This Uchiha Nobuhiko...
He was even more formidable than I had imagined! Perhaps Nao was right...
Now, I somewhat understood why Nao had always pretended to be blind.
Watching the village gates slowly close behind him, Chiba turned back around, the grave look on his face seeming to deepen further.
Just now, he had spent nearly two hours going through every piece of information the village had on Uchiha Nobuhiko.
Before reading them, he had already taken Uchiha Nobuhiko seriously enough. He had kept Nao's words firmly in mind, constantly reminding himself that this man he was bound to kill was no simple opponent.
He had even regularly estimated models of their respective strengths. His assessment of Uchiha Nobuhiko's strength told him that although this Uchiha Nobuhiko had never appeared in the original story, he was undoubtedly stronger than Chiba. Even now, Chiba might not have surpassed him.
After all, Uchiha Nobuhiko had been able to control Hirohiko and make him kill Nao, putting his genjutsu abilities among the very best. He had also abducted Nao without anyone noticing, and he knew the secret of the Mangekyō Sharingan—no, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He was likely closely connected to Madara. And since Obito had still been taken away by Madara, it was entirely possible that Uchiha Nobuhiko had escaped Madara's control. By now, he almost certainly possessed the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. His strength was likely at least Kage-level and could not be underestimated.
But after reviewing all the village's files on Uchiha Nobuhiko—its arrest records and intelligence on his appearances—Chiba realized that he had still underestimated him far too much.
Leaving aside the rough model of Uchiha Nobuhiko's current strength that Chiba had calculated, when Uchiha Nobuhiko killed Nao's brother and defected, he had been a child under ten years old—younger