Chapter 205: The Correct Way to Use the Legion Clone Jutsu
Over a hundred ice clones, with the surge of chakra, instantly appeared in front of Sakura in a puff of smoke.
The Ice Style: Legion Ice Clone was the Ice Style upgraded version of the Water Style: Legion Water Clone.
When this jutsu was first developed, it was only for sparring or bullying small mobs. Continuing the crudely made characteristic of the Legion Water Clone, the Legion Ice Clones were also similarly crudely made, with blurred faces. Their skin and clothes were not well-imitated, filled with the crystal-like feeling of ice blocks. The curves of their bodies were even pieced together by straight lines of ice, lacking the exquisiteness and beauty of an ordinary ice clone.
Their five features were indistinct, their expressions indifferent, their eyes looking coldly ahead. When they were neatly arranged in long rows, they seemed to have a military-like deterrent presence.
Holding a long sword, standing proudly, an awe-inspiring presence assailed the senses.
This was another area where the Legion Ice Clone was stronger than the Water Clone. The combat power of a water clone was, after all, too weak. But the Legion Ice Clone, although crudely made, its strength was not much lower than an ordinary ice clone. Once their numbers increased, they were enough to cause a headache.
More importantly... it was also a medium for the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals' Body Flicker.
The moment Sakura cast the ninjutsu and he sensed the movement, Kakuzu had submerged into the mud, leaving only his head exposed on the ground.
"Clones?" Kakuzu was a little surprised. "Are they shadow clones or water clones?"
The fact that Sakura didn't use that heaven-and-earth-destroying water jutsu from before was within Kakuzu's expectations. He had already prepared to hide with Earth Style; that move couldn't be used in front of him and still hit him.
However, for Haruno Sakura to summon clones was beyond his expectations—he was not the kind of ninja who could be finished off by clones!
Does she think she can stall for time with clones?
While Kakuzu was puzzled, the hand seal movements in his hands did not stop at all.
"Fire Style: Great Flame Bullet!"
He suddenly stood up from the earth and spat out a scorching hot fireball from his mouth.
He didn't use a high-level fire jutsu like Searing Migraine. Having fought to this point, even Kakuzu had begun to no longer wantonly squander his chakra.
However, the power of the Great Flame Bullet was absolutely not to be underestimated. As an upgraded version of the Flame Bullet, its core temperature was higher, and its explosion range was wider. To deal with ninjutsu like clones, it could be said to be an excellent choice for clearing the field.
This fireball was shot out from Kakuzu's mouth and swelled in the air, instantly growing into a giant fire mass with a diameter of several dozen meters, and it crashed down towards Sakura and her ice clones.
BOOM—!
The Great Flame Bullet exploded on contact with the ground. The presence was terrifying. The scorching tongues of fire swallowed everything in a small area into ashes.
The heat wave, mixed with the rubble and dust kicked up by the explosion, blew against Kakuzu's exposed face. His face was gloomy, and he stared intently at the strange clones that had scattered.
Although the fire jutsu had unleashed great power, to his surprise, the explosion had not cleanly and instantly cleared out most of Sakura's clones.
The mobility of the clones was far stronger than the water clones and shadow clones in Kakuzu's impression. A large number of clones, in the instant the fireball struck, had leaped at extremely high speed, dodging his ninjutsu, and were agilely rushing towards him.
Kakuzu's eyes tightened, and his subsequent ninjutsu was released.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!" "Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spears!"
Two C-rank ninjutsu were released in coordination. The Wind Style covered the frontal battlefield, and the Earth Style cleaned up the fish that had escaped the net. Relying on their tacit cooperation, the effect they produced was much better than the fire jutsu from just now. A large number of ice clones were blasted and scattered, turning into ice slag and water vapor.
"Ice clones?"
Kakuzu keenly discovered that after the effect of the ninjutsu of the few clones that had been pierced by the Rock Pillar Spears had collapsed, they had actually scattered into a pile of broken ice blocks.
With this moment of distraction, a few remaining ice clones had already rushed in front of him, swinging their long swords and slashing at his chest.
CLANG—
The ice sword and Kakuzu's body collided, making a crisp, hard sound of metal clashing. His flesh-and-blood body had firmly blocked the sharp blade of the Ice Style!
It was precisely Kakuzu's "Earth Style: Earth Spear," a ninjutsu that could make the skin extremely hard!
Can't cut through...?! Even the expressionless ice clone was stunned for a moment.
With this hesitation, Kakuzu's black tentacles had already wrapped around her body.
With a crack, her neck was wrung and broken!
SWISH—
A cold light erupted. Haruno Sakura's figure, at the same moment, used a Body Flicker and appeared beside the ice clone. The ice blade in her hand swung in an instant. The sword light flashed, tracing a silver arc in the air, cutting off the tentacles and slashing towards Kakuzu.
"Nin-taijutsu: Eight-Slash Sword!"
The moment Haruno Sakura landed from her Body Flicker, she had already swung her sword. Her wrist turned, and the sword's momentum rose up, going straight for Kakuzu's chest!
This one slash was also called the "Rising Cleave."
With the same philosophy as the Wing Chun Hidden Leg, this set of sword techniques, the Eight-Slash Sword, was all about small movements, extremely fast strikes, and sharp slashes, making it extremely difficult to defend against.
With the power of nin-taijutsu enhancing this one slash, it was even more ferocious like a tiger, swift and hard to block. Compared to the nin-taijutsu Star Cannon Hammer, it had a bit more sharpness.
The sharp ice blade, radiating a chilling air, tore through the air, emitting a sharp whistle as it pierced straight into Kakuzu's body. The "Earth Style: Earth Spear" was, as expected, pierced through by one slash. With this one blow, Haruno Sakura had cut Kakuzu in two!
It was just that the feel of this slash was sluggish and muddy, not like the feeling of cutting through flesh and blood.
"Did he use an Earth Substitute the moment he discovered it was an ice clone?" The girl's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she looked at the Kakuzu who had turned into a puddle of soft mud.
Haruno Sakura's attack had failed. She couldn't help but feel a headache at Kakuzu's extremely fast on-the-spot reaction.
So that moment when Kakuzu had been stunned was actually just him switching from his real body to a clone...
"I've been completely seen through..."
She praised, but the movements of her hands did not hesitate in the slightest. She used a Body Flicker and flashed to a surviving ice clone at the edge of the battlefield.
Behind her, Kakuzu's Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere followed closely, but only touched the corner of the girl's afterimage, and then it tore the remaining ice clone and the chunk of severed tentacles that Sakura had cut into dust.
Although the scale of the battle was not as intense as the ninjutsu battle just now, after Sakura and Kakuzu had started to use close-quarters combat and various small and swift ninjutsu to fight, the rhythm had, on the contrary, become even faster—
Kakuzu, who had just emerged from the ground and cast a pursuit ninjutsu, was in an instant besieged by more than a dozen ice clones again.
"Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spears!"
The stone pillars instantly killed a few of the ice clones that had charged too fast and had no time to dodge. Taking advantage of the remaining clones dodging, the black tentacles used the same old trick, once again drilling out from the ground and binding the remaining ice clones tightly.
"Fire Style—!"
The seal for Kakuzu's next fire ninjutsu was already half-formed in his hands. His peripheral vision was always on Haruno Sakura's movements.
As long as she appeared on an ice clone with her Body Flicker, what would greet her would be a direct blow from the fire jutsu!
Of course, if she took the opportunity to use the Water Style: Wind Blade Raging Stream, then Kakuzu would obediently drill into the ground again...
However, Sakura's next reaction was neither of these—
"Ice Style: Ice Clone Explosion Technique!"
Five ice clones exploded at the same time!
BOOM!!
The intense explosion at such close range, the ice clones instantly exploded into countless ice fragments, blowing the tough black threads that bound them into countless small, fine segments. Then, the sound wave and power of the explosion completely swallowed Kakuzu!
For a moment, smoke and dust rolled, and broken ice was everywhere, a thick layer of ice slag covering the ground.
Then, Kakuzu's cold voice came from the thick smoke.
"Are these boring little tricks all you have left?"
The dust slowly settled, and the figure of the tentacle monster gradually became visible.
Haruno Sakura looked intently.
On Kakuzu's tall and burly body, over a hundred pieces of ice fragments were shallowly embedded. They were pulled out one by one by his tentacles, leaving countless small wounds, but not a single piece of ice had actually caused any effective damage.
"If this is all you have."
He looked at Haruno Sakura coldly and said.
"Our battle, I'm afraid, will have to end here..."
As he said this, the killing intent that permeated Kakuzu's body gradually faded.
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