Chapter 436: Drawback of Eight Inner Gates
Despite weaving hand seals, Fujin still couldn't perform the Infinite Breakthrough jutsu. Fujin muttered to himself, 'I still failed? Hmm, this feeling… It feels familiar... I remember it now! It almost feels like the first time I tried a new jutsu. Even if I weave hand signs, I won't be able to perform it unless that jutsu is very similar to another jutsu that I know.
Still… Why am I getting that feeling? Is it because of the hyperactive nature of the chakra flowing in my body? Let me see if I can use simpler jutsus.'
Fujin tried using the Wind Explosion Sphere jutsu. The result didn't change. Not wanting to give up, Fujin tried using Gale jutsu, the simplest Wind jutsu he was aware of. To his surprise, even that didn't work.
Fujin had a peculiar expression on his face. He closed the Gate of Opening and muttered while chuckling, "Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would fail to use the Gale jutsu."
The situation was too awkward for Fujin. While he had expected some difficulty in using high-level jutsus, he hadn't expected to fail at rank E jutsus.
Fujin tried thinking about what went wrong while he rested his body. Though he thought of a few reasons, he wasn't sure which was the real reason. He sighed and decided, 'There is no point in randomly speculating. I'll directly ask Guy. Though he focuses on Taijutsu, it'll be weird if he never tried or considered using Ninjutsu while having the Inner Gates open.'
Fujin disappeared from his training ground and arrived at the training ground where Guy trained after flickering a few times. To his surprise, Guy was training alone. Fujin raised his left eyebrow and asked, "Where are your students?"
Guy was pleasantly surprised to see Fujin. The two hadn't sparred for a few weeks. He said, "I trained them a bit too much yesterday and decided to give them a day off. Though they are young, it will still take some time for their youthfulness to bloom completely. Anyway, It's good to see you again, Fujin. Did you master how to open the Gate of Healing?"
Fujin wondered, 'This guy gives a day off? Those three should be in terrible shape for this monster to take pity on them.'
He nodded and answered, "Yeah. I managed to do it yesterday. But I am facing one issue."
Guy became serious. He asked, "What issue did you face?"
The Eight Inner Gates was a forbidden technique. Facing issues while using it could result in serious injuries. So, Guy didn't dare to take it lightly. However, Fujin's answer caused a peculiar expression to appear on Guy's face.
Fujin said, "I tried using Ninjutsu while having the Gate of Opening opened. However, I failed to perform even the rank E jutsus. Is there any reason why we can't use Ninjutsus along with Eight Inner Gates? Or do we have to use them in a different way?"
Guy merely stared at Fujin. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. This was his first time facing someone who was learning a forbidden jutsu and wasn't satisfied with it even before he had actually learnt it completely. He wondered aloud, "You want to use Ninjutsu while using the Eight Inner Gates?"
Fujin ignored his surprise and nodded. He answered, "Yes. Our chakra surges considerably on opening the Inner Gates. I was planning to use that excess chakra to supercharge my jutsus."
Guy shook his head and said, "That's impossible. No, that won't be correct. Even though it is possible, it will be very difficult to do so. The difficulty is so high that it can be considered impossible."
Fujin asked, "Why?"
Guy answered, "Your body and mind aren't used to controlling the flow of chakra in your body when the Gate of Opening is opened. Trying to mold chakra in that state is the same as trying to learn how to mold your chakra when you tried it for the first time.
You would have required several weeks, if not months to learn your first jutsu. If you want to use Ninjutsu while using the Eight Inner Gates, you'll have to devote a similar amount of time to relearn your jutsus.
Unfortunately, that is impossible. You can only keep the gates open for a few minutes in a day. And from the Gate of Healing, opening a Gate has an intense backlash associated with it. So, there is no way you can have that much time to train your jutsus.
Not to mention, the flow of chakra inside your body changes every time you open an Inner Gate. So, it is different for when you only open the Gate of Opening as compared to if you open the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Healing. The differences only increase as you open more Inner Gates. So, even if you train yourself to be able to use Ninjutsu after opening the Gate of Opening, you won't be able to use Ninjutsus when you open more Inner Gates."
Fujin analyzed Guy's words. Guy's reasoning was one of Fujin's speculations. However, Fujin hadn't analyzed it deeply as he had several speculations and lacked proper information to be so precise. After some time, he sighed and said, "That makes sense. I had a feeling that I was molding my chakra for the first time as well."
He thought, 'That sucks. I guess using Ninjutsu along with Eight Inner Gates won't be possible.'
Fujin looked at Guy and asked, "But why is it that we are able to use Strong Fist Style so easily then?"
Guy answered, "I already told you, the Strong Fist Style is just training hard enough for your chakra to fuse with your body naturally. So, it is something your body does instinctively. This is amplified further when your body becomes able to function at 100% of its capability.
However, you can't use Ninjutsu instinctively. As you know, Ninjutsu requires you to carefully and properly mold the chakra inside your body in a certain way for those jutsus to form. It is so unnatural that we have to use hand seals to guide the chakra inside our body to create the jutsus.
Though opening the Inner Gates increases your chakra temporarily, you can only use that chakra in the rudimentary form. You can use chakra control to create attacks that improve your Taijutsu, like say using stronger punches and kicks or strengthening your body. As for Ninjutsu, unless there is a jutsu that doesn't require you to mold your chakra inside your body, you won't be able to use any Ninjutsu. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any such jutsu."
Fujin immediately memorized his words. He thought, 'A jutsu that doesn't require molding chakra inside my body… I think I might just know a few… That said, all of them are very complicated. It is difficult to say whether I would be able to use them while having Inner Gates opened...'
He replied, "Alright. Thanks, Guy. Can I start opening the Gate of Life right away? Or do I need to do something before it?"
Guy replied, "Your body should be strong enough to open the Gate of Life. However, I should warn you one thing."
Fujin became serious and asked, "What is it?"
Guy answered, "Opening the Gate of Healing and the Gate of Opening isn't very difficult and only depends on whether your body is strong enough. But, from the Gate of Life, just having a strong body isn't enough. You need the will and determination of wanting to surpass yourself and be willing to subject your body to intense pain and pressure.
That is why ninjas who specialize in Ninjutsu and are geniuses at it don't succeed at Eight Inner Gates. They have already reached the top with merely their Ninjutsu skills. So, they don't have the same determination as someone who depends only on Taijutsu. You may fall in that category too, Fujin."
Guy's words made Fujin think once again. Guy was right. Fujin had reached a very high level with the help of his speed and Wind jutsus. Once the Wind Domain reached an appropriate level, Fujin would be even more fearsome on the battlefield. With the Flying Thunder God, he'd more or less become invincible on the battlefield.
As such, he didn't desire the higher levels of the Eight Inner Gates technique as much as the likes of Guy and Lee. In a few years, Fujin would become capable of fighting against Guy even if Guy opened the Sixth Inner Gate. With the Flying Thunder God, he didn't even need to fear the Gate of Death. He could just escape and wait for Guy to die by himself.
Of course, even though he didn't desire it as much as Guy, he didn't have any excuse for not learning the technique. As such, Fujin would give his all. He grinned and said, "Don't worry, Guy. I'll be opening it. Just tell me what to do."