"Do you think I said all that just to mock you?"
Looking at Chiba, who made no effort to hide his wariness, Uchiha Nobuhiko merely smiled faintly and spoke.
Though phrased as a question, Uchiha Nobuhiko's words sounded quite sincere.
"Is that so?"
In response, Chiba merely smiled and replied flatly, clearly not believing him at all.
Someone like Uchiha Nobuhiko never let his emotions show. He could easily wear one face while hiding another beneath it. Even that lofty, self-satisfied attitude he had put on earlier might have been nothing more than an act meant to make his enemy underestimate him, relax somewhat, and reveal an opening.
Moreover, although Chiba had indeed been misled by himself earlier, Uchiha Nobuhiko's impersonation of Obito had contained very few flaws. Otherwise, even if Chiba had been led astray, he would not have only discovered at the very end that the enemy before him was not Obito, but someone else entirely.
To Chiba, this sudden sincerity was merely the beginning of another scheme—or perhaps simply the arrogance one showed toward someone doomed to die.
Because Chiba's life was in his hands and his death was inevitable, Uchiha Nobuhiko could afford to be so sincere and polite.
At its core, it was arrogance, and a particularly vile kind at that.
It was essentially the arrogance of placing one's own character above another's. Uchiha Nobuhiko's sincerity and courtesy toward Chiba now were only meant to make himself seem nobler by elevating Chiba.
It was already a kind of condescending pity.
Still, however uncomfortable Chiba felt, there was nothing he could do. He was now a spiritual body. Although the Spirit Transformation Jutsu was a spiritual Forbidden Jutsu, Chiba had not mastered it for long. He could only separate his spirit from his body and invade