Eight Inner Gates

Not long after,

Feng Ye found Might Duy.

Just as he had expected, after returning from his mission and eating with Guy, Might Duy had begun training with him. The two were running laps around Konoha.

After giving it some thought, Feng Ye headed in from another direction and began running around Konoha as well. Before long, he "naturally" ended up running alongside the father and son, Might Duy and Might Guy.

"You're working out too, Guy."

Feng Ye greeted Guy.

Guy spotted Feng Ye as well. While running, he gave Feng Ye a thumbs-up and said, "Of course! After dinner, you need fifty laps to get yourself into shape. That's youth..."

Might Duy made almost the exact same motion, raising a thumb alongside Guy's. Perfectly in sync, he showed his agreement with Guy's words, flashing a gleaming row of teeth.

The crowd on both sides of the street wore strange expressions at the sight.

Feng Ye felt somewhat helpless too.

Could they not be this bizarre...

Now even he was being stared at. He could vaguely hear comments like, "Someone's actually hanging out with that father and son," leaving Feng Ye too drained to even complain.

As he ran, Guy asked Feng Ye, "...Huff, huff, right, where's Kakashi? Aren't you two training together?"

Guy was still more concerned about Kakashi than Feng Ye.

"He probably went off to train by himself."

Feng Ye knew Kakashi would not be taking missions for the next few days. If he was not home, then he had certainly gone somewhere to train. Feng Ye rarely trained alongside Kakashi anyway.

Guy gave Feng Ye another thumbs-up, grinning as he said, "I see... I didn't expect you to do this kind of basic training too."

"The basics are important too."

Feng Ye smiled, then said thoughtfully, "I've been training Taijutsu lately, and I feel like there are some limits inside my body that can be broken through. Have you ever felt that?"

Guy looked at Feng Ye in confusion. "Limits? Do you mean the limit where your stamina is completely exhausted?"

"No."

Feng Ye casually glanced at Might Duy beside them before continuing to Guy, "Not that kind of limit. More like shackles restraining the body's strength..."

Hearing Feng Ye's words, Guy became even more confused. Just as he was about to ask, Might Duy beside him could not help speaking up. He looked at Feng Ye with slight amazement and said, "As expected of Kakashi's older brother. You can sense the existence of the Eight Gates at such a young age. That isn't something you can achieve through hard work alone."

"The Eight Gates?"

Feng Ye looked at Might Duy with feigned confusion.

Might Duy was straightforward by nature and had no intention of concealing anything. He simply smiled and said, "Once the body has been trained to a certain extent, you can sense shackles within it. I call those shackles the Eight Gates. Once you break them, you can unleash extraordinary power."

Guy looked at Might Duy in surprise. He had never heard of such a thing before, and the ninja instructors at the Academy had never taught it either.

"Dad, can you use this kind of Taijutsu too?"

"Of course."

Might Duy raised a thumb and said, "This is the only ultimate technique I mastered through twenty years of hard training. I was planning to teach it to you once you grew a little stronger."

Feng Ye looked at Might Duy and asked, "Even if you can sense the shackles, forcibly breaking them could cause some damage, right?"

"Yes."

Might Duy nodded. Looking at Feng Ye, his expression grew somewhat serious. "To be honest, I wouldn't recommend trying to open the Eight Gates inside your body at your age. But since you can sense their existence, that means you've reached the threshold for learning the Eight Inner Gates..."

Might Duy never even considered keeping it secret. Or rather, he had always wanted to pass down the Eight Inner Gates, but he was only a genin. Aside from his own son, Might Guy, even if he wanted to teach someone else, no one would be willing to listen.

Now that Feng Ye had asked him for guidance, Might Duy almost poured out every key point of training in the Eight Inner Gates at once, immediately enlightening Feng Ye.

"Thank you for your guidance, sir."

Feng Ye stopped running, a trace of gratitude in his smile, and gave Might Duy a serious bow.

Seeing Feng Ye's manner, Might Duy laughed heartily. "No need to be so polite. It's good if my experience can help you. After all, you're Guy's classmate. I never thought someone would be willing to listen to a genin like me explain Taijutsu experience. My youth..."

The first half had been fairly normal, but the latter half immediately took a strange turn, making Feng Ye sigh inwardly.

Guy looked at Might Duy, half-confused and half-bewildered. "Dad, what are the Eight Inner Gates? Can I learn them?"

"Guy!"

Might Duy snapped out of his near tearful state and vigorously slapped Guy on the shoulder. "Your training still isn't enough! Come on! Finish fifty laps first, then I'll tell you about the Eight Inner Gates!"

As he spoke, Might Duy led Guy onward, continuing to run. Under the strange gazes around them, the two quickly ran farther and farther away.

Feng Ye had originally intended to follow them for a while longer, but seeing this, he shook his head helplessly.

Forget it.

"I finally got the training method for the Eight Inner Gates. As expected, it was easy enough to obtain, but I feel a little bad about it... I'll find a chance to repay him later."

After thinking it over, Feng Ye returned home. Based on the key points Might Duy had mentioned, along with his own exploration of Taijutsu, he organized the training method for the Eight Inner Gates.

The key to training in the Eight Inner Gates was breaking the eight shackles within the body.

Forcibly breaking them would inevitably damage the body's meridians, so advance training and exercise were needed for adaptation. This kind of training was weighted training.

In the early stages, tools such as weights could be used to keep the body under constant pressure. Once that pressure was removed, the body's ability to adapt to breaking the Eight Gates' shackles would improve significantly.

Training in the Eight Inner Gates meant repeating this process over and over.

"So I need to buy some weights..."

Feng Ye searched through the Ninja Tools at home and found some weights, but they were not particularly heavy. They were fine for ordinary training, but unsuitable for the initial training of the Eight Inner Gates.

Even without weights, it was not much of a problem. A ninja village never lacked Ninja Tools, and the funds Sakumo had left behind were more than enough to purchase a set of weighted Ninja Tools.

Before long,

Feng Ye spent some money and bought a set of weights.

Unlike the weights Rock Lee used in the original story, the set Feng Ye bought came in separate pieces. There were weights for the vest, wrist guards, and legs—a complete set.

"I have no idea what this stuff is made of. This weight makes no sense."

After examining the weights, Feng Ye concluded that they fell into the category of "not scientific." Like the Kubikiribōchō that could grow stronger by drinking blood or the Kusanagi Sword that could extend infinitely, they were items made through some special method.

"So heavy..."

Once he put them all on, his entire body immediately felt much heavier. He could not even walk steadily at first, only gradually adapting after a while.