Fierce Battle

"First Gate, Gate of Opening—Open!"

"Fifth Gate, Gate of Limit—Open!"

"Sixth Gate, Gate of View—Open!"

With each gate he opened, the waves of air swirling around Shinnō grew more violent. By the time he reached the Sixth Gate, Gate of View, the black waves—an amalgamation of Chakra, sweat, and blood—had become almost tangible. Even the air around them seemed to grow viscous.

Confronted with the waves of air surging toward them, Yakumo, Neji, and Kimimaro, who were blocking Shinnō head-on, all instinctively retreated several steps and had to raise their arms to shield themselves from the blast.

"S-so strong!"

Yakumo was secretly alarmed.

Neji and Kimimaro exchanged glances, both seeing surprise and doubt in the other's eyes.

The last time they had faced Shinnō, he had used the Eight Gates as well, but it hadn't been anywhere near this impressive!

Still, both of them were Taijutsu experts and understood a simple, fundamental principle.

No matter the Taijutsu secret technique or the ultimate art of Taijutsu, its essence was simply to amplify the user's own power. The stronger the user, the greater the strength they gained from the technique. Conversely, if the user's base strength was insufficient, even an ultimate technique would be far less powerful.

It was like how, despite both opening the Eighth Gate, Gate of Death, Might Guy's father had only managed to defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, without even killing them all, while Guy had been able to fight Madara and earn the sincere praise of Madara, who had already reached Six Paths level, calling him "the strongest in Taijutsu"!

So there was only one explanation for why Shinnō was more imposing now than before: after becoming the Zero-Tails' Jinchuriki, his own strength had increased dramatically!

Faced with Shinnō, who had opened the Sixth Gate, Gate of