Pain, exhaustion, even more intense pain, greater fatigue... They came crashing in like waves, one after another, flooding every nerve, tormenting every cell in his body, overflowing through the consciousness that was slowly beginning to glimmer.
Hah—
A long, deep breath, like the first life-giving breath taken by someone who had been drowning for ages and finally surfaced—greedy, yet carrying a strange rising and falling rhythm.
Four Symbols Seal!
This was part of the Four Symbols Seal system! Not all of it, but this seal was filled with a great number of Four Symbols Seal sealing jutsu formulas...
Chiba's eyes flew open. The dim yellow hue before him abruptly became the dark blue unique to nighttime. The massive sealing gate had vanished, replaced by a sandy, shadowed stretch of flat ground that extended to the end of his vision. In the distance stood clusters of "tall" grass, gleaming silver beneath the moonlight.
I... got out? His suddenly widened pupils slowly contracted and began to move, sweeping over his surroundings before finally settling above him—directly in front of Chiba, who lay twisted on the ground, with those heels facing his feet.
Then came the pain, pain growing fiercer wave after wave, along with fatigue that grew heavier with each surge. A humming roar, like machinery rumbling beside his ears, echoed endlessly through his mind.
As his awareness cleared, the pain, fatigue, and buzzing grew ever more distinct. Other than pain, exhaustion, and noise, Chiba could feel nothing at all.
He could not even make a sound. Earlier, as waves of pain struck him, he had nearly cried out, but his mouth and throat seemed no longer to belong to him. He could neither open his mouth nor speak. Every signal from his body, every pulse of his cells, conveyed only one