Had he come? Watching the spiderweb-like cracks slowly spread across the long wall ahead, Chiba thrust a hand into his Ninja Tool Pouch and glanced back.
"Bang!"
At that very moment, just as he glanced back, the cracked section of the long wall suddenly exploded. Amid a muffled boom, rock fragments and dust burst outward, blasting a horizontal pillar of dust and rubble through the stone wall!
Left!
As Chiba glanced back, his stern face immediately darkened. He pushed off the ground, shooting to the left, and in an instant, the towering Four Pillar Prison behind him was cast off to his rear right.
"Whoosh—"
The night wind sweeping across the grasslands howled in from behind, no longer blocked by the rock walls of the Four Pillar Prison, lifting his hair.
"Crack... crack... crack-crack..."
At that moment, amid a series of crisp sounds, a thin layer of Rock Skin spread from his back. In the blink of an eye, it covered his entire body, followed by triangular, scale-like plates of rock armor rising over it.
Rock Hardening Technique, evolved version! Rock Hardening Technique, evolved version, Form Two!
In an instant, the sideways-flying Chiba was clad in the Rock Armor of the Rock Hardening Technique. Within the dragon-shaped helmet, his eyes burned with emerald-green flames as they rapidly tracked the pillar of dust and rock fragments blasted from the long wall, which was swiftly moving to the right.
Hmm? A trace of doubt seemed to rise in his heart. His grip on the Kunai in his left hand tightened, while his right hand lightly closed around the Ninja Sword at his waist, producing a faint click.
"Thud!"
At that moment, a footprint abruptly caved into the side of the Rock Pillar Prison behind him to his right, on the face turned