Chapter 28 - The First Gate

Kira rushed to the hokage office and knocked on the window before climbing in.

Seeing that Hiruzen was chilling with the pipe in his mouth, Kira asked him for his assistance.

"Sensei, I took a mission two weeks ago and I sparred my teammates that day. It took me some time to realise this, but for some reason I'm afraid of getting hurt. I don't know how to stop this... this... I don't even know what to call it."

"Fear of getting hurt... how did you find out?" he asked as he looked down at Kira who seemed visibly troubled.

".... when I punch my shadow clones, they don't disappear."

Hearing his words, Hiruzen was also surprised, but he understood the problem better. He stood up from his chair and walked towards Kira before crouching down on the ground.

"Punch me."

Kira didn't say anything, and just followed his orders. He punched the guy in front of him and saw his face turn sideways.

"Right. You slow down right before hitting the target and then you simply push them.... this really is a problem. This is the first time I've seen a problem like this, but I only have two different solutions for your problem.

I can't guarantee if it'll help or not, so the final decision will lie with you. First way is to use the Uchiha clan's genjutsu prowess to put you in an illusion where you slowly get used to the pain that you feel while fighting.

The second one is to bring one of the Yamanakas to take over your body. Once they do, they can punch the walls or rocks or something else so that your body can get used to it."

Kira stayed silent for a while before making up his mind.

"I'll try the Uchiha first." he said as he didn't want the Yamanakas to take control of his body as this meant that they'd be able to take a look into his mind and also his memories. As a person who came from earth, he really did not want to someone diving into his head.

Hiruzen nodded, "Okay, I'll talk to the Uchihas for you. For now, it'll be better for you to go back home and take rest."

Kira did as he was told to do and headed back home, but he didn't go to bed. Instead, he tried to help himself with his own understanding of human psychology. It wasn't much, but he believed that it should still be able to help.

He sat down in his house in a cross legged posture and sighed, "I really didn't expect that I would start doing masochistic things some day... but as long as this helps me with my fear of pain, I'll do anything. I can't survive in this world that way even with broken cheats like hashirama cells."

The chakra in his body seeped out from his multiple chakra points and as they leaked out, the chakra nature changed from pure chakra to lighting. At first, it was very little, so Kira only felt a numbing sensation, but two seconds later, he suddenly increased his output.

Lighting chakra surged out of his body, shocking the cells inside his body and also destroying things outside his body. The reason Kira used this method was because of the way Chidori worked.

The first time Sasuke used the jutsu, it was so unstable that it fried his hands.

This state only lasted for six seconds but that was more than enough to peel his skin off. His skinless body twitched multiple times before it stopped and once the twitching stopped, the burned parts of his body slowly healed and new skin began to grow on his body.

The entire process took two hours, but once it was done, Kira stood up and punched the wall in front of him.

"Damn it hurts... wait it actually hurts!" he exclaimed as he held his fist. He was ecstatic about the result.

Before when he punched his clones or various things, he never felt any kind of pain. What did it mean? It meant that he wasn't hitting with enough force for him to feel any pain.

But now? Now he could feel his knuckles hurt like crazy. This meant only one thing, and that was the fact that he could actually punch like a normal person now.

He immediately created his shadow clones and punched them, only to see the same results as before.

"Did the lighting chakra increase my sensitivity or are my shadow clones too durable?" he asked himself as he punched his clones a few more times.

Poof

"Oh nice." he muttered when he saw the clone disappear after taking more than ten hits.

He created more clones and engaged in an all out war with them in his room until only he remained, panting as he stared at the ceiling in his room.

"Progress is progress. There is no need to feel disheartened when I'm making progress. Hopefully, genjutsu will have a better effect." he muttered as walked out of the house and stood in front of a tree.

He took a deep breath and opened his first gate, the gate of opening. He stared at the tree in front of him for a few seconds as he got used to the increased heartrate.

It was a straining jutsu, but he had to test out the effects. If it really did clear his mind of all negative and distracting thoughts, then it could really help him out in the future until he got used to fighting barehanded.

He pulled his fist close to his chest, and took a step towards the tree before punching it with all his might.

Thump!

An audible thump entered his ears. He pulled his fist back and deactivated his first gate as he stared at the fist mark on the tree trunk in front of him. He didn't say anything, but his heartrate didn't slow down by much even though he had closed his first gate.

'This much power.... do I really have this much power even though I'm just seven years old?' he asked himself as he stared at the tree in front of him.

Two minutes. That was how long he stood in silence while staring a the first mark in front of him before heading back home.

He got onto his bed and closed his eyes, swiftly falling asleep as he was physically and mentally exhausted as well.