"Retreat! Fall back!"
Watching the Third Raikage and Chiba's right fists collide while, at some unknown moment, their left fists struck together below, Dodai landed three or five meters from his original position with a tap and hurriedly shouted in alarm, accelerating backward.
That must be a Smoke Bomb! This Taki Chiba is going to pull another trick! And then... the Third Raikage should...
An urgent thought surfaced in his mind. At this moment, his gaze was locked squarely on the pellet-shaped object falling from above. "Fall back! Faster!"
"Move, move, move!"
"Get as far back as you can!"
Hearing their commander's anxious shouts, the Kumogakure ninja, who had been stunned with shock, reacted swiftly. They shouted as they rapidly retreated, unexpectedly becoming somewhat orderly. In an instant, the formation had already fallen back two or three meters.
"Puff!"
Just as the cries rose and fell, a huge cloud of pink smoke suddenly burst before their eyes. It spread in an instant, swallowing the two men with their fists locked together, as well as the vision of most of those present.
"Don't worry about anything! Just retreat! Retreat!"
From within the suddenly spreading pink haze, Dodai's voice sounded even more frantic, nearly shrill.
"Crackle!"
Then, just as his words rang out, a blue-white flash like lightning flickered within the spreading pink smoke, followed by the sharp hiss of an electric current tearing through the air.
At once, the center of the abruptly erupted pink smoke cloud began to churn. The pink smoke suddenly rolled inward, abruptly ceasing its outward spread.
"Puff!"
At that very instant of flashing lightning, a humanoid bolt of lightning shot backward from the side of the pink smoke nearest Dodai. It tore a hole directly through the smoke cloud, which was then slowly sealed and swallowed