The First Gate: Gate of Opening
Over the next while, the villagers worked to rebuild the village after the war, while Uzumaki Hane spent each day training hard.
Just as in the original story, Naruto had gone with Jiraiya to find Tsunade some time ago, and Uchiha Itachi had also come to the village. Kakashi had been hospitalized in a coma as a result, and when Hane heard about it, he made a special trip to the hospital to visit him.
Today, after finishing his training, Uzumaki Hane was preparing to go home when he ran into Naruto. Seeing Naruto, Hane knew Tsunade had returned.
Naruto had been away training with Jiraiya and was delighted to see Hane after so long. He insisted on treating Hane to ramen. The two ate and chatted about what had happened lately, though of course Naruto did most of the talking.
After returning home that night, Hane continued strengthening his body. Thanks to the strengthening he had done over this period, he no longer passed out.
When he finished that night, Hane felt that his body had been strengthened to its limit and was nearly ready to open the first gate. But he didn't want to rush things, so he decided to wait another couple of days.
The next day, Hane was practicing with the Magma-Magma Fruit at the training ground as usual when he suddenly sensed someone watching him. Standing on a branch, he faced the direction of the watcher and shouted, "Who's there? Come out!"
Several Kunai suddenly flew out from ahead. Hane was prepared. With a Kunai already in his right hand, he became a series of afterimages and knocked them all down.
A masked ninja then appeared on a tree trunk ahead, looking at Hane.
Seeing how the ninja was dressed, Hane thought, Anbu, or Root? Has Danzo noticed me? His face betrayed nothing, however, as he demanded, "Who are you?"
The masked ninja didn't answer. Gripping Kunai in both hands, he reached Hane in a few leaps. After all his recent training, combined with the Magma-Magma Fruit's recovery ability, Hane's Taijutsu was far better than before. He didn't panic at the masked ninja's attack, instead gripping Kunai in both hands and blocking it head-on.
Clang! Hane held the masked ninja's Kunai firmly at bay. The masked ninja was somewhat surprised and flashed onto a tree trunk. Hane rushed toward him and slashed at his neck with the Kunai in his right hand.
The masked ninja leaned straight back and flipped 360 degrees, dodging Hane's Kunai. He then leaped up and kicked at Hane's head with his right foot.
Hane crossed his arms above his head and blocked the kick. The masked ninja executed a 360-degree flip and landed three meters in front of Hane. His hands quickly formed Hand Seals, and a fireball blasted toward Hane.
Hane flashed aside and landed on the ground, dodging the fireball. The masked ninja jumped straight down, rapidly forming Hand Seals. The moment he reached a position above Hane, he spat out a huge mass of flames.
Hane didn't panic. He crouched, pushed off with both feet, and flipped more than a dozen times, landing over ten meters away. As he passed a Kunai, he covered his foot in Chakra, picked it up, and shot it toward the masked ninja as fast as lightning. All of this happened in an instant. The masked ninja was still in midair and couldn't dodge, so the Kunai struck him in the chest.
Poof! The masked ninja turned into smoke, and a wooden log fell to the ground.
"Substitution Technique?" Hane said.
Suddenly, a piercing whistle came from behind him. Hane flashed out of the way, and swish, swish, swish, several Kunai struck the ground where he had been.
Hane looked toward the masked ninja. The ninja swept both hands out, sending several Kunai flying like streaks of white light. Hane rolled several times, narrowly avoiding them all. Then he flickered forward, reaching the tree trunk where the masked ninja stood. Two Kunai appeared in his hands, and he charged. The two fought swiftly on the trunk, evenly matched for a time.
Suddenly, the masked ninja sprang backward, sending several Kunai flying from his hands. They embedded themselves in the trunk, surrounding Hane, each bearing a burning paper tag.
Hane pretended to panic. "Oh no, Explosive Tags!" Boom! As if a bomb had gone off, fierce flames erupted and engulfed him.
The masked ninja stood on a branch, watching the flames. "Not bad, but there's nothing exceptional about him."
Suddenly, an arm of lava shot out of the flames and reached for the masked ninja.
The masked ninja's eyes narrowed, but he didn't panic. His body was already moving, and he narrowly dodged the lava arm. Even so, it grazed his arm, leaving a burn.
Then the flames surrounding Hane abruptly contracted and vanished. Hane appeared once more, completely unharmed.
"Kekkei Genkai?" the masked ninja said in a low voice.
"Dog Biting Crimson Lotus!" Hane shouted. His right hand rapidly turned into dog-shaped lava and charged at the masked ninja.
The masked ninja quickly formed Hand Seals and spat out a fire dragon. It crashed into the dog-shaped lava, but the moment it touched the lava, it was swallowed whole.
The masked ninja's eyes narrowed, and he sprang up to dodge the attack. At some point, Hane had reached him in midair. "Lava Super Heavy Fist!" he shouted. His right hand turned to lava and swelled to ten times its size before slamming into the masked ninja.
Boom! The tremendous force drove the masked ninja into the ground, blasting out a large crater.
Hane landed in front of the crater. The masked ninja lay inside, covered in burns and unconscious. Killing intent flashed in Hane's eyes, but this was connected to Danzo, and he couldn't stand up to Danzo yet, so he hesitated. After pondering for a while, Hane decided to eliminate him after all. A Kunai appeared in his hand.
Just then, a figure appeared beside Hane and stopped him. It was Might Guy. "Leave this matter to me," Guy said seriously. "You should leave here first."
Seeing Guy intervene, Hane said, "All right, Teacher Kaido." He leaped straight onto a branch and vanished into the forest in a few flickers.
Guy brought the masked ninja to the Hokage's office and explained the whole story to Tsunade.
"Uzumaki Hane," Tsunade mused. "Is he Uzumaki Shingan's son?"
Guy remembered that Tsunade had already left the village when Shingan joined Konoha. Puzzled, he asked, "Lord Hokage, you know Shingan?"
At his words, Tsunade fell into some memory. After a long while, she finally said, "He was a lucky man."
Tsunade turned to face the window. "I'll speak to Danzo about this. But I need to meet this Uzumaki Hane."
That night, Hane sat cross-legged on the ground and began tempering his body. It was the same excruciating sensation as always. Only after he had tempered his entire body did he stop.
Hane felt that he had nearly completed the first stage of body tempering. Danzo had also noticed him, so he needed to increase his strength quickly. He decided to open the first gate, the Gate of Opening.
Hane sat quietly in place. After a long while, he gently exhaled and said expectantly, "I can start now. I've waited a long time for this day." A surge of magma appeared inside his body once more, covering the first gate.
Boom! Everything went black before Hane's eyes. Pain-unimaginable agony swept through his entire body. By comparison, the pain of strengthening his body was nothing. Fortunately, he had often endured pain while strengthening his body recently, so he didn't stop. If he stopped, all his efforts would be wasted.