Consciousness surfaced from the depths. Ryuji slowly opened his eyes. A delicate face entered his field of vision, wine-red eyes holding a trace of concern.
"Master, how do you feel?"
Seeing Ryuji awake, Aka quickly asked.
"How do I feel..."
Ryuji was momentarily confused, then remembered.
A week had passed since Danzo's late-night visit.
During that week, he had created a Sage Body for himself. Now was the time to test the new body.
Remembering this, he pushed himself up on the platform. The mirror opposite reflected the image of his new form.
His appearance had not changed. He still had reddish-brown short hair, a face handsome enough to impress, and a lean, well-proportioned physique. Perfectly defined abdominal muscles were evenly distributed.
However, while his appearance was the same, the feel was completely different.
His eyes were brighter, his facial expressions more vibrant and lively, giving off an energetic, spirited aura.
'This must be the change brought by vigorous vitality,' Ryuji mused.
He clenched his fist, feeling increased strength, though the change wasn't dramatic.
"The physical adjustments were also successful."
While the increase in raw strength wasn't huge, his speed, endurance, flexibility, recovery, and bodily coordination had all improved to varying degrees.
Combined, his physical capabilities were two to three times greater than before.
It wasn't that Ryuji couldn't adjust for more power, but a Shinobi's baseline physicality didn't vary that much.
Apart from children not yet in their teens or special cases like Tsunade with her innate monstrous strength, the physical differences between Shinobi, while existent, weren't glaring.
Even dedicated Taijutsu specialists like Guy, Duy, or Rock Lee weren't that much physically stronger than others.
The vast disparities in speed and power seen were largely due to differences in Chakra application.
Taijutsu wasn't just about raw muscle; it primarily relied on Chakra enhancement.
During the Chunin Exams in the original work, Sasuke couldn't physically react to Lee's speed with his weights on. Yet after just one month of training, he could surpass Lee's speed without weights.
The reason was a leap in his Chakra Control and application.
Otherwise, how could Sasuke, who spent that month practicing Chidori, possibly surpass Lee in physical prowess?
Kakashi trained daily with one-handed cliff climbing as a child and never surpassed Guy. Could Sasuke practicing Ninjutsu for a month allow him to surpass Lee physically?
However, while Taijutsu relied heavily on Chakra, that didn't mean physical prowess was useless.
The human body had limits.
If one's physical body wasn't strong enough, the amount of Chakra Enhancement it could withstand was extremely limited.
Moreover, force works both ways.
Without a sufficiently resilient body, throwing a punch might not defeat the enemy but could instead shatter your own arm from the recoil.
This was evident from the side effects of the Eight Gates.
Though Ryuji's physical strength had only increased two to threefold, the amount of Chakra Enhancement his body could withstand had increased nearly tenfold. In terms of speed and power output, this meant completely overwhelming an average Chunin.
'Specific data still needs testing, but based on experience, the speed and strength I can now exhibit shouldn't be inferior to Elite Jonin. If I focus Chakra for a burst, it could far exceed normal levels.' Ryuji circulated the surging Chakra within, feeling the powerful force coursing through his body, making an internal estimate.
Without the aid of his powered exoskeleton, relying solely on his maxed-out Taijutsu skills, various basic Ninjutsu, and rich combat experience, he had now reached Kage-level.
However, lacking decisive finishing moves, he was only barely at that level. Against certain Jonin with strong defensive abilities, he might not even win.
But...
'This body's Chakra Control aptitude is very high. Learning Ninjutsu won't be as difficult as before.' Ryuji tested his Chakra Control. The fluid, instinctive sensation was unprecedented… as if he could effortlessly execute any Ninjutsu.
Influenced by this feeling, he gathered Chakra in his palm, continuously compressing and spinning it. The surrounding air was drawn in, swirling chaotically.
In the blink of an eye, a tennis ball-sized, rapidly rotating sphere of Chakra hovered in his hand.
'This body's Ninjutsu talent is on Kakashi's level.'
Ryuji nodded slightly, then aimed the Observation Device at himself.
A scanning beam projected over, displaying the Rasengan's model structure above, with corresponding data listed.
The Chakra Nature column showed Wind, Fire, Lightning, Earth, Water, Yin, Yang… all seven attributes at full.
'The Chakra Attributes are fine too. Then...'
Ryuji dispersed the Rasengan. Forming hand seals before his chest, energy from his physical and spiritual cells was intensely extracted, converging near his abdomen, refined into Chakra.
Vast Chakra erupted from his body, burning like flames around him.
Feeling this oceanic Chakra Reserves, Ryuji finally revealed a satisfied smile. 'Chakra capacity is over three hundred times my previous amount. Roughly twice as much as fifteen-year-old Naruto's, I'd estimate.'
Naruto's Chakra at fifteen was about a hundred times Kakashi's. Ryuji's previous body had several times less Chakra than Kakashi.
This wasn't shameful; it was the Shinobi World's average.
In fact, the often 'out-of-Chakra' Kakashi actually possessed an above-average Chakra Reserves for the Shinobi World.
Consider: using the Sharingan was extremely Chakra-intensive. Even for Uchiha, maintaining it during prolonged combat was difficult.
Yet Kakashi could not only use the Sharingan for high-intensity fights but also frequently employed the S-Rank Chidori and the Chakra-hungry Shadow Clone Technique. This spoke volumes about his reserves.
Mentioning 'fifteen-year-old Naruto' specifically, rather than just 'Naruto', was because Naruto's Chakra grew rapidly at all times.
The Eight Trigrams Seal inside Naruto constantly absorbed the Nine-Tails' Chakra, refined it through the seal's formulae, and integrated it into Naruto's body, allowing him to grow rapidly without specific training.
His Chakra at fifteen was a hundred times Kakashi's. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, who knew how many times more it was.
'Kakashi's Ninjutsu Talent, Chakra Reserves surpassing Naruto's, plus the thousands of Ninjutsu I've researched over the years... I'll soon become a Shinobi on par with the Third Hokage.' Ryuji estimated internally.
Whether stronger or weaker than the Third Hokage would depend on the Third Hokage's peak strength.
He was definitely stronger than the elderly Third Hokage during the Chunin Exams, though.