Overlord!

Minato Namikaze and the others had noticed it, and Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, had naturally noticed it too.

The Tsuchikage possessed more than Kekkei Tōta.

His resolve, vision, ambition, and drive all stood at the pinnacle of the Shinobi World. He was truly worthy of bearing the title of Kage!

Yotsuki Sora's slaughter of the Hidden Stone shinobi had shaken him, but through their sacrifices, he had gathered enough information.

Now that information had become a blade aimed at Yotsuki Sora.

"A ninja battle is a battle of intelligence!"

Ōnoki hovered in midair. The medical ninja had begun to heal his hands, and he looked down at Yotsuki Sora, whose abdomen his Dust Release had pierced.

"The reason you could withstand my Dust Release wasn't your physique. You can gather a special kind of chakra. It truly is powerful. Even my Dust Release can't contend with it."

"But great power often comes with its own limitations."

"You have to build it up. As long as I catch you in that brief opening after you release it, you're no different from the Third Raikage!"

The Dust Release beam had punched through Sora's lower abdomen. Hot blood poured from the smooth-edged wound, which was so large that his shifting organs and punctured intestines were plainly visible.

It was unquestionably a fatal wound.

Even though Sora had not dropped dead, no one believed he could keep fighting with an injury like that.

"With your strength and that terrifying chakra, even twice as many ninja might not have been able to stop you."

"But you were too reckless, too arrogant!"

Ōnoki's voice rang out.

"The Third Raikage would never fight almost entirely head-on like this. But you, Yotsuki Sora—your arrogance has sealed your defeat!"

Sora ignored Ōnoki.

Dense blood-flame Pride surged around him, and the Blood Lightning covering his body blazed ever fiercer under its power.

At the sight, Ōnoki wasted no more words and brought his hands together again.

"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

A blinding white cube formed in an instant, condensed to its utmost limit and radiating the power to annihilate all things. Its target was the gravely wounded Yotsuki Sora below!

This time, the Dust Release formed far faster than before. Ōnoki had clearly put everything into a single killing blow!

"Die!"

The white cube descended swiftly and silently, carrying death in its wake. Wherever it passed, even the air seemed to dissolve into nothingness.

Yet Sora showed no fear before the attack that could erase everything. Then the Dust Release erupted, and its brilliance made everyone present instinctively shut their eyes.

"So it turned out like this..."

Minato Namikaze's mouth fell open. A moment ago, Yotsuki Sora had seemed unstoppable. In the next, the entire battle had been overturned.

His teacher had been right.

No ninja was invincible. Even someone as powerful as Yotsuki Sora could be brought down once his abilities were fully exposed.

"That old man Ōnoki..."

Jiraiya's face was grave. Ōnoki had noticed the same thing they had.

The old man's experience was formidable.

"Get ready to leave, Minato. The battle's over. If we stay and get spotted, we'll be in trouble."

"Yes, sir..."

"Wait! Something's wrong!"

With his White Eye active and veins bulging at his temples, Hizashi cried out. His pale eyes were fixed on the fading glow of the Dust Release.

The light that disintegrated everything gradually dissipated. It had carved a smooth hollow into the battered ground, as though someone had scooped a spoonful from a soft cake.

But someone stood where there should have been nothing left—a figure of extraordinary strength!

It was Yotsuki Sora!

"One!"

"Two!"

"..."

With each low breath, a powerful surge of Pride rose from him.

Before everyone's disbelieving eyes, he lay on the ground, clasped his hands behind his head, and started doing sit-ups!

The fatal wound in his abdomen remained. This last Dust Release had not completely disintegrated Yotsuki Sora, but it had taken a toll.

His entire body looked ready to crumble, as though the disintegration had stopped halfway through.

There was no doubt about it.

By any measure, the injuries Yotsuki Sora bore should have left him at death's door.

Yet he was doing sit-ups in that condition?!

As everyone watched, Sora kept his hands behind his head and raised his torso.

Blood-gold Pride flared brighter with every movement, and life energy poured from the chakra.

In mere breaths, the enormous wound in Sora's lower abdomen began to close before their eyes.

The cracks running across his body healed as well. His flesh, broken apart by the Dust Release, returned to normal.

Life energy surged through him without end!

Vast blood-gold Pride shot into the sky!

"What a terrifying presence."

Minato Namikaze instinctively tightened his grip on the Flying Raijin Kunai. A dull ache returned to his entire left arm.

"How is that possible? I thought he couldn't store that energy—that it vanished as soon as he used it!" Jiraiya stared in shock. "And what's with that healing ability?"

Beside him, Hizashi Hyuga was utterly dumbfounded.

If Sora's Pride had been at ten when he used Deliberate Blast Punch, it was now at a hundred!

More than that, his Pride had previously been impossible to preserve. Once it built to a certain level, he had to release it all at once.

Now it rose from within, accumulating and compressing without cease until it reached an entirely new level!

This was Yotsuki Sora's true passive ability:

—Overlord!

Whenever Sora's vitality fell to forty percent, the Overlord's Blood within him awakened. It negated all damage, removed all negative effects, and put him in the Overlord state. Every movement thereafter restored fifteen percent of his maximum vitality and granted him a forty percent bonus to attack and movement speed.

Once he was fully healed, the Overlord's Pride would burn without fading. His attacks would ignore all defenses until the battle ended!

What if he couldn't move, you ask?

Breathing and heartbeats counted as movement. So did the activity of cells and even the stirring of the soul.

"Old man, did you think I hadn't noticed what you were doing?"

Sora looked up at Ōnoki, a bloodthirsty smile curling his lips.

"I just wanted you to help me loosen up so I could digest my meal!"

Before entering the battlefield, Sora had gorged himself on the Five-Tails' chakra. Now, with his Overlord ability awakened, all that chakra had finally merged into his body!

To everyone's astonishment, Yotsuki Sora, gravely wounded only moments ago, recovered completely within a few breaths.

He sprang to his feet.

The aura rolling off him was like that of a Super Saiyan who had eaten a Senzu Bean.

There was no strongest—only stronger!

"Time for round two, Ōnoki!"