"Whoosh!"
Trailing a long tail of black flames, the greatsword slashed straight down. Amid the explosive roar of compressed air and the howling gale, in another second, it would come down and destroy the enemy.
Could this end it? Or not?
Yet at this moment, Uchiha Nobuhiko's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan hesitated. With its exceptional perception, it surveyed the surroundings across the widest possible field of vision, and his heart rose to his throat.
Yes, it rose to his throat.
The surroundings were shrouded in mist. Even through the white fog and heat haze, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan could perceive every movement. Even every falling drop of water appeared in extremely, extremely slow motion to him.
Any change would be detected by him immediately.
Even if Taki Chiba had some trick up his sleeve, he could detect it at once through changes in the white mist, heat, and flowing water.
He could react and guard against it immediately.
But even so, his heart had unknowingly risen to his throat.
He had a constant sense of unease.
It was as if, before he could cleave the Wood Human and Taki Chiba in front of him in two, something would happen. As if Taki Chiba had arranged some backup plan that would cause all his efforts to fail.
More than that, he even had the feeling that this backup plan could leave him utterly defeated.
Unease!
In that instant, a powerful unease filled his heart.
No! There couldn't possibly be any backup plan left. He should already be at his limit, and the one before him had to be his true body. His Eight Gates Secret Technique was miraculous and powerful, but it still had considerable flaws.
A physical clone could not activate this Secret Technique. In other words, the fact that he