Training Montage

I walked out of the Hokage Tower, holding a scroll that contained the bounty I earned from Kakuzu. It was 60 million Ryo, which I thought was bullshit. Only 15 million more than Asuma?! Really?

It was no use in complaining, as the bounty was put up decades ago and was forgotten. I'm sure money was worth more when Kakuzu was young.

Still, I had enough money to buy a really nice sword, so that was something. I needed to wait three more months before the chakra blacksmith revisited the village. So I needed to have a regular sword for a while, which sucked because it meant no Shikai or Bankai.

This might be a good time to get better at taijutsu. I had mastered the techniques and movements, so I now just needed to accumulate more experience. And I knew the perfect person to ask. After purchasing a cheap sword, I started to flash around the different training grounds, hoping that they weren't on a mission.

Luckily, I found who I was looking for.

"If I don't complete this set of 10,000 pushups, I will do 10,000 pullups!"

"That's it, Lee! Show me your youthful spirit!"

Guy and Lee were training physically when I walked up to them.

They didn't stop their exercise, but Guy did look up at me.

"Ah, Kaen! How can I help you?"

"I was wondering if we could spar," I said, "I have mastered my taijutsu style, but I need more experience."

Guy got slightly more serious, "Mastered, you say?"

I nodded, "I have perfected the technique, I just need to apply it now."

Guy got up and shook his head, "There is no such thing as 'mastering' a style. Taijutsu can always be improved!"

I grinned and took a stance, "Let me show you then."

He formed a grin of his own, "Ah, the flames of youth! I will always have time for the youthful in need of learning!"

Lee stopped doing pushups and moved to the side.

"Go, Guy-sensei!"

We both charged. I flashed forward while Guy just used pure speed. We started exchanging a flurry of blows, relying on pure taijutsu techniques.

As we fought, I realized that I was faster than Guy, but he was physically stronger. I started utilizing flash step more heavily, trying to push my advantage.

It was a fault of mine that I realized during my fight with Kakuzu. The mastered flash step was too fast for my perception to keep up smoothly, so using it multiple times over short distances was difficult. It was something I never thought to train since I hadn't noticed it was a problem.

It was high time I fixed it.

As I started flashing around, trying to attack Guy's blind spots, he sped up as well. Usually, with my speed advantage, I would be winning, but Guy wasn't the foremost taijutsu expert for nothing. He was constantly predicting my attacks, already moving before I executed my techniques.

After another intense exchange, we both jumped back, both of us only slightly winded.

"I'm starting to see what you mean about never 'mastering' a style," I said.

"Even though I've perfected the techniques, I'm not utilizing them at their best. I've also never even thought of learning other taijutsu techniques and expanding my repertoire."

Guy smiled at this, "So youthful! I sadly need to end the spar here, as I have more training to do. Feel free to find me once you've learned more."

Lee piped up, "Kaen, you must fight me! I've never seen such a youthful display of skill before!"

I laughed, "Sure. Once I've learned some new techniques, I wouldn't mind sparring with you."

"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed, "I've been inspired! Instead of 10,000 pushups, I'll do 100,000! And if I can't do that…"

Lee continued to ramble on while being encouraged by Guy. I felt that this was my cue to leave. As I walked away, I headed towards the Shinobi library. I had read up on the basics of taijutsu in the academy, but I never delved very deep, as I trusted the system to deliver me a suitable style.

But I understood now that I was trapping myself with that kind of thinking. If the system made me as strong as Yamamoto was, wouldn't I be even stronger if I trained in other techniques besides the ones the system provided? I did this a bit with fire ninjutsu, but it wasn't super helpful, since Yamamoto's fire manipulation was more advanced than this world's knowledge. But taijutsu might be different, considering how many different styles there are. In Bleach, most shinigami relied on their Zanpaktou, but the shinobi in Naruto specialized in more than one thing.

I arrived at the library and showed my ID the chunin at the desk.

He nodded, "You are allowed to all levels of the library as an elite jonin. You are prohibited from sharing the higher level techniques with others unless they are officially apprenticed under you or are on a team you lead."

He handed me my ID back as I walked past. I guess that made sense, as Konoha didn't want their strongest skills to be widespread to unqualified ninjas.

I started at the C-rank taijutsu, which had the Goken or Strong Fist. I grabbed those scrolls and moved up to B-rank, which had the hummingbird style. It was based on utilizing the body flicker technique in combination with regular taijutsu. There was also nintaijutsu theory, which was incomplete since the full technique is only learned in Kumo. Nintaijutsu was basically the Raikage's lightning cloak. It was just theory, though; you would have to learn it from Kumo or figure out a way by yourself.

B-rank also had the Mecical style, which incorporated knowledge with chakra scalpels, seemingly what Kabuto had used in the anime. I grabbed all of these scrolls and moved up to the A-rank section, which didn't have any of its own styles, just more advanced material on what was found in the B-rank section. So I moved on to the S-rank section, which had just two things; knowledge of the 8 Gates and Tsunade's strength technique, which was literally named Strength Technique.

These styles were S-rank not only for their power but also for the danger they pose to the user. Using the strength technique from Tsunade could result in irreparable damage to your muscles and bones if used improperly. Nothing needs to be said about the consequences of the Eight Gates. I grabbed a scroll of each and went to check out.

The chunin startled before giving me a strange look.

"You sure you want all this?"

I nodded.

"Ok, then," he checked out the scrolls before writing something down on another scroll he had.

"If you want to keep those scrolls longer than a month, come back and renew them."

With that said, he handed me the scrolls and I left, heading back to my house.

This was going to be a lot of reading…

Two weeks passed as I integrated the basics of each style. I also practiced the stances a lot, which finally led to the system adding the styles to my skill list at level 1. I had read over Tsunade's technique and the Eight Gates, but I hadn't attempted them yet, as they were very dangerous.

I was able to form chakra scalpels out of fire, which was pretty awesome and learned about an increased range of vital spots to aim for. I was also able to use the Hummingbird Style by replacing the body flicker with my flash steps. I learned the basics pretty quickly, before attempting to incorporate what I learned into my usual taijutsu.

After another two weeks, I combined them successfully. It wasn't perfect, but it was workable. I just had to practice a shit ton now.

And so that's what I did. I spent two months practicing my new taijutsu style until I felt it would be effective enough to start sparring. All of that work created a new skill in the system, which was labeled Personal Style.

While I trained like a maniac, Ayame and Isamu were promoted to jonin. So I took a break one day and we celebrated at the Uchiha compound with take-out. We also sparred together, which was fun. I obliterated them with my personal style, but they had gotten much better.

I was also able to order a high-quality sword that would hopefully support my Bankai. It set me back 25 million Ryo, which made my wallet cry out in pain. It would arrive in two more months, so I decided to get back to the taijutsu grind.

It was time to try out the more dangerous techniques.

So I found myself in a deserted training ground, before taking a deep breath in. I directed closed my eyes and searched in my mind for the first gate; the Gate of Opening. This gate would release the limiters on my muscles, allowing my strength to grow exponentially. I found the gate, before moving some chakra to it, trying to open it.

Nothing happened.

"The scroll said you needed to find a trigger that would activate the gates and said that everyone had a different trigger."

The trigger was just the spot you push the chakra through and the amount of chakra used. There was no explanation on how to do this, just some general tips to find the trigger.

There were also the requirements of having an extremely strong body and strict mental discipline. I did have a strong body and pretty good mental strength from all the meditation, so I just needed to find the right trigger.

This might take a while…

//////

I was right, again. It was three weeks later that the first gate finally opened, filling me with power. I kept it up for the next couple of minutes before closing it. My body was strong and durable enough that I was only slightly tired.

I grinned.

///////

A little over a month had passed, and I had opened up to and including the sixth gate. The third gate, the Gate of Life, was where the exhaustion set in. And the sixth gate, the Gate of View, was when the pain set in. It didn't leave lasting damage, as my natural healing factor and endurance were high, but it caused intense pain.

I could use the first gate for six hours, the second for five hours, and so on. I could only keep the Gate of View active for 52 minutes. Once I got that to an hour, I would work on opening the seventh gate, the Gate of Wonder. In the scroll, it is said that, once the other seven gates were opened once, the eighth would be loosened. This allowed one to open the gate just by willing it, not needing a trigger.

I obviously haven't done this, as the eighth gate overheats the body until it turns to ashes, which would be an ironic way for me to die.

Anyways, aside from that I also had my new sword now, which was delivered to me earlier this morning. I also got news from Tsunade that they found a compatible hand for me and were currently modifying it so it would match my other hand. It won't be perfect and will probably take some getting used to, but that was ok with me.

Another 2 weeks passed, and I was to hold the sixth gate for one hour and open the seventh gate. That's when I had to stop, though. My endurance from the system protected me from any lasting damage up to the sixth gate. I just had to deal with exhaustion, pain, and soreness. The seventh gate, however, damaged me down to the bones. So I only held it for a few seconds before stopping, knowing that I would've been injured enough afterward for a hospital visit.

After that, I started heading back to Konoha to begin training the Strength Technique. Oh, I hadn't mentioned I was away from Konoha? Well, funny story, once I unlocked the third gate, I was releasing so much power that I destroyed the training ground and alerted the anbu. After explaining myself to an irate Tsunade, I was banned from opening the gates in Konoha unless it was an emergency. So I had to run a couple of kilometers into the forest outside the walls before I could train the gates again.

Anyway, I arrived back in Konoha, visiting my house to grab the scroll I needed before heading to another training ground.

I read through it again. The technique required you to use chakra to enhance you're muscles to the maximum capacity they could handle and not a bit less, which was why it required perfect chakra control. Then, you either maintained the chakra at this level, which allowed for continuous strength, or you released it all as soon as you contacted something. The first method didn't allow for as much strength as the latter, but it helped conserve chakra. The second method was much more powerful, but you had to reapply the chakra perfectly for every attack.

Reinforcing your muscles to the max requires you to enhance them down to the molecules, which is why it was so difficult to do. If you added too much chakra to even a single fiber of muscle, the whole network would collapse.

To learn it, you would take it very slowly in the beginning and enhance your control enough to enhance your muscles once. Then, you would practice to maintain it until it becomes as natural as breathing. Lastly, you practice releasing the force the moment your attack lands. This is the most dangerous part of the technique since any force you release too soon or late will be rebounded back to you, possibly dealing irreparable damage.

It's for these reasons that no one's mastered the technique outside of Tsunade; it's just not worth it. Most people can get stronger in other ways without trying this technique, so they would brush it off. I wouldn't, though. Mostly because I was confident in my body's ability to recover and endure damage.

I put the scroll down, before getting to work.

///////

Two more weeks passed, and I hadn't made much progress. I was able to reinforce my muscles down the individual fibers, but it took intense concentration and a couple of minutes to reinforce my whole body. This wouldn't be combat-ready for a long time.

I sighed and was about to practice some more when a chunin flickered into the training field.

"Tsurugi Kaen, the Hokage is ready to perform the surgery."

Nice. I followed the chunin to the room in the hospital where Tsunade was, standing next to a group of surgeons.

She pointed to the bed, "Get on. We'll put you under for about a day, so you'll wake up tomorrow."

I nodded before lying down. Tsunade then pulled out a syringe and injected it into my arm. A handful of seconds later, I started to lose consciousness, and the last thing I saw was the surgeons shuffling around me.

//////

I woke up with a slight headache, as I yawned. Then I realized what I was waking up from, and looked down towards my new left hand. It was covered in bandages and moved slowly compared to the rest of my body.

This is actually… Kind of lame.

I realized that it was going to take a lot more time for me to adjust than I previously thought and that I could make a flame hand, which now served no purpose and was a waste of time.

A few minutes later, a nurse appeared, informing me it would take two weeks to fully heal and not to strain my hand during that time. I was then discharged, being given some pain meds in case my hand started hurting.

I walked out of the hospital, noticing that it was about dinner time. So I went home and ate dinner with my mom. We would usually eat together at the Uchiha compound, but I decided that it'd been a while since it was just the two of us.

I also knew that, in a couple of weeks, I would probably be forced to take missions again. I had the excuse of recovering for a while, but with a new hand, that was a moot point. So I wouldn't be able to spend as much time with my mom.

After cleaning up from dinner, I went up to my room to train in the strength technique, which was possible since I was only reinforcing for now. A couple of hours later, I jumped into my bed, mentally exhausted from the intense focus I needed to strengthen my muscle fibers.

Now that Isamu and Ayame are jonin, should I ask them if they want to form a team? I'll be going on missions again soon, and they'll most likely agree.

I pondered for a while before closing my eyes, deciding that was a question for tomorrow-me.

////// A/N ///////

Hello. This chapter is just a set up for later chapters. And don't worry, his agreement to spar with Lee with not be overlooked. He will spar with them a bit before going on some more missions. This will probably be the last chapter for a while since I will be busy for the next few weeks. Leave a review, please.