Clang!
The sound of a hard, heavy object hitting the ground rang out abruptly in the sunken cave.
Damn it...
Why...
This situation, this possibility... it shouldn't exist! It couldn't exist!
Why... this was impossible... how could it...
As the heavy object struck the ground, Chiba, standing frozen in the center of the cave with his eyes wide, the shock in them slowly turning to terror, his face already stiff with despair, slowly took a step back. Then another. The shock, horror, and fear in his heart finally turned into pale despair and disbelief.
Yes, not just despair, but disbelief as well.
If this place truly was nothing more than a trap, if the two Earth Clones had been misleading the enemy all along...
If Kakashi did not exist, Obito did not exist, and there had been no attack, then why would Higure's Earth Clone use the Rock House Collapse Technique?
Why make this trap collapse and vanish?
If there was no Kakashi, no Obito, and no attack, then the second possibility he had calculated earlier did not exist.
That left only the first possibility: Higure's Earth Clone had noticed his presence. But even if it knew he was there, what logic was there in collapsing the cave? Did it think that whoever it had noticed would rush out because the rock house had collapsed? Logically, that was impossible! The disturbance caused by collapsing the cave would only make someone hesitate, or become even less willing to reveal themselves. At the very least, they would think they should wait and watch.
After all, a suddenly collapsing rocky cave could easily be seen as a battle in progress. Without knowing the other party's identity, circumstances, or condition, no ninja would act rashly. Even a newly minted Genin knew that stepping into