.
The more Konan fought, the more alarmed she became in her heart.
This peerlessly magnificent beauty rarely showed her abilities in Akatsuki, having a rather low presence. The impression she gave was more of a woman beside the leader, a beautiful vase. But in reality, this woman's power absolutely could not be underestimated. In terms of strength, she could undoubtedly firmly rank among "Kage" level ninja, and her Paper Release secret technique could even immunize against physical attacks. Back then, it was Konan who personally defeated Sasori to pull him into the Akatsuki organization.
Her strength could be seen from this.
Even in the Akatsuki organization where powerhouses gathered, she was a powerhouse who could rank highly!
But such a master, having prepared a secret technique that completely countered the opponent in advance, still couldn't take down that pink-haired girl whose face was as cold as frost!
On the contrary, holding the absolute advantage, she fell into the quagmire of battle...
Once again, a sword swung out.
An attack launched from a perceptual blind spot in an absolute sense, Konan slashed out a sword. The sword light in her hand flickered, like a poisonous snake flicking its tongue, the sword momentum vicious and sinister, making it hard to defend against; but Haruno Sakura's reaction was even faster. Almost at the instant Konan swung her hand, she made an evasive movement. The latter's sword light missed almost brushing past Sakura's calm cheek, the girl's indifferent expression in this instant looking more like a kind of contempt.
While tilting her head and twisting to dodge, Haruno Sakura's arm had already swung out with the rotation of her body, pink hair dancing. Bending her arm and lifting her elbow, a fierce elbow strike brazenly returned the favor onto Konan.
So fast... so strong!
In the instant Konan's body turned into flying paper, this thought flashed through her mind.
A bit of astonishment gradually rose in her heart.
The next moment, this exquisitely made up, peerlessly glamorous pretty face twisted and deformed under the effect of that abundant huge force, becoming ferocious and terrifying for an instant, then turning into countless flying papers unable to bear force, fluttering all over the sky and dodging away.
The waves violently surged up, spray and flying paper instantly filling half the sky!
Gurgle gurgle.
Under the cover of white paper fluttering all over the sky, Konan manipulated a portion of the paper to dive into the water, quietly condensing half a figure directly below Haruno Sakura.
Splash—!
Konan's offensive suddenly erupted from the position right under the girl's feet. The bright sword light seemed to completely swallow Haruno Sakura in an instant!
This was the closest Konan came to injuring Sakura in the entire battle.
The girl completely didn't expect Konan to risk the paper being soaked by seawater to launch an attack from underwater, so her vigilance towards her feet wasn't high.
But ultimately, she still lifted her foot in time, dodging this set of clear sword light slashing out from underwater at the absolute limit.
Sakura snorted coldly.
"Nintaijutsu: Heavenly Spear Kick!"
Bang—!
The lifted foot stomped down heavily. The petite jade foot blessed with Monstrous Strength turned into a murder weapon, the heel stepping on the sea surface. The vast power instantly reverted Konan into countless white papers, and also created a huge crater on the calm sea surface, as well as several towering giant waves taller than buildings.
Rumble!
This time, Konan didn't choose to continue condensing her body and attack again.
After being blasted apart, the white flying papers flew rapidly, condensing the woman's graceful body again a short distance away.
The Angel of Akatsuki slowly flapped her wings, flying in mid-air.
She voluntarily withdrew from the battle.