Awareness

Did he get away?

Looking at the young ninja before him, whose body had nearly been driven into the tree trunk by a single punch, the burly man glanced to his left. He slowly straightened, took half a step back, and withdrew his hand from the young ninja's caved-in chest. His wild, stiff hair slowly fell back down.

"Crack... crack crack..."

The moment his hand left the young ninja's chest, the last few pieces of gray Rock Skin within the collapsed cavity shattered into dust and drifted away on the wind, just like the boy's life.

"Pfft!"

The burly man turned slightly aside, making room as he watched the young ninja slowly close his eyes and crumple down in front of him, falling facedown onto the ground. Blood spread out, gradually soaking a wide patch of grass.

So it wasn't something like a Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was the real body.

After carefully confirming it with his eyes, a trace of regret flashed across the burly man's face. Then his expression turned stern as he looked toward the ninja in his twenties or thirties, who had originally sprinted in the opposite direction but had now stopped and was walking toward him.

What a pity. If this Taki Chiba had been a child of Kumogakure, I would never have let him come to such an end.

My brother encountered countless powerful enemies throughout his life, yet he had never praised an opponent like that before, much less a child of seven or eight.

Although my brother's condition had worsened over the past few years and illness plagued him constantly, the fact that this child could defeat him at seven years old spoke for itself regarding his talent and strength.

And according to the information my brother sent back through his summon,