The Guardian's Bodily Technique Awakening

Speaking of it, the Eight Gates Formation—this forbidden technique—had actually existed for a long time, but only in theory.

In the Shinobi World, the concept of the body's eight gates had always been widely circulated, yet the method for cultivating the Eight Gates seemed to have only spread within a small circle.

There were plenty of people who had mastered ninjutsu to its peak, and Konoha alone had many.

The God of Shinobi, the First Hokage; the forbidden technique expert, the Second Hokage; the Professor of Ninjutsu, the Third Hokage; and so on.

But as for someone who could cultivate the Eight Gates to the point of opening all eight—none had appeared so far.

Thus, not only in Konoha but across the entire Shinobi World, taijutsu was treated as a required subject, but not one that demanded mastery.

In the early days, when shinobi had insufficient chakra reserves and their techniques lacked power, taijutsu often became the key to victory.

But in the later stages, during high-level combat, pure taijutsu had little effect; it was only effective as a means of combat when enhanced by elemental jutsu.

Shinobi who chose to specialize in taijutsu were far too few, and among them, those who achieved notable results were almost nonexistent.

As a mage who believed knowledge was power, Satoru also had a fairly deep understanding of taijutsu.

Simply put, the author of The Book of Medivh—the former Tirisfal Guardian, Medivh, the most powerful mage of his time—was killed by his own disciple, Khadgar, who stabbed him in the back with a longsword.

The Echo of Medivh clearly held some resentment over this. In Satoru's revised edition of The Book of Medivh, the former Guardian's grudge was recorded in detail.

Medivh, who could pin down a powerful assassin specializing in close combat and grind him into the dirt with his bare hands, had always made a point of studying martial arts. But apparently, he never thought other mages would do the same.

"I thought you... didn't know how to use a sword..."

Those were Medivh's dying words to Khadgar.

And so, Archmage Khadgar later honed a formidable staff technique—

With Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian, which he had swiped from Karazhan, the archmage had bashed countless powerful enemies over the head.

Thus, at the very least, the Guardian lineage had to excel in taijutsu.

"But the Eight Gates... won't work."

Many days had passed since the conversation with his father, and Satoru had been pondering this matter.

The Eight Gates Formation temporarily granted immense power by unsealing the body's channels that bind chakra.

But at the same time, this operation caused a chakra riot within the body, making it impossible for the user to control effectively—and thus, they couldn't use ninjutsu.

The same applied to Satoru, who cast using Arcane Power.

A mage who couldn't cast spells—wasn't that just waiting to die?

Theoretically, the only way to solve this was to obtain a body strong enough to open all eight gates without injury, surpassing the limits of the human physique.

If Might Guy had a body as tough as the Raikage's, perhaps the Eight Gates Formation wouldn't be a suicidal death move.

But if someone already had conditions like the Raikage's, who would bother training in the Eight Gates?

"Unlike Guy, my conditions are uniquely advantageous..."

The Book of Medivh shimmered with a hazy arcane glow. This grimoire, invisible to others, contained countless incredible arcane secrets.

Among them was a technique specially developed by Medivh—the Arcane Body Tempering Technique.

This was the unyielding grudge of a mage's lingering soul, betrayed by his own disciple.

Lightning-natured chakra could activate the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, energizing the body and greatly enhancing its physical strength.

But using Arcane Power for body tempering was far more effective!

It was also far more dangerous—if one wasn't careful, the out-of-control arcane energy would blast the body to pieces.

However, with The Book of Medivh in hand, Satoru didn't need to worry about that. This powerful artifact could harmonize Arcane Power, allowing Satoru to always channel arcane energy at the right intensity for tempering.

The catch was that channeling Arcane Power required considerable effort, and Satoru still needed to work harder to increase his arcane affinity.

As a mage who relied on spells, this was enough.

"Once my body's strength is up, the next thing to train is combat technique—I can learn from Choza on this. The Akimichi clan's staff technique is said to be second only to the Sarutobi clan's."

The most common ninja tools were kunai and shuriken—cheap and practical.

But swords, staves, and clubs were also frequently used by shinobi with special skills. After all, every outstanding shinobi had their own unique combat style.

Satoru chose a long staff because he had seen one of the few ready-made incantations in The Book of Medivh.

The incantation to summon "Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian."

Though the content of this incantation required power close to a Guardian's level to even read...

Still, it was a small goal to aim for!

A mage who didn't covet the Chicken Stick didn't exist!

"So I need to start building the foundation now—it's inevitable that I'll reach that level!"

Satoru was full of confidence. As a successor of the Guardian lineage, he had to have that much self-assurance.

Thus, in the time before the Ninja Academy opened, Satoru made a rare effort to set aside time and practice staff techniques with Akimichi Choza.

"Satoru, this technique of yours is amazing—creating food..."

During a break, Choza swallowed the magical sweet bread Satoru had conjured and nodded in satisfaction.

"Though it has almost no calories, it contains special chakra... and it's very filling, plus the taste isn't bad!"

"It's the perfect choice for losing weight and getting in shape!"

"..."

Satoru, lying on the ground gasping for breath, struggled to sit up. His sparring match with Choza had made the huge gap in their taijutsu painfully obvious.

"I can only manage this much for now... Well, this is a technique the old man taught me—I don't have the skill to develop something like this myself!"

Satoru "corrected" him. He'd spent some time adapting those magic spells into ninjutsu versions and handed them all over to his father, so now he was just pinning the credit on him.

Then Satoru grew puzzled:

"Don't the Akimichi clan's secret techniques require you to stockpile calories? And you're talking about losing weight... How are you supposed to train in the secret techniques?"

"I haven't even started training in the secret techniques yet!"

Choza grabbed the magic soda Satoru had made and chugged it down, letting out a satisfied burp:

"You're the only one who doesn't call me 'fatty,' Satoru. Those two, Shikaku and Inoichi—I had to beat them up before they'd stop calling me that..."

The corner of Satoru's mouth twitched. Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka—those two were also famous, "normal" shinobi who'd shone brilliantly during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The three families of Ino-Shika-Cho had been connected since childhood. Even though Choza clearly had a better relationship with Satoru now...

"School's starting soon. The old man told me to sign up with Shikaku and Inoichi, said it's a family tradition..."

Choza was a little excited. He gave Satoru a thumbs-up:

"The Ninja Academy—there'll be a lot of people I don't know. If I can slim down fast, I'll definitely be popular!"

"So I'm counting on you, Satoru! From now on, I'll be crashing your meals!"

"Huh?"

Satoru was dumbfounded. This guy... could he make mooching off someone sound any more refined?

"You're this slick—does Uncle Torifu know?"

"If you can't train the clan's secret techniques, you think he won't beat you to a pulp?"