Couldn't hide it anymore? Hearing the abrupt question, Chiba's smile gradually stiffened, the calm, leisurely expression fading into helplessness.
"Uchiha Nobuhiko... there really is such a person, isn't there?"
At that moment, Shikamaru Nara, who had asked the question, turned to look at Chiba. His face was filled with seriousness, earnestness, and even a hint of gravity.
"How much do you know about him?"
Chiba neither denied nor defended himself. He simply looked quietly at Shikamaru Nara before him and spoke.
There really... is such a person!
At that moment, Akimichi Choji and Ino Yamanaka, who had turned around with Shikamaru Nara, immediately showed awkward expressions. A shocked thought rose in their hearts.
"Not much. I only know that he was one of the masterminds behind the Nine-Tails' Rampage, that he still hasn't been dealt with, and that he is currently an ultra-S-rank wanted criminal. An ultra-S-rank wanted criminal jointly pursued by the Five Great Ninja Villages. And there has been no news of him so far."
Shikamaru Nara was slightly stunned. He clearly had not expected that after revealing something so confidential, the other party would still look as though he had known all along.
Still, he was the calmest among his peers. Though Chiba's reaction had caught him off guard, he still had to say what needed saying.
After all, whether it was today's special training or the test they were about to take, this was his true purpose.
He needed to get to the bottom of Uchiha Nobuhiko.
Otherwise, he would not be able to sleep peacefully at night.
He had originally thought that there was only one person like Taki Chiba. Yet this man, someone whom Taki Chiba had personally needed to hunt down—and someone for whom Taki Chiba had even needed to "die" to avoid