It seemed I had been too cautious.
Uchiha Nobuhiko rose to his feet atop the branch, his gaze settling on the area diagonally below the massive tree—directly in front of the silent boy sprawled on the ground.
At that moment, a spatial vortex gradually expanded before the motionless boy. A distorted, shrunken figure rotated and enlarged along with the outward-spreading vortex.
By the time that thought crossed Uchiha Nobuhiko's mind, the spatial vortex had vanished, leaving behind a man standing perfectly straight. He wore a mask resembling an Anbu mask, though it had only an opening over the right eye, along with a black Anbu robe.
"This is—"
At that moment, the masked man froze slightly. His gaze fell on the silent boy lying facedown before him, and a trace of surprise, along with faint horror, flashed through his scarlet eye.
"Thud!"
Uchiha Nobuhiko leaped down and landed beside the masked man. "Taki Chiba."
"Dead?"
The masked man glanced at Uchiha Nobuhiko, who had landed beside him. The surprise and horror faded from his scarlet right eye, replaced by indifference as he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"If he can still come back to life, there's nothing I can do about it."
Uchiha Nobuhiko did not answer directly. Instead, he said this.
Chiba...
Hearing that name, the masked man's gaze returned to the boy lying facedown on the ground, utterly silent, already a corpse.
As his gaze touched the body, scene after scene flashed through the masked man's mind.
Their spar before the Chunin Exams—the genius who had gradually begun to shine.
His dazzling performance during the Chunin Exams, when he had completely become a brilliant genius.
The hardworking genius who trained like a madman every day, so diligent that even his own stubborn younger self could not find a