Too... too late!
The crimson strands in his eyes suddenly flared apart. Terror spread across Chiba's entire face, and without realizing it, his neck had already shrunk back stiffly—a particular motion he made at particular moments.
"You idiot!"
Then, at that instant, a familiar scolding voice abruptly rang out, its pitch slightly raised in the distinctive way it did whenever its owner was angry.
Thump!
Along with that shout came the familiar sound of flesh striking the top of someone's head.
Tap!
Then came the sound of feet touching down.
"Ch-Chiba? Are... are you all right?"
At the same time, a faintly worried voice accompanied the landing. Yet for some reason, it trembled, as though the most horrifying thing in years had happened right before the speaker's eyes. There was even a hint of shrinking fear in that concern.
It hurts!
Meanwhile, Chiba clutched his head with both hands, his eyes wide open. A familiar bump had risen atop his head, and a wisp of smoke slowly curled upward from it.
A familiar motion, a familiar bump, familiar smoke...
For that moment, it was as if he had returned to several years ago.
At the same time, the image in Chiba's mind of a red-haired beauty, thin and haggard from the pain of losing her disciples, instantly collapsed, shattering into countless fragments. In its place stood a beautiful woman with flowing red hair, her right hand clenched into a fist, veins throbbing in cross shapes at her temple and across the back of her fist, her entire body seeming to blaze with crimson fury. Her face plainly said, "Angry."
That was right!
At this moment, Chiba once again experienced the power of Kushina's right fist smashing down on his head. And this time, the pain was the worst he had