Uchiha Mai fought with exceptional intelligence—
or rather, his combat awareness was simply too strong.
One of boxing champion Mayweather's most iconic combat philosophies was defensive counterattacking.
While ensuring he himself took no damage and gave the opponent no points, he would patiently observe, wait for weaknesses to appear, then strike decisively with heavy blows.
This fighting mindset was steady and mature.
When Uchiha Mai created his own taijutsu style, he had been deeply influenced by this philosophy.
Now look at Guy.
At this point in time, Guy certainly possessed taijutsu skill—but his combat experience was still limited.
All he knew was to charge forward.
Rush.
Keep rushing.
Either you die, or I die.
This approach wasn't without merit.
Without this kind of willpower, Guy would never have been able to perfect the Eight Gates or develop techniques like Night Guy.
Unfortunately, at present, Guy's raw strength had not yet surpassed Uchiha Mai's—neither in speed nor in power.
When their base stats were similar, and the opponent fought smarter—
Losing was only natural.
"Victory is alrea—" Might Duy was just about to declare the match decided—
When he suddenly saw Guy, sprawled on the ground, struggling to push himself back up.
"I… haven't lost yet…" Guy said through clenched teeth, blood trickling from the back of his head as he shook it dizzily.
"Your head is bleeding," Mai said, pointing at him with some disbelief.
"You can still keep going?"
The force behind that Iron Pestle strike earlier had been even greater than the punch that had given Asuma a concussion.
And that blow had landed directly on the head.
This kid's resilience was downright monstrous.
"I haven't lost…"
Guy repeated softly.
"I waited many days just for the chance to fight you.
After waiting so long, I can't accept losing just because I took one hit.
I still haven't shown all my taijutsu.
And you definitely still have techniques you haven't used either.
I want to see everything.
Dad… please allow me to use that move."
That move?
Might Duy's expression grew solemn.
"You've only just learned that technique.
Your condition isn't good right now. Using it rashly could put your life in danger.
Are you certain?"
Guy nodded firmly, his gaze unshakable.
"Dad, you once told me that youth and passion have no limits.
With nothing but burning spirit, even a nobody can surpass a genius.
As long as the fire in one's heart hasn't died, even if life reaches its end, the flames of youth will continue to burn.
Isn't now exactly the moment to ignite that flame?
I want to win.
I want to defeat Mai!"
"As expected of my son!"
Tears streamed down Might Duy's face once more.
"Guy, use that move! Let Mai witness the flames of our youth!"
Uchiha Mai's expression darkened slightly.
At this moment, the technique Guy was staking everything on could only be one thing—
The Eight Gates.
The Eight Gates released the chakra-limiting restraints within the human body, temporarily granting terrifying power.
It was a forbidden art that nearly every "Naruto transmigrator" dreamed of mastering.
If you didn't have some version like opening all Eight Gates without damage, permanent Eight Gates, or reverse Eight Gates cultivation—
You'd be embarrassed to call yourself a Naruto protagonist.
In Shippuden, thirteen-year-old Lee opened up to the Fifth Gate during the Chūnin Exams and fought the One-Tail Jinchūriki Gaara head-on.
Powerful. Incredibly powerful.
Guy was only around eight years old now.
At most, he could open the Second Gate.
But even the First Gate alone was enough to make Mai wary.
Not because he feared losing—
But because he feared Guy might die.
The First Gate—the Gate of Opening—removed the brain's limiter, allowing the body to utilize 100% of its potential, violently increasing strength and speed at the cost of extreme physical strain.
The human body contained boundless latent power, of which only a tiny fraction could normally be accessed.
In his previous life, there were countless news stories of mothers lifting cars to save their children—
That was the body temporarily breaking its limits.
Such states placed enormous strain on both body and brain.
And Guy had just taken a heavy blow to the head—
Using the Eight Gates now was flirting with death.
But this was the Might style.
Playing with one's life was the essence of their path.
Did Guy not risk his life every single day in training?
An ordinary person training that way wouldn't even know how they died.
Only by repeatedly standing at the boundary between life and death could one shatter the body's limits again and again—
Gaining the power to surpass geniuses and bloodline elites with nothing but mortal flesh.
Life itself had long ceased to matter.
"Mai… the me right now might be a little strong."
Guy shouted, chakra surging violently through his body.
"Eight Gates Technique—
First Gate: Gate of Opening… OPEN!"
In an instant, it was as if he had activated Kaiōken or transformed into a Super Saiyan.
His presence exploded.
He became an entirely different person.
"HAAAA!"
With a feral cry, Guy shot forward.
His fists hammered toward Uchiha Mai like a machine gun, each strike carrying terrifying speed.
After opening the Gate of Opening and gaining tremendous power, Guy hadn't forgotten the lesson of being knocked out earlier.
Fists might be weaker than legs—
But they exposed far fewer openings.
Uchiha Mai gritted his teeth and threw a punch, colliding head-on with Guy's.
The moment their fists met, it felt as though he'd struck solid iron.
Four finger bones screamed with pain.
Confirmed—
This was not someone he could clash with head-on.
That single exchange told Mai everything.
Facing Guy directly would mean defeat.
The amplification granted by the Eight Gates was simply too terrifying—even with only the First Gate open.
In Shippuden, Lee's failure to defeat Gaara with the Fifth Gate wasn't because the Eight Gates were weak—
It was because Gaara was absurdly strong.
At that time, Gaara was "written as a genin, read as a jōnin."
Not long after, he would even clash head-on with Kimimaro, the final wielder of the Dead Bone Pulse.
At that stage, even Kakashi might not have been able to defeat Gaara.
A genin opening five Gates and fighting him to that extent already proved how insane the Eight Gates truly were.
The same applied now.
Mai and Guy were evenly matched in base strength.
Mai had only won earlier through superior combat awareness.
But once Guy opened the Gate of Opening, the surge in speed and power erased that advantage entirely.
When brute force surpassed technique—
Even a master could be beaten by chaotic fists.
Mai could only maintain a defensive counterattacking strategy and continue fighting.
With the First Gate open, Guy's stamina drained several times faster.
Though he suppressed Mai for a long while, his attacks grew increasingly wild, frequently switching to kicking techniques.
The openings multiplied—
But his speed and power were so overwhelming that Mai couldn't find a chance to exploit them.
To withstand the storm of attacks, Mai was forced to give everything he had.
His self-created Mai Style · Ancient Martial Arts was pushed to its absolute limit.
Third Form.
Fourth Form.
Ninth Form.
Inner Ninth Form.
Thirteenth Form.
Inner Fifteenth Form.
Sixteenth Form.
Twenty-Second Form…
As Uchiha Mai revealed more and more of his techniques, the watching Might Duy grew increasingly astonished.
Mai's fighting style was completely unheard of—clearly a taijutsu system created by the boy himself.
And relying on that system, he was actually able to fight Guy—who now possessed clearly superior raw power—into a deadlock.
This taijutsu—
Had real substance.
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