Every morning, Black Gorilla would fill his Cross Seal with chakra.
After his body and chakra recovered, he would then extract all the stored chakra at once.
The chakra stimulated his body; his muscles, bones, and sinews felt full of power under its influence.
Every part of his body was saturated with chakra, and the air around him stirred with its flow.
But Black Gorilla did not release the chakra outward.
His chakra reserves corresponded to his physical constitution; at his current strength level, he could only extract this much chakra normally.
Then he formed hand seals and released the Cross Seal.
A massive amount of chakra surged from the back of his hand, feeling as if it would burst his body.
The chakra released was what he had previously stored himself, so his body didn't reject it.
If someone else had forcibly poured this much chakra into his body, unless it was gentle medical chakra, problems would have occurred long ago.
There was simply too much chakra.
The large amount of chakra stimulated Black Gorilla's muscles, bones, and internal organs.
After persisting for a while, Black Gorilla began forming hand seals, using all the chakra to create a thicket of Earth-Style Rising Spears before him.
The thicket was several meters high, covering an area of dozens of meters with dense, crisscrossing earthen spears.
Yōkō, standing nearby, nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad. These Earth-Style Rising Spears have about a third of my flair."
Black Gorilla panted heavily and slumped to the ground.
It took him half an hour to recover from the fatigue of the extreme chakra extraction and usage.
Repeating this process, practicing three times a day, was the Limit Stimulation Training Yōkō had designed for Black Gorilla.
Yōkō recorded observations, constantly monitoring Black Gorilla's condition.
He didn't know if this stimulation training could help Black Gorilla break through his physical limits; both of them were experimenting and feeling their way forward.
If Orochimaru were here, he would probably quickly determine the optimal stimulation regimen, because he wouldn't care about the test subject's well-being and would likely push Black Gorilla to death.
During this period, the other members of the squad went on missions along the border, while Black Gorilla was specially permitted to stay in the camp and train with Yōkō.
After fifteen days of such arduous training, Black Gorilla excitedly reported:
"Captain! My body has grown stronger again! My chakra reserves have started increasing again!"
Yōkō had Black Gorilla demonstrate.
Without using the Cross Seal, Black Gorilla's Earth Release jutsu had increased in scale.
"Come on, test your taijutsu. Let's see if your physical constitution has improved."
After sparring with Black Gorilla, Yōkō confirmed that his taijutsu had also enhanced.
Both his strength and speed had shown noticeable improvement over these fifteen days.
However, Yōkō soon noticed something awkward about Black Gorilla's arm-swinging motion during backward movements.
Stopping the spar, Yōkō had Black Gorilla roll up his sleeve.
Some muscles in Black Gorilla's arm showed signs of damage.
Yōkō said, "It seems this chakra stimulation has side effects. It must be paired with medical ninjutsu during training.
I'll take you to a medical-nin. Let them assess you and see what they say."
'The scholarly path suits the poor; martial training consumes great wealth.' Cultivation was extremely resource-intensive.
Without a teacher and without treatment, blind, hard training would only lead to a body full of ailments.
Many Konoha shinobi, in their desperate, hard training, developed various physical problems, ultimately dying from a shuriken they should have dodged, all because their bodies had become stiff and unresponsive.
The medical-nin in the main camp was Senju Mie.
After going through some turmoil, Senju Mie had ultimately become a Medical Jōnin.
Yōkō felt a bit guilty; Senju Mie probably doesn't know it was the Fox Squad who designed that Medical Disruption Incident for her, right?
After examining him, Senju Mie said to Black Gorilla:
"You've been too reckless. Forcibly extracting all your chakra and overworking your body's cells has caused many hidden injuries inside your body."
A ball of green medical chakra appeared in front of her palm, which she used to repair the hidden injuries in Black Gorilla's body.
The treatment took over twenty minutes.
"Try swinging your arm back and bending your waist backward now. See if there are any issues."
After the treatment, Black Gorilla felt comfortable all over; the hidden injuries were gone.
Yōkō and Black Gorilla left the medical tent.
Yōkō said, "I thought it was a muscle strain, but it turned out to be hidden injuries from excessively overworking your body's cells.
Black Gorilla, from now on, you cannot train three times a day.
Resilience is also a form of talent, and your body isn't very resilient.
Improving your strength limit cannot be rushed.
You need to find the right rhythm. Train once every two or three days, and frequently visit the medical-nin to have your hidden injuries treated.
I gave you the Cross Seal hoping you would become stronger, not so you would suffer serious injury because of me."
Black Gorilla raised his hand; the Cross Seal on the back was covered by his glove, and said:
"Captain, three months ago, I realized my strength had reached its limit. No matter how much I trained, I couldn't improve an inch.
That feeling made me despair. For these past three months, I've felt anxious and uneasy every day in the squad.
Everyone was improving, everyone was getting stronger, only I remained stagnant.
I reduced sparring with others, afraid they would notice something.
Captain, you gave me hope! You made me discover that I can still improve as long as I work hard!
Even if there are some hidden injuries, what does it matter?
I've never felt as fulfilled as I do now. Thank you, Captain!"
Yōkō said, "I'm not telling you not to train hard. I'm saying you need to control the pace.
Reduce the burden and hidden injuries on your body, and improve your strength gradually.
Don't be impatient, don't be reckless, otherwise...
Otherwise, I'll remove your Cross Seal right now to prevent you from messing up."
"No, no, no!" Black Gorilla said quickly. "I'll listen to you, Captain. From now on, I'll train at most once every two days. One Cross Seal Limit Stimulation Training session every two days. I won't act recklessly!"
Yōkō said, "Black Gorilla, you've been following me for over a year now.
We've experienced the Land of Rivers War and the Land of Whirlpools War together.
Given the survival rate of ANBU during wartime, over a year is a very long time.
I hope you continue to follow me, not die one day on a mission because of hidden injuries.
You are a squad member I value, a subordinate I trust. Don't do anything foolish just to gain strength."
The bond between men required few words.
Black Gorilla said nothing more, lowering his head, secretly swearing that he must not let the Captain down.
"Alright, Black Gorilla, go notify the White Ram and Flower Deer squads. Tell them to come with me, leaving the camp for a mission."
"Yes!"
In the ANBU tent area, Yak, who was skilled in Earth Release, felt vibrations in the ground. He focused his senses slightly and realized the White Ram and Flower Deer squads had left using the Body Flicker Technique.
He turned over and went back to sleep.
Probably the two squads have some special mission.
Before long, the White Ram and Flower Deer squads followed Yōkō outside the camp.
The squad members realized they weren't heading deep into the front lines but had followed the Squad Captain to a nearby open area.
Yōkō sat on a rock and said:
"I've been sneakily researching something good with Black Gorilla lately; I think you all know.
I've developed a seal that can enhance your strength, called the Cross Seal.
You are all veterans who have followed me through at least several wars.
The Land of Grass, Land of Rain, Land of Rivers, Land of Whirlpools, and now the Land of Hot Water.
I originally thought about setting a test for you, but then I reconsidered. Based on your previous records and merits, you've more than earned the right to receive this seal from me.
The Cross Seal will become our signature ability, the bond between us!
Black Gorilla, show them your progress!"
Flower Deer and the others were very excited. The Fox Squad Captain was powerful; they all felt he had the strength of an Elite Jōnin.
An Elite Jōnin was fully capable of developing powerful jutsu or secret techniques.
The Fox Captain had shown exceptional talent for sealing techniques after learning them in the ANBU.
They were really looking forward to it. Just how powerful is a sealing technique developed by an Elite Jōnin?
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(End of Chapter)