Training with Teacher Kai...
Learning taijutsu???
Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten exchanged astonished, confused looks.
Training in taijutsu was grueling and demanded a tremendous amount of sweat and effort.
Ninjutsu specialists looked down on it, too. It was hard work with little reward.
Take Teacher Kai and Rock Lee, for example. They were both incredibly strong, but in the eyes of Konoha's shinobi, they were oddballs. People often mocked them behind their backs and pointed at them.
Why would Uchiha Yao, who clearly possessed Wood Release powerful enough to suppress a Tailed Beast, want to learn taijutsu?
It made no sense!
None at all!
Still.
Though the three of them were full of questions, none said anything.
Everyone had the right to make their own choices. It wasn't anyone else's place to interfere.
Might Guy led Yao to a secluded spot far from his students. His expression grew much more serious.
"The Eight Inner Gates Formation... Its training is either as difficult as reaching the heavens or very simple!"
Guy raised a fist and pointed to the locations of the Eight Gates in the brain, chest, abdomen, and other parts of the body.
"Inside our bodies are eight important... valves related to the flow of chakra!"
"They are the Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Wonder, and Gate of Death."
"Essentially, the Eight Gates are shackles placed on us by the brain. They protect our bodies from collapsing when we use too much power!"
"The Eight Inner Gates forcibly break open these gates, gradually removing the brain's restrictions on the body!"
"To put it simply!"
"It's a Forbidden Jutsu that removes the body's self-protective limits!"
"Each gate you open causes the chakra inside you to surge!"
"The user's speed and strength will undergo a qualitative leap!"
"But!"
Guy's tone turned grave.
"The violent chakra unleashed this way will burn fiercely and destroy your body's cells!"
"It will tear your muscle fibers and batter your circulatory system!"
"The more gates you open, the more terrifying the power you gain!"
"But the burden and damage to your body will also grow!"
"Especially the final gate—the Gate of Death! Opening it grants you power dozens of times greater than that of the Five Kage, but the consequence is certain death!"
"So the prerequisite for training in the Eight Inner Gates Formation isn't talent. It's hellish physical conditioning!"
"You must push yourself through extremely strenuous physical training, day after day!"
"Your muscles, bones, and circulatory system must be forged to the strength of steel before they can even begin to withstand the impact of the violent chakra unleashed when you open a gate!"
"That's the foundation for everything!"
At this, Might Guy raised a second finger and continued solemnly.
"After building a monstrous physique, you'll also need exceptional bodily awareness and precise chakra control."
"You must clearly sense the flow of chakra inside your body, then control it and use it to strike the Eight Gates!"
"Even the slightest deviation could keep you from opening a gate and instead send your chakra into a rampage, rupturing your organs!"
"This requires absolute focus and precise control over your body."
After explaining all this, Guy looked at Yao. "Do you understand now? Do you still want to learn the Eight Inner Gates?"
Guy wasn't the type to keep his techniques to himself. He had actually taught all three of his students the Eight Inner Gates.
However.
Tenten couldn't handle the grueling physical training, so she gave up.
Neji came from the Hyuga Clan, whose Gentle Fist was diametrically opposed to the Eight Inner Gates' hard fist!
As a prodigy of the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist, Neji naturally wasn't willing to abandon the fist style the clan had passed down for a thousand years.
Training in hard fist was exhausting with little reward, and it didn't suit him anyway.
Of the three students, only Rock Lee—who excelled at neither ninjutsu nor Illusion Technique—learned the Eight Inner Gates.
"Teacher Kai, I'm willing!"
Yao wasn't easily intimidated. Naturally, Guy's words weren't enough to scare him off.
Even if he really couldn't endure the hardship of training in taijutsu, he had to give it a try before deciding.
From that day on, Yao trained in taijutsu under Might Guy.
Taijutsu training wasn't complicated. It was simple to describe in one word: train!
High-intensity physical conditioning!
Pushing the body beyond its limits!
There were no shortcuts!
Running, frog jumps, push-ups, squats, striking, rock climbing...
Training like mad!
Pushing himself to the limit!
Guy had originally wondered whether a ninjutsu prodigy like Yao could truly endure the dull, monotonous taijutsu training.
Guy guessed Yao had merely taken a passing interest. After three or five days, once he experienced the hardship involved, he would give up and quit.
But as time passed, Guy realized he couldn't have been more wrong.
Yao's perseverance was astonishingly strong—far beyond what Guy had imagined!
His resolve was even more unyielding, to the point of seeming almost abnormal!
At first, Yao's training load was perfectly normal, increasing gradually.
But little by little...
Yao's basic training load multiplied several times over!
And he completed every exercise meticulously, pushing himself to the limit and training until he was utterly exhausted every single day.
What amazed Guy even more was Yao's recovery.
No matter how hard he had trained the day before or how exhausted he was...
After a night's rest, he was always full of energy the next day.
Guy couldn't help marveling.
He was astonished by Yao's willpower, and even more amazed by his physique.
In the end, Guy could only conclude that Yao was a natural taijutsu prodigy!
His talent for taijutsu might even surpass his talent for ninjutsu.
Guy taught him with even greater dedication.
Under this nearly inhuman training, Yao's coordination, explosive power, and stamina improved rapidly.
Just one week later...
Following Guy's instructions, Yao focused his mind and chakra on the restricted area in his brain and launched an assault.
"Eight Inner Gates: First Gate—Gate of Opening... Open!"
Whoosh!
The invisible shackles broke at once, and chakra surged into Yao's brain.
Yao suddenly felt lighter. His fatigue was forcibly swept away, and his chakra flowed freely and powerfully.
He had finer control over his body, and the strength he had once needed to consciously summon now responded like an extension of his own arm.
The Gate of Opening!
It removed the brain's restrictions on chakra and bodily functions, allowing the body to operate at 100% of its capacity.
Speed, strength, and reflexes all improved across the board!
Yao didn't stop there.
Another week passed.
He successfully opened the second gate:
The Gate of Healing!
It removed the body's fatigue limits and squeezed energy from it beyond its normal capacity, allowing the body to fight on without tiring!
The instant Yao opened the Gate of Healing...
He felt like a tireless machine, able to keep fighting for longer at high intensity.
His physical limits rose to a terrifying degree!
In just two short weeks...
He had opened two gates!
Even the widely experienced Guy was left dumbfounded by this rate of progress.
Both Guy and Rock Lee had spent years of painstaking effort just to open the first gate.
But Yao...
He had compressed that entire process into two weeks.
Was this what it meant to be a genius?