Chapter 561: A Winner Decided? (Part 1)
Haruno Sakura naturally wouldn't be caught by the Deva Path's Bansho Ten'in (Universal Pull) and captured without any room for resistance, like Naruto in the "original work," that is, the Naruto of that world.
She could do a bit more than Naruto.
After all, compared to the Naruto of that period, the current Sakura was superior in all aspects of strength.
Including her weak point, taijutsu.
Her outstanding control allowed Haruno Sakura to accurately apply chakra to every muscle fiber and nerve cell in her body, thereby producing miraculous effects and secret techniques. Those were the secret technique that surpassed its master—the Sakura-Style Monstrous Strength, and the secret technique that accelerated thought and reaction—the Sakura Dash. Needless to say, we already know that the combination of these two, coupled with her rich experience in fighting against powerful experts, created the girl's extraordinary taijutsu abilities.
This gave Haruno Sakura the leeway to respond.
After the initial surprise, the girl regained her calm at an extremely fast speed, and her mind raced to figure out a plan. The seawater beneath her feet rapidly deformed, catching up with the pulled girl and turning into her pedal and point of force. Stepping on the seawater, she instantly had a place to leverage herself in the air, and with a twist of her body, she regained her balance!
It sounds easy on paper, but to complete this set of delicate movements under the effect of Pain's Bansho Ten'in required an extremely profound mastery of Water Release and outstanding reaction capabilities.
Next, she didn't manipulate the seawater to decelerate and resist the power of the Bansho Ten'in.
On the contrary, the girl tapped her toes, her sandals stepping on the crest of the wave. Taking advantage of this to exert force, she accelerated and charged right towards Pain!
Her figure, which was already charging towards Pain at high speed, forcibly increased its speed by several degrees!
"Hah!"
An angry roar exploded out of thin air. Haruno Sakura shouted angrily, her eyes instantly becoming sharp, and her killing intent surged!
"Nintaijutsu - Wing Chun Straight Punch!"
The power of the Bansho Ten'in and the force of Haruno Sakura riding the sea waves combined, instantly accelerating the girl's figure to the extreme. It takes a few hundred words to explain on paper, but in the actual battle, it all happened in the blink of an eye. Pain had just used Bansho Ten'in to plot against Haruno Sakura, and the next moment, the latter brazenly launched a counterattack with a brilliant response!
The gap of over a hundred meters was crossed by Haruno Sakura in an instant. In a flash, the girl's sharp eyes were already close at hand, the wind from her fist howling as the straight punch struck with the crushing weight of Mount Tai!
This punch could blast Pain into scum!
Pain's eyes were gloomy, and a look of slight surprise appeared on his face, but his figure was as steady as a mountain, without the slightest intention to dodge.
He wasn't particularly good at taijutsu, let alone stopping the currently fiercely imposing Haruno Sakura barehanded.
But... the Preta Path could!
"Splash!"
The long-dormant fat man suddenly dashed out from underwater in front of Pain. With a bizarre smile on his face, he propped up an arc-shaped shield with both hands, and his sturdy figure instantly protected Pain!
"Preta Path - Blocking Jutsu Absorption Seal!"
Pain's prepared strongest backup move, activated!
In a split second, Haruno Sakura's pupils shrank violently. It was too late to avoid the Preta Path, and her arm, wrapped in a fierce fist wind, blasted straight into it.
Crack!
The fat man's left hand blocking his chest was smashed into meat paste by the girl, and the sound of breaking bones cracked crisply like splitting bamboo!
Then, the might of the straight punch dropped like falling off a cliff.
Right at the instant her fist punched through that layer of shield, in a short zero-point-one seconds, the chakra used to form the Monstrous Strength rapidly decayed and faded, completely absorbed into the shield. Suddenly, the girl's monstrous strength was like bubbles under the sun, dissipating without a trace, leaving only the inertial force governed by the laws of physics.
Smack—!
The girl's fist finally landed on the fat man's face, but it was already a spent force. It only let out a crisp sound, no longer possessing the all-conquering might of her monstrous strength.
Haruno Sakura's expression froze on her face.
With a massive amount of chakra absorbed, she actually felt her body suddenly become empty and weak in an instant!
The smile on the Preta Path's face was beaten into a distorted shape, seeming to carry a bit more sarcasm:
"This, is your monstrous strength?"
Having an arm blasted to pieces didn't affect the secret technique's effect. In Haruno Sakura's perception, the Preta Path seemed to have become a black hole, or a bottomless abyss, greedily and endlessly sucking away the chakra from her body at high speed!
The girl's expression changed slightly.
What a terrifying chakra suction!
She had also fought enemies capable of absorbing and depriving opponents of chakra. Kisame's Samehada had left a deep impression on her, but the Preta Path's absorption ability was much more overbearing than that! No wonder Naruto's Rasenshuriken from that world could be instantly absorbed by him. If it weren't for this shield that absorbed chakra, she could have completely blasted Pain's Deva Path and Preta Path into mush with a single punch!
The instant Haruno Sakura's offensive fell through, Pain seized the opportunity and brazenly attacked.
Swish—!
Pain was seen suddenly closing in, the black rod in his hand thrusting out like a venomous snake. Using the Preta Path's body to block her line of sight, he slashed out a vicious and ruthless strike!
Even though the girl's reaction speed was pushed to the limit and she retreated rapidly, she still couldn't completely avoid this strike—her brain formulated a response, but her faintly weak body couldn't keep up with her thoughts.
With a swish, Pain's black rod left a deep, bone-revealing wound on Sakura's smooth forearm.
Blood gushed out, dripping down her slender arm and dyeing her porcelain-white skin a glaring dark red.
Tremendous pain traveled along her nerve lines and violently transmitted to the girl's brain!
Haruno Sakura's expression, however, remained completely unchanged. This level of pain was not enough to make this tomboy flinch! But her right fingers began to disobey her commands, and she couldn't exert any strength below her elbow, which made her frown.
The nerve was injured.
Her slightly stiff movements were caught in Pain's eyes.
"You're done for!"
In close-quarters combat, unable to use the Monstrous Strength jutsu and with her right hand temporarily immobilized, Haruno Sakura's situation suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse. Fighting to the point of near exhaustion and with all trump cards played, Pain was certain that he had finally pushed Haruno Sakura into a dead end!
Having succeeded in one strike, the Deva Path Pain was unrelenting, bypassing the Preta Path to continue his pursuit.
Although his punches and kicks were not as tyrannical and overbearing as Haruno Sakura's Nintaijutsu, they were absolutely not weak compared to other ninja of the same level. His figure was agile, moving like a fleeing hare. His punches and kicks were sharp and ruthless, his movements concise and efficient. Wielding the black rod and swinging it rapidly, his offensive was fierce and sharp; he was truly a master of taijutsu!
On the other side, the Preta Path also tacitly kept up at high speed, dragging his ruined arm to walk shoulder to shoulder with the Deva Path. Propping open his secret technique with one hand, he followed Haruno Sakura closely, ensuring that no matter how the girl retreated, she would always be within the coverage of his secret technique, unable to condense enough chakra.
At a close distance, the Preta Path fully exerted his role. Without the support of chakra, Haruno Sakura couldn't fully display her array of skills, including her invincible close-combat taijutsu. Without chakra enhancement, and not being a taijutsu maniac like Rock Lee or Might Guy, how much strength could she have? It would be nothing more than the showy but impractical punches and kicks of a delicate young girl!
Haruno Sakura's previous choice of close-quarters combat had exactly fallen into the most fatal trap set by Pain.
Pain charged forward menacingly, his eyes already viewing Haruno Sakura as a dead person!