Chapter 553: Scheme
"...If they continue fighting like this, that Akatsuki woman will undoubtedly lose." Rondo said to Choujuurou.
At this moment, they were hiding on the sea surface sixty to seventy miles away from the battlefield, shrinking their bodies, restraining their chakra, trying hard to hide their own existence, like ants peeking at giant elephants fighting.
The sea surface was undulating, and the aftermath of the battle would occasionally stir up abnormal wave crests. Rondo and Choujuurou's hunched figures loomed in the sea waves, hiding as two inconspicuous small black dots.
"Because neither Haruno Sakura nor Konan has a move that can effectively defeat the other." Seeing the doubt on Choujuurou's face, Rondo explained in a low voice, "So do you know what the deciding factor of this battle is?"
"It's stamina, it's chakra." Rondo directly revealed the answer.
Choujuurou was thoughtful.
Rondo continued: "It's true that a winner can't be determined in a short time. But fighting until now..."
Fighting up to this moment, Konan was finally certain that Haruno Sakura's previous words were not a bluff.
She is really... stronger than herself!
In the air, the Angel of Paper was flying strenuously.
That pair of gorgeous and huge pure white wings, the left piece was roughly torn off, taking away a large piece of flesh and blood along with the pulling, like a rag doll ravaged by a naughty owner. Countless newly generated papers gathered at the wound, roughly filling the ferocious wound. The missing wing rapidly regenerated, mixed with blood-mottled feathers, extremely filthy, making the woman look particularly miserable.
Rainwater and sweat soaked her hair, converging into small streams flowing down her cheeks. Konan opened her mouth panting heavily, her chest heaving, her breathing becoming heavy.
She looked at Haruno Sakura standing on the sea surface not far away, her eyes gloomy.
That girl, indeed as she said, appeared so calm. After a fierce battle, she actually didn't shed a single drop of sweat.
Just slightly panting.
"Hmph...!" Konan gritted her silver teeth, trying hard to calm her rapid breathing, but her heart was surging with emotions.
She originally thought she could easily defeat Haruno Sakura relying on her secret technique; shortly after engaging in battle, she changed her mind, thinking she could grind her to death with a war of attrition.
She didn't expect that, holding a huge advantage in secret techniques, she would actually be beaten into such a miserable state!
The Angel of Paper knew clearly that if she continued fighting, she had absolutely no chance of winning.
But, Konan had other plans.
Not far away, Haruno Sakura stood unhurriedly, her clear eyes reflecting Konan's slightly messy figure.
The girl slightly tilted her head, looking at the gloomy-faced Konan with interest.
Already realized you're going to lose, right!
Then, what will you do?
While thinking, Sakura manipulated chakra, transforming the floating ice on the sea surface into countless sharp weapons such as knives, spears, swords, and halberds, abruptly stabbing towards Konan in mid-air!
Without giving Konan a chance to catch her breath, Haruno Sakura brazenly launched the next round of offensive!
In the distance.
"Senior," Choujuurou scratched his hair and asked, "Why doesn't that woman named Konan retreat?"
"Since she knows perfectly well that if she continues fighting, she will only be defeated!"
Rondo was slightly stunned.
Because he had been focused on sensing chakra changes and deducing the details of the two women's battle, he actually missed such a simple and important detail.
"Knowing perfectly well she can't win but not retreating?" Rondo's brows suddenly furrowed into a deep frown. He lowered his head, his brain running rapidly, "Either bringing up the rear to delay time..."
The man paused.
"Or," a flash of inspiration hit him, and he abruptly raised his head, "there are reinforcements!"
Rondo ignored the startled Choujuurou, tightly closed his eyes, moved his perception away from Haruno Sakura and Konan, and probed further away—
Aimless searching is tedious and difficult, especially at such a long distance.
A sensory ninja's investigation of targets beyond their field of vision is more like finding a distinct piece from a pile of similarly colored color blocks. Haruno Sakura and Konan's battle, because it was too intense, was as prominent as ink spots dripped on a white paper. But looking for a moving target further away is as difficult as finding a tiny, slightly whiter white spot on a huge white paper.
Beads of sweat soon appeared on Rondo's forehead.
Fortunately, the target he was looking for possessed a massive amount of chakra and didn't deliberately hide his existence.
"Found him!" Rondo suddenly cried out, "A huge chakra reaction is moving towards Haruno Sakura at high speed!"
"Distance from Haruno Sakura..."
"Less than a hundred miles!"
For Kage-level ninja, this distance was already approaching a dangerous degree. Choujuurou's face showed great alarm, and he hurriedly shouted to Rondo: "Senior, two against one, Haruno Sakura is in danger! We have to quickly go warn her!"
"It's too late." Rondo shook his head, his expression solemn, looking into the distance and saying bitterly.
For the sake of safety, the distance between the two of them and Haruno Sakura was also dozens of kilometers, not much closer than that high-speed moving target. By the time the two of them rushed to the battlefield, it would be highly probable they'd see Haruno Sakura already facing off against that person.
At that time, let alone warning Haruno Sakura, not becoming a burden dragging her down would already be good enough!
Rondo's face was very ugly. A feeling of powerlessness and anger spontaneously rose from the bottom of his heart.
He was a senior Anbu after all. Even if he couldn't compare to people at the level of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, his strength couldn't be underestimated; he was an outstanding figure among Jonin. He didn't expect that when encountering this group of people from Akatsuki and Haruno Sakura, he actually couldn't do anything, and could only hide aside and peek at the battlefield, like a wretched mouse nestling in a gloomy corner.
"We can't do anything right now." Rondo clenched his fists and said in a low voice, "The only thing we can do is hide aside, collect intelligence, and believe that our ally can handle all this!"
He patted Choujuurou's shoulder heavily.
"We can only believe in her."
Choujuurou frowned tightly, forcing himself to calm down.
He took a deep breath, his eyes flickering a few times, and suddenly asked: "Wait! Since we can discover this problem, could Haruno Sakura also guess something?"
Rondo still shook his head: "If that were the case, she should speed up the rhythm to defeat Konan and end the battle!"
"Unless—"
Rondo and Choujuurou looked at each other, their eyes lighting up.
"Unless she did it on purpose!" Choujuurou blurted out, "Haruno Sakura deliberately wants to lure that person out!"
Then... is that really the case?
On the battlefield.
The battle between Haruno Sakura and Konan was nearing its end.
"Got you."
The pink-haired girl straightened her arm, spread her five delicate white fingers, and then—abruptly clenched her fist!
High-speed growing ice grabbed the ankle of the Angel of Paper, who had dodged the pincer attack of Ice Release with various thrilling movements. Then, it spread, growing upwards along the woman's slender and straight thighs.
Crack crack!
The ice grew at high speed, emitting weird friction sounds while rapidly confining Konan's lower body into the ice block.
"Bastard... move!" The woman kicked her legs desperately, flapped her wings, and struggled forcefully a few more times, her face full of anxiety, but ultimately still unable to take off again.
"Hmph."
Haruno Sakura looked at the woman struggling in vain before her eyes and sneered.