Naruto: The Shadow of Uchiha

Originally, Uchiha Inaho had planned to use the moment when Ryosuke dodged his Great Fireball Technique to cast a clone jutsu and hide his real body. Then he would attack again when the opportunity presented itself. That would have given him some chance of victory.

But he hadn't expected Ryosuke to cut through his Great Fireball, which shocked him so much that he completely forgot to use the clone technique.

In the end, Ryosuke's cautious move to use a clone as a decoy was unnecessary—but it still revealed Ryosuke's strategic prudence.

When Ryosuke's clone reached Inaho and began attacking, Inaho thought it would be easy to disperse it. Normally, a clone only has about one-tenth the strength of the original. Even if he couldn't beat Ryosuke himself, destroying a clone should be a breeze.

He threw a punch, expecting an instant win—only for the clone to dodge and strike back!

Inaho was surprised. Ryosuke's clone was surprisingly capable. He immediately began taking the fight seriously.

Even after going all out, he wasn't able to dispel the clone right away. It was clear Ryosuke had infused this clone with a large amount of chakra, far more than normal.

Eventually, Inaho managed to defeat the clone, which vanished in a puff of white smoke.

Watching from the side, Ryosuke confirmed this was Inaho's real body. Still, he didn't immediately attack—he simply stood and observed.

Inaho, too, refrained from attacking. Because by this point, he had no idea how he could defeat Ryosuke.

His strongest technique, the Great Fireball, had been split apart. As for taijutsu—that wasn't even worth considering anymore. Genjutsu? He'd already tried, but Ryosuke's Sharingan was more powerful than his own, rendering illusions ineffective.

Ryosuke had completely overwhelmed him in every way—yet still acted with caution and restraint. Sneaking up on him would be nearly impossible.

Inaho sighed deeply.

"I concede."

He felt a bit of regret—he'd lost even worse than last time, and hadn't even managed to force Ryosuke to show his full power.

Ryosuke, meanwhile, now had a rough estimate of his own abilities. Beating a jōnin like Inaho was easy. If he opened Four Gates of the Eight Gates Formation and got a fourfold power boost, he might even stand a chance against a Kage-level opponent.

That was his gut feeling, though he wasn't entirely sure it was accurate.

It was a pity that he didn't have any opportunity to test that theory against a real Kage. The Kage-level powerhouses in the village—like Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo—were not exactly approachable sparring partners. Fighting them would be suicide.

If he wanted to avoid outside trouble, then perhaps the Uchiha clan's current head, Fugaku, could serve as a benchmark.

As clan head, Fugaku should at least be close to Kage level. He was a wielder of the Mangekyō Sharingan, after all.

Though in the original timeline, Fugaku never used the Mangekyō, even up to the night of the Uchiha massacre.

Still, even without the Mangekyō, he would be a good opponent to measure progress against.

Ryosuke turned to Inaho, who was still standing there awkwardly.

"If you've got nothing else to do, then leave. I don't like having people watch while I train."

Inaho hesitated for a moment, then said,

"Ryosuke… can you teach me the Eight Gates technique?"

Although he was weaker than Ryosuke, he wasn't discouraged. On the contrary, he felt inspired—and he wanted to become stronger.

Ryosuke gave him a sideways glance. So this guy wanted to learn the Eight Gates?

If it were any other overpowered technique, Ryosuke might hesitate before sharing it. But the Eight Gates Formation... well, learning it was another matter entirely.

If you could learn it, you earned it. Besides, Inaho was a fellow Uchiha clansman.

"I can teach you," Ryosuke said calmly. "Whether or not you can master it—that's up to you."

Inaho's face lit up with joy.

"Thank you."

Ryosuke began explaining.

"Now, let me tell you what the Eight Gates Formation really is."

"The Eight Gates is a taijutsu technique that temporarily unleashes tremendous strength by releasing the body's chakra limiters."

"In the chakra circulatory system, there are eight key points that regulate and suppress chakra flow. These are: the Gate of Opening, the Gate of Rest, the Gate of Life, the Gate of Pain, the Gate of Limit, the Gate of View, the Gate of Wonder, and the Gate of Death."

"These eight gates naturally restrain your body's chakra. The Eight Gates Formation forcibly overrides those restraints and releases your body's latent power—dozens of times stronger than normal."

After explaining, Ryosuke looked at Inaho.

"Did you understand?"

Inaho nodded quickly.

"Yes, I understand."

It sounded simple—remove the limiters, release chakra, gain explosive power.

Seeing Inaho's quick comprehension, Ryosuke continued to the next step.

"Since you get it, I'll demonstrate. Use your Sharingan to observe the direction of my chakra flow—and find the location of the First Gate: the Gate of Opening."

With that, Ryosuke clenched his fists and channeled chakra toward the left side of his brain, where the First Gate resided. He forcefully opened it.

Veins bulged across his forehead, his skin darkened, and a powerful aura surged outward.

"Did you see that clearly?" he asked.

Inaho had activated his Sharingan to full capacity and observed everything.

"Yes. I saw everything."

Ryosuke nodded.

"Then let's move on to closing the gate. This part is simple—just stop gathering chakra, and the gate closes on its own."

He did exactly that. The pressure faded, the veins receded, and his skin returned to normal.

Seeing how "easy" it seemed, Inaho grew excited.

"What about the other gates? Can you explain those too?"

Ryosuke rolled his eyes.

"Learn the first gate before you start thinking ahead. Now do what I did—give it a try."

Inaho didn't argue. He followed Ryosuke's instructions, refining his chakra and trying to push it toward the Gate of Opening.

His first attempt barely made a dent.

So he poured in more chakra—just a little too much.

Agonizing pain exploded through his head.

"Aghh! That hurts!"

He immediately stopped, panting and clutching his skull.

How could it hurt that much?

Suddenly, Inaho wasn't feeling so enthusiastic anymore. Compared to learning other techniques like ninjutsu or genjutsu, this was borderline torture. With his Sharingan, he could master complex jutsu fairly easily—but this? This was something else entirely.

Now he finally understood why the Eighth Elder had told him to give up on learning the Eight Gates.

This wasn't just difficult—it was brutally punishing. And that was just the first gate.

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