Splat!
Spraying blood carved a crimson arc through the air before splashing into the lake like scattered raindrops, bleeding color across the water's surface.
Cough!
This was followed by a muffled cough, as though someone's throat had been seized.
Drip!
With that cough, a spray of blood splattered onto the swollen spore covering, which had expanded to its limit. It slowly seeped in, staining the white covering bright red.
"Did you think you could escape?"
At that moment, Uchiha Nobuhiko's calm expression grew increasingly grim as his eyes reflected the youth hanging before him.
"This... can't be..."
Before him, the youth, still suspended in midair with his chest thrust out, slowly lowered his wide-eyed gaze to the sharp wooden spike piercing through his chest.
This is...
Banshō Ten'in? As his gaze settled, this unbelievable thought flashed through Chiba's mind. At the same time, the scene from moments ago involuntarily resurfaced in his mind.
The instant he had tightly gripped the wooden tube containing the left Rinnegan, Uchiha Nobuhiko's expression had suddenly become calm. Before he could even think This is bad, Uchiha Nobuhiko had raised a hand and aimed it at him.
All he had time to do was change expression before an overwhelming, nearly irresistible force of attraction suddenly struck. He only remembered his chest being forced forward uncontrollably, and his posture of pulling away and flying backward instantly becoming one of lunging forward with his limbs thrown behind him, speeding straight toward Uchiha Nobuhiko.
Then, in an instant, he rammed his own chest into the wooden spike. The spike entered through his chest and emerged from the center of his back.
It was as if he had run into the spike himself.
Wood Release...
*Of course. Since he had awakened the Rinnegan and completely absorbed Hashirama's Power—or rather,