Yu Ye deliberately aligned the levels of his shock force with the gates of the Eight Gates.
When the First Gate was opened, he could use Stage One shock force.
The Second Gate corresponded to Stage Two.
Now, with the Third Gate opened, Yu Ye had obtained Stage Three shock force.
At his current level—
A single punch from Yu Ye was enough to shatter low-tier A-rank ninjutsu outright!
At the same time, because his chakra had increased, Yu Ye's brute strength also rose accordingly. When brute strength was layered together with shock force, the resulting technique—
Shock Release: Monstrous Strength—
could smash even mid-tier A-rank ninjutsu in one blow.
Yu Ye even felt that against high-tier A-rank ninjutsu, he might not be able to destroy it instantly, but he could at least fight it evenly.
As for Shockwave Slash, its growth was not as dramatic. In terms of raw output, it topped out at roughly high-tier A-rank power.
However, its advantage lay in flexibility.
And as Yu Ye's strength continued to grow, he was beginning to need flexibility less and less.
After opening the Third Gate and reaching Stage Three shock force, Yu Ye discovered that the shock force itself had gained far more versatile modes of application.
He could now—
Throw shock force directly as an attack.
A Forest Outside Konoha
Yu Ye stood quietly among the trees and then drew his ninja sword.
"Shock Release: Air Shatter!"
Holding the blade, Yu Ye slowly raised the tachi.
A mass of white light instantly formed along the blade—not Shockwave Slash, but rather pure shock force directly attached to the sword.
Ordinary shock force was something this ninja sword could withstand.
The white glow no longer looked dim or murky.
Instead, it had become a semi-transparent white aura, radiating a terrifying pressure.
Of course, once shock force was attached to the sword, it could no longer be layered with brute strength.
In the next instant—
Yu Ye swung the blade.
HUM—!!!
The white aura—the condensed shock force—was flung straight out from the sword, flying several meters forward before detonating violently.
The air fractured into countless expanding cracks, as if the very space itself had been torn apart.
BOOM—!!!
Although it could not be combined with brute strength, and its power was slightly weakened by being thrown—
The attack range became much larger and much farther.
More importantly, for Yu Ye—
By throwing shock force outward, he completely eliminated the stiffness problem.
Yes.
If shock force was thrown instead of released at point-blank range, there was no stiffness at all!
Combined with the massive speed boost granted by the Third Gate, Yu Ye created an entirely new technique.
Shock Release: Air Shatter—Rapid Chain!
This technique was built on Air Shatter, combined with high-speed movement and repeated strikes on a single point.
In simple terms—
Yu Ye could move at high speed around an enemy, just like Rock Lee, and fling three separate shock-force masses from three different directions, all converging on a single central point at the same time.
It was conceptually similar to Evening Elephant.
However, because Yu Ye's speed had not yet reached the level of the Seventh Gate, he could only achieve three-layer shock stacking.
Even so—
The power was terrifying.
What did three-layer shock stacking mean?
Even though Air Shatter could not be combined with brute strength, and even though its power was weakened slightly when thrown—
Three shocks stacked together were still stronger than Monstrous Strength.
The explosive damage at the center point, even if it didn't reach the S-rank level of Collapse, was still at least top-tier A-rank.
And just like Evening Elephant—
Once hit by the first shock, the target would be unable to move.
The second and third strikes were practically guaranteed hits, nearly impossible to dodge.
The only way to deal with this technique was to retreat immediately the moment Yu Ye released the first shock.
If someone dared to block or clash head-on—
They would have no chance of evading the remaining two.
Unless they possessed single-point destructive power on the level of Konoha's White Fang, capable of forcibly tearing open a path through the shock force—
The outcome would be catastrophic.
The opening of the Third Gate, and the evolution of shock force to Stage Three, brought Yu Ye another qualitative leap.
After creating new techniques one after another, even Yu Ye himself wasn't sure just how strong he had become.
At the very least, he was certain of one thing—
If he encountered Uchiha Yue again, he could kill him effortlessly.
Even worse—
If a Kage-level opponent underestimated him, they might very well die to Yu Ye's Shock Release on the spot.
"Hatake Kakashi became a jōnin at twelve…" Yu Ye muttered, sheathing his sword with a faint smile.
"I'm not even ten yet. I've finally caught up to the geniuses of the original story."
With his current strength, the main performers of the Second Great Ninja War might no longer be limited to Konoha's White Fang and the Three Legendary Sannin.
There might be one more.
With increased power came a shift in mindset.
If previously Yu Ye's goal was merely survival in the Second Great Ninja War—
Now, his ambition had changed.
He intended to dominate the battlefield.
ANBU Headquarters, Konohagakure
Inside a spacious hall, Yu Ye stood quietly, waiting.
This time, he was not wearing a mask.
Normally, ANBU shinobi were required to wear masks during missions to conceal their identities.
Some ANBU even kept their masks on while reporting in, and over time, many wore them constantly inside headquarters as well.
Yu Ye had been summoned by ANBU, but he initially thought it was just another ANBU candidate training session.
What he didn't expect—
Was that he would receive an order confirming his official promotion to full ANBU.
And he wasn't alone.
Several ANBU candidates were promoted at the same time, apparently due to an incident that had caused significant ANBU casualties.
Although ANBU frequently carried out dangerous missions, casualties were usually rare—they were elites among elites.
This time, however, nearly two full squads had been lost.
That was considered a serious blow.
From this alone, Yu Ye could infer that the situation of the Second Great Ninja War was worsening.
It could already be considered the early stage of the war.
The three great villages were still restraining themselves, avoiding full-scale confrontation—
But it was clear that a major clash was inevitable.
Once officially inducted into ANBU, shinobi were assigned to teams.
However, Yu Ye had heard rumors—
Within ANBU, there existed a special force capable of solo operations.
ANBU itself was already an assassination and special-operations unit.
That group, however, was the elite of the elite, answering directly to the Hokage.
Even squad leaders had no authority to command them.
Aside from that special unit—
Most ANBU shinobi operated strictly in teams.
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