Chapter 182: Mu Yue's Gift

"Third Hokage-sama."

After arriving at the training ground, Mu Yue and Might Duy greeted Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was enjoying the scenery.

Sarutobi Hiruzen turned around and smiled at the two, saying:

"Duy, if I recall correctly, you were the most diligent person in training the Eight Gates back then. It seems your hard work has finally borne fruit."

As he spoke, Sarutobi Hiruzen stroked the small beard on his chin, his face wearing a very kind smile, like an ordinary old man happy to see a junior's efforts rewarded.

"Third Hokage-sama, I didn't expect you to still remember me." Might Duy hadn't thought Sarutobi Hiruzen would have any memory of that time; he'd assumed the Hokage only remembered him as the eternal genin.

"Haha, even though I wasn't Hokage yet back then, I was already studying hard under Teacher Tobirama. How could I forget someone as special as you, Duy?" Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

This wasn't entirely just to build goodwill; he genuinely remembered Might Duy, as his appearance and behavior were somewhat different from ordinary people.

"Haha, thanks for the support!" Might Duy gave a thumbs-up, laughing heartily and flashing his two rows of clean white teeth.

Mu Yue couldn't help but sigh that having a high status indeed came with many advantages. Sarutobi Hiruzen's position meant it was easy for him to earn goodwill; aside from transmigrants like himself, few in Konoha Village could resist the Hokage's proactive approach.

"I've long heard from Teacher Tobirama about the power of the Eight Gates, but I've never had the chance to see it for myself. I wonder if today Duy can fulfill that regret for me."

After habitually boosting goodwill a little, Sarutobi Hiruzen got down to business.

"Since it's the Hokage's regret, there's no reason to refuse. Gate of Healing, open!"

Might Duy clenched both fists, his chakra erupted across his entire body, and with a roar he directly opened the sixth gate, his whole body enveloped in green energy.

The Eight Gates normally have to be opened one by one—you must open the previous gate to unlock the next—but if one's mastery of the Eight Gates reaches a certain level, you can skip the earlier gates and open the later ones directly. Might Duy's current limit was to skip the first five gates and open the sixth directly.

Whooosh!

The powerful chakra Might Duy suddenly released stirred up the air, bending the green grass around him and ruffling Sarutobi Hiruzen's gray-black hair.

"Is this the sixth gate of the Eight Gates?" Feeling the might emanating from Might Duy, Sarutobi Hiruzen showed an intrigued expression.

Although he didn't have any special eyes to see directly which gates Might Duy had opened, based on his knowledge of the Eight Gates, he could tell that Duy was currently in the sixth-gate state.

For the first five gates of the Eight Gates, there are no special external physical changes when they are used. Starting from the sixth gate, each gate brings a change: the sixth gate envelops the body in green energy, the seventh gate produces blue steam, and when the Gate of Death is opened, there is blood-red steam.

"Attack me, don't hold back." Sarutobi Hiruzen said.

The best way to test strength is through combat.

Although it was only a Shadow Clone, Sarutobi Hiruzen had poured a lot of chakra into it, giving it about thirty percent of his total chakra.

A glint of excitement flashed in Might Duy's eyes. Since mastering the Eight Gates, he had only sparred with Mu Yue; he hadn't expected to fight the Third Hokage again so soon.

As Sarutobi Hiruzen wished, Might Duy didn't hold back, maximizing the power of the sixth gate to launch an attack on Sarutobi Hiruzen.

With a whoosh, Might Duy instantly vanished from his spot and kicked at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression remained calm, with no trace of panic. Just as Might Duy's leg was about to hit him, Sarutobi Hiruzen's figure vanished, causing Might Duy's attack to miss.

"His speed is indeed impressive, surpassing many jonin." Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had used the Body Flicker Technique to move away, nodded inwardly.

Not disheartened by the missed attack—after all, this was the Third Hokage—Might Duy quickly located Sarutobi Hiruzen's position and charged at him again.

This time, Might Duy used his fists. Under the immense force of his punch, merely swinging his arm stirred up the air, sending a shockwave toward Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" Sarutobi Hiruzen rapidly performed hand seals and spat out a large amount of mud, forming a hard rock wall.

Boom!!

Might Duy's fist slammed violently into the hard rock wall, causing it to shake and also crack slightly.

Watching this, Mu Yue wasn't surprised. The strength of a jutsu depends on the user. If it were an eight-year-old Kakashi's Earth Wall, Might Duy at the sixth gate could shatter it with one punch, but this was Sarutobi Hiruzen's Earth Wall; even cracking it meant Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't serious.

"His strength is also good." Sarutobi Hiruzen continued commenting while watching Might Duy's performance.

Then Sarutobi Hiruzen took the initiative, using the Body Flicker Technique to quickly stand atop the earth wall, then rapidly forming hand seals and spitting out a gale.

Facing a powerhouse like the Third Hokage, Might Duy dared not slack off. Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen about to attack, he immediately dodged away.

Then, as if showing off, Sarutobi Hiruzen used various advanced ninjutsu of different natures, turning the area where they fought into a mess.

After about seven minutes of combat, Sarutobi Hiruzen voluntarily said, "Let's stop here."

Then Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, stroked his beard, and said, "The Eight Gates are indeed powerful. Even just the sixth gate is enough to defeat many jonin."

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that the true power of the Eight Gates lay in the Seventh and Eighth Gates, but both came at great cost. Opening the Seventh Gate would definitely cause injury—to the extent that even a light touch would be painful. Opening the Eighth Gate would only lead to certain death.

However, he could roughly estimate Might Dai's strength with the Eighth Gate based on his strength with the Sixth Gate.

"If he opens the Eighth Gate, he might possess power equal to mine for a short time," Sarutobi Hiruzen thought to himself.

Of course, not a Shadow Clone, but his prime self.

Sarutobi Hiruzen finally understood how Senju Tobirama felt when he wanted to create an Eight Gates squad.

If this truly succeeded, then Konoha would gain a highly deterrent trump card in war, capable of direct decapitation strikes against enemy leaders. There would be no need to send many—just two Eight Gates users and a few jonin would be enough.

Sarutobi Hiruzen now also entertained the idea of training Eight Gates users, but the timing was somewhat inappropriate as the war was still ongoing. During wartime, one needed to be cautious in everything.

"Dai, your achievements alone would not have been enough to promote you to chunin. However, since you are the first person in Konoha to successfully master the Eight Gates, fulfilling Teacher Tobirama's last wish, I am specially promoting you to chunin." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a serious expression.

"Thank you very much, Lord Third!" Might Dai clenched his right fist tightly, his heart pounding with excitement.

He was very grateful to Mu Yue for helping him create this opportunity, and also grateful to Sarutobi Hiruzen for specially promoting him.

But Might Dai felt that the one he needed to thank most was himself—the self that had not wavered because of others' gossip, the self that had trained day after day for ten years in a single taijutsu, the self that believed hard work would eventually pay off.

"You deserve it all." Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

It could only be said that fortune and misfortune were interdependent. If he hadn't been training the Eight Gates all along, Might Dai wouldn't have become a perpetually shunned genin. But without training the Eight Gates, Might Dai might not have become a strong ninja, nor would he have been specially promoted to chunin like now.

"Dai, go to the Hokage Building to pick up a set of chunin uniform and your promotion form." After saying this, Sarutobi Hiruzen formed hand seals and dispelled his Shadow Clone, letting the memories flow back to his main body.

The difference between Konoha genin and chunin was that genin only had headbands, while chunin were issued a green flak jacket.

"Congratulations, Dai-senpai." Mu Yue said with a smile of congratulations.

"Thanks to your help, Mu Yue!" Might Dai gave Mu Yue a thumbs up and said with gratitude.

At that moment, Might Dai really wanted to take the uniform and the chunin promotion form back to show Might Guy and let him know the good news.

So the two quickly headed to the Hokage Building.

Sarutobi Hiruzen acted quickly. After they arrived at the Hokage Building, they received the chunin two-piece set—the flak jacket and promotion form—without any waiting.

The standard chunin flak jacket was sealed in plastic. Might Dai thought for a moment, then tore it open and put on the green jacket directly, so that Might Guy would notice as soon as he got home.

However, just as Might Dai, wearing the flak jacket and holding the form, was about to head home, Mu Yue stopped him.

"Dai-senpai, if I may ask, today is Guy's birthday. What gift did you prepare for him?" Mu Yue blocked Might Dai and asked.

Might Dai pulled out a green bodysuit identical to the one he was wearing from somewhere, laughed loudly, gave a thumbs up, and said:

"Of course, a practical and useful bodysuit!"

Mu Yue finally understood why Might Guy had given a bodysuit on Shisui's birthday.

"Dai-senpai, I have a suggestion. How about we write down some taijutsu training insights together and give them to Guy? That way, even when he's on missions, he can train according to the experience written there." Mu Yue adjusted his glasses and proposed with a smile.

The gap between the Master level and the Perfect level was huge. He worried that in the future, he might fall short of achieving a Perfect-level skill, so he thought of collaborating to create and give it to Might Guy.

"You're really thoughtful, Mu Yue. Let's do as you say." Might Dai nodded vigorously. This was indeed better than giving a bodysuit.

Nighttime, at Might Guy's house.

By now, almost all of Mu Yue's disciples had arrived—Obito, Rin Nohara, Shisui, and Kakashi were all at Might Guy's house.

"Hey, where's Mu Yue-sensei? Why isn't he here yet? It's already past seven." Obito looked at the time, scratched his head, and was a bit puzzled.

"Mu Yue-sensei must have a reason for not coming." Shisui said with a thoughtful expression.

Kakashi glanced at Shisui. Shisui was the only one among them he wasn't familiar with, but he remembered that Shisui and Might Guy used to run together, so he was probably Guy's friend from the Ninja Academy.

"Could it be that he also ran into a lost old lady?" Obito speculated based on his own experience.

"Probably not. Even if he met five old ladies, Mu Yue-sensei could use Shadow Clones to help them and come back himself." Rin Nohara thought Mu Yue wouldn't be late for that reason.

"Maybe he's doing something with my dad." Might Guy recalled what Might Dai had said yesterday and replied.

Might Dai hadn't shown up either. He felt the two must be together, but he didn't know what that awesome and youthful thing was.

"I'm home!"

Might Dai's vigorous voice reached everyone's ears.

This chapter is 3.2k words, and there should be about 4-5k more to come.