Although Naruto had lost, he hadn't given up. He'd finally found a sparring partner, and he wanted to refine all the moves he'd been imagining.
"Other moves?" Might Guy's eyes lit up. The moves Naruto had shown today had completely overturned his worldview. After all, they were pure Taijutsu. Simply put, as long as they had the physical strength and technique, they could pull off the same moves.
The other three didn't see it that way. Rock Lee and the others had already been left speechless, and now that they'd heard Naruto had even more moves, their hearts filled with bitterness and envy.
Naruto paid them no mind and prepared to use his next move.
Second Gear
Second Gear. Naruto's body began to shrink, and thick clouds of smoke billowed around him.
The muscular Naruto Uzumaki from a moment ago had become a scrawny beanpole, looking much like Nagato Uzumaki after his life force had been drained.
But the others didn't dare underestimate him. Having seen Naruto's muscular form, they knew without needing to think that he had another trick up his sleeve.
"Naruto, you can't joke around like this." Might Guy's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Don't worry. My body can handle it if I only keep it up for a few minutes." The others might not have noticed, but Might Guy certainly had. Naruto knew it too.
It was similar to the Gate of Death from the Eight Inner Gates.
But it wasn't as dangerous as the Gate of Death. Naruto's current state came from using chakra to speed up the flow of blood through his body, while the chakra in his meridians circulated rapidly. In this state, his speed would be more than ten times greater than normal.
The principle was similar to Luffy's Second Gear in One Piece. The difference was that Naruto didn't have a rubber body, so keeping it up for too long would damage him. Without the Six Thief Immortals, Naruto would never use this move. But with it, these minor injuries were nothing to him; he could recover just by taking a breath.
Naruto's figure vanished again.
This time, the two moved even faster. Even Hinata, with her Byakugan, couldn't keep up with their movements.
Might Guy opened the Third Gate of the Eight Inner Gates.
The fight ended quickly this time. Three minutes later, the two stopped. Naruto looked a little worse for wear and was panting heavily, no longer as composed as before, but he hadn't suffered any serious injuries.
Hinata hurried over and caught Naruto.
"Naruto, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Hinata's little face was full of worry.
Worry clouded her judgment, and Hinata didn't take the time to examine his injuries.
Seeing Hinata like that, Neji instinctively felt displeased and wanted to say something, but when he saw the battered battlefield, he wisely kept quiet.
"I'm fine. Let go." Naruto pushed Hinata away and took a deep breath. The Six Thief Immortals activated.
Energy flowed into him, invisible to the naked eye.
His body visibly returned to normal.
The others were stunned all over again.
That recovery rate couldn't possibly be normal, could it?
But none of them knew the details of the Uzumaki Clan's abilities, so they assumed it was just something the clan could do.
"Don't worry, Hinata. With my constitution, an injury this minor is nothing." Seeing her worried expression, Naruto smiled and scratched his head.
Once Naruto had fully recovered, Hinata nodded.
But in her heart, she was thinking that Naruto's strength had once again surpassed her expectations.
Could someone as ordinary as me really be a good match for Naruto? Hinata couldn't help feeling a little inferior. Ever since she was young, her father had compared her to others. She'd lost to Neji as a child, then lost to her younger sister as she grew up. Now, seeing how strong Naruto was, she couldn't help feeling inadequate.
Naruto didn't notice Hinata's mood—or rather, it never occurred to him that she might feel that way. Having read the original story, he knew Hinata's identity: she was a direct descendant of the Otsutsuki and the eldest daughter and direct heir of Konoha's foremost clan. If anything, Naruto was the one who should have felt inferior. Even as a transmigrator, he understood that her status meant she could never marry outside the clan. Only the circumstances Naruto would face later in the original story could make it possible. Naruto understood that too, so he kept getting stronger, because he genuinely liked this adorable little princess.
After exchanging a few words, they went their separate ways. Fighting Naruto had given Might Guy some new ideas, and he was also very interested in the Taijutsu Naruto had developed.
The other two looked thoughtful as well.
Only Tenten remained calm. Unlike the others, although she was in the Taijutsu class, her fighting style leaned more toward using weapons.
Tenten fought by summoning weapons from storage scrolls to attack from a distance. Each weapon had a Summoning Jutsu seal on it. After using one, she only had to direct chakra at the scroll to summon it back and seal it again.
Might Guy and Rock Lee had already left, but Tenten stayed behind.
"What is it?" Naruto asked directly. He didn't know her well, but he liked her personality and style.
"Well..." Tenten fidgeted, unsure how to say it.
Tenten came from a civilian family. Her family was made up of small-time merchants, with no shinobi among them. She had some talent as a shinobi, though not much, and naturally had no shinobi traditions to inherit. Her teacher was Might Guy, who would never hold anything back from his students. Unfortunately, Tenten was a girl, and Taijutsu was inherently ill-suited to women.
Still, without connections or talent, training was difficult. Ninjutsu and the like also required a teacher or a tradition to pass them on. Of the Konoha 12, Tenten was the only one without such an inheritance. The jutsu she used were simply for summoning objects, and strictly speaking, they didn't even count as an inherited shinobi tradition.
After seeing Naruto's strength today, Tenten felt envious. She wanted to ask if he would teach her some of his skills.
For one thing, Naruto practiced Nintaijutsu. For another, he had invented the techniques himself, which meant he could teach them to whoever he wanted.
The jutsu learned from the Hokage were different. They couldn't be passed on to others without permission, not even to one's own students.
As Neji's teammate, Hinata understood Tenten's circumstances. But when it came to something as important as an inheritance, she knew better than to butt in.
"Those Taijutsu moves you created—could I learn them? I can pay you." Tenten looked at Naruto expectantly as she asked.
"For something like that, you don't need to ask me. If I can use them, I'm not afraid of someone else learning them. And after sparring with me, I'm sure Guy-sensei has already picked up my Taijutsu. If you want to learn, just ask him to teach you." Naruto's Taijutsu wasn't especially difficult. Anyone with enough physical strength could imitate the techniques with a little practice.