The Eight Gates. If two people both open seven gates, who wins?
First, one must understand the nature of this technique. It unlocks the body's self-imposed limitations, which act as locks to protect the body itself.
Once these protective locks are removed, the body can sustain injuries without even realizing it. It's like the story of a grandmother who, seeing her grandchild trapped under a car, taps into her latent potential and lifts the vehicle to save the child.
But shortly after, the grandmother dies. In the act of lifting the car, her muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and bones have all sustained severe, unbearable damage.
The Eight Gates technique is the same. The only way to mitigate this damage is to train one's body, from the inside out and the outside in.
From the nerves and blood vessels to the bones and muscles, not a single part can be neglected. When Rock Lee opened the Fourth Gate, it was because he couldn't feel his body's injuries that bone fragments chipped off and fell into his nerves, nearly crippling him.
Only by training one's physical strength to the absolute extreme, like Gai, can one ensure their body can withstand the strain after opening the gates.
In truth, the person best suited to learn the Eight Gates was undoubtedly Tsunade. With the powerful body of the Senju clan, the results of her opening the Eight Gates would be terrifying. But as the princess of Konoha, how could she possibly learn such a self-destructive jutsu?
Uchiha Nagi was also self-aware. Even if he trained his body to the point where he could open the Seventh Gate and fight Gai, his physical strength would still be far inferior. It would be a case of picking up the sesame seed and losing the watermelon.
So, of course, the best path was to copy all ninjutsu and improve his overall comprehensive strength.
Besides, when a person has learned many things, how do they integrate them into their own power?
The answer, of course, is real combat. Using the most intense battles to forge all that one has learned, until it truly becomes a part of one's own strength.
"Destructive Death, Leg Style: Swarm of Flashing Lights—"
Facing Gai's Leaf Whirlwind after he had opened the gates, Uchiha Nagi unleashed a technique from another person—a man so obsessed with martial arts that he never forgot his true purpose, even after becoming a demon. He used Akaza's Destructive Death.
Boom!
The experienced Gai did not choose to meet the attack head-on, instead dodging it.
Seeing the cracks that appeared in the earth, Gai also grew excited. He had always preferred taijutsu duels; he was not a fan of ninjutsu.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
"Destructive Death: Air Type—"
The two traded blows, one after another. When taijutsu reached a certain level, it was no less powerful than ninjutsu. The others around them had already reached a point where they could no longer intervene.
"Primary Lotus—"
In mid-air, Gai used his special bandages, intending to bind Uchiha Nagi and unleash a major technique.
"In your dreams! Destructive Death, Leg Style: Flying Planet Thousand Wheels—" This was a special leg-based taijutsu from Akaza's martial arts.
This move successfully interrupted Gai's Primary Lotus. However, after repelling Gai, as Uchiha Nagi landed, he was met with a sneaky move from the opportunist, Kakashi.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu."
A pair of hands shot out from the soil, grabbing his legs. At the same time, the surrounding earth became infused with chakra, holding him firmly in place.
But this was not enough to stop Uchiha Nagi.
Destructive Death: Crush Type—Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow!
Kakashi, hidden underground, was struck directly by this move. But he didn't die. Instead, his body dispersed into a flash of blinding lightning. It was a Lightning Clone.
"Kakashi, you old sneak..." Uchiha Nagi grit his teeth. The paralysis from the exploding Lightning Clone was the most dangerous part. For a moment, a part of his body was struck by lightning and went numb.
And above him, Gai was already charging down. "Sixth Gate, Gate of View... open!"
Faced with the menacing Gai, who was coming down with a powerful punch, Nagi, with half his body paralyzed by lightning, couldn't use his Breathing Style. His only option was to use his other exclusive defense, the Susanoo.
Boom!
Gai, veins bulging on his forehead and his face contorted in a ferocious expression, was surprised to find that his punch had been blocked by a thin chakra shield. He looked closer and saw it was a half-skeletal chakra construct.
Boom, boom, boom!
After a few more punches, the Susanoo groaned under the strain. Cracks appeared, but it still didn't shatter. Uchiha Nagi wasn't one to just stand there and take a beating without fighting back.
The Susanoo's skeletal hand immediately shot a punch toward Gai. Gai did a backflip to dodge, only to be slapped hard by the other hand and sent flying.
Gai, with the Eight Gates open, not only had his chakra massively amplified, but his defense also seemed to have been greatly enhanced by the increased chakra. He wasn't sent flying with broken bones from that single slap.
"It seems I have no choice but to use that technique."
Might Gai crouched, sinking low, then leaped high into the air, roaring:
"Morning Peacock—"
Inside the Susanoo, Uchiha Nagi, having had this brief rest, had already shaken off the discomfort from the lightning. At least the paralysis wasn't as strong as before.
Faced with the impending ultimate move, Uchiha Nagi laughed maniacally. "Gai! You have your Morning Peacock, and I have my Destructive Death! Today, we'll see who is superior!"
"Destructive Death, Annihilation Style: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow—"
Countless fists from Might Gai's high-speed punches created friction with the oxygen in the air, igniting it and forming a barrage of flaming air cannons that shot toward Uchiha Nagi. Not to be outdone, Nagi unleashed his own attack. Destructive Death, Annihilation Style, was the strongest technique in Akaza's martial arts, a form he achieved in a state of death, breaking through his limits after being decapitated.
He might not be as powerful as Gai with the Eight Gates open, but a technique realized in a state of death was in no way inferior to Morning Peacock in terms of sheer concept.
One was a technique realized by pushing the body to its absolute limit. The other was a technique realized by a martial artist in a state of death. If you ignored the amount of chakra put into them and looked only at the level of mastery, it was obvious which was superior.
Uchiha Nagi fired hundreds of projectiles in all directions in an instant, their speed and power immense. Gai's Morning Peacock collided head-on with the Annihilation Style, creating an unprecedentedly massive explosion.
Kakashi, hiding in the shadows like the opportunist he was, had no choice but to quickly retreat with Anko and the others. At this level of combat, a jonin couldn't even get close. And just now, Kakashi had poured a huge amount of chakra into his Lightning Clone in order to paralyze Uchiha Nagi...
"This is completely a Kage-level battle. Even if Lord Third were here, this would be about the extent of it..." Kakashi muttered to himself.
With only the chakra reserves of a jonin, he had to be meticulous in his battles. There was no way he could get involved in the fight between these two monsters. His eternal rival, Might Gai, who was supposed to be at a similar power level, had opened a few more gates, and his chakra had soared to the Kage-level...
BOOM!
The ground had already been reshaped by Uchiha Nagi's Exploding Water Colliding Wave. Now, it was being battered by the Sublime Green Beast. The two of them, as if chakra was free, were firing hundreds of air cannons. The two techniques were essentially very similar, both using martial arts to strike the air and create high-pressure blasts to bombard the enemy.
However, when their chakra levels were similar, the Destructive Death, Annihilation Style, being one step higher in terms of mastery, was clearly more powerful.
After the dust settled, the Sublime Green Beast, Might Gai, was panting heavily, but his face was filled with excitement. The result of this clash was a stalemate.
Uchiha Nagi was also drenched in sweat. His chakra reserves were indeed large, but at best, they were on the same level as the Third Hokage's. This guy Gai, after opening the gates, was even stronger than a Kage.
From his two battles against Kisame, the man known as the Tailed Beast without a Tail, one could conclude that Gai, after opening the Sixth and Seventh Gates, had chakra levels approaching Kisame's. This meant that Gai, at this point, had chakra reserves on par with a Tailed Beast...
Might Gai's battles with Kisame were always map-wipers, changing the terrain. The scale of these battles was comparable to the destruction caused by a Tailed Beast. How many people could do that?
This was no longer something that could be achieved with just high-level taijutsu. It also required a massive amount of chakra. And concluding from his final battle, where he opened the Gate of Death and nearly killed the Sage of Six Paths Madara, it could be inferred that once Gai opened the Sixth Gate or higher, his chakra was at a Tailed Beast level...
Of course, Naruto was only eight years old now. There were still several years until the grand finale where he would get married at sixteen. Gai had not yet reached his peak, but he was close. At the very least, opening the Seventh Gate and killing a Tailed Beast wouldn't be a problem.
"I remember now! You're Uchiha Nagi! You were in the class next to mine at the academy, right? A year younger than little Kakashi," Gai said, a look of sudden realization on his face.
"Heh, you're only just remembering now? Your face-blindness is a bit severe," Uchiha Nagi said with a chuckle.
After fighting for so long, you only just recognized me. You truly are the man who drove Kisame to despair...
"I never thought that after becoming a rogue ninja, you would become so strong. Opening the Sixth Gate is no longer enough to defeat you..."
Might Gai glanced at the dead Anbu squad members. If his opponent hadn't harmed Konoha's people, maybe he would have shown some mercy. But he had killed so many Anbu ninja. Now, he was an enemy. There was no need to hesitate.
"Seventh Gate—Gate of Wonder, open..."
After opening another gate, Might Gai's chakra, instead of decreasing, multiplied several times over. His aura and strength reached an unparalleled level.
Uchiha Nagi smiled. After such a great battle, his own chakra was nearly depleted. To continue fighting Gai, he would have to activate the Yin Seal on his forehead and tap into his stored energy.
But pure, harmless energy like the Ryumyaku's wasn't easy to find...
And there was another important point: Gai's physical toughness was many times greater than his own.
He wasn't a taijutsu specialist. Although his physical condition had been rapidly enhanced by practicing Breathing Styles and transplanting White Zetsu cells, it was still far from the toughness of Gai or Tsunade.
He had just used Destructive Death, Annihilation Style once, and the muscles, bones, and blood vessels inside his body had already sustained serious damage. If he continued to fight Gai with taijutsu, would he end up like the next Rock Lee?
Uchiha Nagi smiled mysteriously and formed a hand seal. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu..."
A dense fog, containing a small amount of chakra, quickly appeared. Gai frowned. What's the point of this jutsu?
He threw a few air cannon punches, and the mist immediately dispersed.
The mist was scattered by Gai in less than three seconds. Before it could reform, Might Gai was dumbfounded.
"Huh?! Where'd he go?"
Uchiha Nagi... was gone.