272-Delegating

"I wonder if Tenjin and Lady Momo would mind if I test it out here," Renjiro mused aloud, eyeing the open stretch of land around him.

The flat, rocky surface of the floating island provided a perfect arena for this little experiment. No cliffs or trees to block his attacks, and plenty of space to push the limits of his techniques.

"Eh, I'll go for it. They'll understand." With a quick smirk, he clapped his hands together and moulded his chakra, a sense of determination settling in.

Renjiro performed a single-hand sign, focusing his energy as a shadow clone appeared beside him. The clone met his gaze, giving him a nod of understanding before leaping back several meters, creating a wide enough gap between them for what was to come.

"Ready?" Renjiro called to his clone, who gave a quick thumbs-up in response.

The clone then made a single hand sign—the Snake—and with a powerful release of chakra, it summoned the Rashomon Gate. In an instant, the ground trembled, and a massive gate erupted from the earth, a formidable slab of carved stone towering over the landscape.

Its surface was marked with thick, interwoven lines and inscriptions, symbols of strength and resilience passed down through generations. The gate seemed to exude an aura of defence, an immovable object challenging Renjiro's attack.

Renjiro crossed his arms, eyes taking in the imposing sight. "Seeing it from this side, it's really something else," he murmured, admiration threading his tone.

The Rashomon Gate wasn't just a defensive barrier; it was a work of art, embodying raw power and solid craftsmanship in equal measure. But admiration was secondary now—what he really wanted was to test it.

With a steady breath, Renjiro summoned his Adamantine Sealing Chains, letting them flow from his torso in long, gleaming tendrils. The chakra-forged chains glinted in the light, as thick as steel and twice as strong, yet pliant and agile in Renjiro's hands.

Channelling as much chakra from his reserves could sustain, he extended the chains, feeling the familiar surge of energy fill them with strength and purpose.

"Here goes," he muttered to himself, the chains snapping forward with a resounding crack as they surged toward the Rashomon Gate.

His clone braced itself, pouring its own chakra into the gate's defences. The chains collided with the gate's surface with a massive shockwave, a powerful blast that sent dust and debris flying out in all directions. The ground beneath Renjiro shook as the island absorbed the intensity of the impact.

The Rashomon Gate held firm, the stone absorbing the chains' relentless assault. Undeterred, Renjiro increased the pressure, adding force to each strike. His chains struck with repeated blows, the harsh clang of metal against stone echoing across the floating island.

Every strike generated tremors across the ground, waves of impact that resonated through the air. Dust rose around them, and even the solid, resilient surface of the island seemed to shudder under the power of the assault.

His clone continued to channel chakra into the gate, reinforcing its endurance as each blow pushed it closer to its breaking point. Sweat beaded on Renjiro's forehead as he maintained the attack, refusing to let up, pushing his chakra reserves to their limit.

For forty-five minutes, they sustained this assault, each attack a testament to the gate's strength and Renjiro's determination.

Finally, he saw the gate start to crack under the strain, small fissures creeping up its face. With one last powerful strike, the gate crumbled, vanishing in a cloud of dust as the clone, drained of chakra and dispelled, leaving only a faint shimmer in the air where it had stood.

Renjiro let out a breath, "Well, that was better than I expected," he said, a note of approval in his voice as he brushed the dust from his clothes.

"Considering my clone only had a fifth of my chakra, the Rashomon Gate held up incredibly well." He nodded to himself, mentally comparing it to the barriers he'd developed with his other jutsu.

"If I can summon more gates, it could definitely be a close alternative to my barriers," he mused, excitement creeping into his tone.

Eager to improve on this powerful new technique, Renjiro returned to the scroll. He unfurled it on the ground, sitting cross-legged before it, and studied the intricacies that the jutsu demanded.

Right from the start, he could see two distinct approaches outlined in the scroll: one involved learning the basic form of the jutsu, allowing him to summon multiple gates immediately; the other focused on mastering each gate fully, one by one, before increasing the number summoned.

Renjiro tapped his fingers thoughtfully against his knee as he considered his options. Although the first method would allow him to create more gates more quickly, the second approach seemed more suited to his style.

Mastering each gate individually would not only give him a thorough understanding of each layer's capabilities but would also make each gate as powerful as possible.

If he could master one gate first, he would gain insights that could drastically cut down the time it would take to learn the subsequent gates. And that is exactly what he planned on doing.

Renjiro traced the hand signs described in the scroll with his fingers: Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Tiger, Boar, Dog. It was a sequence as familiar to him as his own breath by now, but there was a twist—the starting sign would always be Snake, representing the first mastered gate closest to him. This way, the strongest gate would shield him directly, while additional gates would act as the outer layers.

With a newfound sense of purpose, Renjiro stood and made the Snake sign, channelling chakra into his hands before moving through the series of signs that would call forth a second gate.

He finished the sequence with a powerful slam of his hands onto the ground. In a rumble of stone, the two Rashomon Gates materialized before him. He studied them closely, his Sharingan activated to absorb every detail.

The gate closest to him was formidable, towering and thick, its stone reinforced and almost exuding a tangible aura of strength. But the second gate appeared less impressive, its edges faintly dull in comparison. It lacked the solidity of the first, and Renjiro could sense the difference instantly.

"There's a clear difference," he noted, his Sharingan dissecting every detail of the structures before him.

The first gate, now fully mastered, was sturdy and immovable, an impregnable defence. The second, however, had a raw quality, as though it hadn't yet realized its full potential.

"But that's not an issue," Renjiro decided with a confident nod. "I just need to improve it to the level of the first gate."

Renjiro glanced at the fading light in the sky, realizing that time was of the essence. If he wanted to perfect this jutsu, he'd need to accelerate his training.

Concentrating, he channelled his chakra and created a series of clones, more than ten in all. They gathered around him in a circle, each of them mirroring his look of determination.

"Time to delegate," he said, a faint grin spreading across his face. His clones nodded, dispersing across the island and immediately getting to work on mastering the second gate.

As his clones threw themselves into rigorous practice, Renjiro sat down in the lotus position, closing his eyes and allowing his mind to settle. He was going to meditate. He had used quite a significant amount of chakra.

He focused on the rhythmic hum of his clones' movements around him, each one working to solidify the next layer of defence that would make the Rashomon Gates truly formidable.

Not far from Renjiro's island, on another floating island across a narrow stretch of sky, Tenjin rested, his massive wings tucked against his sides. He had sensed what Renjiro was doing, the constant flares of chakra reaching even his high perch.

He blinked an eye open, his sharp gaze cutting across the distance.

"What is that brat doing?" he muttered to himself, exasperated. "Why is he causing all this commotion?"

He let out a sigh, debating whether to investigate. But after a moment, he closed his eyes again, deciding against it.

Renjiro's chakra pulses, though disruptive, didn't carry any sense of danger. It was simply training, though Tenjin's feathers ruffled irritably at the thought of enduring the noise.

Meanwhile, Renjiro's clones worked tirelessly, each one focusing on perfecting the strength and structure of the second gate.

Finally, after an hour, one clone managed to stabilize the gate's form entirely, and Renjiro felt a satisfying snap of comprehension as the knowledge flooded him after the clone dispelled itself.

He dispelled the other clones, standing as the feedback settled into his consciousness. There was only one thing left to do.

A satisfied grin spread across Renjiro's face as he gazed at his accomplishment.

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