The next few days, Sora trained with Might Duy and his son every day.
Under Might Duy's guidance, Sora's understanding of the Eight Inner Gates became deeper. Although he was not at the point of impacting the fifth gate, the physical burden when opening the fourth gate was indeed lighter.
After all, Might Duy had devoted himself to training in the Eight Inner Gates for about twenty years, his experience far richer than Sora's.
And Guy, after seeing Might Duy's demonstrations, trained even more desperately. Every day he performed terrifying amounts of various training, constantly shouting words like "youth" and "passion".
Sora watched this, but his feelings were different.
'In the original work, Guy relied on this kind of effort to eventually become the man who nearly kicked his way to the series finale with one blow. Now, with my stimulation, he might be able to open the Eighth Gate even earlier...'
Thinking this, Sora suddenly had an idea.
'Perhaps, I can try to guide Guy to develop Evening Elephant and Night Guy earlier?'
'And I have memories from my previous life, it's not impossible for me to develop them myself.'
However, this thought was only fleeting.
It was still too early to think about these things. The immediate priority was to improve his own strength.
Sora shook his head and refocused his attention on training.
...
Time quickly turned to evening.
Sora said goodbye to the still energetic Might Duy and his son, who were clamoring to run another five hundred laps, and headed alone towards the orphanage.
Sweat soaked his clothes, his muscles ached intensely, but his mood was exceptionally calm.
'It's been over two years since I came to this world...'
As he walked, Sora reviewed this not-so-long "second life" of his.
From the confusion and helplessness when he first crossed over, to the despair upon discovering his extremely poor ninjutsu talent, to the ecstasy of unexpectedly obtaining the Azure Dragon Fruit, and later joining the Anbu, experiencing life-and-death crises and growing...
The journey had been filled with constant dangers.
'Fortunately, I've managed to gain a preliminary foothold in this world.'
Sora clenched his fist, feeling the power flowing within his body.
The first four gates of the Eight Inner Gates, chunin-level taijutsu, the partial beast transformation ability of the Azure Dragon Fruit...
Individually, these abilities might not be top-tier, but combined, they gave him, at the age of seven, combat power comparable to a Special Jonin.
Even at full burst, he could instantly kill a jonin caught off guard.
It was worth noting that Kakashi had just been promoted to chunin, and it would be over five years before he became a jonin. This showed how abnormal Sora was.
And this was also why Sarutobi Hiruzen ranked Sora as the third most important person in his mind.
"However, it's still not enough…"
Sora's eyes grew deep.
Thinking of the brutality of the Third Great Ninja War in the original work, the terror of the Nine-Tails attack, the Pain attack…
And finally, the Otsutsuki Clan!
This level of strength was far from enough to protect himself and those he cared about in the future turmoil.
But fortunately, Sora had at least achieved his initial goal of not being cannon fodder!
Stopping and starting along the way, Sora recalled the attack in the Land of Grass valley, a lingering trace of fear still in his heart.
If it weren't for the Iwa-nin's chance interference, he would probably have been captured by the Foundation and brainwashed into a tool without emotions.
"It seems I need to be more careful with Anbu missions from now on."
Sora stroked his chin, warning himself internally.
Although his teammates in Squad C Five seemed decent—the squad leader Fox was experienced, and Grey Wolf and Night Owl each had their strengths—no one could guarantee that every mission would be without accidents.
Moreover, Danzo's influence was pervasive, and he might strike again in secret at any time.
Just like with this Land of Grass mission. Fox executing a classified mission could barely be explained.
But Grey Wolf and Night Owl were also Special Jonin. How could they end up hospitalized for over a month after being injured by wandering ninjas during a C-rank escort mission, only being discharged a few days ago?
Sora didn't even need to guess; he knew it was definitely Danzo's doing.
"Fortunately, with the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, I can send a clone to scout ahead before missions."
Thinking of this newly learned technique, Sora felt slightly reassured.
Although with his current chakra reserves he could only create one clone with combat capability at most, it was enough for reconnaissance and trap testing.
"And the biggest use of shadow clones is still accelerated training."
Thinking this, Sora couldn't help but let a slight smile touch the corner of his mouth.
These past few days, he had been using shadow clones every night to develop the abilities of the Azure Dragon Fruit.
Although each time he dispelled the clone, his brain would ache from the returning memories, the gains were also enormous.
In just these few days, his mastery over the waist dragon transformation had already surpassed the progress of the previous two weeks.
"At this rate, in at most three more months, I can complete the full dragon transformation of the waist. At that time, the power of the partial beast transformation should increase by at least thirty percent!"
Sora calculated internally, his future training path becoming clearer.
"Normal taijutsu training during the day, using shadow clones to develop fruit abilities at night, consulting Duy-senpai about the Eight Inner Gates on weekends… This rhythm is just right."
However, Sora was also aware of his shortcomings.
His body was still too young…
He looked at his own physique, which was sturdy but still somewhat slender, and sighed helplessly.
A seven-and-a-half-year-old body was ultimately not fully developed.
The Eight Inner Gates placed an immense burden on the body, especially the fourth gate, the Gate of Pain. Each opening caused significant damage to the meridians and muscles.
Although he had the recovery power of the Azure Dragon Fruit as a foundation, over the long term, hidden injuries were inevitable.
"I need to strengthen my nutrition."
Sora made up his mind to earn more mission rewards in the future to buy high-quality nutritional supplements and medicinal herbs.
Fortunately, Anbu mission rewards were quite generous. The reward from one B-rank mission was enough for him to buy a month's worth of supplements.
"Then there's the issue of chakra reserves…"
Thinking of this gave Sora a headache.
His chakra reserves had improved a lot since he first arrived, but compared to geniuses like Kakashi at the same age, the gap was still too large.
Not to mention freaks like Naruto. Sora felt his chakra reserves might not even be one-tenth of Naruto's.
"Am I really mentally ill? In fanfictions transmigrators Soul is stronger and they have large chakra reserve... why is it for me..."
This thought crossed Sora's mind once again, as chakra was the product of the fusion of spiritual energy and physical energy.
With his current physical condition, his physical energy certainly wasn't the problem, so the issue must lie in the spiritual aspect.
But "spirit" was too abstract. Sora couldn't grasp it at all. He could only wait until he was strong enough in the future to find a way to figure it out.
"Sigh~ It seems I need to find a way to increase my chakra reserves… Either continue training my body, or look for other methods."
Sora recalled various methods from the original Naruto series to increase chakra.
Sage Mode? It required extremely strong physical and spiritual energy, and the training locations were hard to find, with high risks.
Tailed Beasts? Don't even think about it. Those were not something he could touch at his current level.
Kekkei Genkai? Unless he got another Devil Fruit…
"Forget it, I should be down-to-earth."
Sora shook his head, dismissing these unrealistic thoughts.
Increasing chakra reserves was not something that could be achieved in a day; it couldn't be rushed.
For now, focusing on taijutsu and developing his fruit abilities was more practical.
Fortunately, with the Azure Dragon Fruit, Sora's upper limit for taijutsu was much higher than an ordinary person's.
Thinking of Guy's heroic figure, who nearly kicked his way to the finale with one blow, his heart filled with motivation.
Training taijutsu to its extreme might not be inferior to ninjutsu!
"Moreover, the complete beast transformation form of the Azure Dragon might truly be comparable to a Tailed Beast…"
A flicker of anticipation appeared in Sora's eyes.
He remembered that in the original work, when Guy opened the Gate of Death and used Night Guy, it could even distort space and severely injure Six Paths Madara.
As a mythical creature, the strength of the Azure Dragon's complete form should definitely not be underestimated.
"By then, whether it's Danzo, Obito, or Pain… anyone who dares to touch the people I care about, I'll let them taste the wrath of a divine dragon!"
Sora's gaze was firmer than ever before.
Previously, deep down, he still carried the cowardice and hesitation of his previous life as an ordinary person. But after experiencing the life-and-death crisis in the Land of Grass, an uncontrollable surge of heroism rose within his heart.
He was no longer someone who only passively protected. A heart belonging to a strong person was slowly awakening and taking shape in this ninja world.
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