Chapter 71: Mr. Showoff
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On a stormy night, which was the ideal time for a ninja to carry out an assassination mission, a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky and exposed a pair of blood-red eyes.
A ninja, adorned with a leaf forehead protector, thrust his hand through the chest of another ninja, who wore a sand forehead protector. Consequently, the latter fell from the tree and became a corpse.
"Kekeke, Lord Fugaku's jutsu, this lightning release technique is amazing!" Orochimaru laughed wickedly.
After spending some time with him, Fugaku began to feel that Orochimaru was weird and annoying, so he ignored him and looked at the corpse on the ground.
"This is the second spy we've found on our way. How many have they sent?" he asked.
There were not many Leaf ninjas guarding the border of the Fire Country, and the border line was long, making it easy for the Sand ninjas to sneak in.
Judging from his disguise, he had killed a leaf ninja and then changed into his clothes, disguising himself as a leaf ninja.
If it weren't for the fact that most of the people in this group were elite ninja, plus Inoichi Yamanaka's sensing ability, they wouldn't have been able to notice him at all.
"It seems that the Suna Village will initiate a large-scale attack soon," Nara Shikaku answered solemnly.
"Why?" Fugaku asked.
"We are now in the territory of the Land of Rivers, and the spies were discovered in the last two days. The Suna camp was in a hurry to collect information; they must have planned something big." Nara Shikaku explained calmly.
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Fugaku pov
The Leaf Village had pushed its defense line into the Land of Rivers, a small country caught in the crossfire of the war. Fugaku felt sympathy for them, but they had no choice. It was better to fight on foreign soil than on their own.
He had caught two spies. How many more spies infiltrated the defense line? They can't be dependent on these few sensory ninjas of clans, Hyuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka, to stop all spies.
They had been deployed ahead on the frontline, and the Land of Rivers was too vast for them to cover.
He hoped that his decision to let the ninjas split up into teams would have effectively enabled them to defend against enemies.
In wartime, it might be easy for a ninja to disguise and infiltrate the enemy's camp, but it was difficult to obtain information in the enemy's camp and make it out alive.
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Shikaku's analysis made Fugaku frown again. He knew strategy wisely; sending spies first, collecting information, and waiting for an opportunity to sabotage was a very common tactic.
If they camped here tonight, they would reach the Leaf Village's camp by tomorrow afternoon. But what if the enemy attacked tomorrow morning or had already done so?
"Under normal circumstances, we should be the first team to reach camp, right?" He thought and asked Shikaku.
"Yes, that's right." Shikaku nodded, puzzled by the question.
"Then I have no choice. I'll go ahead. You guys can have some rest and catch up later."
"Oh? Does Lord Fugaku have any special techniques?"Orochimaru looked at him with interest.
They had been traveling non-stop through treacherous terrain for days now. with the constant traveling for sixteen to eighteen hours every day, leaving them completely exhausted.
Only Orochimaru and Tsunade seemed unfazed by this ordeal, as they took advantage of the limited time they had to rest and replenish their energy.
Even the usually energetic Ino-Shika-Cho trio somewhat looked worn out, as did Seike and Shizune.
It was at this moment that everyone's eyes turned to him, the only one who seemed to look relaxed.
Orochimaru was voicing the question that was on everyone's mind.
"You'll see." He clenched his fists.
Fugaku felt a surge of power coursing through his veins as he opened the first gate, the Gate of Opening.
This gate allowed him to bypass the brain's limit on chakra and unleash his full potential. His mind became sharper, and his senses heightened.
He did not stop there. He opened the third gate, the Gate of Life, which increased his blood flow and oxygen intake.
His body temperature rose, but he did not turn red like most users of the Eight Gates. Instead, he was enveloped by a green aura that radiated from his chakra.
He opened the fifth gate, the Gate of Limit, which pushed his muscles to their maximum capacity.
"I'll go ahead."
He dashed forward, leaving behind a trail of dust and debris. He vanished beyond the horizon, leaving them astonished.
"The clan head...this technique...how come I haven't heard of it?" Seike was surprised. He had witnessed the clan head use his ninjutsu before, but this was something else.
What kind of technique was this? Not to mention him, Ino-Shika-Cho, and Orochimaru; even Tsunade had never heard of it.
Orochimaru looked at the departing figure. After the initial shock, he smirked and kept his thoughts to himself. Tsunade had a solemn expression, and Shizune looked on in admiration.
Shikaku smiled sheepishly. "The Fugaku clan head is really a powerhouse."
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Fugaku was running after opening five gates. For him, opening five gates was now the best option.
He used to see online forum fans discuss whether they could use ninjutsu after opening the Eight Gates.
He learned that he couldn't. The principle of the Eight Gates was to remove the body's limit and release excess energy.
So a ninja in the state of the Eight Gates had a violent chakra flow. It flowed fast and couldn't mold chakra into various kinds of ninjutsu with hand seals.
His training for the last two months was to be able to use ninjutsu while opening the Eighth Gate. He needed to be able to deal damage to the enemy while using this technique for high-speed movement.
Otherwise, what would he use to defend himself when surrounded by enemies? A smash punch to the ground? But that would not deal enough damage, and it didn't work in the Wind Country.
With his current proficiency level and somewhat decent chakra control, he could only open up to five gates at most. He also knew that Might Dai had never used this technique in public. So he might be the first ninja to open the Eighth Gate.
He didn't care about small things. He had threatened Danzo earlier. Whom was he afraid of showing his strength to?
As for the display of opening the Eighth Gate, he thought the training was worth it.