Nothing... there?
Was it an illusion? But...
Under the dim yellow light, Chiba's brows slowly drew together, and his eyes unconsciously narrowed. His half-crouched body gradually lowered as he could not help leaning closer to look at the ground.
Nothing...
Had it really been an illusion just now?
Then, when all he saw was a ground like the surface of water—the same watery ground Naruto had encountered when entering the Nine-Tails' Sealed Space in the original work—with nothing else on it, Chiba's furrowed brows seemed to tighten further.
Just now, as he stroked the water-like ground, hard and smooth as a mirror, he had vaguely seemed to see some kind of outline and pattern, as though something lay beneath that water-like surface.
Though it had only lasted an instant, he was certain that he had truly seen something.
Yet now, after trying to stroke it again and again, even several times over, that fleeting sight from before did not appear.
He could not even stir up much of a ripple.
"How strange. I clearly saw it just now..."
Looking at the perfectly smooth, mirror-like ground, Chiba's brows had completely risen into an inverted figure-eight as he continuously recalled that brief moment.
It wasn't an illusion. It absolutely wasn't an illusion! What I saw just now definitely wasn't an illusion!
There must be something underneath! Chiba quickly solidified the thought in his heart. Even if it had only been for an instant, he had clearly seen something beneath this water-like surface—or rather, something on this water-like ground itself.
Judging from the outline, it seemed to be a crack, extending to both sides from where his hand had been.
As for where it extended to, he did not know.
But one thing was certain: this crack had to mean something. More importantly,