Chapter 137 - Improving the Eight Gates
Konohagakure
Forest Behind the Village
Bang! Bang!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Two lightning-fast figures clashed violently—fists, elbows, knees, legs, feet—every part of their bodies had been honed into lethal weapons.
Their strikes flew in rapid succession: punches, kicks, knee thrusts, elbow smashes—blow after blow colliding with incredible speed. The two fighters bounced apart only to crash into each other again in an instant.
These two were Kazane and Might Duy. They had been sparring here all morning.
Not far from them, in a nearby clearing, Kazane's new subordinate, Jiriku, sat watching the fight with wide-eyed awe, as if witnessing gods battle.
"So these are Konoha's shinobi? Are all Jōnin this strong…?"
Jiriku stared, mouth agape, muttering to himself in disbelief.
Everything he'd seen since arriving in Konoha had shattered his understanding of the world.
First, there was Kakashi with his godlike swordsmanship. And now, today, he saw Might Duy—an upper-tier Jōnin who could go toe-to-toe with Kazane. (Duy had been promoted to Jōnin by Orochimaru on the same day he became Hokage.)
For someone like Jiriku—raised in a temple, long praised as a prodigy—it was nearly impossible to accept.
"Not every Jōnin is as strong as those two," came a voice nearby.
It was Tsunade, observing the battle alongside him. She had overheard Jiriku's mutterings and kindly clarified.
"Duy's strength is among the top in all of Konoha," she added.
Still, watching Kazane and Duy go at it had stirred something in her. Tsunade felt a strong urge to join the fight—but not with Kazane.
Kazane always held back when sparring with her, and even then, she couldn't beat him.
Tsunade wanted to spar, not get beaten senseless.
And honestly, she couldn't help but envy his unique kekkei genkai.
Once Kazane's black-colored Haki cloaked his body, not even Tsunade's monstrous punches could break through. It felt like that bloodline limit existed purely to counter taijutsu-type shinobi like herself.
She shook her head, dismissing those thoughts, and shouted toward the sparring duo:
"Hey! You two stop for a moment. I need to collect some data firsthand!"
But that shake of her head caused quite the wave to ripple across her chest. Jiriku, who had been sneaking glances her way, immediately turned beet red and averted his gaze.
In his head, he recited frantically:
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Beauty is but bones cloaked in flesh—it must not shake my spiritual path!"
(I heard Japanese monks can marry and have kids… wonder if that's true…)
Kazane and Might Duy exchanged helpless glances at Tsunade's interruption and walked over together.
After Orochimaru became Hokage, he'd been buried in paperwork and had no time to help Kazane and Duy improve the Eight Gates technique. So, he recommended another human anatomy expert in Konoha—Tsunade.
As the greatest medical ninja in the entire shinobi world, there was no one better suited to refine such a body-altering technique.
Or so they thought.
It wasn't until Kazane spent some time working with her that he realized just how unreliable this arrangement was.
Yes, Tsunade was indeed the most skilled medical ninja alive, but unlike Orochimaru, she lacked his lightning-fast comprehension of complex techniques like the Eight Gates.
In other words—she had the knowledge, but not the intuition.
And to make matters worse, watching them train made her itchy to join in.
Every time Kazane and Duy had sparred for a while, Tsunade would jump in, insisting on "testing" things herself.
Once she realized she couldn't beat Kazane, she started bullying Duy instead.
And kind-hearted Duy never opened more than five of the Eight Gates during these friendly spars—he wasn't going to go all out just for a simple village match.
But when five gates or fewer went up against Tsunade going full force, well... you can imagine the outcome.
For the past week, Duy had been stuck in a vicious cycle: Beaten. Healed. Beaten again. Healed again.
A whole week had passed, and not a single breakthrough on improving the Eight Gates had been made. All they'd accomplished was awakening Tsunade's sparring appetite.
Now, she didn't even let them rest—every day, she dragged them into more fights under the pretense of "refining" the Eight Gates.
To break this cycle, Kazane had brought Jiriku with him today, hoping to distract Tsunade by having Jiriku demonstrate his Welcoming Thousand Hands Kill technique.
"Come on, Duy! Let's spar! I want to observe your chakra flow during battle in more detail!"
As expected, the moment Kazane and Duy approached, Tsunade repeated the same line she'd said countless times before.
But today, Kazane was prepared. He gave Jiriku a subtle glance—now was his time to shine.
Unfortunately, Jiriku wasn't dumb.
Earlier, Kazane had told him he'd found a sparring partner "around the same level" as him.
Now this "around the same level" opponent was walking toward a man whose strength was far above his own.
And that man clearly did not want to fight the woman whose strength was supposedly similar to Jiriku's.
No way was Jiriku going to trust Kazane now.
Not after being tricked by him several times over the past few days.
Sure enough, while Jiriku feigned ignorance, Tsunade grabbed Might Duy and dragged him to the center of the clearing.
BOOM!!
A deep, explosive sound shook the ground.
The earth trembled as Tsunade stomped down with her heel, shattering the ground beneath her.
From the point of impact, cracks spiderwebbed outwards for dozens of meters.
Jiriku's jaw dropped. He turned to Kazane with wide, vacant eyes and thought:
"Heh… this is someone around my level?"
"So Duy's strong, huh? And barely anyone in the village can beat him?"
"Right… not many can beat him—but apparently a whole bunch are even stronger!"
"Konoha shinobi are all monsters. Even random women walking around can do this much damage. This place is too dangerous for me… I should just go back to the temple!"
Of course, Jiriku only dared think these things.
He wouldn't dream of voicing them in front of Kazane.
Despite how intimidating Kazane could be, Jiriku had come to realize he wasn't actually hard to get along with.
But if Kazane ever caught wind that Jiriku wanted to return to the temple…
Who knew what he'd do?
Swoosh!
"Lord Kazane, the Hokage is requesting your presence."
While Jiriku was still spiraling in thought, an ANBU appeared next to Kazane.
"Orochimaru-sensei is looking for me?"
Kazane was a little puzzled about what the Hokage needed at this hour, but he nodded and turned to Jiriku.
"Monk, head back on your own later."
With that, he vanished alongside the ANBU without another word.
---
Hokage's Office
Orochimaru stood by the window, waiting for Kazane to arrive.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Two soft bursts of wind echoed as Kazane and the ANBU appeared in the office.
"Orochimaru-sensei, you called for me?"