When the light of the Flying Thunder God Technique vanished, Sakura and Chiyo's figures abruptly appeared before the sealed cave.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu. I didn't expect you to know this as well!"
Chiyo pulled out a scroll from her satchel, unrolled it, and broke the storage seal. A large stack of explosive tags appeared before them.
Using a throwing technique to cover the entire giant rock with explosive tags, they rapidly retreated as a violent explosion tore through the cave.
Inside, the figures standing on the fingers of the giant statue. Gaara, having the last trace of his Chakra extracted, lost support and crashed to the ground.
"Retreat immediately. Do not engage her!"
Pain hesitated for a moment, then turned to warn Deidara and Sasori.
However, his words couldn't possibly match the girl's speed.
In the pupils of the two, the image of Sakura, brandishing a giant lightning sword, was reflected.
Regardless of the situation, starting with a Haki-infused slash was the pirates' style.
If you can withstand it, we can chat. If you can't, you're just roadkill, not worth my time.
"Hakoku: Lightning Roar Sword!"
Enough to incinerate everything, scorching heat and freezing cold bringing death circulated on the blade. Thermal cycles propelled friction ionization, unleashing earth-shaking thunder.
—Slash!
Instantly, a clean-cut ravine appeared across the entire sealed cave, slicing through half of the mountain above along with it.
"Cough!"
Merely grazed by the shockwave, Deidara, sent flying, coughed up a mouthful of blood mid-air. The tail hook of Sasori's puppet, Hiruko, also shattered.
The giant sword slash, entwined with Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, actually cut into the Gedo Statue's skin inch by inch.
"Roar!"
Perhaps sensing danger, the Gedo Statue began to roar.
"Tch, so hard." Sakura was already prepared for being unable to cut through its body in one go.
After all, it was an Otsutsuki Clan's planetary-level weapon used for invading planets and extracting Chakra. It wasn't something so easily destroyed.
So Sakura sheathed her sword, gathering strength, preparing to give the thing before her another strike.
"Damn it!"
On the other end of the Magic Lantern Body Technique, Pain's expression turned grim. The moment the Gedo Statue was damaged, it increased its extraction of his Chakra.
"We can't let her continue attacking the statue!" Pain murmured, as if making some determination.
Forming hand seals, he summoned the Gedo Statue away. The Magic Lantern Body Technique dissipated, leaving Deidara and Sasori behind, facing Sakura directly.
Sasori, Deidara: "..."
'Pain, you ungrateful bastard!'
"I'll handle Sasori!"
Seeing Deidara release a clay creature that swallowed Gaara and was about to take off, Chiyo grabbed a scroll with her right hand, shaking it. A sea of kunai, senbon, and shuriken sealed within were flung out, riddling the clay monster bird like a honeycomb.
"Don't even think about running!"
Sakura lunged toward Deidara, the thunder on her sword flaring again.
"Damn it! This guy's release technique counters mine! Sasori-senpai, help!" Deidara, seeing his clay being shredded like vegetables, couldn't help but exclaim.
But Sasori, already locked in a fierce battle with Chiyo, had no time to spare for him.
The howling giant sword had already reached Deidara. At this critical moment, a hand grabbed his body, pulling him backward.
Then, a spiral of space-time rippled outward, collapsing into a central point that sucked Deidara in.
"It's you again, 'Uchiha Madara'. Is your arm healed yet?"
Seeing the masked Obito, Sakura didn't hesitate, scattering Flying Thunder God kunai across the surrounding ground.
"Haruno Sakura..." Obito's tone was unfriendly, his hand pressing against his faintly aching left arm.
Previously, to help Orochimaru get close to Sasuke, he had tried intercepting Sakura within the Kamui Dimension. The result was having his own arm torn off by her, forcing him to have both arms implanted later.
Realizing this woman was not easy to deal with, he had spent the past two years trying every possible way to recruit her into the organization.
But this woman, impervious to both persuasion and threats, held a will to oppose them as firm as steel, showing not a hint of wavering.
It even made him wonder: was it not the world that was wrong, but himself?
"Our objective is already achieved. If you want the One-Tail's Jinchuriki, I can return him to you!"
Obito snapped his fingers. Gaara, his life force almost extinguished, dropped out, grabbed by Obito and flung toward Sakura.
"I think just the Jinchuriki isn't enough. How about leaving your lives behind as well?"
Sakura bit her thumb, slapped it on the ground, and a two-meter-long slug tumbled out, landing just in time to catch the thrown Gaara.
"Sakura-chan? What do you need?"
The slug wriggled, only then noticing Gaara on its back. "How cruel! Someone extracted his life force. He'll die if this continues!"
"Katsuyu, take care of him for me. Three minutes will do!"
Sakura instructed Katsuyu briefly, then stepped forward, directly transferring via the space-time anchors of the Flying Thunder God kunai to Obito's vicinity.
"Hmph, thinking you can defeat me in three minutes? How arrogant!"
Obito pressed his hands together, Chakra burning as he infused it into the technique.
Under his Chakra manipulation, the spiraling, ripple-releasing space-time hole appeared before his eye again. This time, however, a crimson light gleamed at its center.
Immediately, accompanied by terrifying light and flames, countless blinding clay spiders burst forth, explosions rapidly blasting toward Sakura!
"Die!"
Obito unleashed their hot-blooded combo technique.
This was an improvement he'd made over the years specifically to counter Sakura, aimed at mitigating his lack of offensive power with only one Mangekyo Sharingan.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The clay spiders exploded immediately upon release, giving Sakura no chance to use lightning to interfere. Flames and shockwaves ravaged the earth as explosions erupted, and the Flying Thunder God kunai scattered on the surrounding ground were blown away by the massive blasts.
With her vision obscured by explosions and Observation Haki losing track of Obito, Sakura directly followed the direction of the displaced kunai, using space-time transfer to put distance between them, avoiding a sneak attack.
"You can't escape, Haruno Sakura!" Obito's body emerged from the ground beneath Sakura, his arm twisting as he thrust toward Sakura's abdomen.
"Saying that as a Space-Time Ninjutsu user yourself, do you even believe it?" Sakura rolled her eyes.
Armament Haki formed a layer of armor on her abdomen. When Obito's hand viciously grabbed at it, a grating friction sound erupted.
Simultaneously, Sakura, no longer holding back, unleashed a slash. It pierced through Obito's head, while the massive slash flattened the mountain range at the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain.
"Good heavens! What kind of power is that?!"
Inside the Kamui Dimension, Deidara had his eyes widened, his voice beginning to stammer.
"Hurry and prepare more clay, or you'll have to deal with her yourself later!" Knowing Deidara's tendency to chatter, Obito threatened to shut him up, refocusing his attention on Sakura.
"All done discussing?"
Sakura hefted the sword onto her shoulder, rainbow light flowing in the depths of her eyes.
"How did you..."
Obito was startled, half his words stuck in his throat.
Then, illusory light of space-time lightly diffused. Terrifying power, dozens of times greater than the sky-splitting force before, along with lightning, accompanied the girl's overwhelmingly oppressive figure-
Violently assaulting him!!!