"Rely on ourselves!"
Tsunade murmured to herself, then forced a bitter smile.
She felt a profound sense of powerlessness, one that far surpassed what she had felt when facing Hanzo.
Sensing the heavy atmosphere around them, Ōnoki looked around, his gaze lingering briefly in the direction of the Land of Earth before he said, "That is where the Five Great Nations are. That is where our villages are."
He paused, then looked toward the ninjas who had retreated to the edge of the battlefield. "We are the Kage who stand above tens of thousands of ninjas. We are the strongest fighting force of the Five Great Nations, the final line of defense in the Fourth Shinobi World War."
At once, the other four Kage were shaken, abruptly lifting their heads to look at him.
"We are the spiritual pillars of all ninjas. We are the goals that all ninjas strive toward." Ōnoki drew a deep breath, and a sharp glint flashed through his bloodshot eyes.
"We do not need to beg other ninjas, because the names ninjas praise are ours."
Uchiha Asuka paused mid-bite with a chicken bone in his mouth, looking at Ōnoki with a little more surprise.
That old man truly deserved to be the inheritor of the Will of Stone. He was incredibly tenacious.
Even now, while encouraging himself, he could still inspire others.
"Has their morale risen again?" Uchiha Madara also noticed the change in the Five Kage.
His cold gaze swept quickly across them before turning to Ōnoki floating in the air. So Ōnoki really is the problem. If he were stronger, he might have made a decent opponent.
"The names ninjas praise are ours." Tsunade repeated the words under her breath. Her dispirited aura instantly vanished without a trace, and she became once more