Chapter 377: Mutual Destruction (Part 2)
Haruno Sakura actually knew where her flaws lay. Neither Tsunade, Kakashi, nor Sasuke would hide the problems with her character; she just didn't want to change. Changing oneself is incredibly difficult. To change oneself, one must first realize one's own mistakes, and the battles prior to this had never exposed this problem. What's more, Sakura felt that this character flaw wasn't really a problem at all, and was even beneficial.
There is a saying from her previous life: "A person cannot have arrogance, but cannot be without backbone."
The smooth sailing battles along the way had allowed Haruno Sakura to accumulate too much arrogance. Even the Second Hokage and Orochimaru combined were defeated by her, which made the girl start to become light-headed, so much so that she began to underestimate others: before the fight started, Sakura even felt that she could take on both Uchiha Itachi and Kisame alone! But now it seemed that if Itachi were right beside her, she probably would have died miserably.
Being outsmarted by Kisame this time was like a resounding slap on the face of the girl who had her nose in the air. It caught her off guard and left a deep impression.
Haruno Sakura was not a stupid person. She had just been somewhat intoxicated by her own strength recently, falling into the illusion of being somewhat invincible, getting a bit carried away and forgetting herself, turning her backbone into foolish arrogance.
Among many kinds of pride, feeling proud because of one's high looks or strong strength is nothing.
Being beautiful is not necessarily a good thing for a ninja.
Besides easily being underestimated and considered just a flower vase, in war, beautiful ninja, regardless of gender, once captured, suffer more than ordinary ninja in the eyes of enemies who have killed until their eyes turned red. Torturing captives and venting bestiality on them—specific details might refer to heavy-flavored underground movies from Eastern Europe in her previous life—was common in past ninja wars. Naturally, such ugly things wouldn't be drawn in the manga, but it didn't mean it hadn't happened, nor did it mean Haruno Sakura wouldn't notice it when reviewing documents.
As for strength.
In her previous life, Haruno Sakura abandoned the Naruto series because she heard that the power levels in the later stages inflated excessively to the point of collapse, making it unwatchable. In the eyes of someone like her, the essence of Naruto lay in the Chunin Exams, and Shippuden completely negated everything about the Chunin Exams, so naturally, she had no interest in continuing to watch. Leaving aside whether Sakura regretted it now; at least she knew that with her current strength, facing enemies whose strength would inflate to the point of manga collapse in the future, she would probably just be a soy sauce passerby on the battlefield. So in this regard, she couldn't be arrogant either.
But insisting that she was right, no longer willing to reflect on herself, overly confident to the point of blindness and arrogance—this kind of pride might be the most arrogant of all pride.
The stinging pain from her right hand was not only physical but also felt like a burning pain in her heart, like being slapped in the face.
The moment of confrontation just now was arguably the most dangerous in all of Haruno Sakura's battles. If she hadn't stabilized the chakra of the Monstrous Strength Technique, if Samehada had absorbed just a little more chakra... the person dying from heavy injuries now might be her.
Thinking of this, the girl felt a lingering fear in her heart, and her face turned slightly pale.
Knowing that the enemy already knew her intelligence, why did she assume that the other party couldn't handle her moves and rush in brainlessly like a headless fly when the fight started? Did she really take these battle-hardened rogue ninja of the Akatsuki for fools? Little did she know, when one treats everyone else as fools, one often becomes the biggest fool oneself.
Haruno Sakura paced over, treating the injury on her right hand while silently reflecting in her heart.
Kisame's slash had truly slapped her awake.
In terms of strength alone, Kisame's Water Style and chakra amount were far inferior to Sakura's. The only thing to worry about was the Samehada sword—and Haruno Sakura, who also had all of Kisame's intelligence, dared to single him out confidently, so how could she not have a way to deal with Samehada? If she fought steadily, Sakura didn't need to create such a dangerous situation at all and could still win steadily against Kisame.
"Cough, cough," Kisame forced himself to stand leaning on the Samehada sword, insisting on speaking, and immediately coughed up several mouthfuls of dark red blood. "I didn't expect Samehada not to absorb all your chakra. This so-called trap trapped me instead... I spun a cocoon around myself!"
His eyes were a little dim. The severe injuries were taking away the vigorous vitality within this ninja, causing his burly body to hunch over.
"Your ability to control chakra is truly amazing," Kisame stroked the handle of Samehada and continued to say weakly, "Samehada can absorb half a Tailed Beast's chakra in an instant, I didn't expect it to suffer a loss at your hands!"
Saying it suffered a loss, Samehada's current appearance was not so understated: it looked almost broken at ninety degrees. The originally straight blade had turned into an L-shape. The hideously protruding spikes now lay limply on the blade, looking like a dead salted fish. The force was transmitted from the Samehada sword to Kisame, and Kisame was beaten half to death just like that, let alone the Samehada sword facing the Star Cannon Hammer directly?
Come to think of it, Samehada was originally a fish, right?
Perhaps "a man's words are good when he is about to die," Kisame's words contained a bit more sincerity, probably because he was at the weakest moment of his life.
Haruno Sakura was looking down treating her wound. Hearing this, she was a little surprised and looked up at him.
She was reflecting on the mistake she made, but she didn't expect Kisame to admit his own problem first.
"I didn't expect Samehada to have such strong chakra absorption ability either, nor did I think my move could be dealt with like this." Hesitating for a moment, the girl also readily admitted her mistake. "Samehada... is truly a powerful weapon."
When the battle is in a stalemate, some people like to use words to influence the enemy, or exchange a few words out of mutual respect between heroes; but Kisame was about to die...
Was he giving his last words?
Sakura didn't have the habit of chatting with enemies during battle. She responded now, but her medical ninjutsu didn't stop. She made up her mind that as soon as her right hand recovered enough to form seals, she would finish Kisame off immediately!
"The intelligence given by the Land of Water said that Samehada has a very strong ability to absorb chakra, but it didn't say it would be this strong." Haruno Sakura held her right hand with her left, set the broken bones one by one, and then quickly restored them under the effect of medical ninjutsu, continuing to speak without stopping.
Many things, no matter how detailed and vivid the description, cannot be appreciated without personal contact. Samehada's ability was the same.
Being able to absorb her Frost Funeral in an instant, and even nearly sucking her dry the moment her hand touched Samehada, such chakra absorption ability was truly astonishing! According to Kisame, it could even bite off most of a Tailed Beast's chakra in one bite. Using Naruto as an estimate, probably even if he unleashed four tails, he would be sucked dry instantly, right?
Powerful Water Style, Tailed Beast-level chakra, impressive sword technique, plus the Samehada sword that completely counters general ninjutsu, no wonder Kisame was so confident. Without special means, ninjutsu-type ninja facing Kisame were completely delivering chakra; in the Akatsuki, figures like Kakuzu would only run away if they were enemies with Kisame. Sasori's chakra threads were naturally countered by Samehada. As for Hidan and Deidara, they were not even worth mentioning. Even looking at the entire ninja world, in Haruno Sakura's opinion, Kisame's strength could steadily rank within the top ten.
"Hmph," Kisame lowered his head and sneered, saying intentionally or unintentionally, "The Land of Water... was originally a country full of lies and falsehoods."
It had to be said that although Haruno Sakura could see that Kisame was openly provoking the relationship between the two countries, she still couldn't help but have doubts.
Did they really not know?
Such a question probably wouldn't get an answer even if asked to Mei Terumī, right? It was truly terrifying. Before the two ninja villages entered the honeymoon period of cooperation, suspicion had already begun to arise.
The girl's thoughts spun like lightning instantly, many ideas flashing through her mind, and then she forcibly suppressed these thoughts. She was still in battle and couldn't think wildly just because Kisame was seriously injured!
"So is this the reason you betrayed the Land of Water?" Haruno Sakura added meaningfully, "Did you know? In the Land of Water, Suikazan Fuguki is a martyr who sacrificed himself to stop you from defecting."
Of course, Haruno Sakura had heard another version of the story in the Land of Water—which was Kisame's version in the manga—that Kisame killed Suikazan Fuguki who was colluding with the enemy, but there was no evidence to prove all this, so he had to defect from the Mist Village bearing the crime of harming his companion.
"Hehehe..." Kisame laughed sarcastically in a low voice, dark red blood spilling on the ground as if it cost nothing, but he was oblivious, only saying fiercely, "The traitor who sold out the village became a hero defending the village, and the person who eliminated the traitor for the village eventually had to defect from the village, haha... How ridiculous, what an ugly village!"
"Is that so?" Sakura said noncommittally. Under the treatment of powerful Yang Release chakra, the bones of her right hand had been set, and she began to lower her head to sort out the muscle wounds, the flesh that had bloomed like old tree bark slowly healing.
"You have seen my data, so you should know that I recently cooperated with the Fifth Mizukage in the Land of Water to exterminate the Suikazan clan." The girl's expression was somewhat careless, seeming to focus most of her energy on treating her right hand, and said slowly, "Guess what I found in the spoils?"
Kisame didn't take the bait, just raised his head and looked at Haruno Sakura coldly.
Sakura didn't mind, paused, and continued: "The secret documents of the Suikazan clan recorded such a thing..."
"When they arrived at the scene, they found that Suikazan Fuguki woke up from genjutsu on his deathbed."
Haruno Sakura's voice carried no emotion, speaking such a sentence plainly and clearly.
Genjutsu? Were Suikazan Fuguki's actions all the result of genjutsu? This was not impossible, because even more absurd things happened to the Fourth Mizukage!
Kisame's pupils contracted violently, and his truly tiger-like body shook.
He was stunned for a moment. Then he said: "Do you think I will believe it? It's just another lie."
If his defection was also the result of Uchiha Madara's manipulation, then what was the meaning of him coming to the Akatsuki founded by Madara to pursue a true world? Words from the enemy, Kisame could not, and was unwilling to believe!
The two were silent for a moment, neither interested in bringing up the topic again.
Before long, Sakura's treatment came to an end, and her right arm was restored to its original state.
"Hmph, it doesn't matter," Haruno Sakura moved the five fingers of her right hand, looked at her palm and said carelessly, "I am not interested in the past of your Land of Water. Who is false and who is real has nothing to do with me. Anyway... after today, the names of Kisame and the Samehada sword will disappear from the ninja world!"
Her delicate fingers danced nimbly in the air, flying like butterflies, making various seal gestures, indicating that her right hand was nearly healed and the owner of the hand was about to regain the ability to cast powerful ninjutsu.
It also indicated that she was about to kill Kisame soon, and then rush back to Sasuke's battlefield to support him as quickly as possible.
"Hehe, is that really so?" Kisame's voice suddenly stopped being weak and became full of vigor, not looking like he was seriously injured and dying at all.
He suddenly straightened his previously hunched waist and sneered: "I guess there is one more thing the Mist Village didn't tell you."
Without Kisame's reminder, Haruno Sakura also discovered where the problem lay; in fact, if she hadn't been focusing on performing medical ninjutsu on herself, Sakura should have discovered this abnormality long ago.
"Samehada actually has the ability to heal its user..." The expression on Haruno Sakura's face was tight, her eyes fixed on Kisame's body which had quietly recovered, and said word by word.
Very unfortunately, while she was treating her right hand, Samehada was also silently using the chakra absorbed from Haruno Sakura to treat Kisame's injuries.
And right now, just as Sakura was about to restore the combat power of her right hand, Kisame's injuries were also nearing complete healing!
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