Beneath the moonlight.
Father and son stood facing each other.
Looking at Dai's excited face, Guy had already guessed what was coming.
The Eight Inner Gates.
The forbidden technique that let Might Duy burn himself out and smash the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
The pinnacle of Taijutsu that would later let Might Guy nearly kick the story straight to its ending.
It was finally here.
Dai glanced around and lowered his voice.
"Not here. Too many people."
He grabbed Guy's hand.
"Come with Dad!"
They passed through the woods, skirted the waterfall, and slipped onto a little trail Guy had never taken before.
They wound through turn after turn.
At last, they stopped in a valley.
Sheer cliffs surrounded it, with the path they had taken as the only way in.
Loose stones covered the ground, without a blade of grass in sight.
Dai stopped and turned.
He looked at Guy, without raising his thumb for once.
His expression was serious.
So serious that Guy wasn't quite used to it.
"Guy."
"Yeah?"
"Do you know why Dad's been a Genin for twenty years?"
Guy said nothing.
Dai answered his own question.
"Because Dad spent all that time on one thing."
He raised his hand.
Clenched it into a fist.
"Taijutsu."
"Not ordinary Taijutsu."
"But—"
He paused.
"The Eight Inner Gates."
Moonlight shone on his face.
It was as though something hidden for twenty years had suddenly been opened.
"Guy, there are eight gates in the human body."
Dai began to explain.
"The Gate of Opening, the Gate of Healing, the Gate of Life, the Gate of Pain, the Gate of Limit, the Gate of View, the Gate of Wonder, and the Gate of Death."
"Every gate is a restraint."
"They keep us from unleashing our true strength."
He tightened his fist.
"Because if we remove those restraints, our bodies can't withstand it."
"We'll get hurt."
"We'll die."
Guy nodded.
Of course he knew all this.
But he didn't interrupt.
He simply listened.
"Dad spent twenty years."
Dai continued.
"Twenty years doing just one thing."
"Opening the gates."
"The first gate, the Gate of Opening."
He took a deep breath.
"Watch closely."
Dai settled into a horse stance.
He clenched both fists and held them at his waist.
"Eight Inner Gates—"
"First gate, Gate of Opening!"
"Open!!"
Bang!
A shock wave burst from his body.
It sent the loose stones on the ground rolling backward.
Guy narrowed his eyes.
Dai's skin flushed slightly red.
Veins bulged across his forehead.
But his expression remained calm.
"The Gate of Opening removes the brain's restraints."
"It lets you use one hundred percent of your body's strength."
The instant he finished speaking, he vanished.
No.
He hadn't vanished.
He was too fast.
Before Guy's eyes could catch up, Dai was already standing before a boulder ten meters away.
"Front Lotus!"
He sprang into the air.
His body spun in midair.
He moved so fast that he whipped up a whirlwind.
Bang!!!
His foot slammed into the boulder.
The boulder exploded.
Fragments flew everywhere.
The largest piece sailed more than twenty meters.
Dai landed.
He came to a steady stop.
He wasn't flushed or out of breath.
He turned to look at Guy.
"Did you see that clearly?"
Guy swallowed.
He had seen it clearly enough.
But that speed, that power...
The Gate of Opening was only the first gate?
Dai walked over.
"The second gate, the Gate of Healing."
"It removes the restraints imposed by physical fatigue."
He took a deep breath.
"Eight Inner Gates—"
"Second gate, Gate of Healing! Open!"
Bang!
The shock wave was stronger than before.
Dai's muscles visibly swelled.
The veins on his forehead extended down to his neck.
He vanished again.
Even faster this time.
Guy couldn't make him out at all.
He could only hear the wind.
"Hidden Lotus!"
Boom!!!
Another boulder.
This time, it didn't explode into pieces.
It was pulverized outright.
Dai stood amid the dust.
His breathing had grown a little heavier.
He walked out.
He looked at Guy.
"The third gate, the Gate of Life."
"Opening the Gate of Life truly unleashes your strength."
He paused.
"But it also starts damaging your body."
Guy watched him.
Something flickered in Dai's eyes.
It wasn't hesitation.
It was seriousness.
"Guy, watch closely."
"This is what Dad spent twenty years practicing."
He took a deep breath.
Deeper than the last two.
"Eight Inner Gates—"
"Third gate, Gate of Life! Open!"
Bang!!!
A shock wave erupted.
This time, it didn't merely push the loose stones around.
It hurled every loose stone nearby into the air.
Guy raised a hand to shield his eyes.
Through the gaps between his fingers, he could see Dai.
His skin had grown redder.
Bulging veins spread from his forehead to his arms, then across his entire body.
His hair stood up, strand by strand.
Green chakra rose from his body like steam.
"So this is..."
Guy murmured.
"Green steam."
Dai moved.
This time, he didn't vanish.
He tore straight through the air.
"Bang!"
The ground where he had been standing exploded into a crater.
A second later, he was already at the other end of the valley.
A boulder three times a man's height stood there.
It was bigger than either of the first two.
Dai raised his hand.
One punch.
BOOM!!!
The boulder split down the middle.
It broke into two halves.
Dai turned.
He launched a kick through the air at the split boulder.
"Konoha Great Whirlwind!"
Whoosh—
The wind from his kick swept past.
Both halves of the boulder exploded into fragments.
Shattered stone rained down.
Dai stood amid the fragments.
Green steam rose from his entire body.
He looked like a demon that had crawled out of hell.
Or a god of war descended from the heavens.
Guy stared, dumbstruck.
This was the Eight Inner Gates.
The Third Gate, the Gate of Life.
With that alone, he could shatter a boulder three men tall with a single punch.
Then—
What about the Sixth Gate?
The Seventh Gate?
Or even... the Eighth Gate?
Dai walked back.
His breathing had grown heavier.
His skin was still red.
He looked at Guy.
"That was the Third Gate."
"The Fourth Gate, the Gate of Pain; the Fifth Gate, the Gate of Limit; the Sixth Gate, the Gate of View; the Seventh Gate, the Gate of Wonder."
He paused.
"And finally, the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death! Your dad can open that one too!"
"But I can't open any more right now."
Guy looked at him.
"Why?"
Dai grinned.
"Opening any more would hurt my body."
"You haven't learned it yet. I can't cripple myself training."
Guy fell silent.
This was Might Duy.
Twenty years.
He had mastered the Eight Inner Gates.
Yet he never showed it in front of anyone.
All just to...
Teach it to his son?
Dai walked over.
He crouched down.
He looked into Guy's eyes.
"Guy."
"It took me twenty years to master the Eight Inner Gates."
"But you can do it faster."
"Because you're more talented than your dad."
Guy wanted to say something.
Dai reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"But you must remember."
"The Eight Inner Gates is a forbidden technique."
"Not because it isn't powerful."
"But because—"
He paused.
"The higher the gate you open, the closer you are to death."
Guy's heart clenched.
He knew.
Of course he knew.
In the original story, Dai had opened the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death.
He had crushed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen with his kicks.
Then he had burned himself out.
Turned to ash.
Dai looked at him.
His gaze was gentle.
"I'm teaching you this not so you'll use it."
"But so you'll understand."
"Understand what?"
"Understand—"
Dai stood up.
He tilted his head back and looked at the moon.
"Understand that some things in this world matter more than your life."
He turned back.
He looked at Guy.
"When you truly want to protect someone."
"When you're willing to give your life for them."
"The Eight Inner Gates will be your final trump card!"