Chapter 186: The Possibility of Armament Haki

Muzuki quietly went deep into the forest, keeping his Byakugan activated the whole way to ensure there were no other Ninja around him.

Muzuki first tested the Armament Haki without activating the Eight Gates, concentrating Chakra in his hand, and then rapidly performing Nature Transformation.

As Chakra was used, Muzuki’s right palm was quickly covered by a layer of black substance, looking like he was wearing a black glove.

Muzuki took out a Kunai with his left hand and forcefully stabbed it towards his right hand.

Clang!

When the Kunai touched the hand covered by Armament Haki, it vibrated sharply, as if it had hit an incredibly hard object, unable to penetrate even a single bit.

Muzuki activated Chakra in his left hand, imbuing the Kunai with Lightning Release power to greatly enhance its strength.

Zzzzt! Zzzzt!

Shining blue lightning enveloped Muzuki’s hand, continuously striking his hand covered by Armament Haki.

However, that layer of pitch-black substance, though perhaps as thin as paper, possessed incredibly powerful defense, and nothing happened even after the Lightning Release continuously electrocuted it for several minutes.

“The defense of Armament Haki hardening is quite impressive.” Muzuki nodded, acknowledging the defensive power of this localized Armament Haki in the Hokage world.

Muzuki actually also mastered a Ninjutsu somewhat similar to Armament Haki hardening, a Ninjutsu called Earth Release: Earth Spear.

This Ninjutsu can harden the body to enhance defense and attack power.

Muzuki compared Earth Spear with Armament Haki strength and found that the upper limit of Earth Spear was far lower than Armament Haki, whether in terms of attack, defense, or versatility.

Earth Spear only has abilities similar to hardening, cannot be applied to weapons, and cannot perform long-range attacks like Haki.

The only advantage of Earth Spear is that it can be used with Armament Haki, as the two do not conflict.

However, Muzuki felt it was unnecessary; the Armament Haki alone was already hard enough, and using Earth Spear would make the defense overflow, wasting too much Chakra.

After testing the defense with the Lightning Release Kunai, Muzuki then created a Shadow Clone to attack him with Pseudo-Darkness. Muzuki protected his arm with Armament Haki and directly opened his palm to withstand the full Pseudo-Darkness.

The output capability of Pseudo-Darkness goes without saying, which means he can basically ignore most Ninjutsu.

Of course, Muzuki will not simply endure all Ninjutsu directly in future battles; Armament Haki also requires Chakra.

Muzuki tried to push Armament Haki to its limit, but found that even using 10,000 points of Chakra to harden and wrap his fist with Armament Haki was still far from the limit.

Muzuki thought for a moment, and ultimately did not unleash the punch with 10,000 points of Chakra, cancelling it.

It’s better to keep a low profile in Konoha; it wouldn’t be good to attract the Anbu if the commotion was too big.

Next, Muzuki tested the effect of Armament Haki on strengthening weapons; he chose a standard Shuriken.

Muzuki imbued the blade of the Shuriken with pitch-black Armament Haki and threw it towards a half-person-tall boulder.

The Armament Haki Shuriken easily penetrated the stone, and even pierced through the tree behind the stone, demonstrating impressive penetration power.

However, the Chakra consumption of Haki made Muzuki feel that it had to be used like Ninjutsu, otherwise, if he casually threw a bunch of Shuriken enhanced with Armament Haki, how much Chakra would it take to sustain such an expenditure?

Since it was previously tested that Earth Spear could be used with Armament Haki, Muzuki then tried to strengthen Ninjutsu with Armament Haki.

Muzuki first tested Lightning Release; he used Chidori while also performing Yin Release Nature Transformation to use Armament Haki, allowing Armament Haki to wrap around the Chidori.

The Chidori enhanced with Armament Haki was no longer pure blue lightning, but turned into black-blue lightning, looking somewhat eerie.

The Chidori, empowered by Armament Haki, greatly increased in power, and its destructive force became terrifying; everything touched by the black lightning was destroyed.

However, not all Ninjutsu could be strengthened by Armament Haki. After testing, Muzuki found that only a small portion of Ninjutsu could be strengthened, and most Ninjutsu were unsuitable, especially Fire, Wind, and Water.

Ninjutsu suitable for Armament Haki enhancement were either those held in hand or small and potent ones.

This was a welcome discovery, meaning Muzuki’s output ceiling increased again, and his burst power became even stronger.

In addition, Muzuki also tested whether Armament Haki could be compatible with the Breathing Technique’s Mark, testing them one by one, and all were fine.

“Gate of Opening, open!” Finally, Muzuki activated the Eight Gates, trying to use Haki while the Eight Gates were open.

Muzuki once again concentrated Chakra in his hand, and soon his palm was covered by Armament Haki.

Muzuki wasn’t too surprised; the more Gates of the Eight Gates were opened, the more violent the Chakra became. In the state of the First Gate, he could even use Ninjutsu.

“Gate of Healing, open! Gate of Life, open!” Muzuki opened two Gates in one go, and instantly felt the Chakra within him begin to become uncontrollable.

In the state of the Third Gate, Muzuki could no longer use Ninjutsu because the Chakra was too difficult to control.

Muzuki, who was already prepared, didn’t mind this point; since he couldn’t perform precise operations, he wouldn’t operate at all.

Muzuki unleashed his full body Chakra to use Armament Haki; the pitch-black Haki instantly covered Muzuki’s entire body, making him look like he was wearing an airtight black armor.

Muzuki could feel the Chakra in his body rapidly depleting.

Using Armament Haki across the entire body consumed far more than just on the palm or a single arm. If the strength of the Armament Haki was to be maintained, the consumption would be even greater.

For Muzuki, full-body Armament Haki was very inefficient; for most Ninjutsu, he could switch to Thunder Breathing for a burst escape, which consumed far less Chakra than enduring with full-body Armament Haki.

But Might Guy was different; the massive amount of Chakra boosted by opening the Eight Gates was more than Might Guy could ever use, and his only attack method was Taijutsu. Most of the time, he needed to fight in close combat, so full-body Armament Haki could protect his body very well.

After all tests were completed, Muzuki concluded that Armament Haki could be used in the Eight Gates state, but there was no thought of concentrating it to enhance power or just hardening the arm. Either it wouldn’t work, or if it did, it would cover the entire body, with no way to control specific parts.

Furthermore, there was no way to strengthen weapons with Armament Haki; he could only use Armament Haki hardening to cover his own body.

Muzuki could only say that Eight Gates plus Armament Haki was the ultimate brute force, with no room for precise control.

Muzuki also tried Eight Gates plus Rock Breathing Mark plus Armament Haki, and the Chakra consumption was so exaggerated that Muzuki quickly and voluntarily withdrew after less than three seconds.

The Chakra consumption was too excessive; his Eight Gates at the third gate couldn’t sustain it at all.

Muzuki would rather just use Eight Gates plus Rock Breathing, or just Eight Gates plus Armament Haki. Although the strength would be slightly weaker, it would be more sustainable.

“I wonder how long it will take Might Guy to learn it. Although Armament Haki before mastery is a brute-force type, the difficulty of Yin Release is much higher than the five basic natures.” Muzuki felt that teaching Might Guy to even get started with Armament Haki might be several times harder than Rock Breathing.

Although Rock Breathing is difficult, it aligns well with Might Guy’s personality, and Rock Breathing is considered a Taijutsu.

Armament Haki is different; it’s a genuine Yin Release secret technique, requiring the mastery of Yin Release Nature Transformation.

Although Might Guy isn’t like Lee, completely unable to learn Ninjutsu, his Ninjutsu talent can only be described as abysmal.

Muzuki was quite frustrated when he previously taught Might Guy Shadow Clone; a Ninjutsu that Shisui learned in one go, Might Guy spent a month and still couldn’t get his Shadow Clone proficiency above 40, and this was with the teaching skill bonus.

Later, Muzuki simply told Might Guy not to learn it, as Shadow Clone was largely meaningless to Might Guy anyway.

Facing such a Might Guy, even though his teaching skill had already been upgraded once, his own Yin Release Nature Transformation proficiency was not low, and he possessed perfect-level Haki, Muzuki felt that teaching Might Guy to even get started with Armament Haki would be very difficult, and the time might have to be counted in years.