"Ka... Kazekage!"
The other two members of the Orochi Oniwabanshu, Fujin and Raijin, were stunned.
Just by creating a sea of flowers that covered the mountains and fields, Kazekage, whose power was comparable to theirs, had died just like that.
"What's going on? Is that woman a sorceress?" Fujin drew the katana from his waist, coated his entire body with Armament Haki, lowered his center of gravity, and prepared himself.
"Everyone, be on guard. Get out of range of her sorcery!" Raijin turned around and loudly commanded the other ninja to retreat.
"Heh, these guys are in for it." Ace, carrying his sword on his shoulder, quietly retreated a bit and snickered with glee.
Having sparred with Sakura many times, he naturally knew that treating Ninjutsu like a Devil Fruit ability would lead to serious trouble.
Of course, he wouldn't reveal this information either. After all, as long as more people shared the same pain, it wouldn't be considered pain anymore!
Standing in the middle of the flower sea, Tama hugged Sakura's leg. "Big sister, you're actually a ninja too?"
"Of course!" Sakura hoisted Tama up and sat her on her shoulders. "Your big sister here operates in the darkness, performing magnificent Ninjutsu!"
"Don't talk about ninja like they're circus clowns! We are the sharpest blades, serving our lord in the shadows!"
Insulted about his profession, Raijin in the distance let out a roar. His silver hair stood up even more with rage. As his arms flew, countless kunai and shuriken were thrown toward Sakura.
Clink, clink, clink!
The multitude of thrown ninja tools either stabbed into the ground or struck rocks and earth, emitting crisp sounds that echoed through the open sea of flowers.
"Interesting. You're determined to discuss with me what it means to be a Ninja?" The pink-haired girl, who had grown up since childhood in one of the five great Ninja training institutions, opened her eyes excitedly.
With a light step, using special Ninja footwork techniques, Sakura carried Tama across the vast distance and flashed before a black-clad ninja.
Black-clad ninja: "???"
'Damn, I wasn't the one who argued with you! If you have a grievance, go find him, okay?'
In the rapidly closing distance, the black-clad ninja raised his pitch-black gun barrel with both hands. His fingers trembling on the trigger, he pulled it hard.
Bang—!!
The not-so-deafening gunshot echoed, not particularly noisy under the pitch-black sky. But in contrast, the subsequent sound of metal impact followed.
In the center of the raised palm of the girl before him, a deformed bullet was embedded.
The Walker revolver, crafted by Wano's weapons craftsmen, a large-caliber pistol favored by various large organizations such as the World Government, the Marine, and the mafia. Its power was such that it could even penetrate a three-to-four-centimeter deep hole in a special Seastone target.
But now, a bullet fired by it had been blocked by someone's palm, not even leaving a red mark on her body.
Combined with Kazekage's previous ineffective scratching with a kunai, the many combatants of the Orochi Oniwabanshu had doubts in their hearts—
"Bulletproof... and sword-proof?"
Raijin, wearing his goggles mask, lost his composure. His voice was so faint it seemed squeezed from his lungs.
"Well, not necessarily. Maybe the gun went easy on me, and used its back edge?" Sakura shook her hand and dropped the bullet in her palm to the ground.
"Bullets don't have back edges!" Raijin's roar came from beneath his mask. "Fire! Everyone fire! Concentrate your fire and shoot her dead!"
The many Oniwabanshu's ninjas hurriedly raised their guns and fired, firing indiscriminately without regard for recoil.
Panicked gunshots rang out continuously. Sparks flew. Bullets shot through the rifling and burst out, cutting through the air toward the girl's torso.
"Tama, watch closely. I'll teach you the essentials of Ninja Tactics now!"
Sakura patted Tama's leg and casually picked up a kunai thrown by one of Orochi's men. "Ninja Tactics essential number one, Taijutsu!"
Her pink hair swayed in the wind. Her green pupils slightly unfocused, as if not focusing. Her body sank, her waist first, as she slashed the kunai with violent force.
The blade's edge traced a crescent moon, leaving a white mark. A series of dense sparks exploded in the air. The stray bullets cut straight through flew in all directions, and many ninja were affected, pierced with bloody holes.
"So cool~"
Tama, riding on Sakura's neck, held her head with both hands, her eyes wide as she experienced the scene of bullets being cut in front of her from a first-person perspective.
Although she couldn't see the trajectory of the bullets, the big sister's swinging arm and the occasional sparks made her heart beat very fast, and her little face flushed red.
"It's useless. I've heard legends about the Guardian Deity King. Powerful warriors like them are not afraid of guns and cannons!"
Raising his two wakizashi, Fujin, another member of the Orochi Oniwabanshu, condensed his own spirit to the limit and directly swung out two flying slashes.
"Oh my, dangerous~"
The invisible wind blades howled, but Sakura casually deflected them with her kunai, and they rebounded into the sky, exploding into a brilliant firework.
"Such powerful Ryuo... a monster!"
Fujin had clearly seen the attack just now. His flying slash hadn't even touched the blade of the kunai before being deflected by the Haki armor covering it.
Gradually realizing something was wrong, he turned his head and spoke to Raijin: "Find a way to notify Orochi-sama. This woman is not someone we can handle. We're probably going to die here today."
Hearing this, Raijin nodded, pulled a signal flare from his chest, raised his hand, and shot it into the sky.
"Are you finished with your business? Can we continue our lesson now?" The girl's playful voice was like a feather, lightly tickling the hearts of everyone.
She walked very slowly, almost at a leisurely pace, weaving through the hail of gunfire. Sidestepping, moving laterally, or bowing her head, she easily reached Fujin and Raijin.
"You..."
Fujin and Raijin's faces showed expressions of horror. The warning of their Observation Haki instinctively made them raise their weapons to protect their vital points.
As if not seeing their actions, Sakura continued to explain to Tama: "Next is Ninja Tactics essential number two, Genjutsu!"
The moment her voice landed, Fujin and Raijin wanted to retreat. Unfortunately...
Pfft!
Their bodies seemed to split apart the moment they moved. Their hands and feet were cut off. Their vision began to spin, pulled by gravity, and they crashed heavily to the ground.
"Hah—!"
The suffocation caused by forgetting to breathe for so long came. Their bodies' instincts pulled the two back from the darkness of death. They hurriedly lowered their heads to check their bodies, as if the bodies that had just been cut off were just an illusion.
"Was I just...?" / "Yes. I saw it too."
Before Raijin could even finish his question, Fujin, who had stronger Haki and swordsmanship, had already answered him in the affirmative.
That was killing intent. Without even launching any attack, the woman had merely shifted her center of gravity and projected killing intent, causing their Observation Haki to generate the illusion that they had been killed.
"Damn it! What kind of genjutsu is that supposed to be?!"