"Cheers!"
Ceramic cups filled with sake collided mid-air, emitting a crisp and pleasant clinking sound.
Hyuga Satoru drained the sake in his cup in one go, his cheeks somewhat flushed as he pointed at the table laden with barbecue. "Come, come, come, I'm treating today, everyone eat to your heart's content."
"Then I won't stand on ceremony, Satoru." Anko used her chopsticks to pick up a large piece of barbecue, shoving it into her mouth with a blissful expression on her face.
Beside them, Aburame Shibi smiled helplessly; unable to withstand the soft-pestering of Hyuga Satoru and the others, he had ultimately agreed to attend this dinner gathering.
After delivering the caravan to its destination, for reasons unknown, the Ryosuke Squad had only taken a small portion of the bounty, leaving the lion's share to his squad.
Hyuga Satoru intended to honor the promise he made back when they completed the S-rank mission, deciding to treat his squad members to a meal. Duy and Guy had politely declined, leaving the four of them once again gathered in this barbecue restaurant.
Gazing at the familiar layout inside the shop, Aburame Shibi suddenly felt a headache coming on. Back when Team Three was first formed, he had taken a stumble in this very barbecue restaurant.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Aburame Shibi always felt that the chubby store manager was smilingly peeking at him, as if he had discovered a total sucker.
"Satoru said he's treating... It should, probably be fine, right..."
Aburame Shibi shuddered.
On that day, Aburame Shibi recalled the terror of being dominated by Hyuga Satoru's appetite, along with the awkward humiliation of being unable to pay the bill at the barbecue restaurant...
Hyuga Satoru stuffed his mouth full of barbecue. Naturally, he had no idea what Aburame Shibi was thinking, and even if he did, he would only laugh it off.
During the last S-rank mission, Aburame Shibi had only taken a small portion of the bounty; the remainder was already enough to last him a very long time, so there was no need to freeload off anyone. Furthermore, besides the purpose of enhancing team bonding, he had other plans for this gathering.
The Eight Gates Released Formation!
Having obtained the method from Might Duy, Hyuga Satoru was already burning with impatience to begin practicing it.
Consuming large amounts of food would allow his physical body to store sufficient energy to meet the demands of high-intensity training.
After the gathering concluded, having bid farewell to Anko and the others, Hyuga Satoru arrived at a ninja tool shop and spent half a day custom-ordering the items he needed.
The training method for the Eight Gates Released Formation was not overly complicated. Rather than calling it a taijutsu, it was more of a technique for breaking through the limits of the human body, and the key to its completion lay in having sufficiently strong physical fitness.
Therefore, Hyuga Satoru intended to begin special training on his physical body.
He arrived at the rear mountain where he usually trained and began simple preparations.
First, he laid out sheet metal across the ground. To call it sheet metal was more like flooring-it was very thick and cost Hyuga Satoru a considerable sum of money, making his heart ache faintly.
Once secured, that open patch of ground looked as though it had been paved with a layer of flat metal flooring.
Following that, Hyuga Satoru put on a custom-made metal coat tailored to his physique, making him look rather like a mechanized armor warrior.
Only, this suit of armor was not all that ornate, and the traces of metal splicing were clearly visible.
Once prepared, he began constructing a heterotypic magnetic field using electromagnetic force.
A massive suction force suddenly surged from the metal floor. Hyuga Satoru staggered and nearly fell, the metal armor on his body pressing against his skeleton with a creaking groan, forcing him to clench his teeth involuntarily.
It seems the magnetic field is too strong.
Hyuga Satoru immediately weakened the magnetism slightly, and the pressure on his body slackened at once.
After several rounds of adjustments, Hyuga Satoru finally found the most suitable intensity-one that could effectively temper his physique without subjecting him to excessive pressure.
He roughly estimated that it was equivalent to an increase of fourfold gravity.
However, because the source of pressure was the contact surface between the metal armor and his flesh, this method was much cruder compared to directly increasing gravity, and it was also quite difficult to temper his internal organs.
Similarly, because the source of pressure was the attraction between metals, the variety of training methods increased significantly.
For instance, by changing the direction of magnetic attraction or suddenly switching to repulsion, he could simulate physical quenching under certain extreme environments.
Because the metal floor's powerful magnetic force would attract light and small debris like fallen leaves, after training for a period of time, the metal plate was already covered with a layer of drifted tree leaves, which genuinely ruined the aesthetic a little bit.
Hyuga Satoru stopped, bent down to rest his palm on the metal plate, and reversed the magnetic poles, overlaying the fallen leaves with micro-charges of the same polarity.
Accompanied by a muffled sound.
Starting from the spot where his palm made contact, the fallen leaves on the metal plate violently bounced up, rapidly spreading across the entire metal floor as if a storm of fallen leaves were raining down all around.
Under the influence of the repulsive force, the metal floor became as smooth as a mirror, and no tiny foreign objects could be seen anymore.
The magnetic poles were restored, and Hyuga Satoru resumed his physical tempering.
Over the next period, relying on this self-created body-forging grand method, Hyuga Satoru's physical strength steadily increased until it reached a certain limit.
As expected, when utilized reasonably, electromagnetic force provides far too great a boost to enhancing physical fitness.
Stripping away the cheap armor from his body, Hyuga Satoru recovered his stamina before his gaze flickered and he muttered in a deep voice, "It's about time. I can try opening the Eight Gates Released Formation."
He took a deep breath and, following the chakra flow method taught by Might Duy, began gradually breaking through the body's restrictions, starting first with the Gate of Opening located in the brain.
"The First Gate, Gate of Opening... Open!"
Accompanied by a low shout, faint ripples of air swirled around Hyuga Satoru's entire body.
"Huh? Is it my imagination?"
Hyuga Satoru furrowed his brow. The moment the Gate of Opening unlocked, he vaguely sensed that the purple astral vortex in his mind seemed to have shuddered.
Usually, the astral vortex would only change when his electromagnetic force rank increased, and Hyuga Satoru was unsure whether it was just his imagination.
"Never mind, this state is nowhere near my limit."
Inhaling, Hyuga Satoru refocused his attention on the chakra flow within his body.
"The Second Gate, Gate of Healing... Open!"
"Is this the state of the Gate of Healing? Physical fatigue is drastically reduced, as if there is a ceaseless stream of power, but this still isn't the limit."
"The Third Gate, Gate of Life, open!"
Faint green air ripples lingered around his body, and protruding veins bulged in a tic-tac-toe pattern on his forehead. Hyuga Satoru test-gripped his fist, letting out a sigh of praise.
"Merely at the Third Gate, I can already feel that my physical strength has increased drastically. As expected of the Eight Gates Released Formation, which allows a mortal body to fight against the Six Paths."
Instantly, a quirky thought crossed his mind: opening the gates caused veins to bulge on one's face, and after activating his Byakugan, veins would also bulge around his eye sockets. If he used the Byakugan while in the Eight Gates state, how picturesque would that sight be?
Would it not scare the little kids?
Shaking his head, Hyuga Satoru scattered these distracting thoughts. He sensed that his current state was still not his limit.
"Duy-san mentioned that the dangerous zone begins only after opening the first four gates of the Eight Gates Released Formation; that's when it becomes the true Eight Gates Released Formation. I wonder what changes will occur once they are opened."
Through this period of special physical training, Hyuga Satoru perceived that three gates were still not his limit.
Taking a deep breath, he mobilized his remaining chakra and initiated an impact on the Gate of Pain located in the lungs.
"The Fourth Gate of the Eight Gates Released Formation, Gate of Pain... Open!"
The instant the Fourth Gate opened, Hyuga Satoru's pupils contracted sharply, and his life magnetic field burned fiercely like dry firewood splashed with oil.
At the same time, his body underwent a bizarre transformation.
His hair stood completely on end, electric arcs danced between the strands of hair, and his body uncontrollably floated into mid-air while his robes flapped loudly in the massive wave of pressure.
"What is this? This is definitely not the Eight Gates Released Formation!"
Hyuga Satoru felt internal panic.
Before you continue