Chapter 149: A Serious Punch

In the Uchiha Clan's territory.

Dan didn't go to watch the Chunin Exam.

Instead, he came alone to the depths of the forest near the Naka Shrine.

These days, Dan had been pondering a question, that is—

Where is the limit of his power?

With Dan's current physical strength, combined with a five-second time stop, he could almost blow up any opponent in the ninja world.

Pain, Jiraiya, the Fourth Raikage, and others, as long as they were close to Dan, would only have one outcome after being hit by hundreds of his punches within the five-second time stop, and that was death.

As for the others.

They didn't even have the qualification to make Dan activate the time stop.

However, Dan also knew that his real enemies in the future were not these people.

But those at the level of the Six Paths.

Uchiha Madara, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Kinshiki, Momoshiki, Urashiki...

The power of ordinary people, whether it's ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu, can't cause the slightest harm to the Six Paths level powerhouses.

In the original work, the only one who shook the body of the Six Paths with the power of a mortal was Might Guy who had opened the Eight Gates.

But his life-burning kick "Night Guy" didn't kill Uchiha Madara. The latter quickly recovered as before after half of his body was shattered by the kick.

Dan couldn't help but think.

When he faces Madara, or stronger people like Kaguya, Momoshiki, how can he fight and win?

A pessimistic fact is.

Even if Dan gets close to these Six Paths level enemies and successfully activates the time stop, as long as the opponent defends with the power of the Six Paths, then—

No matter how many punches he throws, whether it's a hundred punches, a thousand punches, or ten thousand punches, it's probably just tickling the opponent, unable to break through the enemy's defense.

Realizing this.

Dan decided to no longer pursue quantity, but to pursue quality.

Instead of throwing a hundred punches at the enemy, like "Night Guy", he should condense all his strength into one punch and exert his limit strength.

Now.

He was going to see where his limit was.

"Hu~"

In the forest, Dan took a slow deep breath, adjusting his body to the best condition.

Then.

He took off his shirt, revealing devil-like muscles.

It was about to start.

The first step was the Eight Gates.

"Open!"

Dan's eyes flashed, he let out a low shout, and an astonishing amount of chakra erupted from his body.

The Eight Gates technique was something Dan learned from Might Dai, who was a member of the body modification department in his lifetime and also a friend of Dan's.

However.

The Eight Gates, as a forbidden technique, obtains power at the cost of burning life and causes great damage to the practitioner's body.

Therefore, even after completing the body modification, Dan had never used this technique in actual combat.

Until now.

The Gate of Opening, the Gate of Healing, the Gate of Life, the Gate of Pain, the Gate of Limit.

As the eight gates in Dan's body opened one after another, his body seemed to be filled with blood, his figure swelled again, his skin turned blood red, and a large number of blood vessels bulged.

His body emitted a green energy, which was more violent than the energy fluctuation of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

It wasn't over yet.

The Gate of View, open!

The Gate of Wonder, open!

Dan opened up to the seventh gate in one breath, his body began to emit blue steam produced by the evaporation of sweat, and the terrifying chakra fluctuation made him look like a real humanoid tailed beast.

Dan, who had fused the bloodlines of the Joestar, Uchiha, and Senju clans, and had trained his muscles to the peak.

With his physical strength.

Even if he opens the seventh gate, as long as he controls the time within one minute, he can fully withstand the load brought by the gate opening and will not cause serious damage to his body.

That's enough.

As for the last eighth gate—the Gate of Death, he didn't consider it.

Because Dan didn't plan to open the Eight Gates Formation like Might Guy, sacrificing his life for a moment of brilliance.

He wanted to take a different path.

The second step was to throw a punch.

Dan posed, slightly bent his knees.

Boom!

As his center of gravity sank to his legs, the ground under his feet collapsed, creating spider-web-like cracks.

Then, Dan pulled his right fist back to his waist, then rotated his waist, driving his entire upper body, using the force generated by the rotation in combination with his shoulder—

He threw a punch.

All the chakra in his body was concentrated on this fist in an instant, ready to explode.

Is this the limit of Dan's power with the Eight Gates and monstrous strength?

No, not yet.

Za Warudo!

As Dan activated the Stand power, the whole world lost its color in an instant, everything froze.

The phantom of the Stand "The World" first quietly appeared behind Dan, then... merged with him.

Becoming one.

Their fists also became one, slowly punching out together.

Yes, slowly.

Dan's punch was so slow that it was like a snail crawling, moving forward bit by bit.

In a ninja's battle.

No one would throw a punch like this, because it's too slow, it's impossible to hit anyone, anyone can easily dodge it, and even laugh at it.

But it's precisely because it's slow.

So Dan was still accumulating power and momentum during the punch, integrating all the essence, energy, and spirit of his body into this punch without reservation.

The slower the punch, the greater the power.

In this world of time stop.

Dan's fist produced a momentum that shook mountains and rivers, making the surrounding space vibrate faintly, as if the whole world was moved by his punch.

This punch, as long as it hits the enemy, must be earth-shattering.

But how can such a slow punch hit someone?

Of course, it's combined with the power of time stop.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Four seconds, five seconds.

Dan's fist extended bit by bit in these five seconds, allowing this incredible punch to gradually climb to the peak of its momentum.

The moment time resumed its flow.

Boom!

Dan's fist suddenly accelerated, punching into the void in front of him, and the unimaginable power exploded like a flood.

However.

Even though it was a punch that shook the heavens, it didn't show the expected destructive power. It didn't even knock down a small sapling in front of him, let alone destroy the entire forest.

So, where did the power of this punch go?

Crack!

In front of Dan's fist, a sound came from the air, as if something had broken.

It was space.

Centered on Dan's fist.

The void, like a mirror shattered by an external force, showed black cracks that spread around.

The reason why Dan's punch didn't cause any destruction around him was that his power was poured into those black cracks and went somewhere unknown.

Seconds later.

Those cracks quickly disappeared before Dan's eyes, as if they had never appeared.

Space, like the surface of water rippled by a stone, eventually returned to its original state.

But Dan had confirmed one thing.

He had punched through the void.

Afterwards.

Dan deactivated the Eight Gates, put away his Stand, sat cross-legged on the spot, and closed his eyes for a moment of rest.

Then he opened his eyes, his gaze burning.

He didn't have a strange naming habit like Naruto Uzumaki, so he named that punch just now "A Serious Punch".

As the name suggests.

When Dan threw that punch, he was really serious.