What was that...? Chiba, who had turned into a fleeting blur, glanced slightly at Hirohiko hanging over his shoulder. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes, and a trace of surprise crossed his face.
Then, the surprise turned into delight.
Found her! He had found Yukina's trail!
His heart was filled with wild joy. Crack!
The Chakra beneath his feet suddenly exploded, instantly stamping the unusually thick branch into a web of cracks as splinters flew everywhere.
Crack!
The next second, with a crisp snap, his body—which had dipped to absorb the impact of landing—flashed away, vanishing from the spot like a passing streak.
Tap!
When he reappeared, Chiba had landed on a branch several meters away at roughly a forty-five-degree angle to his left.
Crack!
Then came another sound of a branch breaking. Chiba became a blurred figure and shot off along a route forty-five degrees to the left of his original path.
Great! Great! Not only did I find Yukina, I also have a rough idea of that Iwa Ninja's speed!
Although I can't reach my maximum speed while carrying Hirohiko, and it'll be hard to maintain this high-speed travel state as my Chakra runs out...
But judging from this, I can absolutely catch up to that Iwa Ninja! As the fierce wind howled around him, a series of thoughts flashed through Chiba's mind. At the same time, a string of images and sensations as vivid as if he had experienced them himself—fixed on Yukina's face and the glowing Exploding Tag on her chest—slowly sank into his memories.
I never expected one of the two Shadow Clone Jutsu I sent out earlier to run into that Iwa Ninja by such a coincidence.
This is...
Incredibly lucky!
As those images settled into his memories, another grateful thought surfaced in