"Hmph, using our techniques? Don't be so arrogant!"
Kakuzu, who was being stepped on in the crater, split his body open, letting Sakura's foot pass through the hollowed-out blood vessels and land on the ground.
Then, the black thread-like blood vessels thrust upward, severing Hidan's leg in one motion and pulling his main body part back with them.
"Heheh, why don't you try it and see if I'm being arrogant?"
The girl grinned, flames igniting in her hand to incinerate Hidan's severed limb.
However, under the super-high temperature concentrated by her Devil Fruit ability, this severed limb showed no change at all.
"Haha! The protection bestowed upon me by Jashin-sama cannot be shaken by a mere mortal!"
Hidan, held at the waist by Kakuzu with one arm, flipped his hair and let out a triumphant laugh.
"Eh, interesting~"
Veins bulged on Sakura's arms, her boiling Chakra vaporizing and erupting from her body's surface.
The Chakra explosion drove her physical body to burst forth with terrifying power. She directly hurled the severed leg, creating a Mach cone around it as it streaked across the sky like a meteor, parting the dark clouds and disappearing from sight.
"Bastard! How can you be so wicked?"
Seeing his severed leg thrown away, Hidan's eyes turned crimson as he struggled wildly in Kakuzu's grip.
"Fool, don't let her provoke you!"
Kakuzu's hand knocked Hidan's head. His own body was being dragged and pieced back together bit by bit by the surrounding black thread-like blood vessels.
Then, three masks emerged from the black thread-like blood vessels, with masses of blood vessels gathering to form bodies.
The mask monsters from Earth Grudge Fear slowly straightened up, their body surfaces respectively wrapped in Chakra Nature Transformations of Fire, Lightning, and Wind.
"What kind of monsters are those!"
Shikamaru frowned deeply, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"Shouldn't we go help Sakura? We can't let her face those things alone..."
The flickering Observation Haki on Ino agitated her nerves, making her more sensitive, able to hear numerous sounds of death from Kakuzu and Hidan.
"It's no use. We'd only be a hindrance if we went over!"
Choji, leaning against a tree trunk as he walked towards the two, raised his hand, showing them the large bloody hole in it.
Ino covered her mouth, quickly stepping forward to use Mystical Palm Technique to give Choji temporary treatment.
Shikamaru's expression was equally grim, his teeth clenched.
"Ah, all we can do is pray for her victory."
At the center of the forest, Kakuzu cut a section of tree trunk and sewed it onto Hidan's leg with black threads, giving him temporary mobility.
"Let's go together. We just need to get a drop of her blood!"
Hidan, now standing, adjusted to his 'new leg', hoisting the blood-red scythe onto his shoulder.
Beside him, the three mask monsters released by Kakuzu, as if receiving an order, positioned themselves as guards around Hidan.
Kakuzu himself formed hand seals, Earth Attribute Chakra manipulating the ground beneath his feet, allowing his main body to slowly sink into the earth.
This was the first time in so many years he had chosen such a cautious fighting method before even starting a battle. The reason was none other than the immense pressure the girl before him was exerting.
"Are you all ready? Then it's my turn~"
Sakura pressed her palms together, terrifying emerald-green Chakra forming a Chakra Cloak over her body.
The burning light flames slowly transformed, extracting pure Yang Release Chakra that entered her body.
Immediately after, the bulging veins in her arms pierced through her skin, and black thread-like blood vessels identical to Kakuzu's drooped to the ground.
After manipulation via Life Return, they similarly formed the outlines of four or five beasts around Sakura.
"Holy hell, Kakuzu! She really knows your technique!!!" Hidan stammered out the words, mechanically turning his head to look at the monster beside him.
Kakuzu, who had buried himself deep underground using Earth Release, also showed a dark expression. He controlled the monster on the surface to speak, "This is troublesome. We don't know how many hearts the opponent has."
"Actually, none~"
The masked monsters controlled by Sakura had already charged to the front of Kakuzu's masked monsters. Unlike the opponent, which used living Ninja's hearts as cores,
Sakura used her own Chakra as the energy source to drive her masked monsters. Therefore, the natures born were naturally the ones Sakura herself possessed: Fire, Water, and Earth.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
The tall, faceless Fire Release masked monster formed hand seals, converting Chakra into high-temperature flames and instantly releasing them, creating a firestorm to burn Kakuzu and Hidan.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
The Lightning Release masked monster opened its mouth, releasing a sharp great spear of lightning, sweeping the electric current from near to far, tearing open a path through the firestorm.
Seizing this opportunity, Hidan began to run. The Wind Release masked monster came behind him and spat out a high-pressure wind sphere, hitting his back.
This multiplied his forward charging speed instantly. As he neared Sakura, he swung his blood-red scythe once again.
"How come you never learn?"
Sakura raised her emerald-green eyes, waving her hand, revealing pale skin from under her sleeve.
Clang!
Her iron-like skin plainly blocked the scythe Hidan threw, even grabbing the chain on the handle and pulling hard.
The tremendous pulling force sent Hidan's body flying directly towards Sakura, only to be met by her iron fist clad in Armament Haki hammering into his heart.
"Cough!"
Hidan threw his head back, coughing up a mouthful of blood, before his entire person was blasted away by the monstrous strength.
He crashed onto the ground, tumbling three or four times, bounced up again, broke several large trees, embedded himself into a rocky cliff face, and slid down to the ground, covered in blood.
"It's not that I never learn… it's that you don't understand our coordination! Cough cough cough!"
Bent over, Hidan's whole face turned purple. His body was hypoxic while the itch in his lungs made him want to cough all the air out. Several more mouthfuls of blood sprayed onto the ground.
Not wasting Hidan's sacrifice in the slightest, Kakuzu's main body, along with a total of four masked monsters, erupted from underground.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
The Earth Release Technique released by Kakuzu's main body caused the ground beneath Sakura's legs to sink, trapping her feet.
Simultaneously, the masked monster paired up, releasing Combined Ninjutsu: Wild Fire Wave and Fused Ninjutsu: Thunder Cloud Wave respectively.
An extremely wide range of sea of fire and supple, surging lightning wildly churned. Violent air currents carrying massive amounts of smoke and dust completely engulfed that figure.
Explosions, thunder, firelight, shockwaves... trampling out charred craters and scorched-red earth upon the ground.
"Did we win?"
Leaning on his scythe, Hidan limped forward, stopping beside Kakuzu, who had withdrawn to a safe area.
If it were him hit by Composite Ninjutsu of this level, even if not burned to ashes, his body would be torn to pieces, losing the power to resist.
"Probably not."
Glancing at the unscathed girl walking out of the flames, Kakuzu also lowered his head with a sigh.
Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth… these five basic Chakra Nature Transformations that constitute the foundation of Ninjutsu in this world could not breach her defense. So, what exactly should be done?
Perhaps he needed more destructive Chakra to break through that unreasonable defense.
Should he... try fusing the Nature-Transformed Chakra?
"Hey...!"
Hidan's call and the sound of him swallowing saliva came together, but unfortunately, it didn't interrupt Kakuzu's contemplation.
Seeing this situation, he simply stepped forward and punched Kakuzu on the head.
"Hey, Kakuzu! Don't space out!!!"
The pain spreading on his head brought Kakuzu back to his senses.
Only then did he realize that before his and Hidan's eyes,
Several faceless masked monsters were opening their mouths, devouring each other. The black thread-like blood vessels turned into a viscous tide, spreading, expanding, covering the entire earth.
A wooden mask appeared in the center, and then the entire mud-like substance rapidly expanded around the mask until it formed a giant beast.
It was impossible to observe the giant beast's complete form clearly. One could only vaguely sense, from beneath the wooden mask, eyes continuously emitting piercing, bone-chilling coldness.
[Secret Technique: Earth Grudge Fear - Behemoth]
"Mmm, the view is really nice. No wonder powerful Ninjas all like to pilot Gundams~"
Sakura, sitting cross-legged on the giant beast's head, stretched lazily. Her gaze looked out over the forest as neat as a curtain, and her mood instantly became smooth and pleasant.
Gazing up at the giant beast's figure, Hidan only felt his breath stop. He turned his head stiffly towards Kakuzu.
"This... can you do this too?"
Kakuzu rolled his eyes at him on the spot.
"Like hell I can!"