Right on Time

"Right on time, original body..."

As the Rock Wall collapsed, the first Chiba lying prone at Chiba's feet barely managed to say this before his entire body slowly turned transparent, eventually becoming a humanoid mass of water that splashed onto the ground with a crash.

"Yeah, thanks for the hard work..."

Chiba spoke instinctively. As the clone's memories flowed back into his mind, his expression darkened.

So fast. Experiencing it firsthand, it was even faster than it had looked from a third-person perspective! Feeling what his clone had experienced when it was attacked, Chiba's heart sank. That speed had clearly surpassed what even the dynamic vision of a non-perception-type Kekkei Genkai could capture. He felt no joy at having saved his companions at the last possible moment.

That strike made him keenly feel that nothing could withstand sheer speed. It had been even faster than Yagura Bi in Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Even Hirohiko's Byakugan and Yukina's Sharingan had reacted a beat too slowly—or rather, their eyes had caught it, but their bodies had been unable to respond. An attack at that speed was practically impossible to defend against.

Moreover, before making the hand signs to detonate the Exploding Tags, his clone had been vigilantly watching every direction. If anyone had approached, it would never have noticed only when the attack was about to land on its head.

In other words, even his reactions had been completely unable to keep up!

Although the original body had enhanced vision and hearing in Gate of Pain Mode, making his senses sharper and allowing him to detect threats earlier, judging from what the clone had felt, even the original body probably would not have been able to react in time.

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

Just as Chiba's mood grew heavy, circular cracks suddenly spread beneath