"Wait, original!"
Earth Clone Chiba looked at the empty forest behind him, his face stricken with alarm. He suddenly turned back and called out to the original Chiba, who was already several trees ahead of him.
There was already a note of urgency in his voice.
"What is it?"
Hearing the Earth Clone's words, the original Chiba stopped at once. Then, upon instinctively turning around and seeing Earth Clone Chiba's alarmed expression, his own face tightened. He spoke as he hurried back, stopping in front of the clone.
"Someone's there. Someone's behind us!"
Looking at the original before him, the Earth Clone took a slight breath and spoke gravely.
"Someone?"
At that, the original Chiba instinctively looked around. When he found no movement at all, he voiced his confusion.
"You mean?"
Then, as he spoke, his gaze fell on the Earth Clone's hand braced against the tree trunk, and he hurriedly continued.
"That's right."
Earth Clone Chiba nodded solemnly.
"Can you tell who it is?"
Hearing that confirmation, the original Chiba frowned and asked.
Damn it! We're being followed at a time like this! Such a thought flashed through his mind.
Clearly, the Earth Clone meant that they were being followed now. Someone was tracking them from behind, somewhere beyond their sight.
As for how the Earth Clone knew, it was naturally due to that unreliable sensory ability that worked only sometimes. Ever since Chiba's physical changes had given rise to this sensory ability, he had always wanted to develop it. However, his knowledge of sensory abilities was lacking, and sensory ninja generally possessed their various abilities from birth. No one knew how such abilities were supposed to be developed. Sensory ninja were basically born that way; from the day they awakened, they could naturally use their abilities. There was