Hozuki Mangetsu had been reverse-summoned away to undergo his trial, and Araki could not continue practicing the [Rain Cutter Technique] alone, so he had no choice but to cultivate Lightning Release instead.
The last time he faced Kakuzu, even Wind Style: Sword Aura had failed to break through the defense of [Earth Spear], making Araki realize that learning some Lightning Release would still be beneficial.
Because elemental counters in the Shinobi World were just that unreasonable.
[Earth Style: Earth Spear Technique] was said to be as hard as diamond and impossible to break, yet when facing Lightning Cutter, it was as fragile as a sheet of paper. Who could he even complain to about that?
So Araki decided that no matter what, he should learn a little. After all, having more skills never hurt!
Thus, when he returned, he asked Mangetsu for the training scroll of [Lightning Release: Earth Flash].
Mm... Being able to fleece someone else really was this delightful!
Kirigakure did not actually lack Lightning Style Ninjutsu. There were plenty of techniques meant to be used alongside the [Thunder Blade], and the Hozuki Clan Compound had collected all of them. But Araki chose [Lightning Release: Earth Flash] for two reasons. First, it required only three hand seals; second, it could gather lightning in the palm, making it ideal for use with swordsmanship.
When ordinary people used this move, they would slap their lightning-charged palm onto the ground or water's surface, causing the current to instantly spread out into an area-of-effect attack.
But Araki did not need to do that. What he wanted was to stably attach the current to his blade, which was somewhat similar to [Chidori Blade].
Learning a B-rank ninjutsu naturally did not take him too long, especially since his nightly sparring with Keqing had made