[What a pity… those happy days didn't last.]
[The nefarious Akatsuki organization began to move openly across the shinobi world. Soon after, their leader, Pain, descended upon Konoha, intent on tearing the secret of the Nine-Tails' location from its ruins.]
[The sight of his home for over twenty years being crushed to dust, the terror etched on his son's face—it all ignited a fury within him that burned away all doubt.]
[In that moment, he finally understood the words Might Guy had spoken when teaching him the Eight Inner Gates Formation.]
["Protect your precious people, even if it costs you your life."]
[His village, his wife, his son… they were his "precious people." There was no question.]
[He would activate the Gate of Death—of the Eighth Gates Formation. He would stop this monster who treated Konoha as his personal demolition ground. His wife, knowing the ultimate price of this technique, clutched his arm, her tears falling as she begged him not to.]
[His resolve did not waver.]
[His friend, Might Guy, was away on a mission. But he knew with absolute certainty: had Guy been here, he would have already made the same choice without a second thought.]
[A final goodbye to his child. A last kiss to his wife. Then, he stood alone before the figure of Pain.]
[Facing the man who proclaimed himself a god, he did not hesitate. He opened the Gate of Death.]
[Power flooded his veins, a torrent of crimson energy that dwarfed anything he had ever known. His body screamed in protest, but his spirit was calm. He was no taijutsu genius like Guy; where his friend might have triumphed with the Seventh Gate, he had to stake everything on this final, desperate gamble.]
[He had no regrets.]
[With the power of the Eighth Gate coursing through him, the self-proclaimed deity seemed to shrink before his might. He moved like a crimson comet, a force of pure retribution. One by one, the invaders fell before him.]
[Only as the last of his life force ebbed away did the final truth dawn on him. The bodies he had shattered were mere puppets, their strings pulled from a distant, hidden master.]
[Propped against a shattered wall, his vision fading, he gazed out at the devastation. A blur of orange and yellow flickered at the edge of his sight—Naruto, returned at last.]
[Then, darkness.]
[Later, he learned in a haze that Naruto had indeed prevailed. The true enemy had been convinced to use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, restoring life to all who had perished in the attack. But some wounds are beyond even the power of life and death to mend. The absolute consumption of the Eighth Gate was one of them.]
[He remained dead.]
The phantom memories dissolved like smoke. Yuta opened his eyes, the echo of a heroic death fading from his mind.
[This life simulation has ended.]
[Age at Death: 30.]
[This life simulation has ended. Rating for this simulation: A.]
[Rewards Acquired: Substantial Chakra Reserves, Taijutsu Proficiency, Eight Inner Gates Formation.]
When the simulation had begun, revealing him as a mere civilian shinobi, Yuta's hopes had sunk. But the outcome had shattered his expectations.
Not only had he scored an A-rank rating, but the rewards were staggeringly generous.
While slightly fewer than his last A-rank evaluation, both Taijutsu Proficiency and the Eight Inner Gates Formation were game-changing prizes.
A single point of skepticism nagged at him, though.
'The Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique couldn't reverse the toll of all Eight Gates? Was that really true?'
He shrugged the thought away.
'In the end, it didn't matter. Even if he had been revived, that timeline was over. It wasn't as if he and Guy could have double-teamed Madara with twin Eighth Gates.'
Madara might have been arrogant enough to test himself against one, but he wasn't foolish enough to stand there and take two taijutsu monsters.
'All in all, a successful run,' Yuta concluded. 'For a civilian ninja to achieve an A-rank rating and such incredible rewards is a massive victory.'
The excitement began to bubble up within him.
His previous reward, the Innate Wind Nature Proficiency, had been a talent amplifier. But this… this was direct power.
Taijutsu Proficiency and the Eight Inner Gates Formation? This was the jackpot.
He could feel it—a new, instinctual understanding of his body's mechanics and a vast, swirling reservoir of chakra now nested within him. More profoundly, he could sense the eight metaphysical locks along his chakra network, formidable barriers that now seemed as flims as paper.
He knew he could shatter them at will.
But… He looked down at his own small, six-year-old hands.
The knowledge was there, but the vessel was not. Even with the Taijutsu Proficiency reinforcing his physique, his body was far too underdeveloped to handle the strain.
To open a gate now would be to break himself permanently. He would have to wait, to grow, until his body could properly channel the devastating power he now held the key to.
The simulated Togakushi Hinode had reached his limit at the Sixth Gate, the Gate of View. The Seventh Gate would have crippled him.
The rewards Yuta received now likely mirrored that limit, allowing him to safely open up to the Sixth Gate. And that was more than enough.
After all, he wasn't Togakushi Hinode. Taijutsu would be a powerful weapon in his arsenal, not his entire identity. His path would still be one of ninjutsu, with the Eight Gates as his ultimate trump card.
Over the past three months, Yuta had come to a realization: the most valuable reward from his first simulations wasn't the flashy elemental affinity, but the foundational skill he'd taken for granted—Perfect Chakra Control.
On the surface, it simply spared him the drudgery of exercises like Tree Climbing and Water Walking. But its true value was far more profound.
He could now minimize chakra expenditure to an incredible degree, and his hand seals for basic jutsu were nearly instantaneous.
A C-rank technique like Wind Release: Great Breakthrough required no seals at all; he could manifest it with a thought.
This level of control was the bedrock of advanced techniques, most notably medical ninjutsu, which would now come to him with intuitive ease.
It also unlocked a Jutsu that, in this timeline, was still years from being created: the Rasengan.
The idea of "inventing" it was a well-worn trope among transmigrators, but he couldn't deny its utility.
A seal-less, instant-cast sphere of pure, compressed chakra was the perfect tool for a shinobi with massive reserves. If one wasn't enough, he could simply form another.
The Rasengan's principle was simple in theory: force chakra to rotate in multiple directions at once within a stable, condensed sphere.
The execution, however, was a nightmare of control that stumped most geniuses. But for someone with his level of mastery? It was less a matter of learning and more one of simple execution.
If Naruto and Konohamaru could master it, he certainly could.
A faint, whirring sound filled the quiet room.
Yuta held up his palm, and a shimmering, blue sphere of chakra materialized above it, rotating with perfect, contained destruction.
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