A military boot slammed onto the bluestone paving.
Boom.
Shu Shiraishi jumped straight out of a third-floor window. The moment his feet hit the ground, the paving stones crumbled to powder.
Dust rose. Using the momentum of his fall, he strode toward the Taijutsu training ground.
A cloud of dust shrouded the training ground.
Several passing Chunin were covering their mouths and noses as they backed away, cursing as they went.
"Has that eternal Genin gone crazy?"
A fat Chunin waved the dust away from his face, his expression full of disgust.
"That piece of trash can't even knead Chakra. He kicks rotten logs every day. Making this much noise, I thought we were under attack!"
A tall, skinny man beside him curled his lip in agreement. "Exactly. What's the point of being good at Taijutsu? He couldn't even block a D-rank Ninjutsu."
At the center of the dust cloud.
A man in a green jumpsuit was still kicking and pounding a wooden post like a madman.
Might Duy.
His legs were like two iron rods thrashing wildly. Every kick against the ironwood post produced a dull, teeth-grating thud.
"Youth... can't stop!"
Duy let out a roar. The heavy taste of blood filled his throat.
He swung his right leg in a wide arc and swept it hard into the middle of the post.
Crack!
The solid ironwood post, half a meter thick, snapped in two. The upper half flew seven or eight meters and crashed into the dirt.
Duy drew back his leg, gasping for breath.
Sweat streamed down his thick black eyebrows and blurred his eyes.
He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood. It splattered across his green jumpsuit.
His muscles had been pushed beyond their limits, and blood vessels beneath his skin had ruptured over large areas. Both legs shook like sieves.
But he didn't stop. He staggered toward the next post.
"Oh, look, he's coughing up blood."
The fat Chunin watched from outside, thoroughly amused. He pointed at Duy and burst out laughing.
"Hey! Might Duy! Don't dirty the training ground. You can't afford to pay for it!"
The fat man was laughing his head off when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his jaw.
A military boot caked with dried mud kicked him in the jaw without warning.
A crisp crack of bone rang out.
Bang!
The fat man's 150-kilogram body lifted off the ground and flew backward.
He slammed into the wire fence three meters away, leaving a deep dent in it. He slid to the ground, spat out several bloody fragments of teeth, and passed out on the spot.
The tall, skinny man beside him was scared out of his wits.
He turned to look.
Shu Shiraishi withdrew his right leg and stared coldly at him.
"Scram," Shu Shiraishi said.
The tall, skinny man scrambled away, wetting his pants as he ran out like a madman.
Shu Shiraishi walked into the dust.
He stopped behind Might Duy.
Duy had just raised his fist, ready to strike a new post.
Hearing the noise, he turned around.
When he saw who it was, Duy jumped and hurriedly dropped his stance.
"L-Lord Hokage!"
His legs gave way, and he dropped to one knee on the wood-chip-covered ground. His body swayed uncontrollably from muscle spasms.
Shu Shiraishi looked down at him.
His body had been pushed far too hard. Even his bones seemed to give off the sense that he was utterly spent.
In the original story, a heaven-defying Taijutsu like the Eight Gates Released Formation damaged its user every time he trained it, precisely because he lacked the resources to support it.
"What are you training?" Shu Shiraishi asked.
Duy lowered his head and nervously pinched the hem of his jumpsuit.
"Lord Hokage... this is a Taijutsu I came up with on my own. It's called the Eight Gates Released Formation."
His voice grew quieter, tinged with self-consciousness.
"I can't use Ninjutsu, so I can only train this. Sorry to make a fool of myself in front of you..."
"A fool of yourself?"
Shu Shiraishi scoffed.
He reached out and hauled Might Duy to his feet.
"Those pieces of trash who make Hand Seals and breathe fire are the real joke."
Shu Shiraishi pointed at the broken ironwood posts scattered across the ground.
"The Eight Gates Released Formation opens the human body's limiters."
"It's the ultimate engine for an individual fighter that a body of flesh and blood can unleash. It's more violent than any Chakra machine."
Duy froze. His thick black eyebrows rose in surprise.
All his life, he had heard nothing but ridicule and endured scornful looks.
This was the first time anyone had told him that what he trained wasn't worthless. And that person was Konoha's supreme ruler.
Duy's eyes reddened instantly, and his nose prickled.
"But your training method is idiotic."
Shu Shiraishi released him and looked at his cheap green jumpsuit.
"No nutrition to keep up with it. No medicine to repair the damage. That's suicide, not training."
He turned his head toward the Anbu who had followed him.
"Give them my orders. Go to construction site number two and find Tsunade."
"Starting today, the Medical Team's newly developed biochemical recovery medicine, and high-concentration nutrient solution."
Shu Shiraishi tapped Duy's solid chest.
"Supply him with unlimited amounts."
The Anbu bowed his head. "Yes!"
"And the logistics department." Shu Shiraishi continued issuing orders.
"The highest-grade high-protein meat and medicinal meals. Have ten people's portions delivered to his home every day."
"If he can't finish it, force it down."
Pile on the resources.
That was how things should be done in the age of large-scale industry.
What did genius matter? As long as the theory existed, enough resources could create a monster.
"My lord... this..."
Duy stood with his mouth open, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
Such an enormous allocation of resources for an eternal Genin. He felt as though he were dreaming.
Less than half an hour later.
Two medical-nin ran into the training ground carrying a temperature-controlled case.
Inside were three vials of pale green medicine. It was the diluted Hashirama Cells repair solution Tsunade had just developed.
Shu Shiraishi picked up a vial and injected it directly into a vein in Duy's arm.
The green medicine entered his bloodstream.
"Ugh!"
Duy grunted.
He felt a surge of violent vitality explode inside him.
The muscle fibers torn by excessive training squirmed and reformed wildly under the medicine's stimulation.
The hidden injuries deep within his bones were forcibly healed.
A surge of unprecedented strength rushed straight to his head.
"Show me."
Shu Shiraishi pointed fifty meters ahead.
Three solid steel plates stood there for testing, freshly transported from the blast furnace. Each was ten centimeters thick.
Duy's eyes widened, his eyeballs bloodshot.
He roared and crossed his hands in front of his chest.
"First gate, Gate of Opening, open!"
"Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit!"
He opened Five Gates in one breath.
His green jumpsuit was stretched to the breaking point by his swelling muscles.
"Sixth gate, Gate of View!"
Duy roared.
A visible surge of green steam erupted from every pore in his body.
It was a wave of Chakra formed by sweat evaporating in the extreme heat.
The wave sent loose stones rolling in every direction.
He bent his legs and pushed off the ground.
Boom!
A crater two meters deep exploded beneath him.
Duy became a green meteor, hurtling straight toward the three steel plates with a piercing sonic boom.
"Morning Peacock!"
Duy swung his fists wildly in midair.
The heat generated by friction with the air produced countless burning fireballs.
The fireballs slammed into the first steel plate like a torrential downpour.
The plate instantly buckled, glowing red-hot from the heat.
But it wasn't over.
Duy twisted at the waist in midair, his right leg descending like a battle-axe with the force to tear through everything.
It struck the center of the red-hot steel plate.
Clang!!
A deafening crash rang out.
The first steel plate shattered under his kick.
Duy's leg continued without slowing, smashing into the second and third plates.
The solid special steel, ten centimeters thick, shattered layer by layer like biscuits.
Chunks of steel embedded themselves in the earthen wall behind the plates like bullets.
Duy landed firmly.
The ground beneath his feet fractured over a wide area. Green steam still billowed from his body.
He gasped for breath, but didn't collapse outright as he had before.
The biochemical medicine's restorative power held his body together as it teetered on the verge of collapse.
Duy looked at his steaming hands.
Then he looked at the shattered steel strewn across the ground.
He dropped to both knees, hitting the ground hard.
Tears burst from his eyes and streamed down his face, mixing with sweat and grime.
Thirty years of ridicule, thirty years of scornful looks. All of it had been shattered by that kick.
"Lord Hokage!"
Duy raised his head and wailed at Shu Shiraishi.
"I, Might Duy, am willing to die for you, my lord! Even if my body is smashed to pieces, I won't refuse!"
He knocked his head against the ground with repeated thuds.
Shu Shiraishi walked over.
He reached out and patted Duy's still-steaming shoulder.
It was scalding to the touch, the muscle as hard as iron.
This was the prototype of Konoha's heavily armed individual fighter. With the medicine as a safety net, the Eight Gates Released Formation could finally become a weapon for regular use.
"Save your strength."
Shu Shiraishi withdrew his hand. His gaze passed through the training ground's wire fence and settled on the distance.
"There will be battles for you to fight."
Individual combat power had risen. The heavy machine gun had been successfully developed.
Konoha's industrial war machine had bared its fangs.
Shu Shiraishi tugged at his collar and snorted coldly.
"The machine is ready. It's time the remnants of the old era saw what awaits them."
His gaze shifted toward the labor camp in the south of the village.