A Hyūga's Gate Between Worlds

Breaking free from the Caged Bird, Hizashi saw the talent of Tanaka.

Instantly defeating five elite jonin of the main house, he witnessed Tanaka's strength.

An ability comparable to the Flying Thunder God.

An ability no less than the swordsmanship of Konoha's White Fang.

An ability capable of exchanging minds and bodies.

Through these, he saw that Tanaka possessed the potential to surpass Hashirama and Madara.

On one side was the main house, which had enslaved the branch house with the Caged Bird for centuries—arrogant, decadent, and ignorant.

On the other side was a genius disciple, brimming with talent and limitless potential, leading the branch house to rise.

Whether from a public or personal standpoint…

Whether from a rational or emotional perspective…

Hizashi couldn't find a single reason to choose the main house over Tanaka.

Tanaka expanded an invisible space, enveloping five main house elders, then casually slashed with a kunai.

Immediately, five pairs of Byakugan, encased in semi-transparent cubes, flew out from the elders' eye sockets.

If these five had still been alive, he wouldn't have been able to extract their Byakugan so easily with just Shambles. He would have had to do what he did earlier—splitting into four shadow clones, fully utilizing Amputate to forcibly remove the Byakugan from five elite jonin, almost exhausting his strength in the process.

But now, since they were already corpses, the basic cutting ability of the Op-Op Fruit was enough to extract their Byakugan without consuming much energy.

Fighting elite jonin and handling corpses were two entirely different things.

"Tanaka, if you need the Byakugan, leave it to me."

Hizashi, upon seeing this, wasn't surprised and had no objections.

Whether in the main house or the branch house, the Byakugan was always removed from a body after death to prevent it from being stolen by outsiders.

He only advised against it because he didn't want Tanaka to waste energy on such a trivial matter.

After witnessing Tanaka use the Op-Op Fruit so many times, he had already realized its "drawback."

In the shinobi world, against anyone below Kage-level, the Op-Op Fruit was practically an overwhelming power, a complete one-sided slaughter.

But the downside was… it consumed too much chakra.

"It's fine. They're already dead; it doesn't take much energy."

"Besides, if I do it myself, I can extract the Byakugan perfectly without worrying about bacterial or viral infections, nor about preservation issues."

Tanaka waved his hand dismissively.

Any limbs or organs extracted using the Op-Op Fruit would be encapsulated in a semi-transparent cube.

No need for medication or containers for preservation. Even if touched directly by hand or thrown into the mud, they wouldn't be contaminated.

"Tanaka-sama, here."

"This is military ration pills and blood increasing pills purchased by the main house from the Akimichi clan. I've brought them all for you."

Natsu took two sealed boxes of military ration pills and blood increasing pills from his pocket and handed them over to Tanaka.

"Great stuff!"

Tanaka's eyes lit up with joy.

Though the formulas for military ration pills and blood increasing pills were publicly known—any random genin could make them—the widely available versions weren't exactly great.

Most of the military ration pills and blood increasing pills on the market had side effects, and their taste was comparable to a Devil Fruit's.

But the ones made by the Akimichi clan were different.

Whether it was military ration pills or blood increasing pills, their secret medicines were renowned throughout the shinobi world.

Not only were their effects far superior to the versions made by other clans, but they also had no harmful side effects.

Thanks to generations of improvement by the Akimichi clan, who were natural food connoisseurs, their taste was also quite good.

The Akimichi military ration pills and blood increasing pills that Natsu had brought were products that the branch house could never afford.

Crunch.

Tanaka placed an Akimichi-brand military ration pill into his mouth and bit down.

With his Byakugan's ability to see inside the human body and the perception granted by the Op-Op Fruit, he could directly observe the minute changes in his body from two different perspectives after consuming the pill.

In other words, trying to poison him with such methods was nothing but a fool's dream.

"Before mastering Life Return, this is practically an essential item for traveling between worlds."

Tanaka silently decided after noticing the changes in his body.

After consuming the medicinal dish, he felt a comforting warmth spread throughout his body, and his stamina was recovering at a speed far beyond normal.

Then, after eating the Akimichi-brand military ration pill, his stamina recovery shot up like upgrading from riding a bicycle to driving a motorcycle.

His energy bar was refilling rapidly.

As long as he had enough of the Akimichi secret medicines on hand, unless he completely drained himself in one go and pushed his body beyond its limits, he never had to worry about the Op-Op Fruit exhausting his energy.

Hm?

ROOM's range… has expanded!

After eating the Nara-brand medicinal deer antler dish, consuming an Akimichi-brand military ration pill, and taking just a short rest, Tanaka already felt his stamina fully restored.

Moreover, due to the series of intense battles and high-intensity usage of the Op-Op Fruit, his ROOM's range had grown larger than it was before he had wiped out the five elite elders of the main house.

Not only had his operational range expanded, but the overall strength of his Devil Fruit ability had also significantly increased.

Take Amputate, for example—if its power level was 10 before, now, with the same energy consumption, it had increased to 15.

As expected, whether it's Haki or a Devil Fruit ability, the improvement from pushing oneself to the limit in actual combat is far more effective than slow training.

Just like how two years of training with Rayleigh couldn't compare to the power-up Luffy got from Kaido's three-hit combo.

Feeling the increase in his fruit's strength, he was both pleased and thoughtful.

This wasn't unique to Luffy; Law had experienced the same thing.

After two years, he was able to slice Vergo in half, battle Doflamingo multiple times, push himself to the brink again and again, and later, when fighting against the combined might of two Emperors on Onigashima, he reached his limit repeatedly.

Through a series of extreme battles, he went from being unable to defeat Doflamingo to awakening his Op-Op Fruit, dealing serious damage to Big Mom, and later improving his Haki enough to take on Blackbeard and his crew.

Tanaka's opponents weren't on the level of the Seven Warlords, let alone the Yonko, but from the moment he ate the Op-Op Fruit, not even a full day had passed.

In just half a day, he had:

Annihilated the pirate crew led by Barrels in the One Piece world.

Defeated Hizashi.

Taken down Hiashi.

Just now, he had crushed the five elite elders of the main house.

Essentially, from the moment he ate the Op-Op Fruit, he hadn't stopped fighting.

His fruit abilities had been in continuous high-intensity use.

And with the Nara-brand medicinal dish replenishing his nutrients and the Akimichi-brand military ration pill restoring his stamina, it was only natural that his Devil Fruit ability had improved.

"There are still seven elite jonin from the main house left."

Tanaka suppressed his excitement over becoming stronger and shot a glance at Natsu, who was kneeling nearby.

He hadn't forgotten—there were still members of the main house waiting for him to wipe them out.

"Tanaka-sama, how many?"

Natsu immediately stood up, understanding his meaning.

"Seven."

Tanaka responded indifferently, stating the number plainly.

Previously, eliminating five elite main house jonin was his limit.

But now, that was no longer the case.

He could push even further.

Not to mention, with Hizashi assisting him, he had full confidence—and absolute certainty—that he could take down the remaining main house jonin all at once.