A Naruto Fan-Fic

"Ho..Ho..Ho.." Ken panted heavily as he sat on the peak of the tree that he climbed and descended all day. His clothes and hair were completely wet from the sweat. But, he felt good, he did not think that training hard that he was dead tired would make him feel p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

Ken was tired but he was happy feeling the little increase in his chakra. Although it was just a little compared to the Kyuubi, it was still better than nothing.

His Tree Climbing Practice went all day, only stopping when he went home for lunch. But, even with a day of continuous practice, Ken was still not able to perfectly master the tree climbing. He found it lacking as if there was something missing.

Of course, he did not just climb a tree, he also tested how his shuriken techniques after 4 years of inactivity.

But after a while of testing, he found out that everything was still good other than the fact that he had insufficient strength to back his throws.

There was also the kunai. It was a new weapon for him, but he found it quite interesting and had quite a lot of use.

He did not know about his swordsmanship but without a sword, he could not train with it. He will have to ask for one from his father.

Just then, he heard someone talking not too far from his location, not there were two. From the looks of it, they were headed towards his location. Because he was sitting at the peak of the tree, he could not see them, but he could hear them.

"Itachi-Niisan?" Ken recognized the voice of Itachi, but he did not know the other one.

It did not take long before the reached the base of the tree Ken was on.

"Huh? Why is this place worn out?" Itachi and a young boy that looked to be about 8-9 years old with unkempt black hair and a sword behind his back stopped when they saw the dampened soil on the base of the tree.

The two wore Konoha headbands, indicating that they are already acknowledged as Shinobis.

Just then, they heard a rustle above them and they both looked up and were surprised to see a chubby little boy walk down the tree.

"Ken?!" Itachi widened his eyes.

"Ken? Who's that?" Asked the other young boy.

"It's my Little Bro," answered Itachi, still surprised that Ken was there. The sun is already going to set in less than two hours yet his little bro was in the woods.

"Your Little Bro? Ah, you mean that little fatty I saw when I visited your house?!" The young boy that looked to be the friend of Itachi also exclaimed in surprise. He was shocked that the cold little fatty he saw just a year ago would grow a lot and is even able to walk on the tree.

"He's not fat, he's just chubby... and cute!" Itachi defended as glared at his friend.

"I got it, hehe." The young boy chuckled and watched as Ken descended.

"Where are you going, Big Bro?" Jumping off the tree, Ken asked.

"No, what are you doing here?" Itachi asked.

"Father let me train here," Ken answered flatly. Ken grew a lot that he already reached Itachi's chin, so it looked like Itachi was only a year older than Ken.

"But it's already late, you should have gone home already. Look at you, covered in sweat. Go home and take a bath or you'll catch a cold. Mom will also scold you." Itachi said with worry.

"I was about to, but I saw you. So where are you going?" Ken asked again.

"So you are called Ken. I am Uchiha Shisui, nice to meet you." Just then, the young boy who called himself Uchiha Shisui stepped in the conversation.

"Uchiha Ken." Ken raised his eyebrow at Shisui before he relaxed. He could easily tell that the young boy was far stronger than him and he had killing intent. The young man hid it, but it can not escape Ken's eyes. This young man called Shisui has killed before, and it was not just one, but many.

Ken's eyes lit up when he saw the sword on Shisui's back but he did not say anything. After all, it would be rude to ask for something for someone you just met.

"There is a waterfall not far from here. You seem to have mastered the Tree Climbing Practice. You should try the Water Surface Walking. It will help you with chakra control." Shisui said again.

"Water Surface Walking?"

"Yeah. It is usually practiced after Tree Climbing. As the name suggests, it is to walk on the surface of the water. It would be better to practice on mobile water, like a river. And as I said, there is a waterfall just some distance from her." Shisui replied. His eyes had a glint that only appeared when he saw Itachi training.

"Is that so. Thank you, I will try it next time," replied Ken when he realized that it was the answer to the problem he felt when he was training earlier.

"O-oh.." The reply made Shisui speechless. He had never met someone like this. Even the unsociable Itachi was actually 10 times better than his little brother.

"Ken, you should go home now. You might really catch a cold. I will go home later." Itachi urged as he looked at Ken with concern.

"See you later." Ken left the two alone and headed home. It was indeed getting cold.

...

"Wah! You're Little Bro is amazing! How old is he?" With an admiring look, he asked Itachi.

"Of course, he is my little brother after all. He just turned 4 yesterday." Itachi replied proudly. He knew that his brother was the true genius, and he was proud of it. Unfortunately, his Little Bro is quite... eccentric.

"What? He really just turned 4? He is more monstrous than you! Seriously, your family is really abnormal!" Shisui jokingly said.

"You're not normal yourself, Shisui of the Body Flicker. Hehe." Itachi also joked with him.

"Enough with the joke. Get ready for another beating!"

"Hah! I beat you last time!"

"No, I clearly pounded you last time."

"I will grind you this time!"

....

A month passed in the blink of an eye. Inside the woodland, sweat tricked down Ken's body like water being squeezed from cloth as he diligently did his push-ups.

His breathing was rhythmic and his arms steady.

Compared to a month ago, Ken had lost a lot of weight. There's still some fat that lingered around his body, but it would probably take some weeks for it to transform into some real muscle.

50 Push-ups, 50 Sit-ups, 5 kilometers of running, and 1 hour of meditation. Then chakra molding, and hand seal training, of course, he did not employ Jutsu. Ken just wanted to speed up his hand seal employment. Every second faster is crucial in a battle. Employing a Jutsu faster than the enemy means a higher chance of winning.

He already mastered Chakra control, he just needed to practice some jutsu and he should be good.

And another reason he is training very hard is to open one of the 9 Restrictive Gates.

The Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life, Gate of Pain, Gate of Limit, Gate of View, Gate of Wonder, Gate of Vision, and Gate of Death!

Opening all of these gates will allow you to cultivate many times faster. For example, opening one Gate will allow you to be 1 times faster than a person who did not open a single Gate. Opening two will allow you to cultivate 2 times faster than someone who opened 1. Opening 3 will allow you to be 3 times faster than someone who opened 2 and so on.

The Gate of Opening, located in the brain, removes the user's mental inhibitions allowing the user to tap into 100 percent of their strength.

The Gate of Healing, located in the brain, increases the user's physical strength. This has the added effect of re-energizing the body, enabling it to rapidly recover from exhaustion.

The Gate of Life is located at the spine. It increases Power.

The Gate of Pain is located on the spinal cord. It increases the user's speed.

The Gate of Limit is located in the abdomen. Increases strength.

The Gate of View, located in the stomach. Increases all the user's abilities.

The Gate of Wonder, located below the stomach. Grants the user immense speed and strength.

The Gate of Vision, located in the eyes itself. Increases visual prowess.

The Gate of Death is located at the heart. While open, the user's heart pumps at maximum speed, granting them power a hundred times greater than they are usually capable of. Opening this gate allows the user to perform The eighth gate causes the body to continually heat up until it's been cooked from the inside-out, reducing the user to ash.

On should open the gates in this order, otherwise, it would be trouble.

Opening all of these gates will remove all the limiters of the body and unleash its true potential. But, not everyone can do it.

According to Glutton, other people can temporarily open the gates for a limited amount of time. But they only use them in order to surpass their limits.

But the users usually die or injure themselves. So this method was only used when your life is in extreme danger or you are confident that your body would be able to withstand the damages it would cause.

Still, opening them permanently does not mean that all is good. No, it just allows you to freely control your body. For example, opening the Gate of Death will cause your heart to beat at its maximum speed leading eventually to death. But, if you open it permanently, you will be able to freely control the speed of your heartbeat to something your body can bear.

You can also control it to lower its speed and even stop it.

Unfortunately, with his physique now, it would be impossible for his body to withstand the momentarily burst of energy if he breaks through.

He would need to train harder.

Just like that, time passed and another...