"What happened?"
"What was that?"
"What's going on?"
The cloud of dust that suddenly exploded outward instantly drew everyone's attention. Whether they had been puzzling over the name Chiba, feeling gratified as they watched their teacher's happiness, moved to tears by their teammates' efforts, or had sensed something earlier, all eyes were immediately pulled toward that cloud of dust.
But with dust filling the air, everything around them had become somewhat blurred by the spreading haze, let alone the dense cloud at its center.
They could see nothing and could only voice those instinctive questions.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
Just then, as everyone spoke up instinctively, three openings suddenly burst through the dust cloud at its center, and three figures flew backward out of it.
"Tap!"
"Tap!"
"Tap!"
Amid three slightly heavy landing sounds, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Kakashi landed at three separate points outside the dust cloud.
Their faces also bore looks of confusion.
It was as if even they had no idea what the scene before them was.
"What is it, Neji?"
At that moment, seeing the three teachers settle into place, Tenten suddenly came to her senses and looked at Neji beside her.
Perhaps no one present knew what had happened, but Neji, who had been the first to notice something was wrong, should know something.
Rather than make blind guesses herself, she might as well ask her teammate first.
"I don't know. It was too fast. I didn't catch it right away."
Neji Hyuga shook his head as he spoke.
His Byakugan had caught sight of the thing falling from above, but it had been too fast. Its perception had detected something, yet his attention and reflexes had failed to keep up in time, so he had not clearly "seen" what it was.
Neji Hyuga also