Naruto: The Strongest Suiton User

Chapter 29: Slaughter

"The first one..."

Sakura slowly walked out of the house, looking coldly at the fallen Kirigakure rogue-nin, and spoke with indifference.

The taste of a first kill... was cold and numb. There was none of the legendary discomfort, no nausea, no panic. Having lived in the world of Naruto for over a decade, Sakura had long been mentally prepared to be stained with blood. With enemies still hidden nearby, Sakura's entire mind was focused on the battle, with little spare attention to comprehend the fact that she had just killed someone.

Killing, for a ninja, was just an ordinary part of the job.

"Come out! Or... do you want me to force you out?" Unconsciously, Sakura's voice had taken on a hint of killing intent. It was faint, but it felt exceptionally cold.

She had only sensed one enemy. Was there only one ninja left, or were the second ninja's concealment skills too good? Sakura decided to try and bluff the enemy with words.

Of course, the experienced Kirigakure rogue-nin did not reveal himself because of such a low-level trick. He just secretly cast a ninjutsu.

"Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

Mist gradually condensed from the air, shrouding the open space outside the house in a world of white.

"To be able to take down Mizukichi, it seems your skills aren't too bad, brat!" A voice, sometimes near and sometimes far, came from the air, ethereal and traceless under the cover of the mist.

"However, I'm much stronger than Mizukichi... Let me show you the power of the Silent Killing technique!"

The voice seemed to be everywhere. Killing intent permeated the mist, and even the air grew colder.

But Sakura suddenly laughed. In her eyes, this enemy had put on quite a show, but unfortunately, he had more style than substance. Although the mist was thick and obscured her vision, it was not infused with chakra and could not block Sakura's chakra perception, which greatly diminished the effect of the Silent Killing technique.

How foolish, Sakura silently judged. Either don't use the Hidden Mist Jutsu, or if you're going to use it, put some effort into it, like Zabuza did, and inject a large amount of chakra to completely block the enemy's chakra perception. What's the point of being so stingy with your chakra and only doing it halfway like this? In fact, Sakura had already clearly sensed the location of the enemy who had cast the Hidden Mist Jutsu.

"Eight places..." The same old lines, spoken by this guy with a mysterious air. "Which one... do you want me to attack?"

When paired with Zabuza's killing intent, these words could make one's blood run cold. Spoken by this guy as if he were reading from a script, Sakura only found it ridiculous.

Sakura sneered, "The farce should be over. I don't have time to play with you!"

The enemy did not move from his position. He had probably been deceived by Sakura's fierce swordsmanship earlier and thought she was a taijutsu-type ninja! Hearing that Sakura remained in place, he cleverly assumed that she was deliberately trying to bait him into moving and revealing an opening. However, in the ninja world, those who liked to make arbitrary assumptions about their opponents often suffered a miserable defeat. And Sakura was no taijutsu-type ninja!

"Water Style: Super Water Gun Jutsu!"

The mist concealed his position, but it also concealed Sakura's actions... A thin line of water shot into the depths of the mist, followed by a short, sharp cry. In Sakura's perception, the distant chakra source shattered like a bubble!

The great mist, having lost its chakra support, also quickly dissipated in the sunlight.

"The second one...!"

"Are you going to come out on your own, or should I invite you out...?" Sakura said to the empty clearing. However, after waiting for a long time, it seemed that all the enemies had been eliminated. Sakura received no response.

Was the other faint chakra source I sensed earlier just my imagination? Sakura waited silently for a moment. Seeing no new enemies appear, she turned and went back into the house, bringing Tsunami and Inari out.

"It's not safe here anymore. I'll take you to hide first and then go support Kakashi-sensei. Don't you dare run around!" As she walked out the door, Sakura turned back to remind Tsunami.

The attack came in the very instant Sakura turned her head!

A figure wrapped in bandages suddenly emerged from a small puddle in front of Sakura, stabbing towards her with incredible speed!

A direct hit! The bandaged ninja had enough confidence in his speed. At such a close distance, it was impossible for anyone to dodge his sneak attack! He could almost see the kunai in his hand piercing the enemy's heart, just like the many enemies he had killed in the past.

"Die!" the bandaged man shouted madly!

No matter how strong a ninja is, no matter how sharp her blade, no matter how powerful her ninjutsu, once the heart is pierced, she will fall into the abyss of death! Relying on his talent for hiding that no one could detect and the ultra-high-speed sneak attack he had mastered through countless life-or-death battles, he had already killed many ninja far stronger than himself. And the young girl before him, who had mastered powerful swordsmanship and ninjutsu, would be the next soul under his blade!

Thud! It was the dull sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh.

Sploosh! It was the sound of blood gushing wildly from a wound.

On Sakura's chest, a thin water shield had blocked the bandaged ninja's sure-kill blow. The attacker stared with incredulous eyes as his swift and powerful strike was rendered useless by the pale blue water shield. On the contrary, the sturdy kunai in his hand was snapped in two!

Behind him, Tsunami suddenly transformed back into Sakura. The moment the attacker appeared, she had stabbed the bandaged ninja's body with the sharp ice blade in her hand. The sharp blade pierced through his chest. Dark red blood gushed out from the ruptured artery, dyeing the beautiful, crystal-clear ice blade red, then scattering in all directions, leaving mottled bloodstains on the water shield, and splashing into the water clone's emotionless, icy eyes!

A flower of blood bloomed in the air. The bandaged ninja's life, in this moment, became a huge, blood-red rose in the air!

The bandaged ninja could feel his life force and strength rapidly draining from his body along with his blood. His body was slowly growing cold and numb. In the final moments of his life, the bandaged ninja felt unwilling and very confused! Why had the opponent blocked his attack with just a small water shield? Why could the enemy sense his presence? Why was the ice blade so sharp that it instantly pierced his body, so much so that he was killed in one blow without even having time to react? And why was the enemy's expression so calm?

But he no longer had time to ask.

The world grew so cold.

The bandaged ninja had already lost the strength to pull out the ice blade. He struggled to touch the ice blade that had taken his life, then used the last of his strength to look up at the enemy who had killed him.

Behind the blood-spattered water shield stood the unharmed real Sakura. The fierce battle had not left a single trace of blood or a speck of dust on her. She just stood there calmly. Against the backdrop of her pink hair and delicate face, her cold, emerald eyes were silently watching him. The faint killing intent in her eyes made him feel as if he had been plunged into an ice cave, a chill that penetrated to his bones!

Behind her was the water clone holding the sharp blade. The blood splattered on its face mixed with its rigid features to form a bizarre, gloomy expression. Its emotionless, transparent eyes looked at him indifferently, and its red lips parted slightly to say faintly.

"Your concealment skills are impressive, but to kill me, it's not enough...!"

The light of life in the bandaged ninja's eyes quickly dimmed. His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something more, but in the end, he only let out a final breath, his head drooped, and he fell to the ground with indifference.

The third one!

Sensing that the life flame of the last enemy had been extinguished, with a splash, the blood-soaked water clone also dispersed into a pool of water. The scarred ice blade fell to the ground. Without chakra to maintain its form, this beautiful and dangerous longsword also shattered into countless ice shards with a crisp sound.

Looking at the few ninja lying on the ground, Sakura was slightly surprised. It was... so easy. With her Water Style and nin-taijutsu, Sakura indeed possessed the strength to crush her opponents. But if it had been the her from before the Land of Waves mission, she would absolutely not have been able to defeat these three reasonably skilled ninja so easily.

After experiencing the battles with Zabuza and the others, and after the special training arranged by Kakashi, although her strength on the surface had not improved much, Sakura felt that her combat power had risen to another level. A deeper understanding of chakra nature transformation had given her more diverse offensive methods, rather than blindly relying on a single Water Gun Jutsu to attack. This made her appear more calm and composed when facing a battle.

After killing the enemies with her own hands, she felt the killing intent she emitted for the first time. It wasn't anything mystical, just a special mental state, a state that was naturally stimulated under strong excitement. It was essentially no different from the state of being fully focused while playing games in her previous life, except that it could affect the minds of others. Sakura could feel that when she was emitting killing intent, her body was more agile, her senses were sharper, her thinking was calmer and even colder, and she was more adapted to combat.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura confirmed that she had eliminated all the enemies. She then turned her head. In the house behind her, the real Tsunami and Inari were walking out, following another clone Sakura had left behind.

"I've eliminated all the enemies, but just in case, you should still hide with my clone," Sakura said faintly. The killing intent on her body was still uncontrollably emanating, making her words cold and unquestionable.

"I've left the clone with a lot of chakra, enough to deal with any enemies. And Gato probably won't send another wave of people to find you. Stay close to the clone; she will take good care of you."

Sakura looked towards the direction of the bridge, as if she could see the battle between Kakashi's group and Zabuza. She knew she had been delayed for a long time by these three ninja, and her mood became anxious. In Tsunami's eyes, the still-seething killing intent on Sakura's face was a mask of indifference. Her eyes were just coldly looking into the distance. Her body, unharmed after the fierce battle, stood perfectly straight.

"Now, I have to go support them!"

Sakura looked back at the two of them one last time, nodded slightly, then turned and left.

Behind her, the voices of Tsunami and Inari cheering for her came with the wind. Sakura raised her hand, gave a cool thumbs-up, and then rushed towards the bridge without looking back. Her figure turned into an afterimage and disappeared from Tsunami and Inari's sight!