Sure enough, was this difference because it had happened ahead of time? In the original story, after this Iwa ninja Higure used Rock Shelter Collapse, he had charged out of the cave with his real body, not an Earth Clone!
The moment he turned his head, this thought flashed through Chiba's mind. The Iwa expert Higure, whom he had just captured, had suddenly turned into an Earth Clone. The accident had not affected him in the slightest, as though Chiba had anticipated all of this—or rather, as though he had long been mentally prepared for something like this to happen.
Since it was bait, what was his purpose in setting it? And why did he need an Earth Clone to lure in his enemy?
What had happened that required Higure to use an Earth Clone as bait?
Was it to lure me closer? Or was he guarding against someone involved in this battle here whom I don't know about?
At the same time, as that thought flashed through his mind, another thought arose in Chiba's heart—a thought that put him on alert.
Judging from the original story, Higure's senses were extremely sharp. Although it never explained whether he possessed sensory abilities, one thing was certain: from a considerable distance away, he could discover an opponent from the slightest sound. When Obito arrived and was about to act, the sound of him slapping his face to psyche himself up had been keenly noticed. Perhaps in the original anime, that slap had not sounded quiet at all, as if anyone could have heard it, but that was merely a cinematic device. The sound had been deliberately amplified so viewers could understand that Obito was discovered because of it, while also showing Obito's lack of mission experience.
But from Chiba's series of actions—stepping