Uchiha Gen dared not delay; he hurriedly stepped forward, crossing through the gap in the open mouth of the second Rashomon and rushing ahead.
The healing and negative status-alleviating effects of this premium soldier pill were temporary and limited in duration; he had to seize the time.
Just as he had expected, the difficulty of the path to the third gate had surged dramatically.
The deeper he went, the more he could hear the ringing coming from further within, and the ringing from the two gates behind him was also echoing toward this location.
"It's not just the vibration of the ringing; the Yin-style Chakra here is so intense that it's not only putting pressure on my spirit, but it's also beginning to erode my physical body."
Uchiha Gen raised his arm, looking at the layer of blackened, dead skin that had appeared on it.
Yin gives form, while Yang gives life; the two are opposing yet unified, influencing one another.
This is the path to the gate of the Pure Land; theoretically, countless spirits are gathered here at every moment, being guided by the King of Hell into the gap between life and death.
Souls are capable of carrying Chakra, and the Chakra of countless spirits, accompanied by their obsessions and consciousness from when they were alive, radiated outward—crazy and chaotic—ceaselessly battering his consciousness.
If not for the Three-Tomoe Sharingan having extremely strong resistance to Yin-style, had he still been using the previous single tomoe, he truly wouldn't have been able to withstand such a complex and massive mental assault.
And once the spirit withstood the assault, it was the body's turn.
The overly powerful Yin-style Chakra diffused in the surroundings, causing a situation similar to a concentration gradient, invading his body and leading to an imbalance of Yin and Yang, which resulted in his current state.
He possessed a partial Sage Body, and the Yang-style contained within his physique was far stronger than that of an ordinary Ninja, yet even he was experiencing this phenomenon; needless to say, others would fare even worse.
If he allowed the Yin-style Chakra to continue eroding him like this, the vitality within his body would rapidly drain away; in severe cases, it would lead to a loss of lifespan, or even the immediate disappearance of vitality and death.
Once this situation occurred, it meant it was time to consider retreating; otherwise, if he continued, his life would be in danger.
To continue walking, he would either have to rely on even stronger Yang-style and life force to endure it, or he would have to find another way.
A typical example of the former is Senju Hashirama, while the only example of the latter is Orochimaru.
He had a Substitution Jutsu that hadn't been fully developed yet, called the Orochimaru-style Substitution Jutsu; it was almost the top-tier Substitution Jutsu in the Ninja World, and it was also developed based on Yang-style, referencing the principle of a snake shedding its skin.
This Jutsu was excellent for saving one's life and could scrub away a portion of the injuries and negative status effects from one's body.
Aside from needing preparation in advance, and the fact that the Chakra consumed by the technique was related to the degree of snake-body modification, resulting in a large consumption of Chakra, it had almost no other flaws.
It was by using this snake-skin-like Substitution Jutsu that Orochimaru avoided the excessive erosion of his body by Yin-style Chakra and scrubbed away a portion of the negative status effects from the shockwaves, allowing him to walk to the front of the third gate relying on the effects of his snake-body modifications.
But Uchiha Gen had only just completed his second snake-body modification and hadn't yet had the time to learn this Substitution Jutsu.
But since he dared to come here, he naturally had his own measure of confidence.
Wisps of white steam rose from Uchiha Gen's body, causing the dead skin on him to peel off.
Yin-Injury Healing, but the youth version.
He didn't know this Jutsu yet, but he had obtained the cultivation method from Tsunade and understood its principles.
By predicting the enemy's attack position in advance and healing ahead of time, one could achieve the goal of offsetting a portion of the damage.
Uchiha didn't need to heal any specific wounds, nor was he using this Jutsu for concentrated treatment on a single point.
He wanted to use this Jutsu to cover his entire body; it didn't need a powerful effect, it only needed to activate his bodily cells and stimulate the flow of Yang-style to temporarily block the external Yin-style from his body.
This certainly had a certain requirement for the level of Medical Ninjutsu, but it required even more precise control of Chakra and continuous consumption of Chakra.
More than an hour later.
When Uchiha Gen escaped from that gorge and returned home, the aura on his body had become withered once again.
The entire process of walking through the gorge was arduous and dull, worthy of being called top-tier torture.
By the end, he had inevitably, just like last time, suffered internal organ damage from the pressure and muscle spasms, and had to crawl to reach the end.
Although his body hadn't blackened again and his vitality hadn't been worn away, his skin color had turned red due to the prolonged maintenance of Chakra stimulation, and because of the continuous oscillation of the shockwaves and the friction between the Yin and Yang types of Chakra, cracks had appeared on many parts of his body's surface.
Even with a partial Sage Body and Medical Ninjutsu, he would have to rest for a period of time before he could fully recover.
But fortunately, the third blue Rashomon had now been contracted by him; the price he paid was completely worth it.
The Triple Rashomon was already a defensive Ninjutsu sufficient to play a certain role in Kage-level battles; even a Tailed Beast Ball could be deflected from its trajectory.
Just getting a little injured and resting for a few days to upgrade a Ninjutsu to this level was something many Ninjas couldn't even dream of.
"I can finally say I've added another trump card for self-preservation."
Uchiha Gen plopped down into his chair, gasping for air, recalling the situation just now while recovering his Chakra. In his mind, he involuntarily recalled the great battle he had fought successively against Chiyo and Kakuzu.
If he had had the ability to summon the Triple Rashomon at that time, what would have happened?
Would this have been able to temporarily withstand the Three Treasures Vacuum Crush? What about Kakuzu's combination Ninjutsu?
He had now habitually taken these two Kage-level Experts he had fought against as benchmarks to think and compare.
If at some point he could possess the ability to protect himself alone against these two and retreat unscathed, it would mean he had reached a level approaching a Kage-level Expert, touching the very tail end of the first echelon of strong figures in the Ninja World.
"Just recovering like this is still a bit slow; not to mention the waste of time, being in pain like this all the time is quite a torment. I'd better ask Tsunade to prescribe some medicine for me, and by the way, I can borrow some equipment from her to investigate the composition of the soldier pills produced by the system."
Thinking of this, he used his finger to dip up a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth that he had coughed up due to internal injuries, used the Summoning Jutsu to summon a Ninja Crow, and sent it flying to the Senju Old Residence.
A few minutes later, the front door of Uchiha Gen's house was kicked open by Tsunade.
"Yo, isn't this Orochimaru's disciple, the super genius of the Uchiha Clan? Why are you in such a sorry state now, and you finally remembered to call me to treat you? You're quite something, aren't you? You went to contract the Rashomon without calling someone to help keep watch beforehand?"
Tsunade walked into the room, her large eyes looking Uchiha Gen up and down a few times.
With her ability, she could roughly judge after a few looks that although the kid looked seriously injured, in reality, there wasn't a major problem. Thus, she relaxed and sat on the sofa, crossed her legs, held her head high, and said with a teasing look.