A day was neither long nor short, but time flowed ever onward. No matter how long or short it was, it would eventually pass.
Dusk fell.
"That should be about it."
Stopping after the final hand seal, Chiba let out a soft sigh. He glanced at the two cups of tea beside and across from him, both still steaming, and murmured quietly.
In the end...
He still had not completed the development of that idea. Three days had simply been too short.
Still, over these three days, he had improved everything that could be improved in other areas. His strength was nearly saturated now. Even if he improved further, even if he opened a new Gate in Eight Gates Mode, it might not increase his power by much. He had completely hit a bottleneck.
If he wanted to break through that bottleneck, he would likely need to obtain greater power—power beyond the Eight Gates, the power of Forbidden Jutsu.
Now, he finally understood why Orochimaru had betrayed the village and devoted himself to research.
Sometimes, a strength bottleneck was not something talent or outstanding aptitude could overcome. Talent merely allowed one to reach that bottleneck faster.
Of course, a genius's bottleneck was naturally far higher than an ordinary person's.
But compared to those ninjas who stood at the true peak of the ninja world, or even ninja history, they were still merely mortals.
The difference was like that between gods and men.
After all, the foundation of this Naruto World was the original Naruto. The bloodline doctrine of the original work still permeated the foundations of this world.
A genius without a bloodline could at most reach the level beyond Kage-level.
In other words, someone at Orochimaru's level.
Geniuses with bloodlines, like Hashirama and Madara, were generally at least Tailed