Injury-Free Eight Gates!

Qian Ye squatted in the sheltered corner of the camp, chewing on a hard, dry Military Ration Pill as he opened the virtual interface of the Cross-Border Mutual Aid Group.

The moment the interface appeared, Zhao Hai's messages bombarded the screen like a string of firecrackers.

[Zhao Hai]: "Old Qian! I'm freaking amazing now!"

[Zhao Hai]: "I learned every single one of the Six Powers that old Garp taught me! I've even figured out a bit of Life Return!"

[Zhao Hai]: "During special training this morning, I lifted that three-ton training stone on the warship deck with one hand. Garp patted my shoulder and said I was a freak genius Marine Headquarters only saw once in a century!"

The Military Ration Pill in Qian Ye's mouth dropped to the ground with a plop.

He rubbed his eyes and scrolled through the chat log twice, making sure he had not misread it.

He learned all of them?

A three-ton stone? With one hand?

A freak genius seen once in a century?

Qian Ye's head buzzed as though his worldview had suffered a devastating blow.

Over here, he had worked himself half to death—being chased down by Sunagakure Chunin, having his ass scorched by Pakura's fireballs, getting set up by Orochimaru and thrown into a snake nest as a snack. He had barely survived and managed to obtain a Dragon's Lair contract.

Meanwhile, Old Zhao had only been in the Pirate World for a few days.

And he had already cleared all the Six Powers?

A passage suddenly surfaced in Qian Ye's mind.

Four hours to conquer Denmark, five days to take the Netherlands, eighteen days to crush Belgium, thirty-five days to stand at the gates of Paris!

At Old Zhao's rate of growth, never mind conquering the East Blue in thirty days—wouldn't this guy be able to charge straight into the New World in three months and grind the Four Emperors into the dirt?

This script was all wrong!

The more Qian Ye thought about it, the more wrong it seemed.

Who the hell was the protagonist here?

With Old Zhao's setup, his lucky breaks, and that leveling speed, he was clearly built like a child of destiny.

So Qian Ye had worked himself to death just to give Zhao Hai the Chakra Refining Technique and Military Ration Pills, playing the role of some portable old grandpa who delivered cheat powers across worlds?

[Qian Ye]: "Did you secretly turn on cheats behind my back? Are the Six Powers really that easy to learn? In the original story, CP9 trained for over a decade before mastering them!"

Zhao Hai replied instantly.

[Zhao Hai]: "Hehe, that just shows you don't get it."

[Zhao Hai]: "I found a way to exploit a bug."

[Zhao Hai]: "Didn't Garp have me run around the island with weights and smash Iron Body with my bare hands? While training, I realized relying on the body alone was slow and got you hurt easily."

[Zhao Hai]: "But I have chakra!"

[Qian Ye]: "Bullshit. I stimulate my muscles with chakra too, but you don't see me lifting three tons one-handed!"

[Zhao Hai]: "You're just stimulating them blindly."

[Zhao Hai]: "I looked into it. There's an Eight Gates technique in Naruto, right? That thing forcibly breaks through the body's limiters at the cost of your lifespan."

[Zhao Hai]: "I don't overdraw my life. I just use chakra to precisely stimulate several key acupoints in my limbs and torso, basically giving my muscles temporary booster pumps."

[Zhao Hai]: "Once chakra circulates through those acupoints, combined with the Six Powers' exertion techniques, my strength shoots up geometrically! And afterward, I just eat more Sea King meat to recover. There are absolutely no side effects!"

Qian Ye stared at the words on the screen, his whole body going rigid.

You could do that?

Using chakra to stimulate acupoints as booster pumps, combined with the terrifying recovery power of Sea King flesh, he had forcibly pushed his physical strength to inhuman heights.

Wasn't that a budget, injury-free version of the Eight Gates?

Old Zhao flunked his exams, yet when it came to researching cheesy cheat tactics, he had one trick after another.

[Zhao Hai]: "So? Isn't this awesome? You should have been training like this ages ago, right? You've been hanging around a research big shot like Orochimaru, after all."

Qian Ye's old face reddened.

Train like that, my ass.

He had spent the past few days struggling just to stay alive. How could he have had time to study such wild tricks?

Still, a man could lose a fight but not face. In front of his best friend, he had to keep up appearances.

[Qian Ye]: "Tch, that's it?"

[Qian Ye]: "I figured that out ages ago. It was written on the first page of the research notes Teacher Orochimaru gave me. That's how I used it when I fought Pakura yesterday. How else do you think I turned the tables on her?"

[Zhao Hai]: "Damn, I knew you brat had been holding out on me! Garp's calling me to eat barbecue. Catch you later!"

The chat window went dark.

Qian Ye hurriedly ran through Zhao Hai's theory of "using chakra to stimulate acupoints" in his mind, committing every detail to memory.

This was a genuine method for increasing combat power.

Once he returned to Konohagakure and obtained the Yin Seal, solving his chakra shortage, he could reproduce this absurd fighting style too.

Then who would dare call him the Bare-Assed War God again?

Qian Ye brushed the dirt off his backside, rose to his feet, and headed for the camp's main gate.

Today was the day Pakura would be escorted back to the village.

A squad had already gathered at the camp entrance.

All of them wore standard Hidden Leaf green flak jackets. Eight ninja stood ramrod straight, each carrying the bloody aura of someone who had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

Elites.

Absolute elites.

To ensure Pakura reached Konohagakure safely, Orochimaru had clearly spared no expense.

As Qian Ye approached, he saw two female ninja from the Medical Team escorting someone out of a nearby tent.

Pakura.

This woman wore heavy, specially made metal shackles around her wrists and ankles.

Their surfaces were covered in densely packed sealing formulas.

Chakra Suppression Shackles.

With those things on, forget using Scorch Release—she could not even refine the slightest bit of chakra. Right now, Pakura's physical strength was weaker than that of an ordinary adult.

The moment Pakura raised her head, she saw Qian Ye sauntering over.

Her bloodshot eyes instantly widened, and her teeth ground together with an audible creak.

Qian Ye acted as if he had not seen it. He even waved at her in greeting.

"Morning, little... ahem, Lady Pakura."

Pakura trembled with rage. If the two medical ninja beside her had not held her tightly, she would have lunged at Qian Ye and bitten through his throat.

"Hidden Leaf dog." Pakura forced the words through clenched teeth. "You'd better pray you never fall into my hands."

Qian Ye curled his lip.

"You should worry about yourself first. Once you get to Konohagakure, Mori no Ibiki from the Interrogation Division isn't someone to take lightly."

"Qian Ye."

An extremely cold voice interrupted their confrontation.

Qian Ye turned his head.

At the front of the eight-person squad stood a tall, lean man.

He wore a Hidden Leaf Jonin vest, with long black hair tied behind his head. Most striking were his pure white eyes, utterly free of any other color around them.

The Hyuga clan.

And judging by his smooth forehead, free of the Caged Bird Curse Mark, he was from the Hyuga Main House.

"Lord Hyuga Tianfeng," a Chunin beside him quickly introduced, "is the captain of this escort mission."

Qian Ye put away his carefree expression and stood straight.

"Captain Tianfeng."

Hyuga Tianfeng looked Qian Ye over. There was no emotion in his white pupils, yet they carried an air of lofty scrutiny.

"You are the civilian Genin who earned the greatest merit on the right-wing battlefield?"

Tianfeng deliberately emphasized the word "civilian."

Qian Ye sneered inwardly.

A common flaw among ninja from great clans—the arrogance ingrained in their bones.

No matter how brutal the fighting at the front lines became, these young masters of the main family still believed bloodline outweighed everything.

"I just got lucky." Qian Ye could not be bothered to argue and casually brushed it off.

Hyuga Tianfeng withdrew his gaze and turned toward Pakura, who was being loaded into the prisoner wagon.

"You certainly were lucky. But luck will not carry you through the journey ahead."