( 03 may- year 8 AK )
"So we won't be going back home before the tournament?" Hana asked, with a great deal of annoyance in her voice.
I could relate, since all the freak was doing was eye-smiling.
Shin unhelpfully snorted. "Imagine that the Kages don't want ninja running back an forth between their domains."
Oh, I didn't think of that. How insightful of you, Shin. "Maa, maa, your families and some friend will likely join Hokage-sama and his entourage when they come here for the tournament," Kakashi said.
"Wait, is it how it usually goes? Kages jumping in other hidden villages oy to see the last stage of the exams?" I was confused.
The Kage of a village was the equivalent of the nuclear deterrent, showing him (or her, as soon as a woman got the hat) your home looked like a security issue as big as Guy's youthful enthusiasm.
"The Kages of the Great Five rarely do so, it's mostly seen as courtesy among allies. After all, many want to see the kage of another village." The scarecrow replied.
"So the Kages do their advertisement too?" I almost snorted.
"And maybe they gloat over their genin if they put up a good enough show," Kakashi added, winking. How I could tell it was a wink instead of a blink, since his headband covered his Sharingan, I had no idea of.
"At least they let us play in some of their training grounds." Shin amended, trying to calm down Hana. We all missed the Haimaru brothers, hell I missed even Guy over the silver-haired freak, but the Inuzuka had a strong bond with their ninkens, it was almost symbiotic.
"And they probably have some surveillance on them, so that they can let know to the Iwa contestants, who will come up with something perfectly tailored for each of us." I shot him down.
Shin smiled smugly at me. "They can't, it's written in the Chunin Accords. 'The ninja from other villages will not spy while in the village hosting the exam, they will not be spied upon either.' " he quoted verbatim.
I really should have read the exams' charter before coming here.
"Still, it must be a security nightmare." I pointed out, looking questioningly at Kakashi who had his nose buried deep into his smut. He didn't bother to recognize my existence.
"Well, Shin can help Hana train, I have my own thing to do and don't need people around." I offered, leaving those two some alone time was a sound idea, and from the slight twitch of Kakashi's shoulder, he had caught up on my matchmaker plans. Or he had just found a raunchy joke among the steaming hot sex scenes.
Before they could object, I flickered over to the next group of rocks. Seriously, they need someone to add a tiny bit of variety to their training grounds. Plateaus and rocks. Stones, even pebbles.
Everything is organized in the relation of the position of particularly striking pieces of dirt. Hell, in Konoha everyone loves trees, but we do appreciate a tiny bit of variety. Here everything is dug out from the rock. Houses and market stalls, training grounds and Tsuchikage's Tower, which is the tip of the mountain a bit.
I sat down cross-legged on the comfiest looking piece of dirt I could find (it wasn't comfy at all !).
"Well, time to actually come up with some training for the next month." I muttered to myself.
What could I do in a month to gain a somewhat significative power up over my current self?
Beyond keeping polishing my suiton
In a single month, I couldn't really come up with a completely new skill.
So spitting clouds of poison is out, as well as learning how to mess with the enemy nervous system through medical chakra.
"I could try summoning..." But there were three problems: one, I didn't know if I had enough chakra for it, two, I wasn't sure of the hand signs, three, I wasn't Naruto, who could just pump so much chakra in everything to make it work.
I will keep up with chakra control exercises, there is never enough chakra control after all.
It was boring, but something one had to build with years of diligent practice. Or being born with it, cheaters ( fuck you sakura!). The same could be said for taijutsu, arguably my strongest skill, but the gates were some bullshit power-up, basically Kishimoto version of a Super Saiyan.
Wait...
It wasn't like the ability to unlock the Gates automatically gave you the upper hand against anyone who couldn't. I could open the first three gates but Guy sensei could still go toe to toe with me without even touching his Gate of Opening.
They were restrictions placed on the chakra system that contained the kind of strength the body could wield. I wouldn't end up in a hospital only because I had opened the first four gates. If I opened five, I would probably tear some of my muscles, but that was it.
If the body was trained enough, it could withstand the aftereffects of opening the Gates without breaking apart.
Lee had learned to open five with a year under Guy sensei's tutelage, I took four, but I knew my limits, and wouldn't land myself into the hospital because I couldn't pace myself once I opened the gates.
Each gate was more like a dam than anything else, opening one made more chakra flow through your coils, stressing them. It enhanced your body beyond what it naturally could handle, and that was why without extremely deep conditioning, it was impossible to do.
Somehow, the effects were cumulative, exactly like the Super Saiyan I, Super Saiyan II, Super Saiyan III. With every gate, one's body became more and more enhanced, with chakra turbulently cursing through the coils. It felt like being a glass bottle containing a stormy sea. I went over what I knew about the gates.
The Gate of Opening (Kaimon), located in the brain. This gate removed the restraints of the brain on the muscles so 100% of their strength can be used whereas normally, a person could only use 20% of their muscles' strength to keep them from disintegrating.
The Gate of Healing (Kyūmon), too was located in the brain. Forcibly increased one's physical strength and temporarily re-energized the body, .
The Gate of Life (Seimon), located on the spinal cord. The increased blood flow turned the skin red but also granted more oxygen coursing through the body.
The Gate of Pain (Shōmon), located on the spinal cord, affected the nervous system, hence its name. The orders the brain issued to the muscles traveled much faster, but also the feedback from your senses.
So, pains barely felt before opening it became the equivalent of sharp instantaneous needles. And it was, if not soul-shattering painful, very uncomfortable. The sensory feedback was like touching stuff with a hand that had been kept covered in bandages for months, only much more intense.
The Gate of Limit (Tomon), located in the abdomen, from what I felt using it, strengthened your core muscles, making them somewhat denser.
The Gate of View (Keimon) located in the stomach, was the following step up, with it, Guy sensei performed the Morning Peacock. Opening of this gate released such enormous amounts of chakra that it could cause nearby water bodies to form a vortex around the user, but that was only stuff I knew from the manga.
I suspected the chakra would flow so turbulently through the coils of the user that it made genjutsu ineffective.
The Gate of Wonder (Kyōmon), located below the stomach. Further increased the user's speed and power. And placed Guy sensei's body in condition of using Daytime Tiger.
Opening it caused glowing green sweat from every inch of the body, which immediately evaporated from the sheer overheating the body was going through, creating an aura easily mistakable for chakra coating.
Unfortunately, the side effects of opening the gate were that the user's muscle fibers are ripped to shreds, causing intense pain if anything or anyone touches them.
The Gate of Death (Shimon), located at the heart. It basically burned your own life force.
I could keep up the first gate open for fifteen minutes before straining myself, the second one for ten minutes, the third for eight minutes, the fourth for three minutes, and the fifth for a single minute.
I was able to push those limits forward, but not without hurting myself.
Learning to open another gate was just plain stupid, I could not learn to do so reliably in a month, so I should just focus on raising my tolerance? I thought.
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