"This farce should be about over, shouldn't it?"
Watching Uchiha Nobuhiko leave, Chiba slowly spoke as he swept his gaze over the stunned crowd around him.
In an instant, every person who met that scarlet eye—whether Konoha ninja, enemy ninja, or ordinary civilian—stiffened and nearly all took a step back.
"Children, it's time to retreat."
At that moment, Fujiki Shigeru, whose tears had already dried though his eyes were still slightly red, had somehow appeared behind his three disciples.
"Teacher Fujiki?"
The three disciples, whose attention had been drawn away by Chiba, suddenly turned around. Almost instinctively, they lowered their voices just as their teacher had.
"Go."
Knowing that his teacher had noticed him after hearing that call, Fujiki Shigeru was exceptionally decisive. He turned and quietly headed back, withdrawing without drawing attention.
"What's going on?"
Out of trust in their teacher, as well as confusion over his sudden change, they instinctively followed him and quietly backed away.
"We shouldn't be here."
Hearing that, Fujiki Shigeru replied without looking back.
"Y-Yes."
The three disciples all froze at Fujiki Shigeru's answer. Though they responded immediately, indescribable expressions appeared on their faces.
Has Teacher... stopped caring about saving face? Does "we shouldn't be here" mean he's admitting we don't belong on this battlefield because we aren't qualified?
He's actually running away without even finding some high-sounding excuse?
This...
What's wrong with Teacher?
Did he get caught in a genjutsu?
Even now, the three of them could see from their teacher's back that something about him had changed.
Though fleeing at a time like this was perfectly in line with their teacher's usual behavior, and he would definitely flee under such circumstances.
Normally, however, before running away, he would surely come up with an impressive-sounding reason to explain that their escape was merely