Eight Gates?
Konoha.
The days that followed were uneventful.
Every day, aside from instructing Naruto in his training, Shinki practiced Ninjutsu and Taijutsu himself.
In the past two days especially, after discovering his shortcomings in Taijutsu, he had focused on training it.
Finally,
Through his tireless exploration of his own body, he discovered that within the meridian system through which Chakra flowed, there were points that restrained and controlled it.
Shinki called them "Gates."
There were eight Gates in a normal ninja's body. They restrained the Chakra within, keeping it in a delicate state of balance.
In his experiments, Shinki also discovered that physical training could allow him to meet the conditions for opening the Gates.
Once opened, the Gates could give a ninja a large amount of Chakra for a short time, enhancing his abilities.
The more Gates he opened, the stronger the abilities he gained!
However, when a Gate was opened, far more Chakra than usual flowed through the meridians, causing some damage to the body.
The damage increased with the number of Gates opened!
The most damaging of them was the last of the eight Gates!
If opened recklessly, it could even cause death outright!
After many days of tireless training, Shinki had met the conditions to open the first five Gates.
Today, he decided to go to the Konoha Outskirts and practice properly.
As usual, Shinki used the Body Flicker Technique to teleport to a clearing in the Konoha Outskirts in the blink of an eye.
Then he threw himself into an intense training session!
"First Gate, open!"
As Shinki shouted, his aura surged!
Steam rose from the surface of his body!
"Second Gate, open!"
"Third Gate, open!"
With Shinki's successive shouts, the Chakra Gates in his body opened up to the third.
The originally white steam began to turn green!
"Fourth Gate, open!"
Shinki called out again immediately afterward. When the fourth Gate opened, he could already feel the damage to his body.
Every cell had entered a state of intense activity, and his internal organs ached faintly!
Shinki maintained the fourth Gate and tried moving around.
Whoosh!
He sprang into the air, leaping twenty or thirty meters high!
He kicked, moving three or four times faster than before, and the power of his kick had increased greatly!
Moving around with the fourth Gate open, Shinki gradually grew accustomed to the pain. He immediately took a stance and shouted again.
"Fifth Gate, open!!"
The green steam on the surface of his body grew more pronounced, and the strain on his body became more severe.
Shinki maintained this form and was just about to move around when he noticed two figures approaching from not far away!
One walked ahead of the other, one tall and one short, as they slowly entered the clearing where Shinki was training.
When the two came closer, Shinki noticed that their outfits were very strange!
Yet amid the strangeness was a peculiar sense of familiarity.
Both wore green bodysuits, and both had bowl cuts!
Shinki could understand the bowl cut on the kid who looked twelve or thirteen, but why did the man in his twenties or thirties beside him have one too?!
Then,
The smaller bowl-cut kid turned a puzzled gaze on Shinki.
"Guy-sensei, did you teach the Eight Gates to someone else too?"
The smaller bowl-cut kid gestured toward the larger bowl-cut man behind him and asked in confusion.
"No. Although the Eight Gates can release the body's seal on Chakra, the damage it does to the body is irreversible. So far, you're the only person I've taught it to."
The larger bowl-cut man answered.
"Then why does that person over there seem to be using the Eight Gates?!"
The smaller bowl-cut kid reached out and pointed in Shinki's direction.
Shinki: ∑(°Д°)
Listening to their conversation, Shinki finally recognized the two of them!
Might Guy and Rock Lee!
Although Shinki didn't know much about Naruto, he had heard a little about this distinctive, passionate master-and-disciple pair.
Meanwhile,
Might Guy followed Rock Lee's pointing finger and looked at Shinki. When he saw the green steam rising around Shinki, his eyes widened in surprise. "It really does look like the Eight Gates?!"
"And this guy has already opened the fifth Gate!"
Might Guy said excitedly.
"The fifth Gate?!"
Σ( ° △ °|||)!
Rock Lee's voice rose as he cried out in surprise.
Because he couldn't learn Ninjutsu, he had always stayed by Guy-sensei's side to learn Taijutsu.
After all those years of diligent, strenuous training, never slacking off for a moment, he had only barely managed to open the fifth Gate!
Yet that kid up ahead, whom he had never seen before and who looked even younger than him, could open the fifth Gate too!
And he seemed to be doing it much more easily than Rock Lee?!!
How was that possible?!
Then the passionate master and disciple in green bodysuits came over to Shinki.
Might Guy was the first to speak. "Hey, kid! Where did you learn the Eight Gates?"
"Me? I figured it out myself."
Shinki said matter-of-factly.
The Gates in the body that restrained and controlled Chakra weren't hard to find.
There were surely quite a few ninja who knew how to unlock the body's potential this way!
"Whoa! You figured out the Eight Gates yourself? You're pretty smart, kid!"
As Might Guy spoke, he smiled at Shinki and gave him a thumbs-up.
Might Guy wasn't very surprised that someone else knew the Eight Gates.
After all, he didn't know exactly who had developed it either.
"Then you must have trained for a long time, kid, to be able to open the fifth Gate without even changing your expression."
Might Guy continued asking enthusiastically.
The honest Shinki answered truthfully, "Yeah, I've been training for over a week now, and I can still only barely open five Gates."
Might Guy: ⊙▽⊙
Rock Lee: ヾ(Ő∀Ő)ﾉ
Over a week?
Barely open the fifth Gate?!
And judging by the kid's innocent expression, he didn't look like he was lying at all!
Rock Lee: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
It had been five or six years since he began practicing the Eight Gates.
But after all those years of arduous training, he could only barely open the fifth Gate, and he couldn't keep it open for long!
He had trained so hard for all those years to prove that a hard-working genius was still a genius!
But today, he had met a true genius, and the blow had left him utterly devastated in an instant!
After hearing Shinki's words, the corners of Might Guy's mouth twitched slightly as well.
Back when he had trained in the Eight Gates under his own father, it had taken him a full four or five years to progress from the first Gate to the fifth!
What a terrifying genius!
What a crushing blow!
Originally, seeing that this kid had mastered the first five Gates of the Eight Gates at such a young age, Might Guy had wanted to ask him to join his and Rock Lee's training group.
But after hearing about the kid's terrifying talent for training,
Might Guy swallowed the words that had nearly reached his lips.
He didn't dare teach such a terrifying student!
"What a terrifying physical talent. Young man, I have high hopes for you!"
Might Guy gave Shinki a hearty pat on the shoulder and spoke in a serious tone.
Then he roared, "Lee!! It looks like we'll have to train even harder from now on!!"
"Yes! Guy-sensei!!"
Rock Lee shouted back.
Might Guy: "Burn bright!! Youth!!"
Then the master and disciple took their leave of Shinki and ran off into the distance to continue their arduous training.