"Boom!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom!"
From the explosion smoke that nearly encircled the area behind Hada Ichiba's position, huge branches crashed onto the ground.
"Crack crack crack crack!"
Wooden fragments immediately shattered and flew out of the smoke, slapping against the branches of the giant tree Hada Ichiba stood on and the surrounding trees, kicking up clouds of dust.
"What... is that kid thinking?"
Yet Hada Ichiba paid no attention to any of it. He did not even spare it a glance. Through the faint gaps between the branches, he merely watched the two children racing away, blinking with a mixture of astonishment and confusion.
Clearly, he had never expected Long Yan to do something like this.
It was obvious that while he had not been paying attention, the two children had used Exploding Tags to blow up some of the relatively smaller branches along their route—branches that were nonetheless enough to completely block his path of pursuit.
They were telling him that they wanted to act on their own and did not want him following them.
In other words, their team had split up without him receiving any notice whatsoever.
"Heh..."
Then, as he watched the two children vanish from sight, Hada Ichiba let out a long sigh.
Did those two kids even listen to the rules of these Chunin Exams...
They had to carry both the Heaven and Earth Scrolls and reach the Central Tower together, all three of them...
At the same time, a helpless thought crossed his mind.
This was most likely Long Yan's idea. That silly girl Anna could never have come up with such a smooth plan.
Come to think of it, Long Yan was not usually the sort of child who liked using his brain. This time, he had refused the Earth