Yoichi dropped into a lower stance, his fingers digging into the cracked earth as he realized his current output was insufficient.
He reached for the heavy iron restraints at his wrists and ankles, unbuckling the four weighted bangles that had been suppressing his true speed.
Each twenty kilogram weight hit the ground with a thunderous thud, the combined eighty kilograms of dead weight sinking deep into the stone tiles.
A massive cloud of dust erupted from the impact, obscuring his feet as the sudden relief of pressure made his slightly tanned skin feel weightless.
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, the sight of a child training under such extreme gravity forcing a rare moment of genuine respect into his cold gaze.
The elder shinobi realized the boy had been fighting a legendary bounty while essentially shackled, a testament to a level of discipline that exceeded even the most elite ANBU.
Within his mind, the Spirit Aperture remained perfectly calm, even as he reached for the first of the celestial gates.
Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Opening, Release!
The mental limiters of his brain snapped, allowing his muscles to utilize one hundred percent of their capacity. A pale green aura began to flicker around his skin, the sheer pressure of his released energy blowing the remaining dust away in a violent circle.
He felt his perception sharpen, the movements of the floating masks slowing down as his brain processed the world at an accelerated rate.
Gate of Healing, Release!
The second gate opened, flooding his body with a surge of physical power that acted as a second wind. The exhaustion that had been weighing down his limbs vanished, replaced by a violent, surging heat that knit his torn muscle fibers back together.
His Qi Blood roared through his veins with the intensity of a tidal wave, his secondary heart pumping with enough force to echo against the courtyard walls like a war drum.
Gate of Life, Release!
His skin turned a deep shade of crimson as the third gate burst open. The sheer volume of energy was now too much for his body to contain, causing the ground beneath him to crater and liquefy from the sheer atmospheric pressure.
The green steam of his sweat began to rise, mixing with the blue sparks of his lightning chakra to create a terrifying cloak of energy that distorted the air.
Kakuzu stood his ground, his green eyes widening as he witnessed the terrifying transformation. He recognized the technique from his long years of survival, but the combination of the discarded weights and the raw vitality of the gates suggested a monster in the making.
He was impressed by the boy's resolve, knowing that Yoichi was now trading his very life for a brief moment of god-like power to protect the village.
He immediately shifted his entire body into the black obsidian of the Earth Spear, bracing himself for the coming impact.
"To go this far for a single attempt," Kakuzu muttered, his voice muffled by the thick layers of hardening chakra. "You are truly a fool, boy."
Phantom Steps!
Yoichi disappeared with a sound that resembled a thunderclap.
He was no longer a blur, he was a silent streak of red and green light that bypassed the visual spectrum.
Moving so fast that the air itself could not get out of his way, he created a vacuum that pulled the debris of the courtyard toward his path.
He appeared behind Kakuzu, then above him, then in front of him, the afterimages forming a cage of light around the mercenary.
Lightning Spear Thrust!
Yoichi focused the entirety of his three-gate power and his lightning chakra into his right hand. The energy was so concentrated that the air around his fingertips began to ionize, creating a spear of white-hot plasma.
Launching himself forward, his body moved with a density and speed that made him a literal human railgun. He targeted the Earth Mask, the very source of the defense that had been negating his blunt attacks.
The strike connected with the sound of a falling star. The lightning spear did not just pierce the obsidian skin, it shattered the earth chakra at a molecular level.
The high-frequency vibration combined with the raw physical power of the three gates punched through the stranger's chest, the fingers sinking deep into the porcelain face of the Water Mask.
The mask shrieked as it disintegrated, the source of Kakuzu's defensive hardening crumbling into black ash.
Yoichi felt the recoil of the strike shatter the bones in his hand, but he did not scream.
The third gate continued to pump lethal amounts of energy through his system, keeping him standing even as his muscles began to char from the heat.
He skidded back, his boots melting the stone beneath them, while Kakuzu clutched his chest in genuine shock.
The invincible fortress had been breached by a child's desperate struggle.
Yoichi felt the third gate burning through his life force, but he used that violent momentum to drive his fingers forward.
The high-frequency vibration of his lightning chakra acted like a diamond-tipped drill, meeting the porcelain face of the Wind Mask.
The mask shattered into a thousand white shards, the pressurized core of its energy erupting in a final, harmless hiss of air.
This was the second heart he had silenced tonight, following the destruction of the Water Mask during their earlier exchange in the trees.
Two hearts extinguished. Wind and Water are gone.
Yoichi skidded backward, his feet melting the stone tiles as the green steam of the Eight Gates rolled off his crimson skin.
He was gasping for air, his lungs feeling like they were filled with hot lead, but his Spirit Aperture remained focused. He watched Kakuzu, who stood amidst the rubble with his black threads writhing like wounded snakes. The mercenary touched the empty sockets on his shoulders where the masks had once been, his expression shifting from irritation to a cold, murderous calculation.
Kakuzu channeled a massive surge of chakra into his remaining Lightning Mask, the air beginning to scream with the pressure of the gathering storm.
Lightning Release: False Darkness!
A jagged spear of white electricity tore through the courtyard, moving at a speed that ignored the laws of physics.
Yoichi used the last of his Phantom Steps to blur to the side, the bolt incinerating the air where his head had been a millisecond before. The explosion behind him sent a wave of heat that scorched his back, but he did not stop moving until he found a stable footing among the ruins.
"This was a poor investment," Kakuzu said, his voice a dry rasp that carried across the smoking clearing.
He looked at the wreckage of his masks and then back at the boy, his green eyes reflecting a purely financial resentment.
"Two million Ryo is a pittance for the effort required to harvest a heart like yours. My time has been wasted on a bounty that barely covers the cost of my repairs."
Kakuzu raised his hardened arm to finish the job, but his body suddenly went still.
He turned his head toward the edge of the estate, his sensory threads picking up a massive wave of incoming chakra signatures.
The forest was no longer silent, the sound of rhythmic footfalls on branches signaled the arrival of a small army.
The Uchiha Clan Head, Kohaku, landed on the primary roof of the manor, his three-tomoe Sharingan glowing with a predatory red light.
Behind him, a dozen Uchiha warriors materialized, their hands already forming the seals for their signature fire techniques.
The collective killing intent of the clan was a physical weight, pressing down on the courtyard and signaling that the hunt was over.
Kakuzu did not hesitate. He knew the cost of staying was higher than any potential profit, and he dissolved into a mass of black fibers that sank into the shadows of the earth.
By the time Hiruzen and Danzo arrived with the ANBU Black Ops, the mercenary was gone. The two young commanders landed near Yoichi, their eyes wide as they took in the scale of the destruction and the state of the boy who had stood against a legend.
Kohaku watched the Uchiha force vanish into the tree line, their movements a silent blur of efficiency. He turned his gaze toward Hiruzen, his expression unreadable but his stance demanding authority.
The mission was no longer just about defense.
It was a formal hunt sanctioned by the leadership of the Hidden Leaf.
"Hiruzen, the perpetrator is a ghost from the era of the First War," Kohaku said, his voice cold and sharp. "My hunters will track him. Give the order for the ANBU to coordinate with my vanguard so we do not waste time with jurisdictional disputes."
Hiruzen adjusted his grip on his weapon, looking at the cratered earth.
He recognized the necessity of the Uchiha's tracking prowess in this terrain. "Agreed. The ANBU are under your direction for the duration of the pursuit. Do not let him reach the border."
Within the fading heat of his mind, Yoichi watched the adults converge.
His Spirit Aperture flickered like a dying candle, processing their arrivals with a bitter, clinical detachment.
You arrive when the fire is embers.
He thought, the words echoing through the hollow space of his exhaustion.
The calculations are finished, the hearts are broken, and only now do the masters come to claim the field... You are far too late.
He looked at Hiruzen, who viewed him as the most reliable blade in his arsenal, a subordinate whose survival was essential to the village's power.
He saw Kohaku's burning gaze, knowing the Uchiha Head saw him as a priceless talent to be cultivated and claimed.
Then there was Danzo, whose eyes remained fixed on Yoichi's broken form with a predatory interest, already weighing the cost of the boy's loyalty and the secrets of his resilience.
Yoichi felt the final reserves of his secondary heart run dry.
He forced a thin, mocking smile onto his face, a silent gesture toward the latecomers who stood in the safety of his wake.
The Third Gate closed with a final, agonizing thrum of blood. His vision went dark as the crimson hue left his skin, and his battered body collapsed into the dirt before any of the great men could reach him.
Kohaku and Hiruzen stood over the boy, their eyes scanning the strange patterns of trauma on his limbs.
They looked at the shattered stone and the precise puncture wounds in the debris, trying to categorize the destruction within the known limits of Konoha Taijutsu.
The broken tiles and the scorched earth suggested a reckless physical release, yet the lack of typical chakra residue began to trouble their analytical minds.
"The internal pressure required to cause this level of atmospheric displacement is impossible for a standard ninja body," Hiruzen noted, his eyes narrowing as he tracked the bruising along Yoichi's arm.
He realized he was not looking at a mere variation of the Leaf's hard-fist style, but something far more dense. The muscle fibers were not just expanded, they were compressed in a way that defied the fluid nature of chakra.
"The Sharingan sees no signature of a standard ninjutsu technique here," Kohaku added, his red eyes spinning as he analyzed the cooling air.
He scrutinized the site where the Lightning Spear Thrust had connected, realizing it was not just elemental flow through the fingertips.
The impact lacked the chaotic spill of spiritual energy, suggesting a source of power that was fundamentally anchored in the physical essence of the boy's own blood and marrow.
The two men exchanged a silent, heavy look as the realization settled in.
They were witnesses to a system of combat that existed beyond their preconceived nature of chakra and spiritual energy.
To the masters of the village, Yoichi was no longer a talented brawler using high-risk academy styles, he was a practitioner of a hidden discipline that treated the human frame as a self-sustaining furnace of raw vitality.
Yoichi remained silent and limp on the ground, his consciousness completely submerged in darkness.
His slightly tanned skin, usually vibrant with health, was now pale from exhaustion and streaked with soot. His eyes remained closed, hiding the deep, obsidian color that marked his Uchiha heritage, while his dark hair was matted with sweat and dirt from the intensity of the struggle.
"Medical corps, front and center!" Hiruzen shouted, his voice carrying a new tone of urgency. He realized that the boy's survival was no longer just a matter of village strength, but a necessity for understanding this new frontier of power. "Secure his vitals and prepare a high-density stabilizer. This man is a priority for the Hidden Leaf."
"Uchiha medics, assist them," Kohaku commanded, his voice sharp and possessive. He signaled his own specialized healers to move in with the Secret Restoration Ointment. "A body that can house a force this dense is a treasure that must be preserved at any cost. We need to know how he has refined his biology to this degree."
The medical teams rushed forward, their hands glowing with the soft green light of healing chakra. They began to treat the burst capillaries and the torn ligaments, though they struggled to find the familiar chakra pathways they usually used to jumpstart a patient's recovery.
As the boy was lifted onto a stretcher, the two powerful men remained standing in the ruin, both fully aware that they had underestimated the depth of the subordinate they were trying to save.
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Thanks to Daemonic_Dragon and doomslayer! I appreciate the power stones!
I make them understood that Martial Arts now were very apparent in Yoichi's current practice. I didn't dumbed them down since these people are the leaders of their own leagues. They will realize it sooner or later.