The So-Called Human
A cold wind howled, and a torrential downpour began.
Thunder echoed across the plains, and streaks of lightning pierced the earth, carving deep furrows.
"Still not working? A stable structure, stable..."
Pinching her chin and deep in thought, Katsuki was caught in a profound dilemma.
The idea of using lightning to forge weapons has become a reality. Previously, he racked his brains to think about it, but subconsciously overlooked the most unique power: the Hito Hito no Mi.
His narrow-mindedness limited the full potential of the Hito Hito no Mi. He had always focused on strengthening himself while training the Hito Hito no Mi Fruit, which was not wrong; in fact, it was the right path. True strength lies in one's own power, and there was nothing wrong with that.
There's a small problem here: time. With methodical training, it's difficult to gain overwhelming power in less than ten years. This period is unbearably long, and you can't even use Shadow Clone to assist you.
The Hito Hito no Mi is different from other Zoan-type fruits. It doesn't have sharp claws or teeth, amazing strength, or thick fur. Apart from enhancing vitality and regenerative abilities to a certain extent, it doesn't bring about significant enhancements in other physical aspects. All the achievements so far are the result of his own hard training.
However, this does not mean that the Hito Hito no Mi is entirely useless.
Humans are not as strong as tigers, do not have the powerful regenerative abilities of geckos, do not have the night vision of owls, are not as quick as jackals, and are not as flexible as snakes and insects. However, humans also have their own unique characteristics, namely, thinking. Humans are intelligent animals and can learn abilities they do not possess through thinking, thereby strengthening themselves.
Enhanced Vision involves learning from owls and eagles to gain night vision and farsightedness, while Foot Strength Enhancement simulates the movements of beasts like cheetahs. These methods result in various improvements, but these are mostly superficial changes. A deeper level of power remains undeveloped: intelligence.
Humans, though animals, are superior to other animals because of their intelligence; the ability to learn is merely one manifestation of intelligence.
What he is doing now is to endow lightning with intelligence, not a very complex thinking ability, but simply the ability to self-regulate and obey commands. Therefore, the Lightning Beast can maintain its shape for a long time, and the weapons forged from lightning will not fall apart due to high-speed movement.
Everything stems from the power of the Hito Hito no Mi. To put it in a more mystical way, what he did was to enlighten, separating his own soul to give it human characteristics and the ability to act like a human.
Of course, such abilities are bound to have limitations.
He can only control the existence that extends from himself. In other words, only lightning formed from his Chakra can be given sentience. In a sense, it is like his extended limbs. He ate the Hito Hito no Mi, not the Soul-Soul Fruit.
Humans are wondrous creations formed by the union of body and soul. If there is only a soul, one is nothing but a wild ghost; and if there is only a body, one is nothing but a pile of flesh. Only when the soul and flesh are fused together can one be called a human!
The reason he can only control the lightning formed from his own Chakra is based on this principle: the creation formed from his own Chakra is, in a sense, a derivative of his body, and can house his soul. This possibility would not exist if it were something unrelated.
Even with these limitations, the power of this ability cannot be concealed. It is a more sophisticated clone than Shadow Clone. If used properly, it can generate extremely powerful combat strength, far superior to the fragile Shadow Clone that is destroyed with a single puncture.
However, there is still a problem: strong and stable structural forms are not so easy to construct.
The process of imbuing lightning with intelligence is simple: first, sketch out the appropriate form in your mind, then mold the lightning into shape, and finally endow it with intelligence so that it can fight according to its will. The key is a reasonable form that is powerful enough and stable enough, which are difficult conditions to meet.
The greater the power, the harder it is to control, especially a violent power like lightning. It's like a straight line on a different plane, with no possibility of intersection. Creating a form where power and stability coexist is extremely difficult.
Ninjutsu like the Lightning Beast was originally designed to unleash explosive power. Even if it were given intelligence, its inherent limitations prevented it from lasting for long. Besides, the Lightning Beast was only a C-rank Ninjutsu with limited power. On the other hand, weapons forged from lightning could last for an extremely long time. A row of long and short swords were stuck to one side of Katsuki, their gleaming lightning condensing and not dissipating.
The only concern is that this thing is not easy to handle. An ordinary person would be electrocuted half to death if they touched it. Katsuki's palm was burned in a large area. It seems that it will take some effort to use this thing in combat.
"Damn it! It needs to be powerful enough, and stable enough... the balance point... the balance point, where is that balance point? Finding that balance point... ugh... it's so hard!!"
The complaints quickly turned into contemplation. Katsuki devoted himself entirely to the task, creating one bizarre shape after another—lions, tigers, jackals, wolves, birds, and beasts. He kept experimenting, leaving the wilderness in a mess. When it was truly beyond repair, the Shadow Clone around him would step in to restore the landscape.
Just as the Hito Hito no Mi enhances one's own abilities, the ability to imbue lightning creations with souls can only be achieved through his own hands. Shadow Clone do not possess the corresponding power; all they can do is allow the Shadow Clone to refine the form and nature of Lightning Release Technique.
"Boom!!!"
A huge explosion rang out, the ground beneath their feet trembled slightly for a moment, a violent gust of wind blew in their faces, their crimson hair danced wildly in the wind, and all the falling raindrops were swept away.
"Tch! Still not working?"
He sculpted a lightning giant nearly ten meters tall, thinking that the human form would better suit his soul's characteristics. However, the result was not so pleasant. He couldn't maintain it for long before the raging lightning began to go berserk. Fortunately, he controlled the lightning giant to stand relatively far away. Otherwise, if he had stood near the center of the explosion, given the power of the attack, he would have been badly injured, if not killed.
"Form! Form! What kind of form can reliably control the power of lightning?"
Sighing and lamenting, as he was trapped in inescapable distress, his Shadow Clone arrived at the site of the lightning giant's collapse. Together, they unleashed Earth Release) to fill the crater blasted into the ground, repairing the ravaged earth.