Was that necessary?
After not seeing each other for so many years, was that necessary?
Watching Kakashi let out a "hehe" before looking back at him, Chiba's mouth twitched slightly as that thought crossed his mind.
This time, he really had no intention of fooling them.
Nor did he have any ulterior motive.
Of course, he did have a purpose, but it would absolutely not harm Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, or Asuma in the slightest. On the contrary, in a sense, his purpose was the same as theirs. There was no need to be so seriously guarded against—or resistant.
Although he had not seen these friends in a long time, they had all been quite close back then. Even Kurenai Yuhi, whom he had interacted with the least, had visited his home several times. It was just that those had all been girls' gatherings Yukina had invited her to. Chiba and Hirohiko had basically stayed out of them. At the time, Chiba had been immersed in training, while Hirohiko had things of his own to do, so they had simply interacted less.
Chiba still had some idea of what the three of them were thinking.
The fight—or sparring match—he had just provoked was really for the sake of their respective students.
After all, Chiba knew very well what his current standing in Konoha was. These people all knew him quite deeply to some extent. With such an excellent resource available, it was easy to guess that Kakashi and the other two wanted to use him during this month to raise their students' practical combat level.
And judging by the current situation, the way to improve them was likely to let their students witness higher-level battles, experience such combat from close range, broaden their horizons, and learn certain fighting methods from those