Isn't he afraid of death?

"Looks like I'll have to show some real power..." Darui didn't dare to be careless at this point. Every effort yields a reward; no strength comes from nothing. Forbidden Jutsu that burns life is simple and crude, gaining power by sacrificing one's life. If an attack like this could be easily blocked, it wouldn't deserve to be called a Forbidden Jutsu.

Dark, black lightning writhed and coiled around Darui's glistening skin like a pack of twisted, ferocious lightning snakes. The electricity continuously stimulated Darui's muscles, and under the glow of the black light, the muscles in his arms had swollen several times their size. The raw beauty of his physique stunned everyone present.

The pitch-black lightning clashed with the scarlet blood qi, like two primal beasts locked in combat. The other ninjas present couldn't help but swallow nervously. Facing a ninja who controlled the power of Chakra with only a mortal body – this was the might of a Forbidden Jutsu!

Moriyue felt his limbs fill with power, unrestrained Chakra surging within him. It felt like a high-speed train navigating a maze at maximum velocity. The train was the rampaging Chakra, and the maze was Moriyue's own body.

If this power wasn't released soon, it would explode. Moriyue let out a low growl and threw a plain, unadorned punch at Darui.

The sound of wind whistling through the air came from in front of Darui. His blond hair moved as if there were no wind, and black lightning formed an armor of electricity on the surface of his arms. A layer of water vapor, resembling a laser, swirled around his arm, creating halos. His opponent was burning his life to fight him, so he had to show some sincerity as well.

"It's here! Captain Darui's Storm Release! That black lightning... it's Black Panther! After the Third Raikage, Captain Darui is the only one who has mastered this technique!" One ninja's eyes sparkled. In his eyes, Darui was practically his idol. It was black lightning, after all. Regardless of anything else, it was undeniably cool. No ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village could resist the allure of black lightning!

"Storm Release... I'd forgotten, Captain still knows Storm Release..." Another female ninja was clearly calmer. Because Darui was incredibly lazy, they had only ever seen him finish fights with a single sword during missions. They had genuinely forgotten he knew Storm Release.

The starry-eyed male ninja had also joined not too long ago and was in a phase of intense curiosity. He scratched his head with a confused look:

"Storm Release? What's that?"

"Hey, hey, hey, you don't actually know, do you? Storm Release is a very famous Kekkei Genkai... Never mind, it seems you really don't know..." The female ninja looked speechless. So there were people who didn't know about Kekkei Genkai and Storm Release. She had assumed too much.

"Let me put it this way: Storm Release is a Ninjutsu created by simultaneously mixing Lightning Release Chakra and Water Release Chakra. It possesses both the attack power and destructive force of lightning, while also having the flexibility and ease of control of water."

"When combined, the lightning becomes a laser whose direction and angle can be freely controlled. Storm Release compensates for the drawback of lightning's difficulty in control, it's a Kekkei Genkai that combines the advantages of both lightning and water! Just know that this technique is very powerful."

The female ninja took great effort to explain Kekkei Genkai and Storm Release to him. In reality, she was also somewhat shocked by Darui's current actions. His opponent was merely an ordinary person boosted by a Forbidden Jutsu, and with such a grand display, wasn't it a bit excessive?

"Then isn't this kid surely going to die?" The male ninja also broke out in a cold sweat. They were here to test if Moriyue's strength met the standards, but why did their captain seem intent on killing the boy right from the start?

During the time the two were talking, Moriyue and Darui's fists had already collided. There were no brilliant clashes of Ninjutsu, no artillery fire from explosive tags, they simply collided in the most primitive way. Fist met flesh, and every impact was accompanied by blood and lightning.

With Moriyue and Darui at the center, the square rock platform erupted with a terrifying shockwave. The dust and smoke blurred their figures, and the impact from their punches caused the two ninjas to squint.

"Is it over? How's the captain? That kid probably didn't die here, right?"

"The captain is definitely fine, but that kid is in trouble. Regardless, the test is over, and our mission is complete. Let's go check on the captain."

As the sounds gradually faded, the two ninjas formed hand seals and used Wind Release to blow away the dust and smoke, revealing the two figures in the center of the platform.

"Huh? That kid isn't dead? Did the captain hold back? I knew the captain wouldn't be so reckless."

"No, the captain didn't hold back. Look at that guy's arm..."

The other ninja pointed at Moriyue's arm, indicating that things were not that simple.

Following the direction of her finger, the ninja saw a scene that made his scalp tingle:

Blood was vaporized by the impact of the raging lightning from the outside and the turbulent Chakra from the inside. One of Moriyue's arms had turned black, with black arcs of electricity occasionally shooting from his shoulder. The hand he used to punch Darui with had exposed a significant amount of bone, looking incredibly gruesome.

Darui, on the other hand, was relatively composed. After all, he had used Ninjutsu, making this battle inherently unfair. However, even so, a blood-red fist mark had appeared on his chest. Feeling the pain radiating from his chest, he felt a trace of respect for the Moriyue before him.

The power of this punch was incredibly immense, and Moriyue himself doubted if such a powerful attack had come from him. But before he could feel any joy, a soul-deep weakness began to spread from his limbs.

With a thud, Moriyue's limbs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground. He wanted to stand up, but his limbs were completely useless. At this moment, he was like a thinking piece of meat, capable of nothing but thought.

"You are a warrior. I acknowledge you." Darui picked up Moriyue. He had never evaluated a "ninja" who had achieved rapid growth through a Forbidden Jutsu in this way before. Although not explicitly stated, almost all ninjas viewed these "Forbidden Jutsu users" as cannon fodder, mere tools to deplete the enemy's Chakra during war.

"Did... did you hear what the captain just said? He said he acknowledged this Forbidden Jutsu user? Doesn't that mean..." The male ninja was somewhat incredulous, supporting himself by shaking the female ninja's shoulders back and forth.

"Stop shaking me, I'm not deaf. It seems that guy has become a formal member. That's an opportunity even we envy. Honestly, what does the captain see in this kid?" The female ninja pushed away the stunned male ninja. Don't ask her, she didn't understand either.

Darui supported Moriyue, who had completely lost his strength, and decided to have Moriyue join his squad. Not for any other reason, but because Darui saw a certain quality in Moriyue's eyes that many ninjas lacked.

It was as if he no longer cared about his own life or death, with all his actions solely focused on killing the opponent. His own survival was not even a consideration. Darui had only seen this kind of suicidal demeanor in some death warriors.

"Congratulations on passing the test. From now on, you are one of our team members."