Konoha's Main Gate
After nearly a month away from the village, the three-man squad had finally returned.
The three headed to the Hokage's office to report in. Kakashi stayed behind to give a detailed briefing, while Yun and Might Guy left.
Minato rolled up a scroll and looked at Kakashi with a smile. "It seems that the Hidden Cloud, like Konoha, wants to maintain peace. These past few days, I was ready to use Flying Thunder God at any moment to support you all."
"After all, they've had incidents before…"
Kakashi hesitated for a moment before asking, "Sensei, regarding Green Gorge, are we sure it was the Hidden Cloud that first stole the Hidden Mist's secret techniques?"
Minato paused, then asked, "Did Yun tell you that? That intel was largely based on Yun's speculation. While it's true the Hidden Mist lost quite a few people in the end, that incident involved the Hidden Stone, Hidden Mist, and Hidden Cloud, so Konoha didn't have much concrete intel."
'Is that so?'
Kakashi thought quietly. The Hidden Cloud's diplomatic envoy would be arriving in Konoha within a month.
If the Hokage arranged for a large surveillance team, it might alert the Hidden Cloud; if discovered, it could backfire.
If the Green Gorge intel was just Yun's guess, maybe the Hidden Cloud wouldn't act at all.
Kakashi then relayed Yun's deductions from his trip to the Hidden Cloud.
Minato frowned slightly, clearly uncertain.
After a moment of silence, Minato said, "When the Hidden Cloud envoy departs, I'll receive a message. Kakashi, I want you to secretly monitor their group when they arrive."
Kakashi nodded; this arrangement matched what he had been thinking.
In the forest behind Konoha
Uchiha Yun and Might Guy sat facing each other.
"Yun, although your strength and speed are impressive, all of that is built upon chakra," said Guy as he stood and pointed to his head. "Everyone has Eight Gates, and someone like you who's reached this level should already be familiar with the chakra network."
"There's no shortcut to mastering the Eight Gates. So Yun… let's begin our youthful training!"
"…Huh?!"
'Seriously?'
Yun blinked, then remembered the secret scroll he had just obtained.
'Well, guess I have no choice…'
"Before we start, Yun, you'll need to wear these!"
Guy effortlessly lifted a pile of ankle weights with one hand. Just looking at the weight-marked straps made Yun's eyelid twitch.
As Yun strapped them on, he asked, "Should I suppress my chakra?"
Guy nodded. "Overload physical training is to prepare your body to handle the strain of opening the Gates. Even with your self-healing, you still need to temper your will."
Guy added with a grin, "With your physique, I believe you'll reach the Third Gate, Gate of Life, in no time. But that youthful feeling is something else!"
'Youthful feeling?'
Before Yun could react, Guy suddenly shouted, "First goal, run around Konoha 100 times! The last one done is a little dog!"
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, Guy vanished in a blur.
Yun stood there dumbfounded. 'Wait… this Eight Gates training… isn't like in those novels…'
'Isn't it supposed to just instantly power up when you go all out?'
'Screw it, let's run!'
Under the night sky
Yun, completely exhausted, stood in a puddle of his own sweat.
This kind of taijutsu training really wasn't for the faint-hearted. It was insane.
"All right! Now 8,000 push-ups to finish the day!"
"WHAT?! 8,000 more?!"
"Yun! Youthful training must not be wasted! Begin!"
"Nice! Now that you've finished 8,000 push-ups… let's do 3,000 squats!"
"I…"
BANG!
Yun collapsed flat on the ground, unable to move.
But thinking of doing Night Yun even once in his life…Damn, even just imagining it is thrilling.
Yun forced himself back up and grinned at Guy. "Then let's do it!"
Guy blinked, then flashed a bright smile with sparkling teeth. "Let's begin!"
Later that night
After escorting Yun back to the Uchiha compound, Guy ran into Kakashi on his way out.
As they walked out of the Uchiha grounds together, Kakashi asked, "So… did you teach him that forbidden technique?"
Guy chuckled. "Today was only the first step. No one can learn the Eight Gates without my approval."
Kakashi nodded. "Given how Yun used Shadow Clones to skip class back in the Academy, he'll probably quit soon anyway."
But Guy shook his head seriously. "No. His performance today surprised me. Even you, Kakashi, despite being a genius, only trained to withstand the Third Gate and gave up."
"But Yun… I get the feeling he genuinely wants to reach the Eighth Gate."
Kakashi was startled. "The Eighth Gate? The Gate of Death is the final bloom. With his Mangekyō Sharingan… I really don't understand why he would bother learning the Eight Gates."
Guy smiled. "Only someone who can endure long-term overloading training and develop an iron will can withstand the pain of opening the Eighth Gate!"
"His body is special, very well suited to this technique. But willpower has nothing to do with genetics. If he can endure it… It's not impossible for him to open all Eight Gates."
Kakashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "A Uchiha's body, huh…"
Over the next month, Yun asked Minato for a break from missions to focus on training.
During that time, regardless of whether Guy was present or not, Yun continued to train solo with full overload routines.
Even with the benefits of his Sage Physique allowing him to fully recover by the next day, Yun still felt this was the most painful time he'd experienced since arriving in this world.
"Huff… huff…"
Panting hard while frog-jumping up a mountain, Yun paused.
He sensed someone approaching rapidly.
Swoosh!
Guy appeared, giving him a thumbs-up. "Youth should be about sweating like this. Yun, you haven't disappointed me."
Looking at those shining white teeth, Yun twitched. "Back from your mission? Great, now step aside, don't disturb my training."
Guy shook his head. "No, today's training is done. The Hokage wants to see you. Tomorrow morning, the Hidden Cloud envoy will arrive in Konoha."
'They're here?'
Yun stood up and nodded. "Then I'll head out now."
Swoosh!
Even with weights on, his speed while using Body Flicker remained incredible.
After receiving his portion of the guard detail at the Hokage's office, Yun looked toward a courtyard at the end of the street.
The Hyuga Compound.
The Hyuga were cleaning the grounds, because tomorrow was also the third birthday of Hyuga Hinata, heir of the main house.
'Tomorrow is December 27th.'
'The time had come.'
'Looks like training would have to pause, for now.'
...
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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