Moonlight, Father and Son, Eight Inner Gates!

Under the moonlight.

Father and son stood facing each other.

Guy looked at Dai's excited face and had already guessed it.

The Eight Inner Gates.

The forbidden technique that had let Might Duy burn himself out and crush the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

The pinnacle of taijutsu that would later let Might Guy kick his way to the ending with a single blow.

It was finally here.

Dai looked around and lowered his voice.

"This won't do. There are too many people."

He grabbed Guy's hand.

"Come with Dad!"

The two passed through the woods, went around a waterfall, and slipped onto a path Guy had never taken before.

After countless twists and turns.

They finally stopped in a valley.

Sheer cliffs surrounded them, with only one passage leading back the way they had come.

The ground was covered in rubble, and not a blade of grass grew there.

Dai stopped and turned around.

He looked at Guy, and for once, he did not give a thumbs-up.

His expression was serious.

So serious that Guy felt a little unaccustomed to it.

"Guy."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know why Dad has been a genin for twenty years?"

Guy said nothing.

Dai answered himself.

"Because Dad spent all his time on one thing."

He raised a hand.

And clenched it into a fist.

"Taijutsu. Not ordinary taijutsu."

"It is—"

He paused.

"The Eight Inner Gates."

Moonlight shone across his face.

It was as though something hidden away for twenty years had suddenly been opened.

"Guy, there are eight gates in the human body."

Dai began to explain.

"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."

"Every gate is a restriction."

"A restriction that prevents us from unleashing our true strength."

He clenched his fist tighter.

"Because if those restrictions are removed, the body cannot withstand it."

"You'll be injured."

"You'll die."

Guy nodded.

Of course he knew that.

But he did not interrupt.

He simply listened.

"Dad spent twenty years on this."

Dai continued.

"Twenty years, doing only one thing."

"Opening the gates."

"The first gate, the Gate of Opening."

He took a deep breath.

"Watch closely."

Dai dropped into a horse stance.

He clenched both fists and drew them back to his waist.

"Eight Inner Gates—"

"First Gate, Gate of Opening!"

"Open!!"

Bang!

A blast of air exploded from his body.

It sent the rubble on the ground rolling backward.

Guy narrowed his eyes.

Dai's skin turned faintly red.

Veins bulged from his forehead.

But his expression remained calm.

"The Gate of Opening removes the brain's restrictions."

"It allows you to use one hundred percent of your body's strength."

The moment he finished speaking, he vanished.

No.

He had not vanished.

He was simply too fast.

Before Guy's eyes could follow him, Dai had already appeared before a massive boulder ten meters away.

"Front Lotus!"

He shot into the air.

His body spun in midair.

He moved so fast that he stirred up a whirlwind.

Bang!!!

His kick struck the boulder.

The boulder exploded.

Rubble flew everywhere.

The largest chunk flew more than twenty meters away.

Dai landed.

And stood steady.

His face was not red, and his breathing was not labored.

He turned to Guy.

"Did you see that clearly?"

Guy swallowed.

He had seen it clearly enough.

But that speed, that strength...

And the Gate of Opening was only the first gate?

Dai walked over.

"The second gate, the Gate of Healing."

"It removes the body's fatigue restrictions."

He took a deep breath.

"Eight Inner Gates—"

"Second Gate, Gate of Healing! Open!"

Bang!

The blast of air was even stronger than before.

Dai's muscles visibly swelled.

The veins from his forehead extended down to his neck.

He vanished again.

This time, he was even faster.

Guy could not see him at all.

He could only hear the wind.

"Hidden Lotus!"

Boom!!!

Another massive boulder.

This time, it did not explode.

It was directly pulverized into dust.

Dai stood amid the powdery cloud.

His breathing had grown only slightly heavier.

He walked out.

And looked at Guy.

"The third gate, the Gate of Life."

"Opening the Gate of Life lets you truly unleash your strength."

He paused.

"But it also begins to damage your body."

Guy looked at him.

Something flickered in Dai's eyes.

It was not hesitation.

It was seriousness.

"Guy, watch carefully."

"This is what Dad has trained for twenty years."

He took a deep breath.

Deeper than the previous two times.

"Eight Inner Gates—"

"Third Gate, Gate of Life! Open!"

Bang!!!

The blast of air erupted.

This time, it did not merely blow the rubble away.

It hurled all the surrounding rubble into the air.

Guy raised a hand to shield his eyes.

Through the gaps between his fingers, he saw Dai's figure.

His skin had turned even redder.

Veins bulged from his forehead to his arms, then spread across his entire body.

Each strand of his hair stood on end.

Green chakra rose from his body like steam.

"This is..."

Guy murmured.

"Green steam."

Dai moved.

This time, he did not vanish.

He tore through the air itself.

Boom!

A crater exploded where he had been standing.

The next second, he had already appeared at the other end of the valley.

There stood a massive boulder three times a man's height.

Bigger than the first two.

Dai raised his hand.

One punch.

Boom!!!

The boulder split down the middle.

It broke into two halves.

Dai turned around.

Facing the split boulder, he threw a kick through the air.

"Konoha Great Whirlwind!"

Whoosh—

The wind from his leg swept through.

The two halves of the boulder exploded directly into fragments.

Broken stones rained down.

Dai stood amid the fragments.

Green vapor rose from his entire body.

Like a vicious ghost crawling out of hell.

And like a war god descending from the heavens.

Guy stared in a daze.

This was the Eight Inner Gates.

The third gate, the Gate of Life.

It could shatter a boulder three men tall with a single punch.

Then—

What about the Sixth Gate?

The seventh gate?

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 the final eighth gate, the Gate of Death! Dad can open that too!"

"But I can't open it again."

Guy looked at him.

"Why?"

Dai grinned.

"Opening it again would hurt my body."

"You haven't learned it yet. Dad can't train himself into ruin."

Guy fell silent.

This was Might Duy.

Twenty years.

He had mastered the Eight Gates.

Yet he had never displayed them before anyone.

All for the sake of—

Teaching them to his son?

Dai walked over.

He crouched down.

And looked into Guy's eyes.

"Guy."

"Dad spent twenty years mastering the Eight Gates."

"But you can be faster."

"Because you're more talented than Dad."

Guy wanted to say something.

Dai reached out and pressed a hand onto his shoulder.

"But you have to remember."

"The Eight Gates are a forbidden technique."

"Not because they aren't powerful."

"But because—"

He paused.

"The higher you open them, the closer you are to death."

Guy's heart tightened.

He knew.

Of course he knew.

In the original story, Dai had opened the eighth gate, the Gate of Death.

He had kicked the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to pieces.

Then burned himself out.

And turned to ash.

Dai looked at him.

His eyes were gentle.

"Dad is teaching you this not so you can use it."

"It's so that you understand."

"Understand what?"

"Understand—"

Dai stood up.

He raised his head to look at the moon.

"Understand that in this world, some things are more important than life."

He turned back.

And looked at Guy.

"When you truly want to protect someone."

"When you're willing to trade your life for theirs."

"The Eight Gates will be your final trump card!"