Chapter 214: Gate of Rest, Open!

Bang! Bang!

Might Guy launched several rapid attacks, pushing his power to the limit, but still achieved nothing.

The Kumogakure chunin he was fighting was no less skilled, and even had more combat experience; if not for his slight speed advantage, the situation would have been worse.

Might Guy's heart grew impatient—he had to defeat his opponent quickly, or Kakashi and Obito would be in danger.

The more eager he was to beat his opponent, the more the Kumogakure chunin caught him off guard, knocking him back over a meter.

As he retreated, Might Guy glanced at Kakashi and Obito; under Berkeley's relentless pressure, the two were in a sorry state, already sporting injuries.

"Power… I need more power… open more Gates…" Might Guy knew this was the most critical moment.

If he didn't finish off the enemy in front of him quickly, it wouldn't be him defeating his enemy and joining Kakashi and Obito to gang up on Berkeley—it would be Berkeley finishing off Kakashi and Obito, and the Kumogakure chunin coming to join him against Might Guy.

The first three Gates of the Eight Gates are the safe zone, so the pace is faster and they take less time to train than the later Gates.

Following Muyue's instructions, Might Guy had focused his training on the Eight Gates, and it had been nearly a month since he successfully opened the First Gate.

He had tried to open the Second Gate before this mission but failed.

At the time, Might Guy hadn't minded much—his father had spent twenty years mastering that forbidden technique, so of course it wouldn't be easy.

But now was different. Facing this dangerous moment, he had to try opening the Second Gate again, and he had to succeed. He needed the power of more Gates.

"When this forbidden technique is used beyond your current ability, it damages the body, so you must set a self-imposed restriction." Might Guy recalled his father's words when teaching him the Eight Gates.

Might Guy knew that even if he opened the Second Gate, it probably wouldn't be as harmless as the First Gate. But now was the time to lift that restriction—no matter the cost, he had to gain stronger power.

"True victory isn't about defeating a strong opponent; it's about protecting what's important to you until the very end." Might Guy silently recited his father's words, agreeing wholeheartedly.

"Aah—!"

Might Guy's eyes blazed as he roared, his chakra exploding throughout his body. He tried to open the Second Gate of the Eight Gates to gain even greater power.

Sensing Might Guy's shift, the Kumogakure chunin cautiously backed away, watching him warily.

Perhaps his Eight Gates training wasn't sufficient, or maybe it had been too short a time since he opened the First Gate. Might Guy strained with all his might to open the Second Gate, but he just couldn't, and his momentum slowly faded.

"You scared me for a second there, kid. Shouting like that and nothing happens." The Kumogakure chunin, who had thought Might Guy was about to use some terrifying move, rushed forward and gave him a Lightning Fist, taunting him.

He had even bothered to back off cautiously, and it turned out to be a bluff.

Might Guy barely dodged the attack using Flash Step, his heart sinking.

He couldn't open more Gates to gain stronger power, so he couldn't quickly defeat the enemy in front of him.

Bang!

Suddenly a loud crash—Might Guy saw out of the corner of his eye Obito's body slammed hard into a tree, shaking it violently, branches and leaves trembling.

"Is there really no way?" Might Guy clenched his fists tightly, desperately searching for the key that would open the gate of victory.

Then a flash of inspiration struck Might Guy—he thought of a way to forcibly open the Second Gate.

"The most important thing about the Breathing Method is the breath itself—absorbing external power to strengthen yourself, letting the Qi guide chakra to reinforce your body." The memory of Muyue teaching the Breathing Method surfaced slowly in Might Guy's mind.

The Eight Gates are essentially eight limiters located in the body's chakra pathway system, suppressing and controlling the chakra within.

The Breathing Method can absorb external power to strengthen the body, and can drive chakra to travel through the body and reinforce various parts.

If he couldn't open the Second Gate the normal way, then he would use the Breathing Method to borrow external force and forcibly break through the limiter!

Might Guy didn't know what consequences forcibly opening the Second Gate would bring, but he knew this was the time to let go of all restrictions—no matter the outcome, he had to use it.

"Obito, Kakashi, this time… I'll protect you."

Might Guy's expression turned extraordinarily resolute. His breathing became more focused than ever before. He used the Qi he drew in to drive his chakra toward the chakra point in his head—the location of the Second Gate of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Rest, which is located in the human head.

"Aah—!"

Might Guy felt a sharp, violent pain shoot through his head. He clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his flesh, yet he didn't feel the pain.

"Again with this?" The Kumogakure chunin, seeing Might Guy fall into the same state as before, was a bit exasperated. He wasn't falling for it this time.

"Thunderstorm Leg!"

The Kumogakure chunin directly gathered a large amount of chakra and performed a nature transformation. A dazzling blue lightning engulfed his right leg as he charged at Might Guy at full speed.

Although the Eight Gates are just a metaphor, not actual doors in the body guarding chakra meridians, when Might Guy used the breathing method at full force to forcibly break through the Second Gate, he felt as if he really heard a click of a door opening. This opened not only the Second Gate of the Eight Gates, but also his gate of victory.

After opening the second limiter, Might Guy felt a burst of clarity in his mind. The fatigue from the previous battle disappeared, and the chakra in his body increased. With the Second Gate opened, he became even stronger!

"Eight Gates: Second Gate, the Gate of Rest, open!"

Might Guy's aura suddenly surged. He stared intently at the attacking Cloud Hidden chunin, determined to quickly eliminate the enemy before him.

"If it's the Second Gate plus full-concentration breathing, I should be able to use that move." Might Guy began to gather power, preparing to use the taijutsu he had developed.

When Muyue taught Might Guy taijutsu, he often encouraged Might Guy to combine what he had learned to develop his own taijutsu.

Even though Might Guy felt that the taijutsu Muyue taught was very suitable for him, he thought Muyue's words made sense, so he gave it a try.

Might Guy's idea was to combine the Flash Step with Whirlwind Leg, using the momentum of a fast sprint to perform the multiple bursts of the Flash Step and deliver a powerful kick at extreme speed.

Might Guy named this move Noon Leopard, because it had the explosive power of a leopard and he thought of it at noon.

However, because his body was not strong enough before, Might Guy tried many times but failed to execute it successfully.

Sensing the power endlessly surging from within, Might Guy felt that this time he could definitely do it.

"I was planning to save this for Kakashi, but I'll just test it on you first!"

The power absorbed through concentrated breathing, the power gained by opening the limiter—Might Guy poured all that power into his leg, then charged toward the Cloud Hidden ninja.

"Noon Leopard!"

Accompanied by Might Guy's roar, the Cloud Hidden chunin immediately noticed that Might Guy had changed—his aura had become stronger, his speed faster.

"What's going on? How did shouting a few lines actually make him stronger?" The Cloud Hidden ninja was bewildered—this wasn't right.

Might Guy rushed at full speed toward the Cloud Hidden ninja, while the Cloud Hidden ninja had already expended a large amount of chakra to use ninja-taijutsu and was unwilling to give up, so he also maintained his charge.

The moment they met, both quickly extended their legs, and their feet collided with each other.

Bang!

A loud noise erupted. As Might Guy kicked, the chakra bursting from his body vaguely formed the shape of a leopard's head, and his kicking foot was like a leopard's swift pounce with bared fangs.

On one side was the full-force ninja-taijutsu of the Cloud Hidden ninja; on the other side was the ultimate kick from Might Guy, combining all his taijutsu power.

Boom!!

The stalemate did not last long.

The next moment, the Cloud Hidden ninja flew backward like a broken kite, smashing through over a dozen large trees before stopping. The leg that had clashed with Might Guy's could not withstand such immense force and burst with blood, the entire leg stained red.

"How is this possible? He mastered such a powerful taijutsu." That was the last thought of the Cloud Hidden ninja before losing consciousness.

He couldn't understand why Might Guy's strength could be this great—Might Guy looked only about nine years old.

Moreover, at the start of the battle, Might Guy's strength was clearly about the same as his, yet after shouting a few things about protecting and guarding, his power suddenly skyrocketed.

"Huff, huff." Might Guy panted heavily, the leg that had just used Noon Leopard trembling slightly. This level of power was still a bit beyond him at the moment.

The huge commotion from Might Guy also attracted Kakashi, Obito, and even Barkley.

"Guy became stronger again!" Kakashi was shocked by Might Guy's powerful kick—it had grown much stronger than the kick that had defeated him before.

"Way to go, Guy!" Obito couldn't help cheering for Might Guy in his heart. If Might Guy didn't come over soon, he and Kakashi really wouldn't be able to hold on.

Might Guy now couldn't care about his own condition. He glanced at the Cloud Hidden ninja, who seemed unconscious or something, and immediately rushed toward Kakashi and Obito.

"So he was hiding his strength? But it's just futile struggle." Barkley, seeing his subordinate defeated by Might Guy, did not panic.

He admitted that these brats did have some skills, but he was not some newly promoted jonin. Barkley had been a jonin for ten years, an experienced veteran jonin. He had already mastered everything he could, and was only limited by talent from further improvement.

"Be careful of his Lightning Release ninja-taijutsu and Lightning Release swordsmanship—their power is too great." Kakashi quickly retreated to regroup with Might Guy and warned him.

Might Guy nodded, looking at Barkley with a grave expression. To have made Kakashi and Obito so miserable in just such a short time—this was indeed a formidable enemy that required utmost caution.

This chapter is 3k. Today guaranteed 8k, aiming for 10k.