Chapter 562: A Winner Decided? (Part 2)
Pain was aggressive, but the disadvantaged Haruno Sakura also did not yield an inch.
She abruptly stopped her retreating footsteps.
Before the battle, she had already understood Pain's intelligence and naturally had already thought of countermeasures!
"Do you think I'm helpless without the Monstrous Strength jutsu?" Those emerald eyes narrowed dangerously, and the girl looked coldly at Pain. "Don't underestimate me!"
She took a deep breath and closed her eyelids.
Sage Mode, activate!
An ancient and powerful secret technique was unleashed by Haruno Sakura. In an instant, as if a delicate makeup had been applied, purple eyeshadow suddenly surfaced on Haruno Sakura's eye sockets. Gorgeous mysterious patterns suddenly lit up, and complex sage patterns spread from the eyeshadow onto Sakura's pure white cheeks, making her beautiful face profound and calm.
Her empty physical body was once again filled with chakra. This time, the source of the energy was no longer just the Yin Seal on her forehead, but the entire world full of natural energy!
Senjutsu chakra!
The moment the powerful energy surged into her body, it was efficiently applied to her body, greatly enhancing the power and speed of her punches and kicks just like her Nintaijutsu did.
Sakura had once tried to enhance her physical body with both the Monstrous Strength jutsu and senjutsu chakra simultaneously; that was in the genjutsu in the Land of Lightning.
What a powerful force that was! At that time, she exchanged punches with the taijutsu expert, the Fourth Raikage. Even with his combat power fully unleashed, he was still dislocated by a single punch from her, vomiting blood and looking extremely miserable!
Right now, she could only use Sage Mode alone, and the power she exerted had a world of difference compared to that.
Clang!
Pain slashed down a blade from mid-air, while on the other side, a deep blue short rod had condensed in Haruno Sakura's left hand at some unknown time, forcefully meeting it.
The black rod and the blue rod clashed abruptly in mid-air. Both being Yin Release creations where spirit condensed into substance, they were both exceptionally sharp and tough. Their collision actually emitted the sound of metal and stone striking each other, sharp and ear-piercing!
Blocked it!
A look of surprise flashed past Pain's eyes. He didn't understand senjutsu, so he was a bit puzzled at the moment. Unable to use the Monstrous Strength jutsu, where did the strength in the girl's slender figure come from to contend with him?
Little did he know that Haruno Sakura was equally dissatisfied with her own strength in her heart!
Pain's taijutsu might not be considered top-tier, but the Preta Path had been continuously absorbing Sakura's chakra, even absorbing senjutsu chakra without any scruples. The latter's absorption speed barely reached an equilibrium with the speed at which Sakura generated senjutsu energy. As a result, the power of her Sage Mode was greatly discounted, and the strength enhancement also required twice the effort for half the result!
Canceling each other out, Haruno Sakura's strength was exactly on par with Pain's.
Daring to absorb even my senjutsu chakra, recklessly seeking death! Haruno Sakura shot a cold sidelong glance at the Preta Path.
Sakura wasn't distracted to deal with her chakra being absorbed because she knew the Preta Path would soon reap what he sowed, and also because Pain, despite failing in his strike, didn't retreat in the slightest, but instead entangled her!
Swish swish swish!
The black rod in Pain's hand slashed through the air like a short sword, the whistling sounds continuous, launching an airtight offensive. Although he was puzzled in his heart, his killing intent became increasingly resolute!
I must finish off Haruno Sakura right now, otherwise... Pain had a premonition that things would become very troublesome!
Haruno Sakura, whose strength was greatly reduced, was completely fearless, meeting him head-on holding the short rod of will in one hand.
If you want to fight, then let's fight!
Since strength couldn't determine superiority, then they would rely on skill to decide life and death.
Pain's taijutsu was learned from Jiraiya, a pure lineage of the Hokage. After years of refinement in battle, he naturally formed a system unique to himself: concise and efficient, fierce and sharp, with an endless stream of killing moves, similar to the vast majority of experienced powerhouses.
Although he was a ninjutsu-type ninja, his taijutsu and kenjutsu absolutely could not be underestimated.
Haruno Sakura was another matter.
Few people knew that she was equally good at kenjutsu—of course, compared to her commonly used Nintaijutsu and Water Release ninjutsu, replacing "good at" with "mastered" here might be more appropriate.
Swords and weapons are extensions of the arms and enhancements of punches and kicks. Using weapons is to make up for the insufficient power of pure physical punches and kicks, but Haruno Sakura's Nintaijutsu inherently has the power to split mountains and crack rocks. The power of a single punch from her is fiercer than a slash from a sword. It seemed unnecessary for someone like her to learn kenjutsu.
In fact, Haruno Sakura's skill with weapons like kunai and shuriken was indeed at the level of common street goods in the ninja world, but she truly mastered an outstanding kenjutsu.
Because it was useful.
Because Sasuke majored in kenjutsu.
Haruno Sakura had sparred with Sasuke many times, and the cultivation of kenjutsu requires another kenjutsu expert as a whetstone. Kakashi was one, and naturally, Haruno Sakura could be one too.
The transmigrator girl's kenjutsu was born from the Eight Slashing Swords technique of Wing Chun from her previous life. After continuous refinement and honing through many battles and spars with powerhouses, constantly eliminating the false and retaining the true, it formed the girl's unique kenjutsu.
The moves were small and exquisite, the movements light and brisk. Seemingly beautiful, yet containing deadly danger.
She saw the deep blue thin rod in the girl's hand quietly extend and widen. A handguard branched out at the grip, resting against her bright wrist. The rod body widened, opening an edge and transforming into a blade. The sharp blade edge protruded like a sword at the tip, and a short butterfly sword impressively surfaced in her hand.
Close-quarters melee combat!
When the backup plans and trump cards were brought out and cracked one by one, when various powerful and bizarre ninjutsu were reduced to consumables in bombardments, these two, who might be the strongest ninja of the current era, finally returned the battle to the most essential and bloodiest taijutsu combat of ninja.
Clang clang clang—!
Light and shadows flickered, swords danced, figures crossed.
In just two short seconds, the two exchanged blows no less than ten times. The whistling sounds of the black rod and short sword swinging, the clear ringing sounds of swords clashing, rose and fell in succession, almost forming an unbroken stretch.
Soon, the figures of the two constantly dodging and shifting abruptly paused, actually determining a winner.
Haruno Sakura was injured!
Taijutsu combat is the battle form that determines victory or defeat the fastest in ninja battles. Often, winning or losing is just a matter of an instant.
And right in that instant just now, the Preta Path suddenly forcefully increased the rate of chakra absorption. Haruno Sakura's strength leaked, and her weak moves were instantly full of flaws!
The next second, the palm of the girl's hand was pierced by the black rod, and the butterfly short sword suddenly dropped!
Now, neither of Haruno Sakura's hands could move.
The outcome... had been decided.
Pain was overjoyed in his heart!
"A winner has been decided... you lose!" Pain said proudly. As he spoke, he withdrew the black rod, aimed it at the girl's slender neck, and raised it high.
The moment he swung down his arm, Pain looked at Haruno Sakura, wanting to enjoy the expressions of despair and pain on the girl's face.
What astonished him to no end was that not only did Haruno Sakura not have any negative emotions on her face, but she was calm and composed, wearing a half-smile on her face.
"A winner has indeed been decided... but, the one who loses, is you!" The girl said calmly.
To her side, the Preta Path, because of absorbing an excessive amount of senjutsu chakra, had already mutated from head to toe to the point where a human shape could not be seen, and sank into the sea! This was the consequence of eating indiscriminately! Without enough certainty, how could Haruno Sakura rashly choose close-quarters combat?
Facing Pain's offensive, the girl met him head-on.
"Nintaijutsu - High Whip Kick!"