"You seem very eager to understand your own strength. I can see the pursuit of power in your eyes."
"Although I believe blindly chasing power is wrong, I'm sure you have your reasons, young man."
Might Duy spoke with the tone of an experienced adult.
Gin rubbed his eyes. How the heck could someone see that just by looking at him?
All he could ever notice was if someone had gunk in their eyes—being able to see someone's purpose? That sounded like he could spot spies at first glance.
Of course, Might Duy had no idea where Gin's thoughts had jumped to.
"Then I'll teach you the Eight Gates Released Formation, and in return, you can guide me on the basics of internal chakra techniques."
Might Duy's little mental calculations were clear as day.
When it came to the Eight Gates Released Formation, Gin definitely wanted it—he just hadn't expected Duy to be this straightforward.
Might Duy sat up, face serious, and began explaining.
"As a mere Genin, I've trained every single day, and after more than a decade, I still haven't fully mastered this technique. But I've learned a few things."
"When using this technique, you must place one strict condition on yourself."
"And that is self-restraint."
Gin listened with little concern. His main goal in training—aside from basic survival—was to be able to act without limits. If he had to set a time limit on that, he wished it could be forever.
As Might Duy explained, Gin gradually began to understand what the Eight Gates Released Formation was really about.
It was both much simpler and countless times more difficult than he had imagined.
The concept was easy to grasp. But actually mastering it? Brutally hard.
The entire content of the Eight Gates wasn't just brief, it was easy to understand. Anyone could pick it up quickly and start training.
But achieving it? That was a whole different story.
To put it simply, the Eight Gates involved breaking through the body's natural limits—limits specifically created to protect the body—and forcefully unlocking them one by one.
It was like the concept of "limiters" in his previous life—how sometimes, in moments of extreme danger, a weak person could suddenly lift a car. But the price would be devastating injury or even death.
The Eight Gates were chakra limiters. That explained why opening the Gates damaged the user's own body.
And the way to open them wasn't by facing death in battle—it was through constant, intense training that slowly tore the Gates open, forcing chakra to surge through the body.
But surpassing physical limits wasn't easy. Most shinobi could maybe break through once in their lifetime. After that, the difficulty would grow exponentially.
No wonder Kakashi had been so shocked when Rock Lee managed to open Four Gates. That wasn't something achievable through hard work alone.
Four Gates meant Rock Lee had surpassed his own physical limits four separate times.
Just thinking about it felt insane.
"This taijutsu isn't really suitable for me."
Gin shook his head regretfully. While he had no doubts about his willpower to push his limits, the sheer time and energy needed could be better spent creating even stronger ninjutsu.
He wasn't like those legends who could open multiple Gates in mere months—or even days.
By his estimates, it would take him over a decade just to reach Might Duy's level of opening Five Gates. Reaching Seven Gates? Another ten-plus years. Opening the Eighth Gate was actually the "easiest," but... it meant certain death.
The Eighth Gate was special. Once you could open the first Five Gates, you could force open the Eighth at any time—but at the cost of your life.
That was when he realized: Might Duy wasn't as strong as Might Guy because he probably hadn't mastered up to the Seventh Gate.
After all, anyone who trained properly in the Eight Gates should reach comparable power levels.
Gin gave Might Duy a thoughtful look.
"Young man, it's not about whether it suits you or not," Might Duy said, flashing a thumbs-up. "One day, you might have someone you need to burn your youth to protect!"
Was he... cursing him to die?!
Definitely sounded like a curse.
Forget it. Gin didn't want to argue—mainly because his body was too banged up to bother.
It was his turn to teach now.
"How far have you gotten with your basic internal chakra training?"
Gin sat up properly.
Might Duy thought for a moment before answering, "Chakra sealing basics."
Gin: "..."
That's literally the first step.
Well, might as well start from the beginning.
...
Might Duy eventually went home—he still had a wife to take care of.
Gin lifted his head to look at the sky.
The clouds were tinged faintly red.
"His aptitude really is unbelievable."
He was still lost in thought about training Duy. He couldn't fathom how someone could be this slow.
It wasn't even fair to call him dumb—it was more like he was someone who shouldn't even be qualified to be a shinobi but somehow forcefully squeezed chakra out of his cells.
In this world, almost everyone's body had a bit of chakra, but actually extracting it required a precondition.
Sensitivity to chakra.
You had to be able to feel chakra first before you could manipulate it. Many ninja clans were naturally gifted in this regard.
The Uchiha clan, in particular, was outstanding. About 90% of them were qualified to become shinobi.
After all, despite all the talk about "ninjutsu," this world was really all about bloodlines.
Being able to perceive chakra naturally led to being able to control it—though at different levels of precision.
Medical ninjas, for instance, required extremely fine control.
Might Duy, however, had less than 50% control over his chakra.
Where most people used 1% of their effort to manipulate chakra, Duy needed 5%.
Gin had never expected it.
For others, mastering a C-rank ninjutsu was reasonable. For Duy, it was like a B-rank.
Even the simple basics of internal chakra control—which had D-rank difficulty—felt like C-rank to him.
"No wonder he sucks at ninjutsu and genjutsu."
For Duy, even basic jutsu were several times harder than normal.
"Turns out a shinobi's talent is really important."
Gin could now deeply feel how this world crushed the ordinary.
The Eight Gates Released Formation was the only way for someone average to shortcut the system.
"Luckily, I'm pretty talented."
Despite everything, Gin was actually one of the rare Uchiha with all chakra natures, like Hiruzen Sarutobi.
At its peak, Hiruzen was called the "Professor of Ninjutsu" and the "Strongest Hokage."
Though honestly, Orochimaru probably knew more jutsu than Hiruzen.
Hiruzen's strength had been built entirely on his innate talent.
In theory, if Gin developed steadily and awakened his Sharingan, he could even surpass Hiruzen.
But Hiruzen had the legendary Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, as a teacher—with an enormous ninjutsu library to draw from.
Gin had no such advantage.
So his potential remained theoretical... for now.
And besides, Gin wasn't aiming to just compete with Hiruzen.
His ambitions were way bigger.
He wasn't aiming to become a Kage or even match Uchiha Madara or Hashirama Senju.
No.
His sights were set on the sages of the Three Great Sanctuaries—the Six Paths level beings.
It wasn't just about power.
It was about survival.
He wanted to live for a thousand years.
But for now, he had to hide his abilities. If word got out about his full elemental affinity, Hiruzen might hesitate, but the Konoha elders wouldn't.
Suppressing and weakening the Uchiha was considered political correctness in the village.
"I'd honestly be safer defecting than staying here."
Grumbling under his breath, Gin walked away from the training ground.
Of course, he was just talking. The ninja world was too chaotic right now. He needed to lay low and grow stronger first.
After all...
Uchiha Gin does NOT eat beef!
Instead of leaving the Konoha forests, he turned and headed deeper into the woods.
There, in a rundown, abandoned training ground—
Two figures clashed rapidly.
A closer look revealed that both figures were Gin.
Shadow Clone Jutsu.
One clone used only taijutsu.
The other combined basic body techniques and Fire Release ninjutsu.
Shadow Clone Jutsu was an absolute cheat code.
Even though it didn't multiply his chakra or physical strength, it transmitted all memories back to the original body.
That meant Gin could rapidly boost his ninjutsu, fighting experience, and reflexes.
Gin had fully embraced this method.
"Three clones is my limit."
He could maintain three shadow clones all day and still absorb their experiences safely.
Any more and the accumulated exhaustion would kill him.
He wasn't Uzumaki Naruto with his crazy protagonist perks.
If he overdid it, he'd die.
Currently, he had one more clone back home studying ninjutsu.
"Release!"
Gin formed a hand seal, and the two clones burst into smoke.
A flood of battle memories poured into his mind.
"Fighting myself isn't nearly as rewarding as sparring with Might Duy."
As he was absorbing the experience, his eyes caught movement in the bushes.
He whipped out a kunai and threw it instantly.
Whoosh!
Walking over cautiously, he found a small white snake pinned to the ground by the kunai, still struggling.
"Rare to see a snake like this."
Gin muttered to himself, yanking out the kunai.
The little snake tried to flee quickly—
But before it could escape, a shuriken whirled out from the shadows, slicing off its head.
The headless body flailed violently, but death was inevitable.
Gin's eyes narrowed. He grabbed another kunai and went into full alert mode.
But he couldn't sense anyone nearby.
And his basic internal chakra training should have heightened his sensory abilities.
"Life is so fragile," a voice suddenly sighed.
Followed by an overwhelming wave of killing intent.
The very air seemed to turn black.
Gin felt like he was dragging heavy chains around his body—his breathing even became labored.
Looking into the distance, he saw a long-haired man in a white kimono, skin deathly pale, walking toward him slowly.
The man moved like a serpent.
He wasn't dressed for battle—just casual robes—yet every step carried an unbearable pressure.
Thud... thud... thud...
Gin's heart pounded in time with the man's footsteps.
The man knelt beside the dead snake, his expression full of sadness—completely at odds with the lethal aura he radiated.
"You think so too, don't you, young Uchiha?"
Orochimaru!