Chiba Must Be Plotting Something!

Chiba must be plotting something!

But this kind of move, leaving himself no backup at all, was absolutely not something he would do. What was he thinking?

Within the broad field of vision spanning a kilometer in diameter, Yukina searched several times in that instant, yet she saw no sign of Chiba's clone. Not in the sky, not underground, not in the forest, not among the crowd—there was no trace of Chiba's clone anywhere.

Meanwhile, Chiba in midair had four chakra points opened abnormally. That was undoubtedly Gate of Pain Mode. In other words, the Chiba in the air was the real body.

Which meant Chiba had left himself no backup whatsoever. Although Asuma and Might Guy's attacks had failed, Kakashi was already being held back by Hirohiko. With Hirohiko's Sharingan, Kakashi would be at a disadvantage as well.

And with no clone, Chiba himself was suspended in midair, practically a living target. Although he could use Exploding Tag Kunai to hold her off for a while, he had no chance of winning at all.

She completely could not understand what Chiba was trying to do.

Could it be... he was just going through the motions? Intentionally losing like this? Yukina lowered her body slightly and bent her knees, already poised to leap backward as she began evading the two incoming Kunai. At the same time, an unimaginable thought surfaced in her mind.

Chiba wanted to lose on purpose!

Or rather, he wanted to halfheartedly end this quickly! Just like when he had sparred with Kakashi before!

"Are you surrendering?"

At that moment, an extremely dissatisfied voice, even carrying a hint of rising anger, came from the air.

Hyuga Yukyō's figure flashed before Chiba in an instant, leaping forward with his palm drawn back. The two were less than half