Might Guy stood atop the ruins.
The shock of that 'Strong Whirlwind' kick still echoed in the hearts of Itachi Uchiha, Shisui, and Kakashi Hatake.
Watching the man before them—someone who usually prattled on about 'youth' and acted so bizarrely—the trio's pride as geniuses withered, replaced by a profound awe for pure, unadulterated power.
"Guy-senpai."
Itachi Uchiha was the first to break the silence, stepping forward with a slight bow.
His crimson Sharingan had been deactivated, returning to its deep, natural black.
"That strike just now didn't have any fluctuations from chakra nature transformation. It was a shockwave formed entirely by compressing the air with physical strength," Itachi said, his voice steady yet tinged with urgency. "Can a human really reach this level of taijutsu through training alone?"
Shisui Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake closed in as well. Kakashi sheathed his White Fang blade, his gaze fixed on Guy's slightly trembling legs.
"Guy," Kakashi marveled. "I'd expect nothing less."
"That's right!"
Might Guy spun around, his spirits still high. He flashed a thumbs-up, his teeth seemingly glinting in the dim light.
"This is the Eight Inner Gates! By releasing the body's limits on chakra, power can explode in an instant!" Guy shouted. "As long as you put in enough sweat, anyone can master this power! This is the equality of youth!"
"Please, teach me!"
Three voices rang out simultaneously.
Itachi, Shisui, and Kakashi—three of the top geniuses of Konoha's younger generation—requested this of the former 'failure' in unison.
Facing mechs that not even S-rank ninjutsu could penetrate, they realized how lacking their own offensive capabilities were.
Against the potential threat of the Otsutsuki clan, this defense-ignoring physical strike was a critical gap they needed to fill.
Guy froze for a moment, then his eyes welled up with tears that streamed down like thick noodles.
"Is this the resonance of youth?! How moving!" Guy pulled a disgusted-looking Kakashi into a bear hug. "Since you all share this burning passion, I'm more than willing to teach you everything I know! However..."
Guy let go of Kakashi, his expression turning serious.
"The Eight Inner Gates is a forbidden technique that places an extreme burden on the body. Whether I can teach it to you depends on the Hokage's permission."
Everyone turned their eyes toward Minato Namikaze.
Minato stood in the night breeze, his Hokage cloak fluttering gently.
Seeing these vibrant young men, a gratified smile touched his lips.
"In these extraordinary times, to face the coming crisis, the village's techniques will no longer be bound by sectarianism." Minato nodded, his tone gentle yet firm. "As long as your bodies can handle it, Guy, teach them."
"Yes, Lord Hokage!" Guy bowed excitedly.
After a brief exchange, Guy began explaining the principles of the Eight Inner Gates.
From the Gate of Opening, which releases the brain's limits, to the Gate of Healing, which relieves fatigue, and then the Gate of Life, which burns chakra.
Itachi, Shisui, and Kakashi were incredibly perceptive; they grasped the essence after hearing it just once.
'I see...' Shisui closed his eyes to sense it. 'By forcibly opening the pressure points that inhibit chakra flow, one gains explosive power. The theory isn't complicated; the difficulty lies in...'
"The body."
Kakashi took over, rubbing his numb left arm. "The pressure this technique puts on the meridians and muscles is too immense. If I were to try and force open the third gate—the Gate of Life—right now, my bones would probably snap before I could even land a hit."
Itachi nodded, his expression grim. "Our physical strength is nowhere near the level of Guy-senpai's, which has been tempered a thousand times over. Unless we solve the issue of physical endurance, knowing the method won't allow us to use it."
The scene froze for a moment.
They understood the logic, and their minds had learned it, but their bodies weren't up to the task.
"If only Lord Jiraiya were still here." Guy scratched his head, sounding regretful. "My body hit a bottleneck before too, but thanks to Lord Jiraiya using Sage Chakra to 'forge' me, my physical strength broke through its limits, allowing me to endure the higher gates."
Everyone instinctively looked into the distance—the direction where Jiraiya had been sent flying by Tsunade.
"Uh..." Minato coughed awkwardly. "Sensei... probably won't be back for a while. Besides, using Sage Chakra with such precision to forge a body is extremely taxing on the user. There's only one of him; he couldn't possibly enhance three of you at the same time."
Hope had barely flared up before it was smothered. Conventional training took too long, and time was the one thing they lacked most.
Just then, a lazy voice drifted from Minato's shoulder.
"It's not that big a deal."
Gamakon, the purple toad, yawned, his bulging eyes full of disdain.
"Isn't it just using Sage Chakra to temper the body? You're acting like it's some kind of advanced technology."
All eyes snapped toward him.
Gamakon leaped to the ground, growing to half a man's height in the wind. He sat cross-legged with his chin in his hands, looking at the group.
"I can use Sage Chakra to temper your bodies," Gamakon grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "And I don't need to manually hammer you one by one like that lecherous old man. That's too inefficient, and you wouldn't have to worry about turning into stone statues."
Minato was slightly taken aback. Usually, Gamakon only liked to watch the show and crack jokes. Was he actually offering to help this time?
"Master Gamakon, are you saying..." Minato asked tentatively. "You have a more efficient method?"
"Of course."
Gamakon extended a claw and drew a circle in the air.
"I just need to blow a breath into a sealed room, and it'll be enough to send them to heaven."
"Blow a breath?" Doubt filled Kakashi's dead-fish eyes. "Master Gamakon, are you sure you won't just blow us away?"
"Hey, kid, how dare you talk to this Sage Sovereign like that?" Gamakon glared at Kakashi. "The Sage Chakra in my body comes from the purest energy in nature. By releasing it at a specific frequency to fill a space, it's more than enough for body tempering."
"You just have to stay inside. This highly active energy will automatically bore into your pores, tearing apart your muscle fibers and then repairing them. This cycle will repeat constantly until your bodies adapt to that intensity."
Gamakon spoke nonchalantly, but Itachi and Shisui exchanged looks, feeling a slight chill.
Tearing, then repairing.
That sounded more like a punishment.
Of course, for the sake of power, they decided to try.
Minato's heart was filled with even more surprise.
Gamakon's move didn't just shorten their growth period; it directly bolstered Konoha's high-end combat power.
"Master Gamakon, you're... exceptionally generous today," Minato smiled.
Gamakon shot Minato a glance, laughing inwardly.
He wasn't doing this out of the goodness of his heart, of course.
Glancing at Kakashi's tired yet resolute face, he began to scheme.
If Kakashi Hatake could use Sage tempering to fix his chakra shortage, combined with the White Fang blade, the result would be magnificent.
More importantly, there was Obito Uchiha hiding in the shadows.
If Obito saw his old friend not only unrefined but possessing immense power—and even practicing taijutsu like that bowl-cut whose name he could never remember—his expression would be priceless.
Giving Obito a 'surprise' was Gamakon's true wicked pleasure.
"Enough talk." Gamakon stood up and patted his rear. "If you're going to train, hurry up. Minato, go set up a barrier—one with good sealing. Don't let my immortal qi leak out. That stuff is toxic to normal people."
"Understood."
Minato quickly formed hand signs.
"A simplified version of the Four Red Yang Formation... Four Violet Flames Formation, rise!"
Four purple pillars of light surged up, forming a barrier space ten meters wide.
"In you go, boys."
Gamakon pointed toward the entrance, a mischievous grin on his face. "Don't worry, just endure it. While my Sage Chakra doesn't carry the risk of turning you into stone, the pain is a cut above the rest."
Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui took deep breaths, determination flashing in their eyes as they filed in.
Might Guy followed them into the fray. "I'm coming too! The flames of youth need more fierce fuel!"
Gamakon jumped to the top of the barrier and took a deep breath. Natural energy surged and converged wildly around him, his belly bulging as purple patterns glowed with an eerie light.
"Sage Art: Primordial Purple Qi!"
Gamakon opened his mouth and spat.
Whoosh!
A thick, nearly liquefied purple mist gushed out, instantly filling the barrier and dropping visibility to zero.
A second later.
"Aaaaaaaargh!!!"
A shrill scream pierced the barrier and echoed across the training ground, making even Minato shiver.
Inside the barrier, it was practically a high-pressure pool of acid.
The purple mist stabbed into their bodies like countless red-hot needles.
"Hiss..."
Itachi Uchiha gritted his teeth as he went into spasms, veins bulging on his forehead. Every single cell was being forcibly torn apart; even his Sharingan couldn't track the source of the pain.
'Is this... Sage Chakra?'
Shisui Uchiha knelt on the ground, his fingernails digging into the dirt.
The moment the chakra inside him began to circulate, it was scattered by the domineering external energy.
Kakashi had it the worst.
He had low chakra reserves and the weakest resistance.
As the purple mist entered his body, his Sharingan felt as if it were on fire, and his Yin Release chakra clashed violently with the Sage energy.
'Calm down... Control...'
Kakashi roared in his mind, forcibly maintaining the Spirit Locking Technique to guide the rampaging power into tempering his blade intent.
Only Might Guy was different.
Although the thick-browed man was also screaming, it was mixed with an eerie sense of excitement.
"This is youth!"
Guy was doing push-ups like a madman in the purple mist. His skin was flushed red, and his sweat evaporated as soon as it emerged. "This is the sound of my cells cheering! My body is getting stronger! Youth is burning!"
Outside the barrier, Minato looked at Gamakon with concern. "Master Gamakon, is this intensity... perhaps too high?"
"Relax, they won't die."
Gamakon lay on top of the barrier, nodding in satisfaction. "This is a special Sage Chakra I prepared, infused with a bit of my demon power. The process is a bit painful, but the results are guaranteed."
"By the time they come out, their physical strength will have at least doubled. It'll be more than enough to meet the requirements for the third gate."
...
Land of Rain, Hidden Rain Village.
Nagato stood silently on the terrace of a high tower.
Rainwater slid down his cheeks, which had regained their healthy color. He didn't use chakra to shield himself.
Ever since witnessing Kaguya's power and Jiraiya's overwhelming information suppression, Nagato had fallen into a long silence.
Before the true Progenitor of Chakra, the divine power he took so much pride in felt hollow.
He even had a terrifying hypothesis.
The Rinnegan was nothing more than a tool temporarily stored with him.
The collapse of such a core belief was enough to shake his resolve.
"Nagato."
Konan appeared behind him, draping a black cloak with red clouds over his shoulders. "The rain is getting heavier. Let's head inside."
Nagato remained motionless, his purple eyes gazing down at the brightly lit village below.
"Konan."
Nagato's voice was low. "Sensei was right. The Otsutsuki clan is the enemy of all mankind. Facing such devastating power, the conflicts between shinobi really do look like children playing house."
"In that case..." A glimmer of hope flashed in Konan's eyes. "Can we...?"
"However."
Nagato interrupted her.
He turned around, the confusion in his eyes vanishing and being replaced by an ultimate calmness.
"Humans are forgetful creatures."
Nagato reached out to catch a raindrop, watching it shatter. "The Otsutsuki threat won't manifest for decades; it's a fear of the future. But the base nature of humanity is that as long as there is no immediate crisis, they will tear each other apart for the sake of momentary profit."
"The Five Great Nations have allied now because Princess Kaguya stands there, and they are afraid."
"But what if the main branch of the Otsutsuki doesn't arrive for a long time?"
Nagato clenched his fist.
"They will grow lax. They will doubt. They will start wars again over resources and land. That so-called Shinobi Alliance will quickly turn into a heap of loose sand."
Looking at Nagato, Konan felt as if she were seeing Pain again—yet without the arrogance, and with a new, world-weary resolve.
"Therefore, this world needs a 'villain'."
Nagato adjusted the black cloak, its hem snapping in the wind. "A 'villain' who forces them to remain constantly vigilant and united."
"Since Sensei and Konoha intend to play the role of heroes saving the world, accumulating power to face enemies from beyond..."
"Then..."
Nagato looked toward the east.
"I will be the one to provide the fear that keeps humanity awake."
"We don't need to be redeemed, nor do we need to be understood. We will continue to exist as the deterrent before the Otsutsuki arrive."
...