Chapter 185: The Potential of Armament Haki

Mu Yue quietly went deep into the forest, keeping his Byakugan activated the whole way to confirm there were no other ninjas around him.

First, Mu Yue tested Armament Haki without opening the Eight Gates. He gathered chakra in his hand and quickly performed a nature transformation.

As chakra was used, a layer of black substance rapidly covered his right palm, making it look like he was wearing a black glove.

Mu Yue took out a kunai with his left hand and stabbed it forcefully toward his right hand.

Clang!

The kunai struck the palm covered by Armament Haki with a violent shudder, as if hitting something incredibly hard, unable to penetrate even a fraction.

Mu Yue activated chakra in his left hand, infusing the kunai with Lightning Release power to greatly enhance its sharpness.

Zzi zzi zzi!!

Brilliant blue lightning wrapped around his palm, continuously striking the hand covered by Armament Haki.

Yet that layer of pitch-black substance, though perhaps as thin as paper, possessed formidable defensive strength; even after several minutes of continuous lightning strikes, nothing happened.

“Armament Haki’s hardening defense is impressive.” Mu Yue nodded, acknowledging the defensive power of this Naruto-localized Armament Haki.

Mu Yue actually also knew a ninjutsu somewhat similar to Armament Haki hardening, called Earth Release: Earth Spear.

This technique could harden the body, enhancing defense and attack power.

Mu Yue compared the strength of Earth Spear and Armament Haki, finding that Earth Spear’s upper limit was far below Armament Haki’s, whether in attack, defense, or versatility.

Earth Spear only had a hardening-like ability; it couldn’t be applied to weapons, nor could it be used for long-range attacks like Haki.

The only advantage of Earth Spear was that it could be used together with Armament Haki; the two didn’t conflict.

However, Mu Yue felt it was unnecessary—Armament Haki alone was hard enough, and adding Earth Spear would overflow defense, wasting too much chakra.

After testing defense with the lightning-infused kunai, Mu Yue created a Shadow Clone to strike him with False Darkness. Mu Yue protected his arm with Armament Haki, spreading his palm to directly withstand the full False Darkness.

The output power of False Darkness spoke for itself—this meant he could basically ignore most ninjutsu.

Of course, Mu Yue wouldn’t just eat every jutsu in future battles; did he think Armament Haki didn’t consume chakra?

Mu Yue tried to push Armament Haki to its limit, only to find that using ten thousand points of chakra to harden and wrap Armament Haki around his fist was still far from the limit.

Mu Yue thought for a moment, then ultimately didn’t throw that ten-thousand-chakra punch; he canceled it.

He had to stay low-key inside Konoha; it would be bad if he made too much noise and attracted the Anbu.

Next, Mu Yue tested the effect of Armament Haki enhancing a weapon; he chose a standard shuriken.

Mu Yue hurled the shuriken, whose blade was coated with pitch-black Armament Haki, toward a half-person-tall boulder.

The Armament Haki shuriken easily pierced through the boulder, even penetrating the tree behind it, showing excellent piercing power.

However, the chakra consumed by Haki made Mu Yue feel he would have to use it sparingly like a ninjutsu; otherwise, throwing out a bunch of Armament Haki-coated shurikens would require how much chakra to sustain?

Since he had previously tested that Earth Spear could be used together with Armament Haki, Mu Yue next tried using Armament Haki to enhance ninjutsu.

Mu Yue first tested Lightning Release; while using Chidori, he also performed a Yin Release nature transformation to apply Armament Haki, letting Armament Haki wrap around the Chidori.

With Armament Haki enhancement, the Chidori was no longer pure blue lightning but turned into black-blue lightning, looking somewhat eerie.

The Armament Haki-enhanced Chidori greatly increased in power, becoming terrifyingly destructive; everything the black lightning touched was destroyed.

Not all ninjutsu could be enhanced by Armament Haki. After testing, Mu Yue found that only a small number of jutsu could be enhanced; most were unsuitable, especially Fire, Wind, and Water.

Those suitable for Armament Haki enhancement were either handheld weapons or small and precise ninjutsu.

This was a gratifying discovery, meaning Mu Yue’s output ceiling had increased, making his burst power even stronger.

Additionally, Mu Yue tested whether Armament Haki was compatible with the Marks of Breathing techniques; he checked each one, and none had issues.

“Open Gate, Open!” Finally, Mu Yue opened the Eight Gates and tried to use Haki while the Gates were active.

Mu Yue gathered chakra in his hand again, and soon his palm was covered by Armament Haki.

Mu Yue wasn’t too surprised; the Eight Gates made chakra more violent the more Gates were opened, but in the first Gate state he could still use ninjutsu.

“Rest Gate, Open! Life Gate, Open!” Mu Yue opened two Gates in one go, instantly feeling the chakra inside his body start to become uncontrollable.

In the third Gate state, Mu Yue could no longer use ninjutsu because the chakra was too difficult to control.

Mu Yue, who had prepared in advance, didn't mind this either. Since he couldn't perform fine manipulation, he simply stopped manipulating.

Mu Yue burst forth all his chakra to use Armament Haki. The pitch-black Haki instantly covered his entire body, making Mu Yue look as if he was wearing an impenetrable black armor.

Mu Yue could feel his chakra rapidly depleting.

The consumption of using Armament Haki on the whole body was far higher than using it on a palm or an arm. If the strength of the Armament Haki was to be maintained, the consumption would be even greater.

For Mu Yue, full-body Armament Haki was not worthwhile. When facing most ninjutsu, he could switch to Thunder Breathing and burst away to escape, consuming 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 Inner Gates was more than he could ever use up. Moreover, his only attack method was taijutsu, and most of the time he needed to fight at close quarters. Full-body Armament Haki could protect his body well.

After testing all the items, Mu Yue came to a conclusion: Armament Haki could be used in the Eight Inner Gates state, but there was no hope of concentrating it at a single point to harden only an arm or enhance strength. Either it could not be used at all, or if used, it covered the whole body. There was simply no way to control specific parts.

Moreover, it was impossible to strengthen weapons with Armament Haki; he could only use Armament Haki to harden and cover his own body.

Mu Yue could only say that the Eight Inner Gates plus Armament Haki was the ultimate form of 'brute force makes the brick fly' — there was simply no technique to speak of.

Mu Yue also tried the Eight Inner Gates plus Rock Breathing's markings plus Armament Haki. The chakra consumption directly forced Mu Yue to actively withdraw in less than three seconds after entering that state.

The chakra consumption was too ridiculous. His Three Gates of Eight Inner Gates simply couldn't sustain it.

Mu Yue would rather use only the Eight Inner Gates plus Rock Breathing, or only the Eight Inner Gates plus Armament Haki. Although his strength would be slightly weaker, it was more sustainable.

"I wonder how long it will take Might Guy to learn. Although before mastering Armament Haki, it's the 'brute force makes the brick fly' type, the difficulty of Yin Release is greater than that of the five basic natures." Mu Yue felt that teaching Might Guy the basics of Armament Haki might be several times harder than teaching him Rock Breathing.

"Although Rock Breathing is difficult, it suits Might Guy's personality, and Rock Breathing counts as taijutsu."

"Armament Haki is different. It is a real Yin Release secret technique that requires learning Yin Release nature transformation."

"Although Might Guy is not completely incapable of learning ninjutsu like Rock Lee, his ninjutsu talent can only be described as appalling."

"Previously, Mu Yue had been truly exasperated teaching Might Guy the Shadow Clone Jutsu. A jutsu that Shisui learned in one attempt, Might Guy spent a month on and still couldn't get the proficiency of Shadow Clone above forty — and this was under the boost of the Teaching skill."

"Afterwards, Mu Yue simply told Might Guy to stop learning, since the Shadow Clone wasn't of much use to him anyway."

"Faced with a Might Guy like this, even though the Teaching skill had been upgraded once, his own Yin Release nature transformation proficiency was not low, and he had perfect-level Haki, Mu Yue still felt that teaching Might Guy Armament Haki to a basic level would be very difficult, possibly taking years."