Beneath the colossal Divine Tree in the Dragon's Oasis, Rasa sat in meditation, resembling the Buddha under the Bodhi Tree.
A visible green aura surrounded him, making his hair float upward, much like a Super Saiyan. However, unlike the intense surging energy seen when Lee or Guy opened the gates, Rasa's aura remained calm and serene.
The reason was simple. While he was indeed training in the Eight Gates, he wasn't following the grueling, self-punishing method that Lee and Gai had used. Instead, he had found a shortcut.
The harsh and torturous training for the Eight Gates was necessary because a ninja's body had to be conditioned to withstand the severe backlash of opening them.
But Rasa was different. He had no concerns about chakra damaging his body when unlocking the gates. For one, he had no chakra in his body. Secondly, Senjutsu energy possessed immense vitality and could rapidly heal any damage. Thus, he approached the technique like certain martial arts in fictional novels; he trained the Eight Gates in reverse.
Rather than preparing his body through rigorous conditioning, he directly experimented with gradually opening the gates. If his body suffered injuries, the Senjutsu energy would automatically heal them. And in the process of healing, his body and chakra pathways would grow stronger.
Of course, he wasn't reckless enough to open all the gates at once—he progressed cautiously, one step at a time.
Even so, with this cheat-like training method, combined with his naturally powerful physique as a Kage, he reached the Fourth Gate: The Gate of Pain within a single month.
More importantly, this training method was akin to the Super Saiyan Full Power state in Dragon Ball—he could now maintain the Fourth Gate as his normal state.
This alone pushed Rasa from the Kage level directly into the Super-Kage level.
What defines a Kage?
In Rasa's view, a ninja was someone who used chakra as their power source, fighting with ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.
And a Kage?
On the surface, it referred to the leaders of the five great ninja villages.
But in terms of strength, a Kage was someone who had mastered chakra, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, reaching the peak of what an ordinary ninja could achieve, with no glaring weaknesses.
For example, the current Five Kage each fits within this category. They had no major flaws in chakra reserves, ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu.
Take Rasa himself for example. His large-scale Magnet Release techniques proved that his chakra reserves were formidable.
In ninjutsu, aside from basic elemental techniques, his Bloodline Limit: Magnet Release was top-tier.
In taijutsu, while he had once been weaker compared to techniques like Flying Thunder God or against someone like Jiraiya, he had still been at a solid level.
As for genjutsu, his immense chakra reserves granted him resistance against most illusions.
So, what defines a Super-Kage?
It meant surpassing the Kage level in one or more abilities—going beyond human limits. For instance, Minato Namikaze, whose Flying Thunder God and Rasengan.
Now that he had reached the Super-Kage level in both ninjutsu and taijutsu, once he mastered Senjutsu and the Tailed Beast Mode, if possible, his ninjutsu and chakra would reach the peak of the Super-Kage tier, even touching upon the level of the Six Paths. Well, Tailed Beast mode would be highly unlikey in the foreseeable future.
And now, Rasa had finally stepped into the realm of the Super-Kage.
In terms of chakra, by maintaining the fourth gate in his normal state, the Senjutsu energy stored in his body had reached four times its original amount. This multiplier was terrifying because the high efficiency of Senjutsu energy meant that his techniques consumed significantly less energy compared to using regular chakra.
In ninjutsu, with Senjutsu Limit: Magnet Release – Sand Manipulation, combined with the Senjutsu Limit: Wood Release he had acquired by absorbing Hashirama's cells, his ninjutsu had also reached the Super-Kage level. Moreover, Wood Release compensated for the weaknesses of his techniques in rainy environments like the Land of Rain.
In terms of taijutsu, Rasa had stepped into an immensely powerful realm due to his training in the Eight Gates. Each gate in the technique enhanced his physical abilities:
First Gate: The Gate of Opening – Located in the brain, unlocking it removed the brain's natural limitations, giving Rasa faster reflexes and heightened information processing during battle.
Second Gate: The Gate of Rest – Also located in the brain, this gate eliminated bodily fatigue, granting him greater stamina and increased recovery speed, allowing him to fight for extended periods.
Third Gate: The Gate of Life – Located in the chest, this gate was considered the center of the Eight Gates and the last "safe zone." Unlocking it drastically increased strength, speed, and reaction time, representing the limit of human potential.
Fourth Gate: The Gate of Pain – As its name suggested, it was positioned below the Gate of Life. Activating it started to cause physical damage, but thanks to the restorative properties of Senjutsu energy, this drawback was insignificant for Rasa.
After unlocking the Gate of Pain, all his abilities saw an immense boost.
How much of a boost?
In terms of speed alone, he had already reached twice the speed of sound. Though he still couldn't compare to space-time ninjutsu like the Flying Thunder God Technique, Rasa believed he could now go toe-to-toe with the Lightning Release Chakra Mode of Kumogakure.
As for genjutsu, it remained his biggest weakness. However, against Senjutsu energy, which could even resist the abilities of the Mangekyō Sharingan, this weakness hardly seemed relevant anymore.
At this point, in the ninja world, aside from Madara Uchiha, Minato in Sage Mode, and the hidden Ōtsutsuki clan members, there were few who could take him down with ease.
Of course, that was Rasa's humble opinion. In this unpredictable ninja world, he preferred to remain cautious. At the very least, until he obtained power comparable to the Six Paths Sage, he had no reason to act too arrogantly.
But once he did, once even the strongest could do nothing against him, then he would dare to set his sights on the Tailed Beasts. This was one of the reasons he no longer planned to create more Jinchūriki.
For now, though, after unlocking the fourth gate within a month, Rasa decided it was time for a break.
Not because of physical exhaustion, but mental fatigue. On the other hand, the Covert Operating Unit had also brought him some intel regarding Ryūchi Cave.