Slap!
Slap! Slap!
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
Amid the thunderous sound of shattering, countless small stones sprayed into the air, then clattered back down, striking without obstruction against the back of the figure standing with his hands in a seal and leaning slightly backward, as well as the boy half-crouched on the ground, producing muffled thuds.
Yet, as if they felt nothing at all, neither the standing figure nor the half-crouching one moved amid the impacts of the pebbles, as though they were completely unaware.
It was as if the stones did not hurt in the slightest, unable to trigger their pain receptors at all. The two seemed to have lost their sense of pain.
And aside from seeming unable to feel pain, the expressions on their faces and the look in their eyes were nearly identical—astonishment, blankness, and confusion! The only difference was perhaps that one stood with his gaze lowered, while the other half-crouched with his gaze raised.
Both of them looked utterly stunned.
Then, a second later, the astonishment, blankness, and confusion on their faces and in their eyes slowly began to change.
H-how is that possible...
This...
Absolutely impossible! Higure's eyes slowly widened, reflecting the two clusters of burning emerald-green flames. Shock, horror, and disbelief gradually surfaced on his face and in his eyes, and his body began to stiffen slightly.
Impossible! This is impossible!
It was already foolproof. That position, that timing—it was executed perfectly! How could it...? How could it have had no effect? The shock and disbelief in his heart far surpassed what showed on his face.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation! The genjutsu had already been cast—with perfect timing, perfect preparation, perfect execution—and yet the boy before him, the target of the technique, had not changed