Naruto: The Shadow of Uchiha

Seeing Inaho clutching his head in pain, Ryosuke calmly asked,

"Your steps were correct. Are you going to keep training?"

Inaho hesitated. He hadn't expected Eight Gates training to be this painful—it made him think twice.

After a long pause, he finally replied,

"I'll continue. Ryosuke, you managed to do it. I believe I can too."

Ryosuke blinked in surprise. The truth was, his success was largely thanks to his increasingly resilient body, capable of enduring pain and recovering quickly. Inaho didn't have that kind of advantage.

Ryosuke looked at him and said,

"Then come back to me once you've successfully opened the first gate. That's when I'll teach you the next phase of training."

"I'm going to resume my own training now. If there's nothing else, you can leave."

Inaho knew that was a polite way of being dismissed.

He wasn't upset—after all, Ryosuke had just shared the secret of the Eight Gates with him.

Before he left, Inaho couldn't help but ask,

"So… how many gates have you opened?"

"Four," Ryosuke answered bluntly.

Inaho's expression changed.

He wasn't a novice; he knew that the further one progressed through the Eight Gates, the more painful and dangerous it became. If Ryosuke could open four gates, then in a real fight, once Ryosuke got close, he could probably end the battle in an instant.

There was no doubt anymore: Uchiha Ryosuke was a taijutsu genius.

This was worth reporting to the Eighth Elder.

As for continuing his own Eight Gates training… perhaps that could wait a bit.

And it wasn't because he was afraid of pain. Of course not.

After Inaho left, Ryosuke resumed his usual regimen. Having just finished 200 push-ups, he moved on to 200 squats.

After completing two rounds of Saitama-sensei's One Punch Man routine, Ryosuke earned another boost to his stats.

Then he returned to his home, rinsed off the sweat, and lay down in a chair to rest.

He opened his Auto Cultivation System's personal status panel:

 Host: Uchiha Ryosuke

Strength: 135 (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Speed: 135 (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Endurance: 125 (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Mental Energy: 69 (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Chakra: 5.4 units (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Sharingan: Three Tomoe (Turtle-speed cultivation in progress)

Clone Technique: Turtle-speed training

Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu: Turtle-speed training

Eight Gates Technique: Four Gates unlocked

Overall Rating: Half-Kage level

His strength, speed, and endurance were all five to six times greater than when he first started.

His evaluation had risen from a standard chunin to Half-Kage level—that is, stronger than elite jōnin but not yet at full Kage strength.

But Ryosuke felt this rating didn't reflect his true capabilities. If he activated the forbidden Eight Gates, he could probably go toe-to-toe with a true Kage-level shinobi.

Maybe the system just wasn't accounting for that power-up because of its time limitation.

His mental energy boost came from all his "intimate moments" with Kurenai. As a result, his chakra had also skyrocketed.

Right now, he had over five times more chakra than Kakashi!

Though the number seemed small, it wasn't due to lack of effort. The truth was… Kurenai couldn't handle more than once a week. Their sessions were more like full-scale battles than gentle lovemaking.

As for his Sharingan—no one dared mock it as "low-level" anymore.

After all, a Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the Leaf Village was already considered very powerful. The only ones above him now were those who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.

In just over three months, he had gone from being a run-of-the-mill chunin to someone on the verge of reaching true Kage-level power. If he activated the Eight Gates, he could already challenge that level—though temporarily.

A few more months of training, and he might truly become a Kage-level ninja.

By then, he wouldn't need to fear the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

He wasn't sure if Itachi Uchiha had bought into his ideological "reeducation" yet—they hadn't interacted much recently.

But if Itachi remained obstinate and continued siding with the Hokage, then Ryosuke wouldn't show mercy.

That afternoon, Inaho headed to the Konoha Police Force Headquarters, entering the office of Uchiha Yatsushiro, the clan's Eighth Elder.

As he pushed the door open, he saw Yatsushiro buried in paperwork at his desk.

Without preamble, Inaho stated his purpose:

"Elder Yatsushiro, I have an urgent report."

Yatsushiro didn't even look up. From the voice, he already knew it was Inaho.

He was irritated. The Uchiha managed all of Konoha's public order—handling disputes, catching criminals, patrolling streets.

The workload was crushing.

Still, he was proud. Only the Uchiha had the strength and discipline to run the Police Force. If it were left to other factions in the village—like the ANBU or Danzo's Root Division—it would fall apart.

Upon hearing the name "Ryosuke," Yatsushiro frowned and said impatiently,

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from that guy?"

"Even if he's strong, his ideas are dangerous."

Back when Ryosuke suggested killing the entire Leaf high command, even Madara hadn't dared dream of that. Of course, that was because no one had the power to make it happen.

Right now, even the entire Uchiha clan working together couldn't pull it off.

A coup to force the Hokage to step down was still plausible—after all, the Third Hokage wasn't a very strong-willed man.

Inaho, however, urgently replied,

"But Elder Yatsushiro, his strength is extraordinary."

Yatsushiro raised an eyebrow.

"Just how strong?"

What, had he beaten Inaho again? That wasn't enough to impress him. Could he be stronger than him, an elder?

Inaho quickly recounted that morning's events.

"I fought him again today. It was a complete one-sided defeat. He didn't even use the Eight Gates, and I had zero chance."

"And he told me… he's already opened Four Gates."

Yatsushiro was stunned.

He stopped working altogether and looked up.

If Ryosuke truly possessed that kind of strength, then he wasn't just a strong elite jōnin. He'd become a major military asset—like Uchiha Shisui once was.

Unfortunately, Shisui had been a pacifist.

But Ryosuke? He'd unlocked Four Gates?

That wasn't even logical.

He remembered that Ryosuke had been training under Might Guy, and hadn't even trained for half a year yet.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Did you actually see Ryosuke open Four Gates?"

Inaho was confused.

"Elder, as I said—he didn't need to open the gates. He beat me effortlessly without it. He did teach me the technique, though… but even opening the First Gate was incredibly difficult."

"But I don't think Ryosuke would lie about this kind of thing."

Yatsushiro fell silent.

Inaho was right—Ryosuke wasn't the type to brag about something like this, and the fact that he was willing to teach the Eight Gates to another clansman showed he wasn't selfish.

He finally said,

"Alright. You go back. I'll find time to talk to Ryosuke personally."

If Ryosuke could just be steered away from his radical ideology, he'd be a tremendous asset to the clan.

Yatsushiro decided to finish his paperwork tonight—and meet Ryosuke tomorrow morning.

He still remembered—Ryosuke always trained in the small grove just beside the clan compound in the mornings.

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