Overclock

[Residual external Chakra detected. Absorb?]

Hope shattered his despair in an instant, and he roared inwardly.

"Yes! Absorb it! Right now! Immediately!"

In an instant, the warmth lingering at his fingertips surged from the corpse into his body through his right fingertips, traveling along his chakra pathways to the back of his head.

[Sufficient energy. Startup successful. Beginning self-diagnostics...]

[System diagnostics complete.]

[Celestial Pivot, at your service.]

"Celestial Pivot?" Asami Ri's thoughts stalled.

That was the supercomputer he had used to run models in the server room in his previous life!

Why had it shown no sign of activity before? Why had it chosen this exact moment to activate?

Countless questions flooded his mind, but Raiga Kurosuki was already right in front of him.

With death breathing down his neck, he had no time to investigate.

"Whether you're a supercomputer or a cheat, Celestial Pivot!" He issued the command in his mind, his tone fierce with the desperation of one last gamble. "Analyze the battlefield, analyze the enemy, and give me a way to survive! Hurry!"

[Command received successfully.]

[Activating "Overclock Mode" is recommended.]

"Activate it! Overclock Mode!"

Asami Ri roared inwardly.

In an instant, a piercing chill rose from the back of his head, as though a shot of liquid nitrogen had been injected straight into his central nervous system.

The world, blurred and doubled by blood loss and excruciating pain, fell apart before his eyes and rebuilt itself into a new world running at a high frame rate.

Raiga Kurosuki before him went from an invincible Jonin to a battered patient.

He registered every labored breath Raiga took, every movement of his muscles, even the flickering arcs on his lightning blade, with perfect precision.

"This feeling..."

Asami Ri felt his heart pounding wildly in his chest like a war drum, each beat pumping oxygen-rich blood throughout his body.

With that supply of oxygen, he found his control over his body reaching an unprecedented level.

The moment his brain formed the thought of dodging, his muscles responded within 0.1 seconds.

[Forcibly disabling the brain's self-preservation limits. Pain perception reduced by 80%. Physical potential output: 120%.]

[At the host's current physical strength, Overclock Mode will cause muscle fibers to tear.]

[This mode can only be sustained for one minute.]

[Countdown commencing: 60, 59,...]

"One minute..."

Asami Ri slowly stood, his trembling legs now as steady as stone.

He raised his head. His once-despairing eyes were now as calm as a mirror, reflecting Raiga Kurosuki's stunned face.

"Those eyes..." Raiga Kurosuki keenly sensed something was wrong.

The Konoha brat's Chakra had gone from chaotic to calm within a single second.

"I don't know what secret technique you used, but against absolute strength, any struggle is futile!"

Raiga Kurosuki roared. Though grievously wounded, he still shot forward with the Body Flicker Technique as fast as lightning.

Blue-white arcs traced a deadly curve through the air, heading straight for Asami Ri's throat.

Yet in Asami Ri's vision, that blade flash, once too fast to follow, played out in slow motion, frame by frame. Celestial Pivot marked the blade's trajectory with a long, dashed red line.

"I see it."

Asami Ri murmured, leaning slightly to one side. The lightning blade swept past the tip of his nose, its keen edge slicing off a few stray hairs without harming him in the slightest.

Raiga Kurosuki's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

"He dodged it?!"

The one-minute struggle between life and death had begun.

Asami Ri darted around Raiga Kurosuki, probing.

His movements no longer wasted any effort. Every foothold was the optimal choice calculated by Celestial Pivot, leaving him as light as though he were stepping along the currents of the wind.

His gaze remained fixed on Raiga Kurosuki.

Several wounds, highlighted in glaring red, pulsed with Raiga Kurosuki's breathing.

A drawn-out fight means certain death... I have to concentrate my attacks on one spot and tear his wounds open.

Asami Ri's mind was almost brutally calm.

[Overclock Mode time remaining: 45 seconds.]

Without a moment's hesitation, he darted forward, the kunai in his hand slicing through the air with a shrill whistle as he struck at Raiga Kurosuki's right rear side.

"You're asking to die, brat!"

Raiga Kurosuki roared, forced to wrench his body around and swing the lightning blade in his left hand to block.

The drastic twist strained his damaged organs and fractured right arm.

Crack—

The grating of bone set his teeth on edge.

Raiga Kurosuki's face contorted in agony, veins bulging on his forehead.

He had wanted to savor the pleasure of torture, but now this slippery Konoha Genin filled him with unprecedented irritation and humiliation.

"Konoha Genin... burn to ash!"

Raiga lost his patience completely. He clenched his lightning blade in his left hand, converting his remaining stamina into Chakra. Dazzling blue-white arcs instantly gathered and compressed at the blade's tip.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"

A highly unstable sphere of plasma hurtled out, carrying devastating heat as it shot toward Asami Ri at tremendous speed.

Yet in Asami Ri's untroubled eyes, Celestial Pivot forcibly slowed the Lightning Ball's flight.

A precise red prediction line marked the Lightning Ball's path through the air in advance. Even the arcs radiating from it were clearly visible.

"So this is... what it feels like to surpass your limits."

[Overclock Mode time remaining: 38 seconds.]

Asami Ri did not speed up. Only at the critical instant before the Lightning Ball hit him did he lean his upper body slightly backward, turning sideways in a movement as fluid as a work of art.

Bzzzt!

The Lightning Ball flew past his chest, sparks from its violent current illuminating his impassive profile.

"How is this possible... what kind of secret technique is this?" Raiga trembled.

Asami Ri gave Raiga Kurosuki no chance to catch his breath. The earth beneath his feet burst apart, and he became a blur, his right hand striking straight for Raiga Kurosuki's throat while his left formed hand seals.

Even grievously wounded, Raiga's instincts as a Jonin still allowed him to react precisely.

His left hand became a blur. Kiba traced an arc through the air, deftly deflecting Asami Ri's lethal kunai before using the momentum to slash diagonally upward. The cold edge cut viciously across Asami Ri's chest.

Slash!

Blood sprayed, but with a soft puff, Asami Ri's figure dissolved into a cloud of pale smoke.

[Overclock Mode time remaining: 30 seconds.]

"The Clone Technique? When?" Raiga Kurosuki's heart jolted. His extensive combat experience told him instantly that he had fallen into a trap, and a shrill whistle was already approaching from behind.

Asami Ri appeared behind Raiga, the kunai in his hand gleaming coldly as he thrust straight at the vital spot behind Raiga's heart.

"Hmph! Too green!" The surprise in Raiga Kurosuki's eyes turned to mockery.

He did not turn around at all. Instead, using the remaining momentum of his twisting body, he reversed his grip on the lightning blade and stabbed backward. It emerged from beneath his ribs at a bizarre angle, like a scorpion's lashing tail, and pierced Asami Ri's heart with perfect accuracy.

"Did you think a cheap trick like that could kill me? A Genin is still just a Genin!"

Raiga could clearly feel the resistance as the blade's tip sank into flesh, and he pictured the face of the "brat" behind him twisting in agony.

With a cold sneer, he pulled out his blade and turned, ready to enjoy the final sight of his prey collapsing and twitching on the ground.

[Overclock Mode time remaining: 26 seconds.]