Chapter 248: Ambushed by the Akatsuki
Waterproofing was relative, not absolute. In the end, it all came down to a battle of chakra.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Ino's speed didn't falter. Forming a single hand sign, she unleashed a fireball the size of a washbasin, hitting a paper spear. Immediately after, she landed a punch on Konan's face.
Her Face-Breaking Fist caused the middle of Konan's face to cave in, but the Akatsuki member was like a mud monster; her face reformed near her original shoulder. With a soft hum, Konan spread her left hand, sending countless paper shikigami flying at Ino.
"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"
With Danzo's loss of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Ino could now use Flower Style, Takigakure ninjutsu, or whatever she wanted without worry. Her "Hand Sign" stat, now at 9 points, allowed her to perform seals at lightning speed. Just as Konan unleashed dozens of paper shikigami sharp as blades, Ino condensed a translucent sphere of high-pressure wind!
With a muffled bang, the numerous paper blades were shredded. Konan then turned her body into paper, allowing the wind sphere to pass harmlessly through the gaps.
"You're quite annoying, Leaf ninja," Konan warned.
Ino remained expressionless, quickly forming hand signs for her most proficient Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique. This time, she rode atop the water dragon, spraying water around Konan's body! She wanted to see just how waterproof those wretched papers were.
She and Konan exchanged four or five blows in mid-air, neither able to gain a decisive advantage. Estimating that Shikamaru and the others had gotten far enough away, Ino considered retreating. Unfortunately, while she held up Konan, Konan also held her up. The Art Duo quickly caught up.
Lord Sasori, who usually took more than his share and fleeced the Akatsuki for all they were worth – when others got one uniform set, he had to get two – was the fastest to arrive. Ino glanced at him from a distance. She couldn't quite figure it out. Hiruko, that puppet, was so short. No matter how much Sasori modified himself, his height should at least be 1.60 meters, right? Did he just lie prone inside Hiruko normally? And then propel Hiruko forward little by little, like pedaling a rickshaw while lying down?
Ordinarily, Lord Sasori moved like a crippled person, his speed comparable to a turtle. But today, he seemed to be riding a wheelchair going eighty miles per hour, charging out like a gust of wind.
"Your body would make an excellent collection piece!" he said sinisterly.
Deidara was extremely displeased. "Hey! That's my opponent! You can't just go after her, quickly hand her over to me!"
As the two bickered over Ino as their opponent, Sasori arrived first. His very first move was his Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. Chakra threads, controlled by that oddly shaped core inside his body, shot out densely, and a hundred human puppets, clad in red cloaks, appeared.
"Leaf ninja! I'm here to assist you!" The samurai, Daitō, who had left, returned. With a swift dash, he charged forward, drawing his katana with lightning speed and using an iaijutsu slash to cleave the heads off two human puppets before being surrounded by the dense horde of puppets.
"Hmph, so you're a Leaf ninja? How disappointing. Now, become my ultimate art!" Deidara waved a hand, scattering a large number of clay bombs.
Sasori, Deidara, and Konan—Ino now had to contend with three powerful enemies. The samurai's skill was not bad, but facing a hundred human puppets that spewed poison needles, he could only provide a minor distraction. Despite Ino's considerable skill, even she felt her scalp tingle.
Unsure why Kakashi and the others still hadn't arrived, she decided to deal with the most threatening enemy first. She had her Oil Transformation as a trump card and understood the secrets of explosive clay; Konan and Deidara posed a relatively lower threat to her. Sasori's Hundred Puppet Performance and potent poison were the greatest dangers.
She used Painful Sky Leg to kick towards Konan's crotch. Taking advantage of the paper person's momentary retreat, she formed hand seals to create an Earth Style: Mud Wall, blocking Deidara's clay spiders. Then, she unleashed a massive Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave at the dense army of human puppets.
Human puppets could fly in the air, but Sasori's Hiruko couldn't. Lord Sasori, lying prone and 'pedaling' inside Hiruko, was sent tumbling by the flood. This massive water jutsu reminded him of Kisame.
Facing the flood-like torrent, his core issued a command. Five human puppets acted like pillars, their feet nailed into the ground, and then used their hands to stabilize Hiruko.
Ino was waiting for this very chance.
"Big Ball Rasengan!" Like surfing, she stepped on the water flow, weaving back and forth among the numerous human puppets, dodging left and right until she reached Sasori's side, her eyes locked onto Hiruko's front leg armpit. A massive, pale blue Rasengan slammed down.
Hiruko wasn't very agile at turning. Sasori manipulated Hiruko's scorpion tail, swiping it as if trying to take her down with him. Ignoring the Big Ball Rasengan, it sprayed a waterfall of black poison needles.
Bang! Ino was struck by countless poison needles, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"A Shadow Clone?" Sasori quickly looked to the other side, but it was too late! The real Big Ball Rasengan smashed heavily into the side of Hiruko's head. The high-speed swirling chakra vortex carved countless wounds onto the puppet's steel-hard surface, then slowly but quickly ground its way inward along the neck cavity.
"Damn it!" Deidara actually seemed to care about Sasori. Seeing his comrade in danger, he kicked towards Ino's back. Simultaneously, Konan's paper shuriken also flew in from three directions.
Ino cursed inwardly. She had no choice but to dispel the Big Ball Rasengan and pull back. Her hands formed seals with blinding speed, first using Water Style: Severing Wave to force Deidara back, then raising a Water Style: Water Formation Wall to block all the paper shuriken.
Sasori's Hiruko had a large hole ripped into the side of its neck by her. He was now using chakra threads to control spare parts and repair the damage. Deidara and Konan weren't surprised by this; the former often discussed art with Sasori and had seen his true body, while Konan had recruited him years ago and had also seen his real form.
Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto, having safely escorted the Prince of That Country and the Princess of This Country, had returned. Choji used his Human Bullet Tank to slam into Deidara, who easily dodged, but Choji didn't watch his step and was caught by Shikamaru's Shadow Paralysis Jutsu.
He quickly broke free of the secret technique. The samurai, Shikamaru, and Choji teamed up to fight Deidara. Naruto, meanwhile, was locked in battle with Sasori's Hundred Puppet Performance. His Shadow Clones were dying incredibly fast; they couldn't last long at all.
Most of the pressure was still on Ino. She continuously used various Water, Wind, and Earth Style ninjutsu. Just as she was struggling to fend them off, Kakashi suddenly appeared from the side, using a kunai to block Sasori's scorpion tail. The King of Tardiness raised his right hand to Ino. "Yo! I'm late, but I remember the agreed upon location was twenty miles south."
Yo, you idiot! Ino was under immense pressure and had no time to retort. She just waved her hand. "Don't worry about all that! Just pick an opponent! I can't hold on much longer!"
Naruto's situation was the most dangerous. Kakashi went to deal with Sasori, while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji teamed up to besiege Deidara, leaving Ino to focus on fighting the paper person.
They exchanged more than ten moves. Suddenly, Ino used her Oil Transformation chakra, covering her hands in oil. She clamped onto Konan's shoulders like iron pliers. Konan tried to use her paper transformation to evade, but found her paper shikigami were covered in oil. Ino's grip was incredibly tight. As Konan retreated like this, her black cloak with red clouds was smoothly pulled off by Ino.
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