New Discovery

What was that?

Chiba maintained his stretching posture as he suddenly looked toward the woods on his left, his brow furrowing slightly.

What was going on?

As his brows drew together, a warning thought flashed through Chiba's mind.

Just now, after getting up and preparing for his daily taijutsu training, he had suddenly felt that sensation of being watched again. This time, however, the gaze seemed more... how should he put it? It carried a sense of foreboding. Still, it had vanished in an instant, just like the illusion last time.

After that thought crossed his mind, a jade-green glow slowly emerged in Chiba's eyes. The spot in his vision where that gaze-like illusion had appeared was instantly magnified, and he could clearly see the dew on the green leaves of that branch.

But aside from the leaves and dew, there was nothing there. There could not possibly have been any gaze.

Was it another illusion of being watched?

Chiba frowned, suspicion flashing through his eyes as the jade-green glow gradually faded. He released Gate of Pain Mode.

No, that was unlikely!

Once or twice might have been an illusion, but again and again? That was not something that could be dismissed as a simple illusion!

There was definitely something wrong here.

Someone was watching him! This time, however, he no longer simply assumed it was an illusion. He believed someone was monitoring him.

The Hyuga Clan?

The most likely possibility surfaced in his mind.

After all, Yukina was here. As a member of the Hyuga main family, regardless of what had led to her living in his home all this time, and regardless of Hyuga Shinsuke's implied request that he protect her, as long as she had not been branded with the Caged Bird Seal, Yukina was someone the