Shadow Clone Jutsu?
At a time like this?
The Third Raikage glanced downward from the corner of his eye. Beneath him, the ground suddenly exploded, grass and dirt flying everywhere as two hands shot out from the rupture, grabbing for his feet.
Headhunter Jutsu? What was this brat trying to do?
How could a jutsu like this possibly work on me?
He was...
A string of questions flashed through his mind.
Yet in his eyes, Taki Chiba—holding up two fingers with one hand in a seal—wore a grave expression. His eyes, burning with emerald-green flames, were fixed tightly on him as if trying to see through him. There was no desperation of a final gamble after being driven into a corner, not even a trace of any other emotion. There was only seriousness, resolve, and calmness—absolute calmness. So calm that the Third Raikage suddenly felt that even the emotions in the boy's eyes had grown much fainter.
No! He must have some scheme behind this! In that instant, the Third Raikage swiftly assessed the situation. He did not care in the slightest about the so-called Headhunter Jutsu beneath his feet. A jutsu of that level meant nothing to him. What he feared more was Taki Chiba's tactics. He was afraid that this brat, who had pushed tactical prowess to some extreme, might have some powerful follow-up prepared.
After all, the sensation of being manipulated like a puppet earlier still lingered in his heart, leaving him somewhat unnerved.
It was the first time he had experienced such a feeling from a tactical shinobi far weaker than himself.
No! He had never felt this unease even when facing the Eight-Tails, nor had he felt anything like it when confronting the strongest figures of the Second Shinobi World War.
Taki Chiba was the