In Time? Too Late?

"Crack... crack-crack-crack..."

Chiba slowly lowered his hands. Large sheets of thinned Rock Skin continuously peeled away from all over his body, falling onto the slightly dark ground with sharp slaps and shattering before ultimately dispersing into specks of dust in the air.

"Pfft!"

All of a sudden, Chiba's knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground. He began to gasp violently, beads of sweat streaming down his cheeks, arms, chest, and back, gathering into rivulets before dripping onto the ground.

Would he make it in time?

Or was it already too late?

"Huff... huff..."

Chiba sat kneeling on the ground, his upper body held upright and nearly tilted backward, his head thrown back toward the sky. His eyes were tightly shut as he gasped for breath, looking as though he had just been pulled from the water. Yet his mind remained tangled over whether he would make it in time.

Over the past four months, under desperate training, everything he could improve at this stage had already been pushed to its limit. If he wanted to advance further, it would take at least another year or two. Taijutsu, his main focus and the foundation of Eight Gates Mode, was a ninja power that inherently required time. As for ninjutsu, he had fully mastered the two self-created techniques. Although the final version of his self-created ninjutsu was still not quite perfect in Chiba's own estimation, it was already more than sufficient for real combat, which gave him considerable confidence. His progress in Sealing Jutsu had also gone smoothly, though any substantial breakthrough would still require time. Besides, Sealing Jutsu was not yet very effective in actual combat, which was within Chiba's expectations. Sealing Jutsu was among the most difficult ninja powers to cultivate, and he was already quite satisfied with the