Chapter 42:Making allies stronger(2)

After widespread unanimous adoption of Kakashi's training regime by all Genins who were semi-obliged to join to keep with increasing quality demand of clients in missions thanks to Team 7 performance, Might Guy was invited to see the youth of this generation and determine who else suitable to use Eight Gates.

Initially he was reluctant to teach Eight Gates to Genins, fearing it would be rashly used and cause irreparable injuries hence he never tried to teach Neji, who was extremely bitter at the time being and warned Rock Lee not to show it to him.

In case of Rock Lee, hedid not show 8 gates just because he reminded him of his past; he tested Rock Lee drive for a while and even gave him his green jumpsuit and gave him his signature bowl cut and made him train in front of the public.

He knew the outfit was ridiculous hence the point: he wanted to see whether Rock Lee stayed in the end when facing initial humiliation by the public and much to his delight, he passed his test, showing his determination to grow stronger.

However, Kakashi persuaded him to teach Eight Gates.

Kakashi, who saw upto 6th gate, was optimistic about the technique, despite being once against it for encouraging self mutilation.

In his point of view, there's a lot of Genins like Rock Lee, who lack talent in Ninjutsu, but have the motivation to be shinobi.

Kakashi wants to break the stigma of Taijutsu, believing Ninjutsu=Shinobi is an extremely narrow mindset, where countless Shinobi who could be like Might Guy and Rock Lee, were never given the opportunity by the conventional mindset and it will keep happening if Might Guy doesn't help him.

Having backing of Tsunade and credibility recognised by 3rd Hokage, Kakashi gained some authority of the Academy, where he can pick a student to join his training regime if he found they have the drive to be shinobi but lack talent in ninjutsu.

Kakashi believed that youth must at least have the right choice to learn it to be strong regardless of how harsh the training is, so that they could do a better job doing their mission and protecting their comrades and village they loved.

And so, moved by Kakashi words and persuaded by Rock Lee who overheard the conversation, Might Guy agreed, however his criteria to teach them and criteria to use them remain unchanged.

Today, it was first time he was going to be formally introduce to the Genins to judge and potentially to teach them, so with Rock Lee, he came with an excited expression

But he was surprised to see Sasuke here, who seemed to be waiting for them.

He knew Sasuke from Kakashi and from Rock Lee who occasionally spares with him.

After a brief greeting, Sasuke wished to know about 8 gates from Might Guy.

'It seemed Kakashi told him about it.'

Or else how Sasuke knows it, where technique is almost unheard of in Konoha?

Seeing no harm in sharing information to his fellow friend's discipline, he agreed to Sasuke's wish.

"Alright, what do you want to know about it?"

"Tell me how eight gates work?"

He wanted confirmed inner workings of the eight gates and wanting to know why Kakashi can only use 1st gate while Rock Lee can use upto 5th gate for just under 1 year.

Was perseverance the only factor to learn it or is there another factor that wasn't explained in anime?

Sasuke can theorize using theories from fandom and fan fiction he seen that talked about it but he thought it was best to get confirmation from Might Guy in person, who knew eight gates from a very young age.

Just like in the anime, Might Guy gave the same explanation, however when Sasuke pointed out Kakashi's difficulty using eight gates, Might Guy further explained the ideal body needed to use it.

First, body much be strong enough body to handle pain accumulated when using eight gates and training so that they got used to the pain they felt when using eight gates hence he and Rock Lee train all day to build to increase and maintain pain tolerance for them to use Eight gates without being distracted by pain, hence in anime during Naruto Shippuden, they didn't shown visibly expression of pain when using 6th gates, as their body already used to the pain.

Second factor is surprisingly chakra reserve.

Eight gates like Might Guy explain are limiters that limit flow of chakra for safety, and removing the limiters allows them to gain power by their body chakra in exhange of increase accumulated pain done in body.

However, how easily they can remove limiters is based on how much chakra flows in one's body, and chakra reserve is proportional to chakra flow.

In Rock Lee, he can easily learn upto 7th gate because his chakra reserve is so incredibly low, his flow of chakra is a lot mangable, making it easier for him to remove limiters.

For Kakashi however, it is quite the opposite.

Don't be deceived by Kakashi's comment that his chakra reserve is below average, as considering he has Sharigan, who for non-Uchiha, drains a significant chunk of his chakra reserve.

It also drains his chakra continuous even if he doesn't use his Sharingan, where he also can't deactivate it, artificially lowering his perceive chakra reserve.

This is the primary reason why other nations didn't seek Sharigan as much as Byakguan after discovering its flaws, where the latter can be deactivated at will, making it more manageable and practical to use.

So while Kakashi has less chakra to use thanks to Sharigan, it doesn't discredit the fact he has a large chakra reserve he inherited from his father and his chakra flow is large, making it impractical for him to use Eight gates in the first place.

'I guess Naruto would go into a coma if he attempted to use the first gate.'

Might Guy also added that, unless you can't handle pain you receive from training that corresponds to one of the gates, it's best not to use that gate unless you are willing to sacrifice your body and even your life.

Though he soon corrected himself, even with training, one can't completely neglect pain from a certain gate, indicating one's limit is one gate below.

For Might Guy, his limit is 6th gate, where he barely uses 7th gate due to pain he felt during the state and after he returns back to normal state, though he is trying to find ways to overcome it.

In case of 8th gate however, he was confident, there is nothing he can do to stop death cause by it, though he admits he wasn't medical-nin, so he doesn't know whether it was possible to stop it.

Satisfying Sasuke's questions, he was about to move, until Sasuke made a request.

Which was to allow Rock Lee to fight him, giving permission to use highest gate Rock Lee can use.