Fukai closed his eyes. It seemed he had guided his disciple down an extraordinary path—a path he himself had once wished to explore but was never qualified to. And the only reason he couldn't… was because he was the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki. As a Jinchūriki, he had to stay constantly vigilant to prevent the Eight-Tails from rampaging. Because of this, he could never achieve the unity of body, mind, and spirit like Killer Bee. But to his surprise, his disciple had succeeded in doing so.
On the other side, A was equally shocked. He couldn't understand how Killer Bee, without using chakra, could unleash slashes resembling wind blades. And when those slashes appeared, even he felt the sharp, menacing force within them. Looking again at those three smooth, flat-cut surfaces—the destructive power of those cuts had already reached B-rank. To be able to unleash a wind-style blade slash with B-rank cutting power without using chakra was simply unbelievable.
As expected, he still wasn't proficient enough. Multitasking—watching his footing while simultaneously preparing that move—meant it took him over 30 seconds to pull it off. He remembered when he was on the ground, he could do it in less than two seconds. Truly, he was still green.
With his eyes closed, at this moment, he finally understood why his teacher had asked him to use the technique now. Wasn't the point to show that in real combat, the enemy would never give him time to prepare? Realizing this, everything suddenly became clear.
A moment later, he opened his eyes and bowed deeply to his teacher."Thank you, sensei. You've helped me understand something important."
Boom.
At that very moment, Killer Bee felt a jolt in his mind. When he came to, he was surprised to find that his spiritual strength had significantly increased. Even the chakra that had been stuck at the Chūnin level had now broken through to the level of an Elite Chūnin. What's more, he clearly felt his body beginning to absorb chakra from nature again.
A pleasant surprise—completely unexpected.
"You broke through?" Fukai sensed Bee's changes and asked. He didn't understand why Bee had thanked him so solemnly or how he had broken through. He had no idea what exactly triggered the breakthrough. But even so, he was happy for his disciple.
"Yes!" Killer Bee said joyfully. "My chakra has reached the storage capacity of an Elite Chūnin!"
At that moment, A asked in confusion,"What are you two even talking about? You're making no sense! And Bee, you weren't using chakra earlier, right? But you still managed to unleash such a sharp slash!"
"Bee, tell us about that slash you released just now," Fukai also turned to Killer Bee.
"Oh," Killer Bee sheathed his blade and explained slowly:"Simply put, it's airflow. By swinging the blade at high speed, I alter the air currents to create a sword wave. Then, by unifying my body, mind, and spirit, I can feel the changes in the airflow and shape the slash accordingly. At the moment it's formed, I add the final stroke with my blade and direct it at the target—thus naturally forming the wind blade you just saw.
"Actually, the whole motion—from drawing to sheathing the blade—takes less than a second. The main part is building up power. As you saw, just now I took over thirty seconds to build up because I was multitasking. During that whole buildup, I was completely vulnerable. If either of you had attacked me then, I could've died dozens of times over."
After finishing, Bee quickly added:"But on the ground, I can do it within two seconds. This shows that with more practice, I can shorten the charge-up time."
So that's how it is. Although A could also unleash slashes through fast blade swings, their power clearly didn't reach B-rank, nor did they have the same sharp force. Indeed, when body, mind, and spirit are unified, any attack becomes extraordinary.
Fukai remained silent for a moment before asking again,"If you used this technique on a flying bird in the sky, how long would it take to charge up?"
That was even harder. Killer Bee looked hesitant and said uncertainly,"My target earlier was stationary, but a bird would be moving. That wouldn't be dual-tasking anymore—it'd be triple-tasking. I haven't tried it, so I'm not sure… but at the very least, it'd probably take around a minute."
"Alright," Fukai said."From now on, whenever you have time, practice like that. When you can execute that sword technique within two seconds, I'll teach you how to combine it with the Lightning Armor technique."
"Sensei, I already know how to coat my blade with lightning…" Killer Bee said, a little speechless.
"Impossible," Fukai cut him off immediately."Even if your chakra control is at Chūnin level, it's still not enough. That kind of technique requires extremely precise CKL control. Without traditional training, there's no way you could've learned it."
"Then let me show you!"As he jumped between tree branches, Killer Bee drew his blade. In the next moment, the blade was covered in electricity.
Seeing this, Fukai smirked."That's it?"
Killer Bee rolled his eyes."Yeah, isn't this it? Isn't this how you combine lightning with your blade?"
Whew… I almost got scared. If Bee had actually mastered it, then "genius" wouldn't even begin to describe him. Fukai inwardly sighed in relief, feeling like he had reclaimed his dignity as a teacher. With a mysterious expression, he said,"What you've used does count as a combination of Lightning Armor and blade—but what I was talking about is on a whole other level. What you did is just beginner level at best."
"There's a big difference?" Killer Bee asked, puzzled.
"Tell you what, I'll show you."With a mysterious smile, Fukai pulled out a kunai from his tool pouch.Zzzzt—in an instant, the kunai was enveloped in electricity. Then with a flick of his wrist, he flung it.
Whoosh!Thunk, thunk, thunk—BOOM!
Killer Bee stared in shock at what just happened. The lightning-coated kunai had pierced through three trees and then even split a two-meter-tall boulder behind the third tree. It was unbelievable.
Without a word, Killer Bee also pulled out a kunai, infused it with lightning, and flung it with a whoosh!Thunk.To his surprise, his kunai couldn't even penetrate one tree. Even if his strength wasn't as high as his teacher's, the difference shouldn't have been that big!
Seeing this, Killer Bee looked utterly depressed.
Pfft—HAHAHAHA!Fukai burst out laughing. Mimicking Killer Bee's tone, he proudly said,"Well? Pretty impressive, huh? Jealous, aren't you?"
Killer Bee ignored his teacher's teasing and quietly pondered the difference.
Fukai watched his silent disciple and muttered to himself,What are you thinking so hard about? Why don't you just ask me? Am I even your teacher anymore? This is just too disheartening…