"Ugh!"
A sharp, stabbing pain exploded in an instant!
In that moment, Mikami Yuu felt as if a red-hot iron spike had been driven straight into the top of his skull. His chakra slammed into an invisible barrier and scattered violently, and the backlash made his temples throb hard as a wave of intense dizziness surged up.
First attempt—failed.
Mikami Yuu opened his eyes.
Might Duy seemed to have already judged what he'd run into, and immediately began instructing:
"How was it? When you struck the acupoint, did your chakra collapse right away? That's normal. It means you really did touch the 'gate' barrier. The key is chakra control…"
Might Guy leaned in and shared his own experience too:
"Yeah, yeah, I had the same problem the first time! You have to compress your chakra as much as possible—twist it tighter and tighter, like wringing a rope!"
"Imagine it's a needle! Drive it in one go!"
"The first time is always tight, like there's a membrane blocking it, but it gets looser after!"
"Pain? Pain is right! That's youth knocking at the door! Endure it!"
"…"
"Youth knocking at the door," my ass.
Mikami Yuu was speechless.
But after Duy's explanation, he roughly understood what he needed to focus on. So after swallowing another soldier pill, he mobilized chakra again and tried to break through.
This time, Mikami Yuu concentrated completely. He extracted chakra from his meridians over and over, compressing and condensing it as tightly as possible, shaping it into a "cone." Only after building up enough force did he drive it hard into the acupoint in the brain region!
BOOM—!!!
A pain even sharper than before detonated!
Mikami Yuu's body trembled. Every cell in him seemed to shake violently. Sweat poured like rain, soaking his clothes. But he clenched his teeth and forced himself to hold on, gathering his last strength to shove that "chakra cone" upward.
It felt like ten-plus seconds—
and also like a whole century.
Finally…
Just when he was about to black out, he suddenly heard a buzz, like a cork being yanked out of a bottle. Then a tiny spark flared to life, flickering with a subtle, stubborn resilience.
The pain was still there.
But along with it came an immense sense of release—while a surging torrent of chakra spread through his body—
He did it!
Gate of Opening: OPEN!
At that moment, Mikami Yuu felt terrifyingly strong, like he could punch a bull to death.
However…
The Eight Gates was, by nature, an explosive taijutsu. From the moment the first gate opened, chakra was being burned continuously—you couldn't maintain it for long.
After bouncing in place a few times and shattering a wooden post with a punch, Mikami Yuu had to exit the Gate of Opening state.
And then an indescribable exhaustion flooded out from every cell, spreading through his limbs and bones—overtraining backlash plus the post-gate fatigue stacking together. He felt even more drained than when he hadn't taken a soldier pill.
And the culprit behind it all was still running her mouth:
[Eight Gates: (Eyes shining, slapping your shoulder hard) See? I told you it feels amazing. Pain? Fatigue? Those are just little snacks on the road to becoming stronger! Great, great spirit!]
[Eight Gates: Mm… I really want to see your limits again, but we'll stop here for today. I'll come find you tomorrow morning!]
[Eight Gates Affection +1. Added to romance list!]
"…."
Thank god—she finally left.
Mikami Yuu had only just let out a breath—
when another unexpected line appeared:
[Healing Technique: Sigh… this kid… you're really too reckless. Who trains by wrecking their body like this? If these injuries aren't fixed in time, you might leave irreversible damage.]
[A green-clad Healing Technique appears before you, gently stroking your head with a pitying touch, then placing both hands on your chest. A pale green light rises in her palms—it's that reassuring healing power.]
This was the first time a jutsu from his romance list had cast itself on its own, without Mikami Yuu providing chakra as its "master."
Feeling that familiar healing power—far purer than when he used it himself—turn into a warm current that dispersed the fatigue inside him, Mikami Yuu's eyes widened in shock. A wave of disbelief rose in his chest.
It can do that?!
Why hadn't this ever happened before? Was it because he'd never been injured this badly… or because affection hadn't been high enough?
At that point, the Three Basic Jutsu also came out to join the noise:
[Transformation Technique: Thanks, Healing Technique. Mikami-chan, you have to train within your limits—rushing like this won't do.]
[Clone Technique: I told you this guy's fickle! He already has the three of us sisters and still isn't satisfied. The moment we stopped watching, he ran off with some weird woman…]
[Clone Technique: If you liked redheads so much, you could've just gone to that red-haired one from last time. This one—who knows where she came from. Just looking at her, she's the classic delinquent girl you see in those "books"—the type who'll play you to death and then dump you.]
[Substitution Technique: Mm-hm! Big sis Clone is right!]
[Great Fireball Jutsu: Wait… the redhead you just mentioned—are you talking about me?]
[Clone Technique: Who else would it be?]
[Great Fireball Jutsu: …Hmph. A mere Clone Technique dares give me a stupid nickname? Watch your respect!]
[Clone Technique: Sorry, but I'm a noble "Water Clone Jutsu" now~ Not only the same rank as you, I just so happen to counter you. And this "Water Clone" skin was personally gifted by Mikami-kun. Don't tell me someone still hasn't gotten a gift from him? No way, no way?]
[Transformation Technique, Healing Technique: …]
"…"
Mikami Yuu thought: you guys, please shut up.
A bunch of ninjutsu trash-talking in the void every day like this—seriously?
Also, Clone Technique just mentioned "those books," right? Jutsu can read that kind of stuff? Human-made ones, or ninjutsu-made ones?
Hm…
Come to think of it, when Transformation Technique's affection hit 100, based on galgame conventions, shouldn't it have unlocked some special effects? Why didn't he see any?
Mikami Yuu didn't dwell on that.
After all…
Doing that with ninjutsu was a bit too far ahead.
What he was more curious about now was the mechanism behind Healing Technique's autonomous trigger.
~~~
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