"Crack!"
Chunks of earth that had burst apart fell and shattered before their eyes, pattering onto the ground like a shower of dirt.
"Gulp!"
Looking at the footprint deeply sunken into the ground, as well as the web of cracks spreading out from it, everyone swallowed in unison.
"C-Could it be..."
Zong Mi slowly turned his face toward Yu Ze beside him. His lips trembled, but he did not know what to say.
"Th-This... is this... something a p-person can..."
On Yu Ze's other side, He Yin's eyes widened slightly. Her lips quivered as she struggled, unable even to finish a sentence.
"Could it be... Chiba is actually a very, very powerful ninja?"
At the same time, Yu Ze, just as wide-eyed and dumbfounded as He Yin and Zong Mi, murmured.
"S-So amazing..."
In front of them, the six children had completely shed their earlier tearful reluctance. Their little mouths hung wide open, their eyes round as tiny bells. Other than those three words, they could not say anything at all.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
"Whoosh... rustle..."
In the darkness of night, Chiba raced through the vast forest. The wind howled past his ears, and in the distance, starlight and moonlight were already visible. Before long, he would be out of the forest.
Sure enough, relying on muscle strength alone and using comparatively little Chakra, I can reach the highest speed short of my maximum.
Although I didn't exactly cross this entire forest, getting through it in such a short time is still rather unbelievable.
And I've consumed even less Chakra than before.
The increase in my body's strength is even greater than I imagined!
At that moment, several considerations flashed through his mind.
After all, this near-death revival had brought the greatest physical enhancement he had ever received from surviving