"ALRIGHT CLASS. HOW IS EVERYONE?" Guy Sensei Shouted while getting up.
"""We are ready to learn Sensei."" Everybody said.
The class collectively felt like Rock Lee Sensei might as well have grown older in a day and stood in front of them. Rock Lee Sensei had made everyone say that everyday in the morning so they felt like they had to say that in response to Guy Sensei who had the same energy.
Boruto couldn't help but smile smugly at Sarada. She looked a little grim and tired all at once. Rock Lee Sensei's class was always the one she liked least. She liked to follow instructions to the latter. It worked out awesome in all the classes, she just found it hard in Rock Lee Sensei's class because his philosophy was his attitude. The worst part (to her at least) was that when she gave her all, Rock Lee Sensei would praise her in what she considers an exaggerated manner.
"ALRIGHT. We are going to assess your Taijutsu advancement today. So we are going out to a training field a little aways from here."
Boruto was a little confused. If that was the plan all along, why didn't they just meet outside the class or even at location.
"STAY WITHIN 20 METRES." Guy Sensei said as he immediately took off in a sprint. In a beat he would be out of range. His speed was just enough for the slowest in class to catch up.
Boruto immediately took off after him. After taking two breath he looked at where everyone was, Shikadai was just in the 20 metre mark. He readied himself to take the 10 metre mark but spotted Mitsuki at the 12 metre mark. He looked a little forward and saw Sarada with her stance looking to take the 1 to 2 metre mark, the students that were at the front row were already just a little behind Guy Sensei. He sighed a little to himself and sped up to catch up to her. In a blink he was besides her.
"You wanted to slack off again." Sarada said with a hint of disdain in her voice.
"Hey I am not slacking off. I just don't want to stand out. I still can't understand why you can be so enthusiastic about every little thing." Boruto explained a little guiltily. For a moment he considered reminding her about what could happen if Guy Sensei praised them for giving their all.
"Yeah, like Mitsuki Right." Sarada said with a hint of a smile.
"Don't bring that up I immediately abandoned the thought after I saw him going easy in the back." Boruto grimaced. He sped up a little when he saw an opening and moved aside for Sarada.
"You say that but you always say that you don't like that he holds back, but you do the same thing." Sarada said, positioning herself beside him. "And besides, a lot of people don't give their all in class. Just look at Shikadai."
"Yeah but I do my best in written class. In Ninjutsu class I don't think I would do anything different. Even if I used less hand signs my final score wouldn't change much. Taijutsu is something different. I feel like if I gave my all I would be bullying everyone." Boruto said looking forward. It was undeniable that he was the very best in Taijutsu among the students.
Guy Sensei sped up a little, the students that were following closely couldn't keep up. Boruto immediately sped up with Sarada into the 1 to 2 metre range.
'Is that how you felt even when fighting me.' Sarada asked only moving her lips.
'You'll see in today's spar won't you.' Boruto said with only his lips moving.
Boruto knew about the abilities of the Sharingan. He hoped that the boost to Sarada's abilities would be as large as they say it is. Although she activated involuntarily in a spar from time to time, they had been infrequent enough that Boruto was left with a sense of disappointment.
Maybe Mitsuki wants to be Guy Sensei's student. Maybe he will give it his all and they'll have a good fight. At least if Mitsuki gave his all he and Sarada wouldn't draw so much attention.
Boruto saw Guy Sensei speeding up even more. He felt like not many would make it at this pace. He looked back and sure enough Chocho was slowing down. He saw Shikadai's shadow extend to her shadow and her pace immediately increased. He wanted to help too but his own Jutsu did not have anything like that. He also thought that Guy Sensei would not appreciate him carrying his classmates. Even if he did he would appreciate it credit would go to him alone and nobody would be able to demonstrate their 'burning spirit of youth' as Rock Lee Sensei always called it. Boruto guessed that the shadows were not a problem since Shikadai and Chocho were already set to be teammates.
Some students looked at him with a pleading expression. He grimaced and turned forwards. This was one of the times he hated to be the Hokage's son. Everybody was always looking at him for help. He debated if he should mark his steps but decided against it. If they kept a constant speed they wouldn't be lost with how little turns they took. He turned to them and smiled in encouragement.
When Guy Sensei sped up again even Shikadai was having trouble keeping up especially with Chocho being dragged by his shadow. Just as Boruto was thinking that they would be left behind they got to their destination.
When they got to the opening just outside the village only a third of their class was there. The was equipment set up for all kinds of Taijutsu training.
"LET'S WAIT FOR THE OTHERS." Guy Sensei said. Said after stopping. He looked even more energetic than he did before the run.
Boruto was glad when everyone got the within a minute. At least nobody seemed discouraged.
"GREAT WORK EVERYONE, YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE POWER OF YOUTH." Guy Sensei said with the largest smile Boruto might have ever seen and a thumbs Up.
Almost half the class were breathing heavily. Most times running to outside the village at sprinting speed would not make any of them break a sweat, but trying to keep up with Guy Sensei was taxing on them.
"NOW. You have completed the warm up it's time to stretch. After this you will choose a friend as a sparing partner, hopefully a friend you can go all out with to demonstrate the burning spirit within your heart."
Boruto immediately went in the direction of Sarada. They could help each other stretch and he didn't want people lining up to be either of their partners. As he was going towards her he saw Mitsuki coming in his direction. He debated if he should slow down and be his sparring partner. As he looked at him he again got the same kind of feeling that he always got, that he never took anything seriously. Deciding to avoid him, he sped up in irritation in Sarada's direction. Fighting against her was something he had promised her for when she had stabilized her Sharingan.
As he was stretching with Sarada he looked towards Mitsuki and saw he was with Kosuke Moyama. He was kind of a Taijutsu specialist in class so he figured Mitsuki was going to be a little serious.
"Alright class. I'll give you an overview of what I came to the school to teach. If Rock Lee has not told you let me give you kids an explanation." Guy Sensei said, a little more serious.
"In the Fourth Great ninja war I opened all Eight Inner Gates against Madara Uchiha in the hopes of defeating him. I would have died after our battle if not for Lord Sixth not only performing emergency healing but also sealing the eight gate I had opened. All of you have learnt this in your classes, yes??"
"""Yes Sir.""" The class responded.
"The battle showcased the destructive potential of the Eight Gates to not only the villages but to a generation of ninja. Some people in the village wanted to immediately teach the Eight Gates as a curriculum in the academy, but me, Lady Fifth, Sakura Haruno Uchiha and Rock Lee blocked the move. The Eight Inner Gates are incredibly dangerous even in the first 5 Gates where a person can cause permanent harm to themselves, the Sixth and Seventh Gates are even more dangerous as they can kill a person if they use it lightly."
"Back when I had just recovered from the opening of the Eight Gates I noticed that even though Lady Fifth told me that my leg would not be in any kind of position to do any fighting let alone walking, I could feel the bone shards in my leg moving. They were coming together and kneading themselves together. The leg that Lady Fifth said I would need to amputate in order not to be in pain for the rest of my life was healing." Guy Sensei said in a bit of an excited tone. You could feel relief in his voice.
"After a checkup with Lady Fifth it was determined that I was indeed healing, not only that but my physical strength was recovering at an astonishing pace. After an extensive examination it was determined that this was the power of the Eight Inner Gates. It turned out that the Gate of Death could not be closed and the seal acted as a soft limitation on it's power than an all new Gate. This resulted in a feedback to all the Seven Gates leaving me with all Eight Inner Gates partially opened. Of course at the time I did not think anything of it."
"It was only when the YOUTH SHOWED THEIR BURNING HEARTS TO LEARN The Eight Inner Gates that I started my work on a new version of the Eight Gates. One that would not put you young ones in danger." Guy Sensei shouted in as much excitement as all the students were feeling.
"To this end I have sought the help of all the villages in helping formulate a safe way to open the Eight Inner Gates. I worked with Darui of the cloud together with the Raikage. I worked with the sand's Kazekage. We also received help from the Mist and Rock villages. In the leaf I worked together with Kakashi Hatake, the white shadow, I worked with Lady Fifth, with her student Sakura, the foremost healer of the village, my very own student Rock Lee, the green storm your teacher, and various other ninja, but most of all Lord Sixth himself."
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"The newest iteration of the Eight Inner Gates will LIGHT THE FLAME OF YOUTH In your hearts. It will make you physically stronger, give one more Chakra, improve one's longevity and health and finally it will make one become connected to the world. There are still dangers associated with it, so to minimize the risk I am here today to choose those willing and able so that I can teach them." Guy Sensei said radiating pride. His energy was going through the roof and every student in class was going along with him.
Everybody was excited to begin showcasing their Taijutsu. Even if they were not chosen by guy Sensei the would get good advice from him.
Boruto was excited too but also couldn't help but feel depressed. Even if the eight gates were not going to be useful for him up till the Fifth Gate he still wanted to be part of something so very cool. He decided that he was going to give his best either way.
Boruto remembered something Sarada's Father told him when they were sparing at her house. He told him that fighting and war alike are a constant state of loss. You loose your stamina, your composure, sometimes your confidence, sometimes body parts or their functionality and most of all, your humanity. It is always a gamble if you can come out the other side of a battle with your whole self intact.
Sarada's Dad then said that this is the reason you train, to be able to exchange your own losses for a greater loss to the opponent. But sparing it's not about managing loss to yourself but giving to your partner. It's about a conversation with your opponent, giving advice about what they are missing and in turn receiving such advice. If you can find a compatible sparing partner you can hopefully talk like this for hours.
Sarada was always on the edge of that in Taijutsu with him. Although her speed and strength were a little lacking, it felt like her technique had a language of its own. Hopefully the Sharingan would be a boost to her.
"It is time to the SPAR. THIS IS THE TIME TO SHOWCASE YOUR YOUTH. I take it you remember in what order you arrived in, we will go first with the last to arrive with the partner to arrive later taking the priority." Guy Sensei said. While Boruto did not remember the exact order he did remember they were right behind Guy Sensei when they arrived so they would probably be the last to spar.
The first few exchanges were not memorable to Boruto, other than the fact that many of them were fighting instead of sparing. They used all their power in the exchanges, that made them tired and sloppy at the end. Some lost their composure and made elementary mistakes. Some lost their confidence, seeing others fight intimidated them and they went on to give a lackluster showing. Some of them were hurt trying to hurt their opponents, while others were hurt by their opponents. Guy Sensei of course intervened when there was a risk of injury. The ones Boruto looked down on most are those that cheated or got angry at a loss.
The first spar that took his attention was between Shikadai and Chocho. He could see that Chocho was holding back her strength. Shikadai was targeting her weaknesses and she responded by guarding them. Sometimes Shikadai was so enthusiastic about Chocho's weaknesses that he would perform a flying kick which allowed Chocho to swat him straight out of the air. Other times Chocho was actually performing a block which allowed the flying kick to succeed. She would sometimes use her weight to grapple him down just to let him go immediately, making him remember to keep his distance. The fight was of course Chocho's win, although Shikadai's stamina and setups were superior, Chocho was overall physically superior. Not only in terms of explosiveness, but also in terms of being comfortable with taking hits and dishing them out.
Raiga and Inoji's match was quite good too. Though Boruto was quite annoyed with Inoji's insistence on targeting Raiga's partner. Boruto personally wouldn't target a puppy even if the goal of the exercise it to target each other's weaknesses. Overall a neutral exchange even though Raiga lost because of defending his partner throughout the fight.
Fū's battle was a disaster in Boruto's opinion. It was clear that her opponent was afraid of her. Boruto didn't know why they would spar if they have such bad chemistry. Even though the match started all well and good Fū's opponent lost composure by the minute which culminated in an unnecessarily heavy punch. The worst part was that Fū answered the heavy punch with her own knocking out her opponent.
The overall best spar was between Kosuke and Mitsuki. Neither Mitsuki nor Kosuke were ever heavy with their blows. Mitsuki's blows were always targeted at Kosuke's weaknesses and Kosuke never made a mistake three times. When Kosuke realized that low kicks were ineffective because of Mitsuki's unusual lower body mobility he concentrated on high kicks which allowed Mitsuki to free his legs for his own leg sweeps. Kosuke responded by solidifying his stance and going for concentrated palm and fist strikes. Mitsuki checked all his offense and went for a grappling win with a constrictive choke. Overall Kosuke performed amazingly but Mitsuki was clearly not giving his all even without Sage mode.
Afterwards there were a few matches. When everyone saw the top students refrained from hurting each other they followed suit, which resulted in some of the better matches. Of course some of that is because everyone was getting better and better in Taijutsu as everyone that was called got here closer and closer to the time that Guy Sensei got here. Kosuke was just behind Boruto and Sarada but of course Mitsuki took precedence in that exchange.
"The final spar of the day is between Boruto and Sarada. Please step into the circle and pay respects. Make sure not to injure your opponent and protect yourselves."
Boruto's hands were sweaty. He had never been this nervous for a spar before. He couldn't wait for this exchange. At the same time he was afraid that Sarada was going to beat him. It was possible with the Sharingan that her improvements were bigger than he realized. He went into the circle of students.
When Boruto saw Sarada's hand shaking and realized she was nervous too, all those thoughts disappeared and only the spar was in front of him.
"START!!"
Boruto approached Sarada slowly with a wide stance and one arm forward. Sarada approached with some caution, her one Tomoe Sharingan red as blood. They met in the middle with their hands touching, this was to measure the power they were prepared to give in the battle. Boruto knew Sarada was going to give first, he had always been stronger. Boruto felt like paper bombs were going off in his stomach as he used more and more strength.
Sarada broke stance and went for an open palm strike. Boruto blocked and held her wrist then went for a straight thrust to the midsection. Sarada met his fist with a palm directing the fist out of her danger zone. She then pulled her other hand in between them dragging Boruto's other arm with her. This destabilized his stance opening up his head for a sidekick. Boruto saw the danger, let go of her, pulled back his arms while getting down under the kick to dodge. He then transitioned into a leg sweep. Sarada, not being stable enough after the kick, opted for a jump. Boruto immediately capitalized with a relatively safe dual open palm the moment she was about to touch the ground, adding angular momentum to her upper body, landing her back first on the ground.
Sarada reset and went for a tight stance. Boruto, noticing she was getting comfortable, went with the Gentle Fist. He couldn't target Chakra points so he used it for its safety and speed. When they were in range again Boruto overwhelmed Sarada with a series of chained open palms. She tightened her stance even more, looking closely with her Sharingan. When the chain broke she used an imitation of those palms but with fists forcing Boruto to take a step back. Sarada following the chain did not realize she overextended, Boruto's step back was supposed to be an opening for her to transition into another technique, but of course she didn't have it. Boruto pulled her overextended hand then went for a leg kick landing her on the ground again. Boruto had told her in that exchange, don't copy the technique if it doesn't fit in with your fighting style.
Sarada had got the message by the time she got up. This time she did not set her stance, she rushed at him. Boruto was a little on the back foot on the rush. Sarada was more explosive this time. When Boruto executed a chain of Gentle Fist palms, Sarada read them and countered with a low kick. Boruto used his shin to block, Sarada used her leg to hook his lead leg, breaking his stance. By the time Boruto saw what she was doing she was already in grappling distance. Boruto threw a descending punch but abandoned it when he saw Sarada moving head first in its direction. This allowed her success in her grappling, downing him. He then scrambled to a reset.
It wasn't until he was up that he recognised her previous style as a combination of Kosuke and Mitsuki's styles. Her rush at the beginning and her leg hook with the transition into the grappling. Boruto felt a little annoyed with the fact that this was an in class spar otherwise Sarada could use her terrain modifying explosiveness. Of course if they started using Chakra like that they would need to have a wider field. This way technique will always win out.
The next few exchanges Sarada used more and more techniques of the class putting Boruto on the defensive over and over again. He could always recover but at this pace Sarada will dissect his fighting style to the hair. He still had one technique that he could pull out to end the fight, he just didn't know it would work. Of course even without it, he could still pull off a win with just a slight increase in speed.
'Ok I won't pull that out for now, but what if I use my image training. That technique could overwhelm her varied offense.' Boruto could see that while she used those techniques closest and least clashing with her style she still couldn't mesh them together organically.
Boruto changed his stance, bending his back and exuding an animalistic aura. This was part of his image training to see if he could use the nine tailed fox as a centerpiece to build his own Six Paths Senjutsu around. In the moment he put the image of the Nine tails at the front of his mind, he felt like he had been using his weight all wrong. He always felt this whenever he did the image training. It always felt like the weight wasn't to stabilize himself but to hunt. The central use was to catch prey.
Sarada's POV
Sarada cautiously took her stance. She felt like Boruto was looking to end this. To tell the truth she was tired. Boruto could afford to hold back but she couldn't. She had seen him pull back his punch when she went for the takedown, at that moment she could have honestly given up no problem. The only thing that stopped her was his line that if he gave his all he would be bullying everyone. It was hard to disagree, even if you only considered technique it would take at least Mitsuki and Kosuke to beat him if Mitsuki wasn't holding back in that fight. She wanted to see him give a little bit more every time they reset.
It felt like a dream when she found herself on the ground, Boruto being on top of her breathing heavily. It didn't feel like he got stronger or faster, it felt like her own arms had turned to rock. Within four exchanges he broke her stance and her rhythm. Her techniques couldn't chain together and she felt like prey. He had won just like that.
Boruto sat in silence a bit. His Chakra felt like it was boiling. He did not think that his image training would be so effective. Even though he kept his strength and speed the same as Sarada, when he looked at her in that state (the Nine Tailed Fox state), it felt like she was full of openings. He got up and held a hand to Sarada helping her get up.
"SPAR END. Great showing from both of you."
When the went to sit down he could tell Sarada had some questions so he signaled to her they would talk after class. It seemed like Guy Sensei was moving to the main part of the lesson.
"I have seen very promising students today. All of you have shown BURNING PASSION AND THE POWER OF YOUTH. I'll give you an overview of the Eight Inner Gates to help you decide weather or not you want to follow me on the pursuit of strength." Guy Sensei said with his usual enthusiasm.
"The eight gates have always been thought of as limiters on a person's strength, that the are there to reduce or eliminate the possibility of a person destroying their own body in either combat or day to day movement. The change came in when we found out that Chakra had a source. If any one person had to give even a single village worth of Shinobi Chakra to equal an Eighth Gate opening, even 10 Ten tails would be stretched thin."
"That prompted me to start thinking about the Eight Inner Gates as amplifiers instead of limiters. I thought about it in terms of a set amount of Chakra being given to a person and instead of the Eight Inner Gates suppressing the Chakra it interacted with these places in the human body in such a way that it resulted in more Chakra than was given. In that way opening the Eight Inner Gates can be seen as a speeding up of that interaction."
"Of course this is not definitive. I just find that a more helpful image. THE COALS OF ONE'S YOUTH BURNING TO GIVE YOU STRENGTH." Guy Sensei explained to the class. Everybody was as excited as he seemed to be at least.
Boruto himself was enthralled. The image of the Eight Gates burning like torches in a person was something that would be in his dreams. Sage help him if he couldn't get to use the gates in a fight.
"One of the breakthroughs we had was thinking of Jinchuriki and their partners as a single being. If this is the case then you can see their Tailed Beasts Forms as an alternate embodiment of the self. Our thinking then became what if we use the eight gates as Canvases for a Shinobi to paint and actualize their truer selves. Each gate being a small part of that image with all Eight Gates coming together to complete the Embodiment." Everybody in class listened to Guy Sensei in rapt attention.
"The Gate of Opening, once seen as a mental inhibitor, in this new iteration can be seen as a linking of the body and mind. Opening the body's internal space, much like a Jinchuriki, for the building and actualization of the gates. In this way the Eight Inner Gates form eight seal like spaces in the body. This is the most important Gate for a young Shinobi. Most of this gate cannot be actualized without help. It requires a fairly advanced sealing Jutsu, the Shinobi only needs to be able to open the gate for a relatively long time while maintaining precise control of their Chakra." Guy Sensei said seriously.
"The next 3 Gates involve small modifications to the core script of the Gate of Opening. They must also necessarily be different from Shinobi to Shinobi, especially the Gate of life."
"The Gates of Limit, View and wonder use even more advanced sealing Jutsu while incorporating Senjutsu."
It clicked in Boruto's head why it felt like Guy Sensei was a Sage Statue when he saw him in class. So the later parts of the Eight Inner Gates (like seemingly every other path) lead to the Sage.
"For the Eighth Gate there is no safe way to open it. The huge part is that our theories point to a person having to experience death in order for it to reach its full potential." Guy Sensei said with a grimness that extinguished the fervor of the last few minutes.
"Don't be thinking that 'well mom said I died when I was born and Lady Sakura brought me back so I could open the Eighth Gate', you have to have opened the Seventh Gates before Experiencing death or even in the middle of using the Eighth in order for the Gate to reach that full potential." Guy Sensei said before anyone asked.
"Ok those willing to follow this path raise your hands, take into account that those of you who did not get here with me will have to work all the harder in order to open the gates. The quickest person to open the gates I have ever seen has always been my student Rock Lee who took a couple of months of working with me, all the while having been training at Taijutsu for years beforehand. To get some of you in physical condition might take years. Now who is willing?" Guy Sensei said with seriousness.
Boruto had just resolved to raise his hand when Sarada looked at him with her Sharingan, he reflexively opened his mind palace.
"You are already inheriting the Hokage's will don't crowd out our classmates."
Boruto put his hand down and looked at all the students. Nearly half of them had raised their hands.