Continuous Assault!

When did he get behind me?!

As he plummeted diagonally, Hirohiko clenched his teeth tightly, his eyes looking upward to the side. Reflected in his Three Tomoe Sharingan was Chiba leaning forward in midair, throwing a punch, along with the two swirling emerald glows in his eyes.

In the corner of his vision was the patch of white mist on the ground, now much thinner.

Not from within the white mist... That meant, just like when he dealt with Kakashi, he had used Earth Release to burrow underground and move into the woods outside the crowd, then used the Body Flicker Technique or some other method to instantly get behind me and attack.

That was my mistake. When fighting Chiba, I absolutely cannot let him leave my sight! That timing was too perfect—I got anxious without realizing it! I was too eager to seize the opening where Chiba could not dodge, and instead gave him an opportunity!

In that instant of rapid descent, this regretful thought flashed through Hirohiko's mind.

"Bang!"

As the thought flashed by, Hirohiko crashed diagonally into the ground with a dull thud of heavy impact. "Poof!"

A cloud of dust slowly rose in the clearing surrounded by the crowd.

You're enough to make me get serious, Hirohiko...

At that moment, Chiba narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the dust cloud kicked up by Hirohiko's impact. The emerald light in his eyes flickered, and he unconsciously drew in a small breath.

"Crack!"

Then, a faint cracking sound came from the dust cloud where Hirohiko had fallen.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Then one crack, two cracks, three cracks... Countless cracking sounds rang out as fissures spread outward from where Hirohiko had landed like a spiderweb, forming a circular band of web-like cracks.

"Boom!"

Then, the circular web of