"Pop, pop, pop, pop..."
"Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss..."
The tranquil lake surface was thoroughly disrupted by the sudden boiling. A boiling strip roughly a person wide stretched from the center of the lake all the way to Chiba's feet. Steam billowed upward, and beneath the lake water, already black in the night, an even deeper black had somehow covered this boiling strip.
So fast! Chiba's expression changed, but he immediately calmed himself at the fastest speed. Perhaps because of his weakened state, he had lost his composure for that brief instant.
However, after that startled cry, he regained his calm. Having experienced those cruel memories, his ability to remain calm and recover his composure in danger had been quite thoroughly tempered.
At this moment, Chiba looked down at the deeper shadow beneath his feet and the scorching heat he could feel even through his ninja sandals. There was no panic in him at all. He did not even seem to intend to leave the boiling strip.
He merely watched quietly for a moment before shifting his gaze toward the center of the lake, toward the end of the boiling strip.
Did an attack of that level only delay him for this long?
Is his awakened Printless Regeneration even faster than mine?
As Chiba calmed down, that thought crossed his mind.
At the same time, an image suddenly flashed through his mind: the figure that had fallen like a rag to the bottom of the lake when he had nearly suffocated and passed out underwater.
Though he had been on the verge of unconsciousness then, he had seen that glance clearly. Uchiha Nobuhiko's entire body had been charred black. Even if he had not died, he could not possibly have recovered so quickly.
At least, based on the Printless Regeneration Chiba