Eight Gates Formation

Within Konoha Forest.

Uchiha Jin leaned forward slightly, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, poised to draw the blades strapped to his legs at any moment.

His eyes were lowered as he watched Might Duy scratching his head in front of him.

Might Duy was still hesitating. He truly did not want to fight a child.

"We really don't need to do this."

Although this kid's antics had driven him to the brink of collapse, it wasn't enough to make him attack him.

Especially since he was an Uchiha child. Who knew whether a whole squad from the Police Force would storm into his house after he hit him?

But Jin had no interest in listening to that nonsense. He stamped his foot, and his figure instantly vanished from where he stood.

Soru.

He poured all his Chakra into his feet, repeatedly stomping the ground at high speed dozens of times to generate explosive recoil for rapid movement.

The next moment, Jin appeared behind Might Duy and threw out a kick.

Might Duy raised an arm in time to block it.

Bang!

His arm and Jin's foot collided with a solid crack. Might Duy was sent flying sideways, but adjusted his posture in midair. Both feet and one hand hit the ground at once, and he slid backward for some distance before stabilizing himself.

"So strong." Might Duy was astonished by the power behind that kick.

"It's not over yet."

The voice came from above. Might Duy looked up and saw Jin raise his leg high before bringing it down in a crushing axe kick.

Fortunately, he rolled aside in time to evade it.

Bang.

Jin's kick smashed a small crater into the ground, sending dust flying.

"Tsunade's Monstrous Strength Technique!!" Might Duy came from the same era as the future Three Ninja, so he naturally recognized Tsunade's famous technique.

But Jin's assault was far from over. He planted both hands firmly on the ground, his legs spinning like wheels, and one kick struck Duy squarely in the face as he half-crouched on the ground.

Jin kicked with force, sending him flying.

As Duy's body fell from the air and hit the ground.

Jin's figure slowly emerged from the swirling dust, frowning as he looked at Might Duy lying on the ground.

After that brief exchange, Might Duy's taijutsu had reached the level of a chunin by Jin's estimate. If ninjutsu were included, then Might Duy was undeniably a genin.

But that alone could not satisfy him.

What he wanted to see was the Eight Gates Formation. He had considered using words to provoke him, but then he recalled the serious look Might Duy had worn earlier.

Better not.

He was afraid the man would get triggered again.

"Uncle Duy, didn't you say your wife is pregnant? Don't you need money right now? This time, I'll hire you for a C-rank mission worth fifty thousand ryo. Defeat me with everything you have."

Jin pulled out his crow-shaped wallet, took out a fifty-thousand-ryo Land of Fire banknote, and flicked it casually. The soft banknote embedded itself into a nearby tree.

Might Duy rubbed his face and sat up.

Looking at the banknote on the tree, fifty thousand ryo really could solve his financial troubles for the time being, but...

"Didn't you give me that ninjutsu because you said you had no money, kid?"

His head was full of question marks.

"Ha... ha." Jin scratched his head and laughed awkwardly to cover his embarrassment.

His parents had left him quite a bit of money, and no one in the Uchiha clan would embezzle it. The proud Uchiha disdained taking the inheritance parents had left their children. Konoha could not manage even that.

Points to the Uchiha.

"None of that matters. Defeating me is the only thing you need to think about."

Jin had no intention of continuing that topic. He only wanted to see exactly how strong he had become.

This was his first real clash with a ninja.

"Fight me with the resolve to kill me, because I will fight with the resolve to kill you."

For the past twelve years, he had only fought Jackals, Wolves, Tigers, and Leopards. The Ninja Academy students posed no challenge at all.

With war drawing near, he needed to know his exact strength.

Might Duy's expression turned serious.

"I understand. I can see your resolve, young man."

"Then witness the power of self-restraint."

Might Duy crossed his arms before his chest. He could sense Jin's urgent emotions, though he did not know why.

"Eight Gates Formation, Gate of Opening, open!"

Green Chakra erupted from his body in an instant, and the ground beneath his feet cracked as he stomped down.

His figure appeared before Jin in a flash. Spinning in midair, he kicked out.

"Just like that!!"

Jin leaned aside as he watched the flying kick coming straight at him, bending backward to evade the blow.

Upon landing, Might Duy launched into a full-force assault with both fists and feet.

Yet amid Might Duy's rapid barrage, Jin swayed with the force of his punches like a sheet of paper. Not a single fist or kick could land cleanly on him.

Kami-e.

By using sensitive skin to sense the airflow outside and using Chakra to pull his body along with the currents, he could evade attacks as though he were a paper drawing.

"Not enough!!"

"Understood, young man. Gate of Healing, Gate of Pain, Fourth Gate, open!!"

Might Duy's skin began to redden, and his speed instantly rose. Even his fists carried sharp gusts of wind.

A bloody mark appeared on Jin's face, cut by the force of a punch.

Kami-e could no longer withstand it.

Jin raised his arm. With a bang, Might Duy's fist struck his arm with a crisp crack.

The next moment, both of them vanished from where they stood.

Within the forest, two black shadows clashed and darted about at high speed.

The currents from their crossing fists and kicks swept past a tree, making its branches rustle loudly as all the birds within took flight.

Boom!

A fist print appeared on a tree, punching a hole through its trunk.

Might Duy and Jin appeared in an instant, then vanished again in the next.

As their fierce exchange reached its peak—

Jin was sent flying backward, his body slamming into a tree trunk. The tremendous force snapped the tree apart.

Jin landed on the ground, gasping heavily.

"I've reached my limit."

The taijutsu test ended there as well. He had been suppressed throughout the entire fight and had been unable to gain the upper hand at all.

Next came ninjutsu.

Might Duy's attack had already arrived—a sweeping kick.

Bang!

As the smoke cleared, a log was kicked apart in an instant.

Jin hung upside down from a nearby branch, his hands rapidly forming seals.

Snake—Goat—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

He took a deep breath and blew toward Might Duy in the distance.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique."

A massive fireball erupted from his mouth toward Might Duy.

Yet unexpectedly, Might Duy's figure flashed aside and evaded it.

He had already appeared before Jin, his fist smashing down from above with the force of a falling meteor.

With a bang, Jin's figure turned into smoke.

Jin used Soru to appear behind Might Duy. Clasping his hands together, he smashed them down with all his strength.

Veins bulged on Might Duy's forehead, and the green Chakra around him surged even more violently.

"Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit, open!"

Jin's hammer blow struck nothing but air. The figure before him vanished, and before he could react, the scenery around him suddenly began changing at high speed.

His body was flying backward rapidly. With a bang, he crashed into a tree, and only then did pain erupt from his abdomen.

Too fast. He could not react at all.

"Young man, you lost." Might Duy appeared in front of Jin.

Jin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and lay flat on the grass.

"Hahaha, I lost."

It had been a clean defeat, but he now knew his own limits as well. The Fourth Gate put him at roughly the level of a Special Jonin.

Compared to the later era of the Naruto world, even Rock Lee could not defeat Gaara after opening the Fourth Gate. Gaara was a Jinchūriki who could easily defeat a Special Jonin.

In other words, at only twelve years old, he had already reached the level of a Special Jonin.

"Hahahaha." He was genuinely happy.

He still couldn't compare to those overpowered freaks in the ninja world, but he had reached the level of a genius.

Ninjas were fundamentally high-attack, low-defense fighters. As long as someone was exceptionally strong in one area, even a genin could potentially kill a jonin.

Take Kakashi's future Lightning Blade, for example. Even if a genin used it, a jonin would die from a single hit.

Unfortunately, he had not reached the level where he could contend with the Fifth Gate. That was equivalent to a jonin. The Sixth Gate was Elite Jonin level; the Seventh Gate, for anyone other than Might Guy, was Kage level; and the Eighth Gate was Super Kage, perhaps even Six Paths level.

Might Duy took the money down from the tree and carefully tucked it into his clothes. This money was enough to cover his family's expenses for quite some time.

"Jin, how can you use ninjutsu now?"

Having returned to normal, Might Duy limped over and sat beside Jin before asking.

The Fifth Gate was the limit of what he could open, and there was no way for his body to avoid injury.

"Once Basic Inner Cultivation reaches its second stage, even someone with no talent for ninjutsu can easily learn most ninjutsu."

Unfortunately, he had only had time to learn one Shadow Clone and one Great Fireball Jutsu in a single night.

Jin lay on the ground, too exhausted to get up, but he still pulled out his wallet and placed fifty thousand ryo on the ground.

"This is for medical expenses, and also for keeping quiet. Remember to keep this secret for me."

He knew how difficult it was for Might Duy, as a genin, to earn money.

Under the current ninja evaluation system, ninjutsu and genjutsu were extremely important. With talent only for taijutsu, Might Duy naturally had no way to advance to chunin.

Perhaps that would change after he kicked the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist into the Three Lucky Treasures in the future.

"I can't accept this. Such minor injuries aren't worth worrying about." Might Duy did not take the money.

"Don't worry. Since you don't want to talk about it, I won't tell anyone either."

"Take the money. Take it, or I'll force you to accept it by threatening to expose the fact that I can use ninjutsu."

Might Duy's face immediately fell. Hadn't Jin just said that winning meant the matter was over?

Seeing that Jin said nothing more, he could only sigh and put the money away. He had never felt so miserable accepting payment before.

"Jin, why are you pushing yourself so hard?"

Might Duy could not understand why Jin insisted on fighting at such intensity.

Jin watched the white clouds drift across the clear blue sky and felt more at ease than ever before.

"I just want to live freely."

Unfortunately, in this endlessly chaotic ninja world, even that was impossible.

"That really is... a wonderful dream." Might Duy lay down as well. With an income of one hundred thousand, he would no longer have to work himself to the bone taking missions and doing odd jobs.

"What a pity." Jin sighed.

War was coming. The reason he had asked Might Duy to keep quiet and not spread the ninjutsu he had deduced was to prevent others from learning of his strength and sending him into dangerous places.

If he were a ninja from another Ninja Clan, or even a civilian ninja, it would only be a possibility. Unfortunately, he was an Uchiha.

Dangerous missions were inevitable.

Might Duy suddenly spoke.

"Jin, do you want to learn my Eight Gates Formation?"

"Huh?"