Disappointment and Misfortune

Nara Dan only now began to take Hyuga Nana seriously.

"I've seen the Hyuga Clan's sincerity."

"I'll accept you as my disciple, too."

With that, Nara Dan paid no mind to Hyuga Nana's delighted expression and simply waved her off.

Women could only slow down my punches. The deal was done, so Nara Dan naturally wanted to study the Eight Inner Gates.

Watching Nara Dan pick up the scroll and shut out the world, Hyuga Nana's happiness at being accepted as his disciple faded considerably. She grumbled to herself.

This guy. Is there anything in his life besides training?

He doesn't care at all that he just took on a beautiful disciple.

"Could it be that he only likes the type of girl like Kurenai Yuhi?"

Hyuga Nana lowered her head as she left the room, feeling a little dejected.

She was confident in what she had to offer, but she was still young. It would take quite a while for her to fully mature.

I'll have to ask the old ladies in the clan if they have any ideas.

Meanwhile, Nara Dan was immersed in the world of the Eight Inner Gates, unaware that his female disciple had come up with another strange little scheme.

Long after Hyuga Nana had left, Nara Dan let out a deep breath. He could no longer hide his delight. He'd finally gotten his hands on it—the Eight Inner Gates.

The Ninja World's restrictions on knowledge were far more severe than most people imagined.

At the Ninja Academy, civilian ninja couldn't learn a single offensive ninjutsu besides the Three Body Technique. There were only two ways to obtain a proper C-rank or higher ninjutsu.

They could earn the favor of a Jonin instructor and be taught a technique, or accumulate enough merit to exchange for one from the Hokage.

Neither option offered much hope for civilian ninja of ordinary talent.

Without sufficient talent or ability, how could they earn anyone's favor or rack up merit?

Ninja from clans with inherited Secret Techniques or bloodline limits naturally had it much easier.

But Nara Dan hadn't focused his training on the Nara Clan's Shadow Secret Technique.

Instead, he had pursued Taijutsu, an area the Nara Clan rarely touched. Breaking through in it was no easier than for a civilian ninja trying to make a name for himself.

Fortunately, Nara Dan had the Cheat System. With its help, as long as he practiced diligently, Talent Entries would emerge and lock in his best condition.

That was how he had surpassed generations of effort by the Might Clan with ease, reaching the level Might Guy would attain in the future at such an early age.

The Cheat System had also given Nara Dan an ability to process things that ordinary ninja didn't have.

It let him digest even powerful medicines and metals, allowing his physique to surpass the limits of ordinary ninja.

At Nara Dan's current level, he could use any Taijutsu in Konoha with ease. There was only one exception.

The Eight Inner Gates.

As for why he had only gained access to it now, even though he had reached the limits of a ninja's Taijutsu long ago—

Might Duy, Might Guy, and Rock Lee had all trained in the Eight Inner Gates from childhood.

"They were naturally afraid I'd grow too quickly and slip out of their control."

Nara Dan gave a cold laugh. If he had reached the level of a Kage early on, there would have been almost no one in Konoha capable of holding him back.

The old-timers wouldn't want him defecting, or leading the Nara Clan to power.

"If the Hyuga Clan hadn't shown their goodwill, they might not have let me take even a glimpse at the Eight Inner Gates until after the Third Great Ninja War—or even later."

"But it's not too late now."

"That'll give me a lot more options during the Third Great Ninja War."

With that thought, Nara Dan threw himself back into studying the Eight Gates. The obscure text that seemed so difficult to others came naturally to him.

"Even as far back as the Sengoku era, or perhaps earlier, when Chakra first became widespread..."

"Someone discovered the secrets of the meridians and the Eight Gates."

"Everyone has the Eight Gates within them. In theory, anyone can open them, as long as they train their body to withstand the side effects."

"Even Kakashi, who isn't known for Taijutsu in the original story, can open the first one or two gates of the Eight Inner Gates."

"But the side effects of the Eight Inner Gates increase in proportion to their power. The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, also studied the Eight Inner Gates extensively."

"He even refined the technique, but he usually glossed over the final gate."

"That's because he realized the cost of the final gate was far greater than expected, and the return wasn't worth it."

As he read this, Nara Dan's excitement gradually faded into calm.

"The return isn't worth the cost?"

"Perhaps Tobirama Senju was right."

By this point, Nara Dan had finished reading the entire Eight Inner Gates technique.

In truth, the technique was incomplete. The final two gates had no detailed records at all; they were barely mentioned.

"But that's not the Hyuga Clan's fault. The strongest Eight Inner Gates practitioners in Konoha, both now and in the future, are still running laps around the village."

"Almost no one can open the final two gates, except for the Might Clan."

"No one can even meet the requirements to open the Seventh Gate, let alone the Formation of the Eight Inner Gates, the Fleeting Radiance."

After his initial excitement, Nara Dan felt a little disappointed. It wasn't because the final two gates were missing.

Rather, the Eight Inner Gates wouldn't be as useful to him as he'd expected. It, too, just squeezed the body's potential to exchange it for power beyond human limits.

"It's essentially no different from my 'Release.'"

Release was a Forbidden Technique of Taijutsu that Nara Dan had developed.

Unlike the Eight Inner Gates, which opened the Chakra meridians to trade for a powerful burst of Chakra,

Release relied on his exceptional control over his body to accelerate blood circulation and trigger an adrenaline rush,

allowing him to push his body beyond its limits.

It was a technique Nara Dan had created by combining the martial arts and medical knowledge from his previous life.

When he activated Release, Nara Dan's heart could beat five to ten times faster than normal.

In that state, his overall physical abilities would increase across the board, pushing him beyond the limits of human capability and into the realm of a Kage.

This Forbidden Technique, which he had developed and refined over many years, was what gave Nara Dan the confidence to stand against the strongest in the Ninja World.

"If that's all there is to it, it won't help me break through my current bottleneck."

"At most, I'd just become a second Might Guy."

Nara Dan looked at the Taijutsu Mastery on his Cheat System, which still glimmered with a blue-violet sheen.

After being enhanced by the Eight Inner Gates and the secrets of the Gentle Fist, his Taijutsu Mastery was no longer distinctly blue and purple.

Instead, the two colors had blended together. Clearly, it was still a hair's breadth away from becoming a completely purple Talent Entry.

That single hair's breadth left Nara Dan's expression shifting between light and dark. He couldn't even keep his usual composure.

A ninja at his level shouldn't be wrong about his instincts.

When the Nara House had rewarded him with a Taijutsu insights scroll earlier, his instincts had told him that the Eight Inner Gates would be the breakthrough he needed.

That was why he'd paid such close attention to the Secret Technique. But now, things had gone against his expectations.

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