She knew very well that as long as those strands of hair successfully wrapped around the opponent, she would have a chance to invade Anko's body and turn the situation around.
However, facing Fuka's ferocious attack, Anko merely let out a cold laugh.
She quickly formed hand seals, took a deep breath, and shouted softly, "Sage Art: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
As her voice fell, a scorching blaze erupted from her mouth.
The flames resembled a roaring beast. As soon as they met the wind, they rapidly expanded, turning into a massive fireball nearly two meters wide in the blink of an eye.
Fuka didn't even have time to react before the giant fireball slammed directly into her.
Since only her hair remained at this point, she had almost no resistance against flames.
In an instant, flames shot into the sky, accompanied by Fuka's utterly miserable screams echoing through the air.
In just a moment, Fuka was completely swallowed by the blazing fire and reduced to ashes drifting through the sky.
The battle ended, and a thick burnt stench immediately filled the air, enough to make people nauseous.
Anko frowned, but a satisfied smile soon appeared on her face again.
After all, this battle had fully displayed her tremendous strength.
At that moment, Anko raised her head and looked toward Orochimaru's laboratory in the distance with eyes full of anticipation as she silently said to herself, 'Teacher, did you see that? I haven't been slacking off at all!'
Back when the markings first began, she had spent most of every day absorbing natural energy and using it to engrave the seal onto herself.
Day after day, she persisted like that for more than half a year.
Only then did she finally succeed in completely engraving the mysterious and complex markings onto her body without flaw.
From that point onward, she had devoted herself wholeheartedly to refining her Sage Mode.
Because she was the first person to attempt modifying the Curse Mark and implementing sage engravings, the markings on her body had constantly been updated and improved under Orochimaru's guidance.
Most of the time, Anko had been cooperating with Orochimaru in improving the markings, and Orochimaru had gradually begun paying more and more attention to her.
Because of this, compared to her other companions, Anko had gone out to participate in battle far less often.
Yet when she finally faced enemies this time, she displayed astonishing combat power.
With just a single sage art technique, she could effortlessly kill an enemy.
This was the greatest reward for all the sweat and hardship she had endured through her long years of relentless training.
However, she needed to carefully record the details of this battle and return as quickly as possible afterward to report everything to Orochimaru, helping him further perfect and adjust the engraving method.
Unlike the old Anko, who used to drift through life like a lazy slacker, the current Anko had completely changed:
Not only did she possess outstanding ability and powerful combat strength, but she was also filled with ambition, eager to display herself more and earn greater acknowledgment from Orochimaru.
———
Meanwhile, on the other side, Fuen quickly found herself cornered.
The shinobi of Konoha surged in like a tide, completely surrounding her.
Standing at the very front of the group was a man wearing an ANBU mask. His face couldn't be seen, but his striking white hair stood out immediately.
Faced with so many fierce enemies, Fuen knew she was done for, but she didn't dare stop for even a moment.
Her hands rapidly formed seals, and as she moved, the ground began shaking violently. Pits of various sizes and depths appeared one after another.
The originally flat terrain instantly became rough and difficult to cross, greatly hindering the advancing Konoha shinobi and successfully slowing their pursuit.
However, the white-haired ANBU member was barely affected.
His movements were swift as lightning as he effortlessly weaved through every obstacle and trap.
His right hand quietly rested on the hilt of the blade at his waist, and in that instant, an extremely dangerous aura spread from his body.
While desperately fleeing, Fuen continued forming complicated hand seals nonstop.
"Earth Release: Rock Pillar!"
As she shouted, an enormous stone wall suddenly erupted from the ground behind her and crashed toward the pursuing Konoha ANBU with overwhelming force.
Seeing this, the white-haired Konoha ANBU merely took a slight breath before abruptly stopping in place.
Then came a sharp metallic clang as the short blade at his waist was drawn, the cold gleam of the blade flashing brightly.
The next moment, his entire body became like a streak of light tearing across the sky. In an instant, he crossed dozens of meters and appeared directly in front of Fuen as though teleporting from behind her.
Just as fearful thoughts began surfacing in Fuen's mind, she suddenly felt her body becoming light as a feather as she floated upward.
When she opened her eyes, she realized she was truly flying through the air.
While suspended in the sky, she saw a very familiar headless corpse below.
'That... Is me?'
At that moment, a trace of sorrow rose in her heart.
"What an undignified way to die..."
As that thought flashed through her mind, Fuen's consciousness gradually faded, eventually sinking into eternal darkness.
On the other side, the white-haired ANBU held his long blade and coldly glanced at Fuen's body on the ground before immediately turning and heading toward the Earth Release rock wall trap, where Suigetsu was still trapped.
He quickly raised his hand and gave two tactical hand signals.
Almost at the same time, the two ANBU members hurrying up behind him instantly understood. They rapidly formed hand seals together and pressed their palms directly against the solid stone wall created by the Earth Release technique.
A low and powerful shout rang out, "Release!"
In an instant, accompanied by a series of dull cracking sounds, the originally sturdy rock wall was torn apart as though ripped open by an invisible giant hand.
Crack! Crack!
A massive opening appeared before them in the blink of an eye.
Looking through the opening, the white-haired ANBU immediately saw Fudo fiercely battling Suigetsu inside.
Fudo was a ninja who specialized in taijutsu. His combat style typically relied on combining Earth Release hardening techniques with cleverly arranged traps to defeat his enemies.
However, today he had encountered his nemesis, Suigetsu, who possessed the Hydrification Technique.
Facing an opponent capable of easily neutralizing all of his taijutsu attacks and Earth Release techniques, Fudo found himself completely restrained at every turn.
After several exchanges, Fudo gradually realized something was wrong.
At this moment, he had no idea how the battle outside was progressing. Were his teammates holding the advantage, or had they already fallen into trouble?
However, under normal circumstances, if everything had gone smoothly, the three of them should have defeated their opponents long ago. Yet the battle still hadn't been settled.
That meant something unexpected had most likely happened. Perhaps the enemy had already received powerful reinforcements.
At that thought, the desire to retreat began to emerge in Fudo's heart.
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