Ryosuke understood Guy's concern but remained firm.
"It's fine. My body can handle it."
And he was right—no matter how unbearable the pain, after a night of rest his body always healed completely.
Guy was moved by that determination. He still worried, but if Ryosuke insisted, all he could do was watch over him. If something went wrong, at least Guy could carry him straight to the Konoha hospital before permanent damage set in.
That entire afternoon, Ryosuke trained at opening the Gate of Rest.
Guy stayed by his side, keeping watch. He was so absorbed in guarding Ryosuke that he forgot to do his own training.
By the end, Ryosuke was so dizzy he collapsed onto the ground.
Guy crouched beside him, asking with genuine concern, "Ryosuke, do you want me to take you home?"
He truly worried the young man might faint on the way back.
Ryosuke, lying on the ground, waved a weak hand. The pain was already ebbing, leaving only a haze in his mind. A short rest would clear it up.
"I'll be fine after a while. I can walk back myself."
Guy had no choice but to accept that.
After some time, Ryosuke recovered enough that Guy felt reassured and finally left him there.
Once Guy was gone, Ryosuke stood on the Hokage Rock, gazing at the blue sky with a buoyant mood.
He had already adapted to the pain of the Rest Gate. It wasn't fully open yet, but halfway was still an accomplishment. With more practice, he was confident he'd master it just like the First Gate.
The breeze brushed his face, carrying with it a false sense of Konoha's peace.
'If only the village could really stay this calm…' he thought. But he knew it was an illusion. The rift between the Uchiha and the village leadership would never truly heal. Understanding was too difficult.
That was why he had to grow stronger—strong enough to protect those he cared about.
His body still throbbed faintly, so he skipped meeting Kurenai that night, washed up, ate simply, and fell asleep almost immediately.
On the sixth and seventh days before his duel with Uchiha Inoka, Ryosuke followed the same routine: morning "One-Punch Man" training to boost his physical stats, afternoons dedicated to forcing open the Rest Gate.
No dates with Kurenai—because this time, he stopped being human. He trained without fear of pain.
Finally, he succeeded in opening the Rest Gate.
As Guy had said, it released the body's limiter on fatigue, forcefully restoring stamina and counteracting the First Gate's drain.
Ryosuke already had plenty of stamina, but the Rest Gate made him nearly inexhaustible.
He was eager for tomorrow's duel with Inoka.
The man was a Jōnin—his taijutsu would be formidable.
But Ryosuke's First Gate gave him 1.5 times his normal strength. With the Rest Gate, it was doubled.
Such a leap was worthy of the Eight Gates' reputation.
To prepare for tomorrow's fight, he decided to rest well tonight—then crush Inoka in battle.
'Short-sighted fool,' Ryosuke thought. 'They really believe training with Guy is shameful for an Uchiha?'
There would be time with Kurenai tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow was the day they would finally become one.
The next morning, he rose early and went to the grove near the Uchiha compound to train, waiting for Inoka to arrive and suffer.
A month ago, he had been just a middling Chūnin. Now his taijutsu felt on par with a Jōnin.
Guy was Jōnin-level too, though not yet at his later peak.
Perhaps he had come too early—he waited and trained while boosting his stats.
Before long, Uchiha Inoka arrived with several clan members in tow.
They saw Ryosuke still training his body and scoffed. To them, he was only a Chūnin. Even if he trained under Guy, at best he'd gain a bit of muscle. How could that compare to them—Uchiha elites?
Inoka stepped forward, smirking. "Are you ready? I'll make sure you lose so thoroughly you won't forget it."
The others wore the same arrogance, treating the duel as nothing but entertainment. Training taijutsu like Guy's was a dead end, they thought. If Ryosuke weren't the Elder's grandson, they would have beaten him down long ago. At least now Inoka could do it openly under the guise of sparring.
Ryosuke looked at Inoka, barely containing his desire to put him in his place.
He beckoned with one hand. "Come on."
His Sharingan spun to life—two tomoe glowing in each eye.
He had grown accustomed to combining Sharingan with taijutsu, and it raised his combat effectiveness dramatically.
Inoka's eyes widened slightly. Last he'd heard, Ryosuke only had a one-tomoe Sharingan. When had it evolved?
Still, it was only two tomoe. He sneered. "Just a two-tomoe Sharingan? Pathetic."
The clan members behind him all had three tomoe, the mark of true elites. The difference between two and three was vast. The strength of Uchiha genjutsu was tied directly to ocular power, and three tomoe gave far greater might.
Before Ryosuke could reply, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
"Your Sharingan has been scorned. Fueled by anger, it has evolved to three tomoe."
At once, another tomoe bloomed in each eye. His vision sharpened, his perception expanded—his Sharingan had ascended.
Ryosuke's lips curled into a mocking smile.
"Now my eyes are three-tomoe too."
Their contempt had irritated him, but he hadn't expected it to gift him such a breakthrough.
And with three tomoe, the next step was clear: the Mangekyō Sharingan.
The eyes of true Uchiha power—each Mangekyō carried unique abilities.
Like Uchiha Itachi's: Tsukuyomi in the left eye, Amaterasu in the right.