Granny Li Knocks on the Door-Open Up!

"Ungh!"

A sharp, piercing pain exploded in an instant!

At that moment, Mikami Yu felt as though a red-hot Root iron spike had been driven into the crown of his head. His chakra slammed into an invisible barrier and scattered in all directions. The resulting backlash made his temples throb, and a powerful wave of dizziness swept over him.

The first attempt had failed.

Mikami Yu opened his eyes.

Might Duy seemed to have already guessed what he had encountered and immediately offered guidance. "How was it? When you tried to break through the acupoint, did your chakra scatter right away? That's normal. It means you really touched the barrier of the 'Gate.' The key lies in chakra control..."

Might Guy also came over to share his experience. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I ran into the same problem the first time! You have to gather your chakra as tightly as possible, like twisting rope—the tighter you twist it, the better!"

"Imagine it's a Root needle! Push it through in one go!"

"The first time is always tight, like there's a membrane blocking the way. But after that, it loosens up!"

"Does it hurt? Good! That's Ao knocking on the door! Endure it!"

"..."

What the hell did he mean, "Ao knocking on the door"? Was this Ao named Li, and of such seniority that people called it Granny Li?

Mikami Yu was speechless.

Still, after Might Duy's explanation, he roughly understood what he needed to watch out for. After swallowing another Soldier Pill, he gathered his chakra again and attempted to break through the barrier once more.

This time, Mikami Yu focused completely. He extracted chakra from his meridians again and again, compressing and condensing the energy as much as possible into a cone-shaped form. Only after building up enough momentum did he fiercely drive it toward the acupoint in his brain!

Boom—!!!

An even sharper pain exploded through him!

Mikami Yu's body shuddered. Every cell in his body trembled wildly, and sweat poured down like rain, soaking his clothes. Yet he gritted his teeth and held on, mustering the last of his strength to force that Root "chakra cone" upward.

It felt like more than ten seconds, as though measured by Buddha.

Yet it also felt as long as a century, as though measured by Buddha.

Finally...

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, Mikami Yu suddenly heard a hum. It was like a bottle stopper had abruptly been pulled free, followed by a tiny spark flaring to life. It flickered vigorously in a subtle yet tenacious manner.

The pain remained.

But a sense of immense relief also spread through his body along with the surging chakra flow—

He had done it!

Granny Li knocked on the door—open up!

At that moment, Mikami Yu felt terrifyingly powerful, as though Buddha had given him the strength to punch a cow to death with one blow.

However...

The Eight Gates Kinoe was, at Root, fundamentally an explosive taijutsu. From the moment the Gate of Opening was opened, it continuously burned chakra, and it simply could not be maintained for long.

After hopping around a few times and smashing a wooden post with a punch, Mikami Yu had no choice but to exit the Gate of Opening state.

At that point, indescribable exhaustion surged from every cell in his body, spreading through his limbs and bones in wave after wave. Clearly, the aftereffects of excessive training and the fatigue from opening the Gate had hit him at once. He felt even more exhausted than before taking the Soldier Pill.

And the culprit behind all this was still running its mouth:

[Eight Gates Kinoe: (eyes shining, vigorously patting your shoulder) See? I told you it felt great! Pain? Fatigue? Those are just little snacks on the road to becoming stronger! Excellent, you're full of spirit!]

[Eight Gates Kinoe: Mm... Though I really want to see your limit again, let's stop here for today. I'll come find you tomorrow morning!]

[Eight Gates Kinoe Favorability +1. Added to the conquest list!]

"..."

Damn, it had finally left.

Mikami Yu had just breathed a sigh of relief,

When another unexpected line of text appeared:

[Healing Technique: Sigh, this child... You're being far too reckless. Who would ruin their body like this just for training? If these injuries aren't treated in time, they might leave irreversible damage.]

[The Healing Technique, dressed in green, appears before you and gently strokes the top of your head with some pity. Then she places both hands on your chest, and a pale green glow emerges from her palms. It is that reassuring healing power.]

This was the first time a Ninjutsu on the conquest list had activated on its own without Mikami Yu, its "master," providing chakra.

Feeling that familiar healing power—purer than when he used it himself—turn into a warm current that washed over him and dispelled the exhaustion within his body, Mikami Yu's eyes widened in astonishment. A sense of disbelief rose in his heart.

So Dharma could be played like this?

Why had this never happened before? Had he simply never been injured this badly, or had their favorability not been high enough back then?

At that moment, the Three Techniques also came out to join the commotion:

[Transformation Technique: Thank you, Healing Technique. Little Mikami, you need to know your limits when training. You can't be so eager for quick results.]

[Clone Technique: I told you this guy was fickle. He already has the three of us sisters, yet he's still not satisfied. The moment we looked away, he ran off with some weird woman...]

[Clone Technique: If you liked redheads, you should've just gone after that red-haired girl from last time. Who even knows where this one came from? She looks unfamiliar, and she's got that dark-skinned look. At a glance, she's the kind of delinquent girl you often see in those comics—the type who'll play with you until you're ruined, then dump you.]

[Substitution Technique: Mm-hmm, Clone Technique is right!]

[Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu: Wait a second... That red-haired girl you mentioned, you weren't talking about me, were you?]

[Clone Technique: Who else would I mean?]

[Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu: ...Hmph. A mere Clone Technique dares to give this young lady a ridiculous nickname? You'd better show some respect!]

[Clone Technique: Sorry, but I'm now the noble "Water Clone Technique"~ Not only am I at the same level as you, I also happen to counter you. And this "Water Clone" skin was personally gifted to me by Mikami-kun. Surely there isn't someone who's never received a gift from Mikami-kun, right? No way, no way?]

[Transformation Technique, Healing Technique: ...]

"..."

Mikami Yu thought, Would you all just shut up already?

A bunch of Ninjutsu spent every day enthusiastically arguing in thin air. What was that even supposed to be?

Also, Clone Technique had mentioned "those comics" just now, hadn't she? Ninjutsu could read those too? Were they made for humans, or for Ninjutsu?

Mm...

Come to think of it, when Transformation Technique's favorability had reached 100 earlier, shouldn't Galageki's trait have unlocked some special CG? Why had nothing appeared?

Mikami Yu did not dwell on that question.

After all...

Doing that sort of thing with Ninjutsu was still a little too advanced.

What Mikami Yu was more curious about now was the mechanism behind Healing Technique activating on its own.