Mokgetsu quietly made his way deep into the forest, keeping the Byakugan activated the whole time to ensure no other ninja was around him.
First, Mokgetsu tested using Armament Aura without opening the Eight Gates, condensing Chakra in his hand, then swiftly performing a nature transformation.
As Chakra was being used, Mokgetsu's right palm was rapidly covered by a layer of black substance, resembling a black glove.
Mokgetsu took out a kunai with his left hand and forcefully stabbed it toward his right hand.
Clang!
The kunai struck the Armament-covered palm and vibrated violently, as if it had hit something extremely hard, unable to penetrate even a fraction of an inch.
Mokgetsu stimulated Chakra in his left hand, infusing the kunai with the power of Lightning Release to significantly enhance its might.
Zizi zi!!
Shimmering blue lightning enveloped Mokgetsu's hand, continuously striking at the Armament-covered palm.
Yet, although the black layer seemed as thin as paper, it possessed immense defensive power, enduring several minutes of continuous Lightning Release with no issues.
"The defense of Armament Hardening is quite impressive." Mokgetsu nodded, acknowledging the defensive power of this localized Armament Aura in the Hokage world.
Mokgetsu actually also mastered a Ninjutsu somewhat similar to Armament Hardening, a technique known as Earth Release: Earth Spear.
This Ninjutsu could harden the body, enhancing both defense and attack power.
Mokgetsu compared Earth Spear with the strength of Armament and discovered Earth Spear's upper limit was far below Armament Aura, whether in attack, defense, or versatility.
Earth Spear only possessed a hardening-like ability and couldn't be applied to weapons, nor could it surpass attacks like Armament.
The only advantage of Earth Spear was that it could be used alongside Armament without conflict.
However, Mokgetsu felt it unnecessary, as Armament alone was already hard enough, and using Earth Spear on top of that would just waste Chakra.
After testing defense with the Lightning Kunai, Mokgetsu then created a Shadow Clone to use Pseudo-Darkness against him, protecting his arm with Armament and directly withstanding the full attack of Pseudo-Darkness.
The output power of Pseudo-Darkness was naturally impressive, meaning he could essentially ignore most Ninjutsu.
Of course, Mokgetsu couldn't just take all Ninjutsu head-on in battles; Armament still required Chakra.
Mokgetsu attempted to maximize the potential of Armament, realizing that even using 10,000 Chakra points for Armament Hardening around his fist was far from the limit.
Mokgetsu thought it over, and eventually did not throw a punch with 10,000 Chakra points, and canceled it instead.
Being in Konoha requires some restraint, too much commotion might attract the Anbu, which wouldn't be good.
Then Mokgetsu tested the effect of Armament Aura on weapon enhancement, opting for a standard Shuriken.
Mokgetsu coated the edge with black Armament Aura Shuriken, throwing it at a waist-high large stone.
The Armament-coated Shuriken easily penetrated through the stone, even piercing through the tree behind it, showcasing considerable penetration power.
However, the Chakra consumption of Aura made Mokgetsu feel that this should be used like a Ninjutsu, sparingly, otherwise how much Chakra would it take to randomly throw a bunch of Shuriken enhanced with Armament Aura?
Since earlier tests showed that Earth Spear could be used with Armament Aura, Mokgetsu proceeded to attempt enhancing Ninjutsu with Armament Aura.
Mokgetsu first tested Lightning Release, using Chidori while also performing Yin Release nature transformation with Armament Aura, letting Armament Aura wrap around the Chidori.
The Chidori bolstered by Armament was no longer pure blue lightning but turned into black-blue lightning, looking a bit eerie.
The power of Chidori increased significantly with Armament enhancement, and its destructive power became frightening, destroying everything touched by the black lightning.
Not all Ninjutsu could be enhanced by Armament, as Mokgetsu found out after testing, with only a few being suitable; most Ninjutsu were not, especially Fire, Wind, and Water.
Techniques suitable for Armament enhancement were either wielded in hand or were small and compact.
This was a gratifying discovery, indicating that Mokgetsu's output potential increased, and his explosive power became stronger.
Additionally, Mokgetsu tested the compatibility of Armament Aura with the Breath of Rock Pattern, trying one by one, finding no issues.
"Opening Gate, open!" Finally, Mokgetsu activated the Eight Gates, attempting to see if Armament could be used while the Eight Gates were open.
Mokgetsu once again gathered Chakra in his hand, quickly covering his palm with Armament Aura.
Mokgetsu wasn't too surprised, as the more the Eight Gates open, the more violent the Chakra becomes, even allowing Ninjutsu usage in the state of First Gate.
"Healing Gate, open! Life Gate, open!" Mokgetsu opened two gates in one breath, instantly feeling his Chakra becoming uncontrollable.
In the state of Third Gate, Mokgetsu couldn't use Ninjutsu anymore because the Chakra was too difficult to control.
Having prepared for this, Mokgetsu didn't mind. If fine control wasn't possible, then it wasn't needed.
Mokgetsu unleashed all his Chakra using Armament Aura, the black aura covering his entire body, making him look like he was wearing an impenetrable black armor.
Mokgetsu felt the rapid consumption of his inner Chakra.
Entire body Armament consumed much more than just the palm or an arm, and maintaining Armament strength consumed even more.
For Mokgetsu, full-body Armament wasn't worth it, since he could switch to Breath of Thunder to escape in most cases, consuming far less Chakra than using full-body Armament to endure attacks.
But Might Guy was different. The massive Chakra boost from opening the Eight Gates was hardly exhaustible for Guy, and since his attack means were only Taijutsu, which usually required close combat, full-body Armament could protect him well.
After testing all aspects, Mokgetsu concluded that Armament Aura could be used in the Eight Gates state, but don't think about focusing on one point to increase power by hardening only an arm. Either it can't be used or it covers the entire body when used, with no precise control possible.
Moreover, weapons couldn't be enhanced by Armament, only body coverage with Armament Hardening was possible.
Mokgetsu could only say combining Eight Gates and Armament Aura was extremely powerful, yet had no finesse.
Mokgetsu also attempted combining Eight Gates, Breath of Rock Pattern, and Armament Aura, finding the Chakra consumption forced Mokgetsu to voluntarily stop after less than three seconds.
The Chakra consumption was too outrageous, and his three gates of Eight Gates couldn't withstand it.
Mokgetsu preferred using just Eight Gates with either Breath of Rock or only Eight Gates with Armament Aura for longer-lasting power, even if slightly weaker.
"I wonder how long it will take Might Guy to master this. Though the pure power aspect before mastering Armament Aura is impressive, the difficulty of Yin Release is much harder compared to the five major basic elements." Mokgetsu felt that teaching Might Guy Armament Aura would be several times more difficult than Breath of Rock.
Although Breath of Rock was difficult, it suited Might Guy's personality well, and it counted as a Taijutsu.
But Armament Aura was different, being an actual Yin Release Secret Jutsu, requiring mastery of Yin Release nature transformation.
Though Might Guy wasn't completely unable to learn Ninjutsu like Lee, his talent for Ninjutsu was quite poor.
Previously, teaching Might Guy the Shadow Clone Jutsu gave Mokgetsu a headache. Shisui learned it in one go, while Might Guy couldn't even get his proficiency above forty within a month, even with the skill teaching aid.
Eventually, Mokgetsu just told Might Guy to stop learning it, since Shadow Clones weren't very meaningful to him anyway.
Facing such circumstances with Might Guy, despite having upgraded the teaching skill once, his own proficiency in Yin Release nature transformation wasn't low, and he had perfect-level Haki. Mokgetsu felt that getting Might Guy to an introductory level in Armament Aura was still quite challenging, possibly taking years.