Ren stared at the two choices hovering before him.
The system's warning had been unusually severe. It had specifically mentioned risks to both his body and mind, and the crimson-haired woman inside the vision looked like someone who considered broken bones an acceptable warm-up.
Saying no would be the sensible choice.
Unfortunately, no one had ever mastered a technique like the Eight Gates by choosing the safest path.
Ren hesitated for only a moment.
"…Yes."
The instant he made his decision, the vision changed.
Flames swept across the interface, and a new line of text appeared with such force that it seemed to burn itself into the air.
[Eight Gates: Hey, rookie! You came here to set your blood on fire too?]
The crimson-haired woman wiped her nose with her thumb and flashed a brilliant smile. Her sharp tiger tooth caught the light as her gaze traveled over Ren's small body.
[Eight Gates: You don't look strong enough to carry my power. We'll start with something simple. Run one hundred laps around the training ground, and I'll see whether that little body of yours has any potential!]
Three responses appeared beneath her declaration.
[A: This is the fire of youth! I'll run until the final lap, no matter how exhausted I become!]
[B: Before we begin, perhaps we should discuss a reasonable training schedule and the long-term philosophy behind physical development.]
[C: That training method looks dangerous. I'll observe for a while before deciding whether to participate.]
Ren's lips twitched.
He should have expected this.
The encounter had been triggered while Duy demonstrated the Eight Gates, so naturally the technique's personification shared the same obsession with youth, effort, and self-destructive training.
The options were no better.
Choice B sounded like an obvious attempt to negotiate with someone who had no interest in negotiation. Choice C would probably be interpreted as cowardice, causing the woman's favorability to fall before the encounter even began.
That left only one answer.
Ren selected A.
The crimson-haired woman's eyes widened. Then she leaned forward, and a wild grin spread across her face.
[Eight Gates: Oh? You aren't running away? You're stepping toward me instead?]
She pointed directly at him.
[Eight Gates: You've got courage, rookie! But shouting about determination is easy. If you truly want my power, prove it with your body. Are you ready?]
The system vision faded.
The forest clearing returned around Ren.
Duy had just released the Third Gate. The violent chakra surrounding his body receded like a tide, and the crushing pressure disappeared with it.
His hair settled.
The redness faded from his skin, though sweat now covered his face. He drew several heavy breaths before turning toward Ren and Guy.
"That was the method for opening the first three gates," Duy said. "Remember this well—the body is the vessel, but the will is the key. Only when the two act together can a shinobi break through their natural limits."
He raised one finger, preparing to continue.
"Before either of you attempts to open a gate, I must explain how to recognize—"
"Wait a moment, Uncle Duy."
Ren jumped down from the exposed tree root.
Duy paused.
Under the confused gazes of both father and son, Ren walked to the edge of the training ground, lowered his body into a runner's stance, and pushed off.
He began sprinting around the clearing.
Duy blinked.
"Ren?"
Ren did not answer.
The system had demanded one hundred laps. If he wanted to establish an affinity with the Eight Gates, he needed to complete the task.
The training ground was not particularly large, but each lap covered between three and four hundred meters. One hundred laps would place the total distance well above thirty kilometers.
Worse, Ren had already completed his regular morning endurance challenge before arriving.
His strength was far from fresh.
He passed Duy and Guy again, maintaining a steady pace as he began his second lap.
Guy's eyebrows rose.
Then realization struck him.
"Ren!" Guy shouted. "You were secretly planning to do additional training!"
He clenched his fists, his entire body trembling with competitive energy.
"You intend to let your youth bloom while leaving mine behind?"
Ren ran past without responding.
Guy interpreted the silence as a challenge.
"Unforgivable!"
He launched himself from the tree root and chased after Ren.
"Wait for me! Youth must never be allowed to bloom alone!"
Duy remained frozen for several seconds, staring at the two boys as they raced around the clearing.
He had intended to explain the physical warning signs of opening the Gate of Opening. Somehow, his students had transformed the lesson into a long-distance race before he could finish.
Confusion flickered across his face.
Then Ren and Guy passed him for the third time.
Their determination struck him like a spark landing on dry grass.
Duy's eyes began to shine.
His teeth flashed.
He threw both arms toward the sky.
"Ohhhhh!"
His voice thundered through the forest, startling another flock of birds from the trees.
"Is this the resonance created by youthful bonds? How magnificent! Guy! Ren! Do not stop!"
He rushed to the edge of the clearing and pumped one fist with every word.
"Run one hundred laps! Burn every hesitation from your hearts! Leave no regrets upon the road of youth!"
Ren immediately regretted giving the system what it wanted.
Before Duy began cheering, he had at least been able to suffer in relative silence. Now every lap brought another explosion of encouragement loud enough to shake leaves from the trees.
Guy seemed to draw strength from it.
He increased his pace, passed Ren, and shouted over his shoulder.
"Ren! The finish line of youth is still far ahead!"
Ren gritted his teeth and followed.
The first twenty laps were manageable.
His legs felt heavy from the morning run, but his breathing remained steady. He maintained a controlled rhythm and avoided wasting energy by trying to match Guy's constant bursts of speed.
At thirty laps, sweat had soaked the back of his shirt.
At forty, his thighs began to burn.
By the fiftieth lap, the muscles around his knees felt tight, and every breath scraped against his throat.
Guy continued running beside him.
Despite possessing superior stamina, even he had begun sweating heavily. His breathing had grown louder, though his expression remained filled with alarming enthusiasm.
"Excellent!" Guy shouted. "Now the real training begins!"
Ren did not have enough breath to tell him to shut up.
The sun climbed higher, passed overhead, and gradually began descending toward the west.
Duy never stopped cheering.
Whenever Ren's pace slowed, Duy appeared beside the track and reminded him that pain was merely the body's applause for youth. Whenever Guy stumbled, Duy shouted that the earth itself was trying to embrace his determination.
Neither explanation made any sense.
Somehow, they kept the boys moving.
By the seventieth lap, Ren's clothes clung to his skin. Sweat ran down his arms, gathered at his fingertips, and scattered across the dirt.
Guy's uniform was in no better condition.
A damp trail slowly formed around the training ground, marking the path they had repeated dozens of times. Under the afternoon light, the darkened earth gleamed faintly.
At eighty laps, Ren stopped counting his steps.
At ninety, he stopped noticing the trees.
The world narrowed to the dirt ahead of him, the sound of his breathing, and the rhythm of one foot falling after the other.
His body repeatedly demanded that he stop.
He ignored it.
Ninety-five.
His vision blurred at the edges.
Ninety-seven.
His lungs felt too small to draw enough air.
Ninety-nine.
Duy and Guy's voices became distant echoes beneath the pounding of his heartbeat.
Ren crossed the starting point for the final time.
"One hundred!"
Duy's announcement crashed through the clearing like thunder.
Ren had completed every lap.
Momentum carried him several steps farther. His legs finally failed, and he collapsed onto his back with his arms spread across the dirt.
The sky above him slowly spun.
His chest rose and fell violently as he fought to calm lungs that felt ready to burst. Sweat streamed from his hair, ran along his temples, and soaked into the ground beneath him.
He did not have enough strength to raise one hand.
Guy completed the final lap a moment later.
His condition was better, but only slightly. He staggered to a nearby tree, bent forward, and braced both hands against his knees.
"Huff… huff…"
For once, Guy had no speech about youth prepared.
Ren enjoyed the rare silence.
Then the system interface appeared.
[Eight Gates: You actually finished all one hundred laps?]
The crimson-haired woman stared at him in surprise. That expression lasted only a second before turning into delight.
[Eight Gates: Good! That decisiveness is exactly what I like. Nothing proves your resolve better than running until your blood boils and your muscles scream!]
She lifted one fist.
[Eight Gates: Now get up. Keep running! Run faster this time! Let your youth explode!]
Three more choices appeared.
[A: One hundred more laps? No problem! Let youth and strength burn together!]
[B: Spare me. I don't have a drop of chakra or strength left. Can we continue tomorrow?]
[C: Guh… just kill me!]
Ren stared at option C.
For several long seconds, it seemed like the most honest answer he had ever encountered.
Every muscle in his body hurt. His heartbeat hammered inside his chest, and his legs felt as though they had been filled with molten lead.
He wanted to select C.
Reason barely prevailed.
Ren chose B.
Option A might genuinely kill him. Another hundred laps in his current condition would not strengthen his body; it would destroy it. Even with Nono's ointments and medical advice, there was a limit to how much strain human muscle could endure before breaking down.
The crimson-haired woman's smile vanished.
In the next instant, her face appeared directly in front of his.
Her eyes burned with terrifying intensity.
[Eight Gates: No.]
The single word carried more pressure than Duy's Third Gate.
[Eight Gates: Youth does not belong to tomorrow. Youth exists now!]
She leaned closer until their foreheads nearly touched.
[Eight Gates: No strength left? Don't lie to me. I can still feel sparks moving inside your body. Your fire hasn't gone out—you've only forgotten how to reach it.]
Ren's lips twitched.
So much for choosing the reasonable option.
[Eight Gates: Follow my rhythm. Breathe in slowly. Hold it. Now drive the breath down and force the remaining chakra through your body.]
Ren had no intention of obeying.
Then his exhausted body inhaled almost automatically.
The breath entered more deeply than before. His heartbeat gradually settled, and the chaotic chakra inside his network began moving in a steadier rhythm.
The technique had not restored his lost stamina or chakra. It merely gathered the scattered remnants and forced his body out of its panicked state.
Even so, the effect was immediate.
His vision cleared slightly.
The pain remained, but it no longer drowned out every thought.
The red-haired woman grinned.
[Eight Gates: Better, isn't it? I told you there was still something left.]
She extended one hand toward him.
[Eight Gates: Come on. Get up and try opening a gate. The first time feels incredible—like your whole body is breaking free!]
A new prompt appeared.
[Eight Gates has invited you to experience the Gate of Opening.]
[Accept / Decline]
Ren finally understood why the system had issued such an ominous warning.
The danger was not merely the Eight Gates' destructive effect on the body.
The personified technique was insane.
She had forced him through a thirty-kilometer run and, while he lay on the ground contemplating death, decided it was the ideal moment to begin experimenting with the restraints inside his brain.
If this affinity challenge could have been delegated, Ren would have handed it to Guy immediately. Guy could perform the impossible training, the Eight Gates could shower him with favorability, and Ren would happily accept even thirty percent of the benefits as commission.
Unfortunately, that was not an option.
Footsteps approached.
Duy crouched beside Ren and Guy. He placed a soldier pill into each of their mouths before handing them bottles of water.
Ren chewed slowly. The pill was bitter enough to make his exhausted face twist, but warmth soon spread through his stomach as his body began converting its concentrated nutrients.
Duy smiled.
"How do you feel, Ren?"
"Like the earth is trying to drag me into the Pure Land."
Duy laughed, apparently interpreting that as a positive response.
"Excellent! Then your awareness remains sharp."
Ren was too tired to argue.
Duy's expression grew more serious.
"Your body is exhausted, but that is not entirely a disadvantage. Right now, you can clearly feel the difference between your natural limits and your remaining strength."
He tapped two fingers against his temple.
"Would you like to attempt the First Gate—the Gate of Opening?"
Ren glanced at the system prompt.
[Accept / Decline]
The crimson-haired woman stood behind it, arms folded and one foot tapping impatiently against the ground.
Guy had already straightened nearby. Despite his exhaustion, he watched Ren with eager eyes, clearly prepared to try the same thing.
The moment had come too far for Ren to retreat.
"…Damn it," he muttered. "If I die, I die."
He selected Accept.
After waiting several minutes for the soldier pill to restore a small amount of chakra, Ren forced himself into a seated position. He crossed his legs, straightened his back, and closed his eyes.
Duy knelt in front of him.
"Do not rush," he instructed. "Locate the Gate of Opening first. Gather your chakra, compress it, and apply pressure gradually. If you feel your control slipping, stop immediately."
Ren turned his awareness inward.
He sensed the exhausted network running through his body, followed the remaining chakra upward, and searched for the restraint Duy had described.
At first, there was nothing.
Then he felt it.
A barrier buried deep within his mind.
It was not a physical object, yet its presence was unmistakable. It held his body's strength below a fixed threshold, preventing his muscles from tearing themselves apart through excessive output.
Ren gathered his chakra.
He compressed it into a narrow point.
Within the darkness of his consciousness, it began to resemble the tip of a drill.
The crimson-haired woman's voice echoed through his mind.
[Eight Gates: There it is. Don't hesitate now. Break through it!]
Ren clenched his teeth.
Then he drove his chakra directly toward the Gate of Opening.
The invisible barrier trembled—and pushed back.