The Way of the Imperial Wind (Seeking Collection~Seeking Votes~)

Araki opened his eyes and rubbed his head vigorously.

Although he had died the instant Yasuo unleashed his ultimate, the sensation of being shredded by endless blades of wind was far too intense, leaving him feeling slightly nauseated.

"Wind-Slaying Sword Technique, is it?"

As an ordinary person from a magic-less world in his past life, Araki had seen many extraordinary sword techniques through various works of fantasy, but those were merely castles in the air, lacking any explanation of the underlying principles.

Otherwise, why had he never heard of anyone in reality mastering them?

Could it be that the world was to blame?

However, this clash with Yasuo, who truly commanded the power of the gale, had opened the door to a new world for him, granting him a deeper understanding of wind.

Araki drew his longsword and gathered chakra in his palm, choosing not to weave hand seals, but instead attempting to directly convert the expelled chakra into wind.

Pfft.

A sound like a leaking balloon echoed, and the chakra in Araki's palm simply dissipated; the expected power of wind did not manifest.

"Tch, still not working?"

Araki bared his teeth, feeling a dull ache. "It seems I need to get closer to Yasuo. After all, getting beaten up is the fastest way to grow!"

"But I can't just keep asking for a beating without making progress. Although I can't command the wind out of thin air yet, this time wasn't a total loss."

He formed the hand seals for the Gale Palm, then gripped his sword with both hands. The gale that usually could only be released or spread to envelop his body was now swirling entirely around the blade, as if adding a layer of transparent, flowing scabbard.

"Yasuo's blade is always wrapped in a gale, which is why I'm blown away every time our blades clash. But it's different now. While my sword technique can't command the wind yet, I can achieve this through ninjutsu, and furthermore..."

Araki focused his intent, and the gale wrapped around the blade began to rotate at a strange frequency. As he made micro-adjustments, the meter-long blade in his hand suddenly vanished, leaving only the hilt!

"As expected, the Wind King Barrier is a success!"

Staring at the invisible blade in his hand, Araki nodded with satisfaction.

"A deeper understanding of the power of wind will help me replicate many wind-related skills and techniques from my past life. Whether they are practical, however, remains to be tested in real combat."

He then gently swung the blade forward.

Whoosh.

A rotating wind blade whistled out, turning the cabin into a mess.

"Whirlwind Slash?"

Looking at Yasuo now, Araki saw a gold mine; he felt that every inch of the man held techniques he wanted to learn, and he had even temporarily forgotten the fear of being torn apart by the blade storm.

"Come on, Yasuo, let's have some fun together!"

Life at sea was incredibly monotonous. Aside from taking turns guarding the ship, Araki spent all his time sparring with Yasuo.

Of course, his current strength was indeed insufficient to defeat Yasuo; his 0-11 record said it all.

However, the brutally slaughtered Araki was not without gains. At the very least, his perception and control of the wind were becoming increasingly sharp, and a hint of the sharpness unique to the wind was beginning to manifest on him.

The first to notice this was Kisame Hoshigaki.

As a powerhouse who already possessed the strength of a jonin, he had likely long since touched upon advanced knowledge like chakra shape transformation and nature transformation.

Once, just after Araki had finished sparring with Yasuo and his emotions had yet to settle, someone shouted from outside that a reef was blocking their path and the situation was critical.

Araki didn't think twice and ran out with his sword. By the time he reached the deck, the reef had already been shattered by a Water Dragon Bullet from Kisame, but the slightly sharp aura radiating from Araki still caught Kisame's attention.

"Araki, have you been researching the nature transformation of wind-style chakra lately?"

Kisame's voice was slightly surprised, as these topics were beyond the reach of even average chunin.

Although Kisame had given Araki and Zabuza chakra paper to test their affinities when the squad was first formed, it wasn't to teach them shape or nature transformation, but merely to help them choose ninjutsu better suited to them.

Generally, when a ninja releases a ninjutsu that matches their chakra affinity, its power is amplified; this is the only way ordinary ninjas can enhance their techniques.

Beyond that, for ninjas pursuing greater strength, the most common method is to study chakra shape and nature transformation. Each time one masters a nature transformation, the power of ninjutsu of that element increases significantly.

For example, mastering part of the fire-style nature transformation allows one to add characteristics like burning, high heat, or explosions to the Fireball Jutsu to increase its power.

To become a jonin, one generally needs to master two or more chakra nature transformations.

This is one of the important reasons why the same ninjutsu can have different levels of power when released by different people.

The sharp aura now appearing on Araki was, in Kisame's eyes, clearly the first step in practicing wind nature transformation—strengthening the chakra's characteristics.

The characteristic of wind is sharpness and cutting, so ninjas undergoing this training often exude a sharp aura from time to time.

"Nature transformation?"

Araki was stunned. Although he knew the meaning of the term, he had been focusing on sword techniques and hadn't really thought in that direction. It was only after Kisame's prompt that he realized: in a sense, his pursuit of converting chakra into wind without hand seals was exactly similar to wind-style nature transformation.

"I just wanted to make my sword sharper."

Araki didn't admit it. After all, as a ninja from a commoner background with no formal master, stumbling upon a result similar to nature transformation was one thing, but this high-end terminology was not something he should know.

"You want to make your sword sharper?"

Kisame glanced at the unsheathed longsword in Araki's arms, his tone somewhat reflective.

He suddenly realized that although all three members of the squad carried blades, he and Zabuza usually kept their swords strapped to their backs. Only Araki was frequently seen holding his sword in his arms.

Kisame had observed it carefully; it wasn't a sword with special abilities, nor was it a high-quality blade—it was just an ordinary longsword forged by a village blacksmith.

"So, you intend to be a taijutsu ninja who uses the sword as your primary means of attack?"

Thanks to Feidan and Aiya Hero for the tips~ Thanks to Yan Siqing for the monthly ticket~