Under the dim yellow lights, a figure trailing gusts of air flipped and darted about the training ground.
Unlike when Hyuga Kagami trained, with Lightning Flash filling the entire field and his movements ghostly and unpredictable, this figure radiated tremendous force. Every gesture, every kick carried immense power, and the surrounding air seemed to hum and tremble beneath his blows.
Without question, the one training in the field was none other than Shira, Sunagakure's greatest taijutsu prodigy in history.
Shira was called Sunagakure's greatest taijutsu prodigy not only because of his exceptional mastery of taijutsu, but also because he had independently developed a secret technique called the Seven Heavens Breathing Method.
Strictly speaking, the Seven Heavens Breathing Method was actually a breathing technique.
It worked by absorbing massive amounts of oxygen from the air, then using the respiratory system to circulate it throughout the body, maintaining all cellular tissue at an extremely high level of oxygenation and thereby increasing cellular activity.
This differed from methods such as the Eight Inner Gates, which opened the body's internal limiters, and the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, which used Lightning-nature chakra to stimulate cellular tissue and enhance physical ability. It was an entirely different approach.
During the second examination, Shira had relied on his self-created Seven Heavens Breathing Method to fight Rock Lee's Eight Inner Gates to a standstill.
This showed that, at least at the stage where the fourth gate, the Gate of Pain, was opened, Shira's Seven Heavens Breathing Method was no inferior to the Eight Inner Gates.
As for whether the Seven Heavens Breathing Method could still rival the Eight Inner Gates at higher levels, no one could say for certain without actual combat.
However, based on Hyuga Kagami's understanding of the human body, the core of the Seven Heavens Breathing