Eight Gates

Might Duy was so strong because he had trained in the Eight Gates.

According to Might Duy himself, it had taken him a full twenty years to master the technique and reach the point where he could open all eight gates.

Then, a few years later, during the Third Shinobi World War, he angrily opened all eight gates and beat Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist down to the "Lucky Three Treasures."

Qingshui reckoned that even if Duy couldn't open the Seventh Gate right now, he could at least open the sixth.

Incidentally, with Might Duy's abilities, there was no way he'd have gotten injured doing a D-Rank mission.

And that was exactly what had happened.

After examining him, Qingshui found that years of excessive training had overtaxed his body, and the strain had finally caught up with him, forcing him into the hospital.

A Genin's earning potential was limited, and Might Duy generally saved the good stuff for his son, Might Guy. That left him unable to use secret medicines to maintain his body.

Fortunately, an illness like this wasn't much of a problem in the Ninja World, and with Qingshui's medical skills, it was easy to treat.

[Completed treatment of Might Duy. Reward: one Golden Orb.]

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Eight Gates.]

The system's reward was exactly what Qingshui had expected.

After all, the Eight Gates was probably the only thing Might Duy knew.

"Thank you, Doctor. Your medical skills are incredible. I can feel my youth burning anew."

"..."

At Might Duy's words, Qingshui's face darkened.

He could now somewhat understand how Kakashi felt, being constantly pestered by Might Guy.

Most people really couldn't handle that kind of youthful energy.

"Your body was overtaxed by years of excessive training. You'll need to be careful from now on, and you must avoid overtraining for a while."

Out of professional duty, Qingshui offered a reminder.

Might Duy gave him a thumbs-up, grinning as his bright white teeth gleamed.

"Youth needs rest at the right time, too."

Qingshui shook his head and hurried out of the operating room. If he stayed any longer, he was afraid he'd catch the Youth Virus.

As it happened, he ran right into Tsunade, who had just arrived at Konoha Hospital.

"Lord Tsunade, I've already learned the Chakra Scalpel. When are you going to teach me the Mystical Palm Technique?"

"What did you say?"

"I said I've already learned the Chakra Scalpel!"

Qingshui repeated each word clearly.

"You're not lying on purpose because you don't want to lose to me, are you?"

Tsunade still found it a little hard to believe.

Rather than explain, Qingshui led her to an operating table, took a fish kept in reserve by the hospital, and demonstrated the Chakra Scalpel right there.

Faced with the proof, Tsunade had no choice but to believe him.

Qingshui really had learned the A-Rank Chakra Scalpel in three days.

Many Medical Ninjas at Chunin level hadn't even mastered this technique.

Only a handful of medical Jonin could claim to have learned it with complete proficiency.

By that measure, Qingshui's Medical Ninjutsu skills were already at Jonin level.

An eighteen-year-old medical Jonin wasn't anything special.

The key was that he had never studied Medical Ninjutsu before turning seventeen. He'd gone from nothing to this level in just one year.

Thinking of that, even Tsunade was astonished by Qingshui's talent.

He was a true genius.

"All right, you win. Here's the Mystical Palm Technique scroll."

Tsunade wasn't a sore loser. She handed Qingshui the Mystical Palm Technique without hesitation.

"The Mystical Palm Technique is also A-Rank Medical Ninjutsu. With your talent, you should be able to learn it in about three or four days."

After instructing Qingshui, Tsunade didn't leave right away. Instead, she found Fukada Minako, who was currently in charge of managing all of Konoha Hospital.

"Minako, make sure Qingshui gets special attention from now on. His talent is absolutely on par with mine."

By "special attention," Tsunade didn't mean training in Medical Ninjutsu.

She meant preparing him for his future career.

In her view, Qingshui had what it took to take over as Medical Department Head.

If he weren't so young and inexperienced, she would have gladly stepped down and handed the position to him right then and there.

That way, she could gamble every day without a care in the world.

Ahem. That wasn't the point.

The point was that older people should make way for the younger generation and give them more room to rise.

Yes, exactly.

"I understand, Lord Tsunade."

Fukada Minako naturally understood what Tsunade meant.

That was precisely why she was so shocked.

She'd thought she already had a high opinion of Qingshui, but it turned out she'd still underestimated him.

After getting the Mystical Palm Technique, Qingshui returned to his office. He didn't study the technique, though. Instead, he first examined the Eight Gates, the system's reward.

Everyone had "eight gates" in their body that limited their Chakra. They were a kind of self-protection mechanism.

Once someone learned the Eight Gates, they could open the "eight gates" within their body and gain greater power.

It was a Taijutsu technique that removed the body's restrictions on Chakra.

The "eight gates" were 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.

Opening different gates granted different boosts.

For example, opening the first gate, the Gate of Opening, removed the brain's restrictions and allowed someone to use one hundred percent of their physical ability.

Opening the final, inevitably fatal gate—the eighth gate, the Gate of Death—granted power dozens of times greater than that of the Kage.

Of course, the exact effects varied from person to person.

For example, when Might Duy opened all eight gates, he could only kill four of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

But Might Guy, who inherited the technique, was on another level.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, a battle between godlike opponents, opening all eight gates let him nearly kick the fight to its conclusion.

Even Uchiha Madara admitted that, when it came to Taijutsu, Might Guy was the strongest.

So much so that some people said Might Guy didn't merely know Taijutsu—he was the only one who did.

"Even though the system gave me the technique, with my current physical abilities, I can only open the first gate."

Unlike Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, Taijutsu depended on the body. The system couldn't help him skip the stage of physical training.

If his body wasn't strong enough, forcing open more gates would only injure him.

If Qingshui hadn't kept up his sword training, he might not even have been able to open the first gate.

"Looks like I'll have to add physical training to my daily routine from now on."

Now that he had obtained the Eight Gates, Qingshui naturally didn't want to give up on it so easily.

He didn't necessarily have to train to the level of Might Duy or Might Guy, but he at least wanted to reach the point where he could open six gates.

The sixth gate was where the real transformation began.

Of course, that would take a long time.

Soon another workday came to an end. After clocking out, Qingshui immediately put his physical training plan into action.

He ran two laps around Konoha, then went to his usual training spot to practice the Mystical Palm Technique.

He only ran two laps because he was just starting out. It wasn't wise to push the intensity too high right away.

That would only damage his body.

Just like what had happened to Might Duy today.