Bang!
A heavy, muffled impact of flesh rang out slowly from where the dust and white mist were dispersing. Squelch!
At the same time, the sharp sound of something piercing flesh rang out as well, mingling with the heavy thud and carrying far into the distance.
Smack!
Smack!
Then, the sounds of a right shoulder colliding with a left back, and a right chest colliding with a right shoulder, rang out at the same time.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
The palm that had pierced through, wreathed in lightning and sparks like the shrill cry of Chidori, slowly scraped across a slightly tattered lapel. With a ripping sound, the already ragged garment split cleanly in two where it passed, torn apart with neat precision as the two pieces of cloth suddenly separated and fluttered upward and downward. "Chi...!"
Then came a startled cry that could not be suppressed, sounding out the instant the lightning-wreathed hand swept past.
After that, arm crossed arm, and gaze crossed gaze.
Tap!
Almost as one, two pairs of feet crossed past the stiff adult figure. One landed to the left, the other to the right.
Crackle... crackle... crack...
The lightning in his hand slowly faded. Kakashi's scarlet two-tomoe Sharingan slowly turned as his gaze passed over Higure's neck, twisted into a knot, and his face, now completely turned behind him with all its features squeezed together. His eyes settled on the young man opposite him, whose right hand had likewise pierced through.
"Your eye!"
At that moment, Chiba, whose punch had shot out past Higure's twisted cheek, saw the reflected image of Kakashi's turned two-tomoe Sharingan. He let out a cry of shock, his heart pounding wildly as an indescribable feeling surged through him. That scar... that eye...
In the end, it still...
That thought brushed through