A Bountiful Harvest

"I really did open the first gate, but why does it feel different from what Kai described before?" Zi Xu said, half-convinced as he looked at Tagorihime, who already had a few beads of sweat on her forehead, as if trying to see through the two of them.

"It's normal for it to be different. In the end, everyone develops their own unique taijutsu through training. This means you've found your own path—congratulations, congratulations." Tagorihime smiled as she changed the subject, while Tagitsuhime drifted through the air beside her, slowly fading from sight.

Ichikishimahime, never one to miss a chance to stir things up, fanned the flames on the side, urging Zi Xu to hurry up and try opening a gate. She was dying to know what kind of weird thing he'd cooked up.

"Hurry up, hurry up! You've found a way to train, so show us a little something. Quick, quick." All three Divine Maidens wore expressions of varying degrees of interest. Zi Xu secretly felt that the Eight Gates he'd trained in must be off, but since he'd already practiced it, he'd just roll with it.

"What's the rush? I'll give it a try." Zi Xu sensed the chakra pathway that had gradually stabilized inside him, and recalled the normal effect of the Eight Gates' first gate, the Gate of Opening.

"Gate of Opening: Lifts the brain's limitations to achieve 100% physical capability, overloading the body's energy to boost attack and speed." That was the normal effect.

Ichikishimahime watched as Zi Xu's red hair began to stir without wind, the once-smooth strands standing on end like a red-haired hedgehog. A faint, light-red aura appeared around him, and her doubts grew. In her memory, the hallmark of activating the Eight Gates was speed and power, and the first gate, the Gate of Opening, shouldn't produce this kind of state. Usually, this only happened from the third gate, the Gate of Pain, which was when one truly entered the Eight Gates state. What Zi Xu was showing didn't look like the Gate of Opening at all.

"Zi Xu, after opening the Eight Gates, your speed will become much sharper. You can seize the initiative, striking first even after the enemy moves. The Eight Gates releases your internal energy in an overloaded, unrestrained manner, putting a heavy strain on your body. It's not recommended for frequent use."

"When using the Eight Gates, your internal energy is released without restraint, and your strength increases dramatically. In this state, you can recklessly use taijutsu to clash head-on with the enemy."

Though the two Divine Maidens were a bit unscrupulous, at least they said what needed to be said.

Zi Xu felt the explosive power surging through his body, and a surge of boldness filled his heart. An illusion of being able to shatter stars with a casual gesture appeared in his mind. This Super Saiyan mode aside, at least the style was top-notch.

"Come on, let's spar. I feel like I've gained a lot of new insights into taijutsu." Zi Xu hopped a couple of times to get used to his current body. The last time he'd felt like this was when he'd increased his body's Fusion Level. Now, it was no different from another Fusion Level boost, and this power could grow further as his physique improved.

The sharp increase in reaction speed made his eyes struggle to adapt to his surroundings. Everything in his sight, including the Three Divine Maidens, had become agonizingly slow. He could clearly see a few tiny specks of dust dancing before him with everyone's breaths. This wasn't a good thing—if he couldn't quickly control this state, his energy would drain at a terrifying rate, leaving him exhausted before he'd even done anything.

Fortunately, Zi Xu had similar experience before and quickly adapted to his strengthened body.

The Three Divine Maidens didn't say much either, cooperating with Zi Xu to test the power of this strange first gate of the Eight Gates.

They stopped laughing and dispersed into the air, floating apart. Before, holding back, they'd purely used their mediocre taijutsu to practice with Zi Xu. Now that he'd learned the Eight Gates, they would use senjutsu chakra.

"Whoosh~" An invisible fist wind arrived at Zi Xu's face in the blink of an eye, completely undetectable. This was Tagorihime's technique, combining senjutsu chakra to mobilize surrounding Natural Energy. Before Zi Xu learned the Eight Gates, he could tank it but definitely couldn't dodge it.

"Swish, swish." Zi Xu still stood in place without moving, but the invisible fist wind passed through his body as if through a phantom. Relying on his terrifying reaction speed, he "saw" the attack trajectory in advance. Using his body's sensory response to the environment, he pinpointed the invisible fist wind's position and dodged just before it reached him, moving so fast that a blurry afterimage remained in his spot.

The Three Divine Maidens didn't let up. After discovering Zi Xu's reaction speed, they quickly adapted. Tagorihime continued launching invisible attacks, Tagitsuhime wove Genjutsu to confuse Zi Xu's perception, and Ichikishimahime stealthily absorbed Zi Xu's chakra, weakening his various abilities.

Strangely, even with Genjutsu deceiving his senses, Zi Xu still narrowly dodged the invisible fist wind, as if his surroundings were covered in eyes.

"Something's off. This guy seems..." During the constant probing, Tagorihime seemed to notice something. She concealed her form again, shattered several stalactites into dozens of small stones, and shot them at Zi Xu.

Since the stones were also coated with perception-blocking energy by Tagorihime, Zi Xu didn't detect them flying toward him. But just as the stones entered a range of about one meter around him, he seemed to sense something and slid into a dodge, evading them.

"A domain-like ability? Could this be the correct way to open the Eight Gates?" Tagorihime almost believed that what she'd taught was the real Eight Gates.

"This feeling..." Zi Xu was a bit surprised. He really hadn't noticed those small stones, but once they entered a certain distance around him, his body reacted automatically, as if it had already known where the stones were coming from.

"Could the Eight Gates help awaken Observation Haki?" Zi Xu couldn't find the reason for now. Could it be that Tagorihime and the others hadn't lied to him?

"System, did I awaken Observation Haki?" Zi Xu only then remembered to ask the system. Earlier, annoyed by its constant pop-up reminders, he'd set the system notifications to silent mode, only showing him important matters. He also just recalled that completing the previous task seemed to have earned him quite a few reward points.

[Host has preliminarily awakened Observation Haki]

"NICE. If I can train it myself, no need to spend reward points. Saved a big chunk—can use it to draw... no, gotta save it to unlock the Devil Fruit Ability..." Though he really wanted to try his luck with a single draw, he forcibly suppressed that wicked urge.

"Forget it, I'm done." Tagorihime stopped her attacks. Zi Xu was more snake-like than they were, slippery and evasive, with a serpentine footwork. Since this was a test of the Eight Gates, they couldn't just unleash pressure-field ninjutsu, so what was the point of fighting him?

Zi Xu was a bit disappointed that he hadn't tested the physical strength of his "Gate of Opening." But after awakening Observation Haki, he instinctively dodged any attack he could avoid. Though he could suppress this instinct, it would annoy him—like a clean blackboard with a glaring chalk mark in the middle, something a perfectionist couldn't stand and had to erase.

"If you've got nothing else, keep practicing Sage Mode. We're pretty professional at that, or Genjutsu works too." Ichikishimahime teased. Zi Xu, aside from senjutsu, never chose the fields they excelled in. Taijutsu was fine—they could try to teach that—but later he wanted them to teach him swordsmanship, and even staff techniques, which was ridiculous. Staff techniques? Hearing that, Ichikishimahime felt like giving him a whack with one.

"Actually, learning some ninjutsu wouldn't be bad either..." Zi Xu sat cross-legged, trying to harmonize Natural Energy while multitasking and chatting with the Divine Maidens.

"Tsk tsk, what's with the change of heart today? Weren't you all about solidifying your taijutsu first?" Tagitsuhime clicked her tongue in wonder. She guessed Zi Xu might have some important matters to handle soon; otherwise, with his personality, he wouldn't learn other ninjutsu until he'd fully consolidated his taijutsu.

"Ah, nothing much. Just that I'll be taking the Chunin Exam in a few months. The teachers said there's life-threatening danger in the exam. You know, I'm frail and afraid of violence, so I want to learn some ninjutsu to boost my self-defense..." Zi Xu's eyelids gradually took on a purple tint, and his skin grew paler.

Tagitsuhime looked at Zi Xu's sturdy frame, capable of punching two tigers to death with one blow, then recalled his earlier Super Saiyan form. She found it hard to imagine how "frail" or "afraid of violence" applied to him. If he weren't so clean-cut, with a rougher face, his fierce expression paired with his muscular build would make him look like a villain who ate a few kids every meal—someone "not afraid of violence."

Barely restraining the urge to punch Zi Xu, Tagitsuhime recalled the first half of his words and thought it over:

"Still, the Chunin Exam will have plenty of strong opponents. Caution doesn't hurt. Learning some ninjutsu is a good idea..."

Zi Xu's purple eye shadow deepened, and fine scales began to emerge on his skin. In his "vision," he was about to snake-transform, but in reality, he hadn't reached that point yet. Guessing it might be an effect of Observation Haki, he fine-tuned his energy balance more carefully.

"What's your chakra nature?"

"Hmm... Lightning."

"Lightning, huh..." Tagitsuhime pondered, combining Zi Xu's fighting style with the properties of Lightning chakra, searching her memory for suitable Lightning Release ninjutsu.

"There are a few that fit. You mentioned wanting to learn swordsmanship... staff techniques, right? How about condensing Lightning chakra onto a staff, enhancing its speed, and using Lightning Release to generate high-frequency vibrations, giving it extremely strong penetrating power."

Zi Xu opened his eyes slightly. His pupils had become amber slits, slightly different from the Divine Maidens'—less serpentine gloom, more righteousness.

"Indeed, applying it to a... sword would produce an extremely powerful cutting effect. You could also use the Lightning chakra on the blade to paralyze enemies, attract lightning, and so on. It's feasible." Zi Xu ignored Tagitsuhime's suggestion to use a staff and spoke on his own.

Tagitsuhime was a bit speechless. She didn't understand why Zi Xu was so fixated on swords. She couldn't grasp his reasoning that "the world's greatest swordsman sounds way cooler than the world's greatest staff wielder."

Tagorihime noticed the change in Zi Xu's pupils, meaning he'd preliminarily grasped Sage Mode. Though very unstable, he was halfway there. From now on, he just needed to remember the energy ratios for entering Sage Mode and keep fine-tuning.

Zi Xu immediately exited Sage Mode. He could clearly feel that he couldn't maintain it perfectly for long. Forcing it would likely lead to snake transformation. But with the experience of entering Sage Mode, he was close to mastering it completely.

"But this still seems like Nintaijutsu territory. In the end, I still haven't learned any pure ninjutsu." Zi Xu had no objection to further developing Lightning Release-infused techniques, but he couldn't help complaining. He didn't seem much like a ninja—more like that Ronin he'd met the other day, with a fighting style similar to Bai's.

"What's wrong with Nintaijutsu? Master one technique to its peak, and that's enough. Fancy ninjutsu can't compare to a single strike backed by full power. In the future, just make your normal attacks your ultimate moves." Ichikishimahime spoke up. Her view on ninjutsu was to specialize in one—being good at everything meant being mediocre at everything. One trick, one meal for life; no need to hesitate.

"Makes sense. Let's try it." Zi Xu pulled a katana he'd picked up earlier from a Sealing Scroll. Just like that night, he channeled Lightning chakra to coat the blade. But as soon as he finished, Tagorihime shook her head.

"Your Chakra consumption is too high—you're relying purely on brute force and raw reserves. You need to control your Chakra output and make every bit of it count."

"There's a noticeable lag in the transmission of Chakra to the blade; it's not smooth enough."

"Your swinging form is fine, but why does it feel like you're swinging a club? Seriously, have you considered switching weapons?"

The Goddess's words drifted in and out of Zi Xu's ears, then faded back into the surroundings. He tried their suggestions and indeed felt his Chakra consumption drop significantly. The lightning on the blade dimmed, yet he could clearly sense its edge sharpening rather than dulling.

"The ideal state is when the blade or staff shows nothing special—as if no Chakra is attached to it at all. But in reality, it's the opposite: the Chakra has fully converged inside the weapon. An ordinary-looking swing can give your opponent a nasty surprise."

They laid out the ideal state for Zi Xu but didn't expect him to truly master it. This level of technique had reached a state of returning to simplicity. Even in Kumogakure, famed for its Lightning Release ninjutsu, only a handful could achieve it.

"Got it. I'll do my best. That's enough training for today—I'll head back now." Zi Xu felt the afternoon hadn't been wasted. Not only had he unexpectedly awakened Observation Haki and entered Sage Mode for the first time, but he'd also made significant progress in his Lightning Release Nintaijutsu. It was a fruitful haul.