Summoning Jutsu!"
Danzo Shimura bit his finger, slamming his palm onto the ground.
As the summoning seal unfurled, a brown, elephant-like creature with sharp claws materialized in the arena.
"Dream Tapir, crush her!"
The Dream Tapir opened its massive maw, using Wind Release to suck in everything in its path—earth, stones, grass, and trees were all devoured mercilessly.
But Elbaf's giant spear tore through the air, piercing the creature's body and leveling a huge swath of forest behind it.
Blood gushed from the beast as it let out a pained wail, exploding into a cloud of smoke and vanishing.
This brief distraction gave the Root ninjas a chance to counterattack, hurling a barrage of shuriken at Sakura from a distance.
"Wind Release: Shuriken Jutsu!"
Danzo himself flung a flurry of shuriken, each wrapped in Wind Release chakra, toward Sakura.
Sensing the sharpness of the technique, Sakura used her Observation Haki to track their trajectories, swaying her body to dodge.
"Don't stop—keep attacking!"
Seeing this, Danzo barked orders to his Root ninjas, urging them to increase the intensity of their assault.
His own hands moved faster, forming seals as chakra spiraled and gathered in his chest.
—Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!
Danzo took a deep breath, exhaling a razor-sharp gust akin to a weasel's scythe.
The Wind Release chakra screeched through the air, threatening to slice through both Sakura's chakra and her body.
"Gather!"
Sakura formed the Ram seal with her hands, summoning a horde of shadow clones that unleashed her fruit powers from multiple directions.
Frost spread rapidly, and ice sang through the air.
The biting cold transformed the ground and surrounding trees into a frozen tundra, encasing the unprepared ninjas in ice.
"Red, stick to the plan!"
Danzo, retreating swiftly, called out to Red, one of the few surviving Root jonin after the Shisui incident.
His hands flashed through seals, chest swelling as chakra gathered within.
—Wind Release: Vacuum Bullet!
Short, rapid bursts of air shot out like a machine gun, restricting Sakura's dodging paths to a predictable route.
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu!"
Root ninja Red ignored the freezing cold, charging into the snowy plain. In the final moment before his body was encased in ice, he used the forbidden Spirit Transformation Jutsu, materializing his spiritual energy into a spirit form and infiltrating Sakura's mind.
Then, he saw it…
From the darkness, a pair of emerald eyes capable of containing the sea slowly opened, gazing down with an overwhelming presence that dominated everything.
An unstoppable surge of will radiated from them, shaking the entire mental world.
Cough!
Yamanaka Fu, forcibly ejected from the jutsu's connection, spat out blood. His attempt to turn his head was thwarted by the ice encasing him.
Though he failed to seize Sakura's body, he'd bought precious time for his comrades.
"Ninja Art: Binding Seal Array!"
Seizing the brief opening, a ninja in a black headscarf rushed to Sakura's side.
Raising both hands, a flurry of sealing tags flew from his sleeves, sticking to Sakura's body.
The runes on the tags extended instantly, locking her limbs and torso in place.
"Sealing jutsu? Nice try, but this won't cut it!"
Sakura took a deep breath, her chakra boiling as a layer of radiant flames formed around her.
Her chest heaved with determination, and scorching steam erupted from every pore!
"Boil Release: Unmatched Strength!"
In the next instant, a wave of highly acidic steam exploded outward.
Like a blazing inferno, it swept through, eroding and corroding the sealing jutsu's chakra embedded in her body.
The sealing tags dissolved into a puddle of green sludge, which quickly froze on the icy surface.
"What?!"
Danzo's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected Sakura to possess a second Bloodline Limit.
Though he'd missed the opportunity Red created, it only made his gaze burn with greater intensity.
Bloodline ninjas were incredibly rare—a fact known across the entire ninja world.
But their true value wasn't just in their combat prowess or the dazzling nature of their techniques.
The key was that these Bloodline Limits—special ninjutsu—could be passed down through bloodlines!
In an era where ninja clans still monopolized military power and wealth through bloodlines, secret techniques, ninjutsu, and knowledge to rival the village, Sakura's value was immeasurable.
"Ku, can you do it again?"
Danzo pulled his right hand from his robes, undoing the layers of seals wrapped around it.
"Huff… huff… Lord Danzo, I won't let you down!"
Ku, a Root jonin whose strength was rapidly sapped by the cold, gasped heavily as he pulled a sealing scroll from his chest.
With a forceful flick, he unfurled it, revealing a dense array of runes etched across its surface.
"Good. You take the lead, I'll support!"
With that, Danzo used Wind Release chakra to accelerate, vanishing into the snowy forest.
"Sakura Haruno, face me head-on!"
Ku, the ninja, assumed a fighting stance, draping the sealing scroll over his body.
The runes spread across him, revealing the combat style of a sealing ninja!
He looked up at the figure standing tall on the snowy plain, ready to sacrifice himself for Danzo's cause.
Buzz—!
The ground trembled as the ice spread toward him, accompanied by a blizzard and a petite yet ferocious shadow.
"Ice Armor!"
From Sakura's outstretched hands, transparent ice crystals formed arm guards, spreading to cover her entire body.
Her fists stirred waves in the air, surging forward like a tidal wave crashing toward Ku.
'No, that ice…'
Ku's pupils contracted, his expression turning anxious.
A critical part of a living seal required direct contact with the target's body.
With Sakura now clad in ice-crystal armor, both he and Lord Danzo would… fail!
"No choice then!"
Ku's eyes hardened with resolve as chakra rapidly gathered in his abdomen.
He let Sakura's fist slam into him, spitting out a gush of blood as chakra erupted from his body in all directions.
"Secret Art: Reverse Five Elements Seal!"
Lord Danzo, this is all I can do for you!
BOOM!!!
In a deafening explosion, the seal, originally meant to follow the Five Elements' order, was violently reversed by chakra.
The imbalance and clash of elements triggered an unprecedented chain reaction, resulting in a massive explosion.
Cough!
Sakura emerged from the flames and thick smoke, her arms crossed over her chest. Cracks spread across the ice on her face before it shattered completely.
"Sacrificing yourself? That's cheating."
Behind her, a figure appeared out of thin air, striking with ruthless precision.
"Got you!"
Danzo, ignoring the corrosion of his pale, wrinkled right arm by Sakura's Boil Release, grabbed her throat.
"Curse Seal of Self-Binding!"
Ribbon-like patterns spread across Sakura's body, completely locking her movements.
At that moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived at the scene, drawn by the massive explosion caused by Ku.
"Stop, Danzo!"
Hiruzen's reprimand echoed from the forest, his face grim, mirrored by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio behind him.
Danzo ignored his old friend's outcry.
Eagerly, he tore the bandage from his left eye, revealing a Sharingan with a shuriken-shaped pattern.
The blood-red pupil reflected Sakura's figure—the strongest genius of the new generation, now within his grasp.
"Too late, Hiruzen. This time, victory is mine!"