Yuya could only feel helpless toward Kushina's reaction—he knew she meant well.
He spent a long time explaining, but Kushina simply refused to listen.
In the end, seeing that Yuya was completely unmoved and determined to go his own way, she angrily shouted that she wouldn't care about him anymore—and stormed out.
"..."
With a bitter smile, Yuya watched Kushina's retreating back and could only shake his head helplessly.
After calming himself down a little, he got up, washed up, and changed clothes before heading to the door.
At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
There was no longer any real need for him to attend the Ninja Academy.
In three months, he would face Uchiha Han in a life-and-death duel.
These three months had to be devoted entirely to training—attending classes would be nothing but a waste of time.
After some thought, Yuya decided to request a long leave.
Of course, his chūnin instructor despised him the most—getting approval would not be easy.
But after thinking it through, Yuya realized it didn't really matter whether the leave was approved or not.
He would treat it as a notification: from now on, he simply wouldn't be coming back.
When Yuya arrived at the Academy, the other students' attitudes toward him were fairly normal.
After all, they were still children. They couldn't grasp the deeper implications—
they were simply shocked and excited by the rumor that Yuya had dared to challenge a chūnin.
Yuya went straight to the chūnin instructor's office.
Without hesitation, he pushed the door open.
Standing inside was his instructor—Katōya.
"Yuya?"
Katōya's expression upon seeing him was completely different from before.
There was no longer disdain or contempt—only a trace of complicated emotion.
Yuya found this reaction strange.
Logically speaking, Katōya should have been severely punished over the incident where Uchiha Izumiya was heavily injured. Yet now, there was no visible resentment at all.
But Yuya didn't dwell on it.
He calmly stated his intention to take a three-month leave.
After saying that, he turned around, ready to leave immediately—
approval or not made no difference to him.
To his surprise, Katōya gently patted his shoulder and nodded.
He agreed—just like that.
Yuya's eyes widened slightly in shock.
Then he heard Katōya speak, half venting, half talking to himself.
"My comrades died at the hands of foreign shinobi… so I've always held hostility toward you.
But in truth, you're a hardworking child. If you had been born in Konoha…"
His voice abruptly stopped.
With another sigh, Katōya patted Yuya's shoulder again and walked past him.
"Forget it. Go and enjoy these three months."
Yuya stood there, stunned, watching Katōya leave the office.
That line sounded way too familiar.
Then it hit him—
Wasn't that exactly what the ANBU ninja had said earlier?!
Pff—
Yuya nearly spat blood.
So in all your eyes, I'm already dead, huh?!
Leaving the office with a pained expression, Yuya slowly exited the Academy grounds.
He shook off his tangled thoughts and lowered his head, appearing utterly dejected—
as if he were a man awaiting execution.
This naturally drew countless sympathetic gazes.
But in reality, Yuya was deeply focused—
thinking through the final unresolved questions from the previous night.
He would not waste a single moment.
If he could solve these remaining issues, then he would have at least an 80% chance of successfully developing that technique.
That probability was absurdly high.
And once that technique was completed, Yuya was certain—
defeating Uchiha Han in three months would not be difficult at all.
After long contemplation, he solved one issue—but several still remained.
In the end, Yuya decided to seek out Might Duy again.
Duy was still training in the same forest.
The entire village already knew about Yuya's challenge to Uchiha Han,
yet Duy was completely unaware. He greeted Yuya with a cheerful smile as usual.
Truly—he didn't fit in with the village at all.
Yuya even found himself wondering who Might Guy's mother was, but he didn't waste time.
He immediately presented his questions.
These questions caused Duy to fall into deep thought.
After a while, Duy answered most of them, though he remained uncertain about the last one.
Yuya and Duy discussed that final issue several times before finally reaching a conclusion.
At last, the conceptual framework in Yuya's mind fully took shape.
A clear, complete method emerged—
Reverse cultivation of the Eight Gates.
If spoken aloud, it would absolutely shock the entire shinobi world.
But Yuya's thinking had always been bold—and he dared to experiment.
The heart is the origin of explosive power.
If it is opened as the final gate, then naturally it means releasing all life force—
resulting in certain death.
But if the heart were strengthened first,
used as the driving core to reinforce the entire body,
breaking through the gates one by one—
Then perhaps it would be possible to achieve an Eight Gates state
with no side effects, or even a permanent Eight Gates.
After fully organizing the method, Yuya didn't hide anything.
He explained his entire concept to Duy.
"Reverse cultivation of the Eight Gates?!"
The moment Duy heard it, his mind exploded.
He was so shocked he couldn't speak for a long time.
He wanted to refute it—
but then realized that Yuya had considered every single critical point.
It… actually seemed feasible.
In the end, Duy chose to support Yuya.
In his view, youth was meant to be fought for with everything one had.
Duy pointed out several flaws and helped Yuya refine them.
At last, the reverse Eight Gates method was fully completed.
And Yuya did not hesitate for even a moment—
He began the attempt immediately.
Duy, of course, stood guard without hesitation.
Yuya trusted Duy completely.
With him present, Yuya could proceed with peace of mind.
He first activated his entire circulatory and chakra system, loosening every pathway.
Then he sat down cross-legged.
All distracting thoughts were cleared from his mind as he entered a state of perfect focus.
"Starting from the heart…"
He murmured softly, pressing his thumb lightly against his chest.
Nothing happened.
Opening the heart as the first gate was fundamentally different from opening it as the eighth.
Yuya frowned slightly.
"This path won't work… but there are other ways."
Next, he chose to force the breakthrough using chakra.
The Eight Gates release the body's limiters—
in essence, they release the restraints on chakra itself.
This chakra does not flow outward, but instead surges within the body like a raging river,
reinforcing every part of the physical form.
However, chakra control was Yuya's weakest point.
After tremendous effort, he managed to mobilize only a small amount of chakra
and directed it toward the heart-gate.
The result—
Like an ant trying to shake a great tree.
Completely ineffective.
Yuya even felt that opening the heart as the first gate
might be impossible even with jōnin-level, or even Kage-level, chakra reserves.
No wonder that for thousands of years,
there had only ever been forward Eight Gates cultivation—
and never reverse.
The difficulty was simply beyond imagination.
But as this thought arose, Yuya's eyes hardened with determination.
Others may fail—
But that didn't mean he would.
Because he still had one final trump card.
The power of the Vibration Release Kekkei Genkai.
Yuya's true confidence lay there.
He clenched his fist, eyes blazing.
"Vibration force… rise!"
"Shatter this shackle for me!!"
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