Chapter 13: Eight Gates

It wasn't long before 

Ryo found Might Guy.

As he had expected, after returning from his mission, Might Guy, having had dinner with Might Guy, started training with him. The two were running laps around the Hidden Leaf Village.

Ryo thought for a moment and decided to run in the opposite direction. After a while, he naturally found himself running alongside Guy and his son, Might Guy, joining the duo in their laps.

"You're also training, huh, Guy?" 

Ryo greeted Might Guy.

Might Guy saw Ryo and gave him a thumbs-up while running, saying, "Of course, after dinner, we always do fifty laps to adjust. This is the essence of youth..." 

Might Guy mirrored the gesture with a thumbs-up, his smile revealing a row of bright white teeth, in agreement with his son's words.

This scene caused people on both sides of the street to glance at them with strange expressions.

Ryo sighed in resignation. 

Can't we not be this quirky? 

He felt the eyes on him and heard whispers like "there's actually someone running with those two." It made Ryo want to comment inwardly.

Might Guy, while running, turned to Ryo and asked, "...Huff, huff, by the way, where's Kakashi? You two didn't train together?"

Might Guy was still more concerned about Kakashi than Ryo.

"Probably off training by himself," 

Ryo replied. He knew Kakashi hadn't taken any missions recently, so if he wasn't at home, he was likely off somewhere training. He rarely trained with Kakashi himself.

Might Guy gave Ryo another thumbs-up and grinned, "Oh... I didn't expect you'd do this kind of basic training too."

"Basic is important too," 

Ryo chuckled. Then he said thoughtfully, "I've been working on physical training recently, and I feel like there's a limit I can break through. I wonder if you've noticed it too."

Might Guy looked at Ryo in confusion. "A limit? You mean the one where you run out of stamina?"

"No," 

Ryo glanced casually at Might Guy and continued, "It's not that kind of limit, but it feels like there's a restraint on the power within my body…"

Hearing Ryo's words, Might Guy looked more confused, but just as he was about to ask, Might Guy couldn't help but speak up. He looked at Ryo with mild amazement and said, 

"Impressive! You can sense the Eight Gates at this age already? That's not something you can just achieve with practice."

"Eight Gates?" 

Ryo feigned curiosity, looking at Might Guy.

Might Guy, being straightforward, didn't hide anything. He smiled and said, "When you reach a certain level in physical training, you can feel the restraints in your body. I call them the Eight Gates. Once broken, you can unleash extraordinary power."

Might Guy blinked in surprise, never having heard of this before, and the ninja instructors at the academy had never taught this.

"Does Dad still use this kind of martial art?" 

Might Guy asked.

"Of course." 

Might Guy gave a thumbs-up and said proudly, "This is my unique skill after twenty years of hard training. I plan to teach it to you once you've grown a bit more."

Ryo looked at Might Guy and asked, 

"Even if you can sense the restraints, breaking them forcefully could cause damage, right?"

"Hmm." 

Might Guy nodded, becoming more serious. "To be honest, I wouldn't recommend trying to open the Eight Gates at your age, but since you can sense them, you're probably already at the threshold of training in the Eight Gates."

Might Guy didn't even consider keeping it a secret. If he had the chance, he wanted to pass down the Eight Gates technique, but as a low-ranked ninja, no one really paid him much attention except his son, Might Guy.

So, when Ryo asked, Might Guy eagerly shared the key points about training the Eight Gates, which immediately gave Ryo clarity.

"Thank you for your guidance." 

Ryo stopped running, smiled, and gave a sincere bow to Might Guy.

Seeing Ryo's serious expression, Might Guy laughed heartily and said, 

"No need for formalities. If my experience can help you, that's all that matters. After all, you're Kai's classmate... didn't expect anyone would be willing to listen to a low-ranked ninja like me talking about physical training. My youth…"

The first part of his sentence was still somewhat normal, but the latter part quickly veered off, causing Ryo to inwardly sigh.

Might Guy looked at Might Guy, half in confusion and half in curiosity, and asked, 

"Dad, what is the Eight Gates? Can I learn it?"

"Kai!" 

Might Guy snapped out of his emotional state and gave his son a firm pat on the shoulder. "Your training isn't up to par yet! Let's run fifty more laps first, and I'll tell you about the Eight Gates!"

As he said this, Might Guy and his son ran off, quickly fading into the distance, leaving behind a crowd of bewildered onlookers.

Ryo had initially intended to run a bit longer, but seeing this, he shook his head helplessly.

Forget it.

"The training method for the Eight Gates is finally in my hands. As I expected, it was easy to get, but I feel a little guilty... I'll find a way to repay them later."

After some thought, Ryo returned home and, based on the key points Might Guy had mentioned, as well as his own understanding of physical training, he began organizing the method for training in the Eight Gates.

The key to training the Eight Gates is to break the eight inner restraints.

However, breaking them forcefully would cause damage to the body's meridians, so it requires some prior training to prepare. This kind of training is called load-bearing exercise.

The early training can involve tools like weighted equipment to keep the body under constant pressure. After removing the pressure, the body's adaptability to breaking the Eight Gates will improve.

The training for the Eight Gates follows this process repeatedly.

"So, I'll need to get some weights..." 

Ryo thought, searching through his ninja tools at home. He found some weights, but they were not heavy enough for normal training, let alone for starting the Eight Gates practice.

It wasn't a big problem, though. The village always had an abundance of ninja tools, and with the money left by Shikaku, buying a set of weighted equipment wasn't a problem.

Soon enough, 

Ryo had spent some money and bought a set of weights.

Unlike the weights used by Lee in the original story, Ryo had purchased a separate set that included everything from the vest to the wrist and ankle weights, forming a complete set.

"I wonder what these are made of. This weight doesn't make sense."

After examining the weights, Ryo concluded that they belonged to the "nonsensical" category, much like a cursed blade or an infinitely extending sword—created with some special techniques.

"Really heavy…"

After wearing the full set, Ryo could feel his body weigh down considerably, and it was hard to keep balance at first. It took a while for him to adapt.

(End of Chapter)

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An: You can read 30+ advanced chapters on patre-on

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An2: I'll keep releasing chapters till I hit 15k words, after that I'll release 1 or 2 chapters everyday

Plus extra chapters if we hit power stone marks.