It was noon and the sun was shining high in the sky. A light breeze of the sea air made Yoroi's hair flutter. He stood still with only his sword in his hand, breathing evenly and deep. Small flashes of lightning could be seen on the blade over and over again, and as time went on they became increasingly more and more. The beads of sweat on his face were evidence of his exertion and finally his chakra reserves were exhausted. Tired, he sat down at his favourite spot on the cliff and opened the final report.

He was indeed curious and excited about what it would say about him. The beginning contained only the mission information and was uninteresting, followed by the assessment of the respective battles. The report was written in a neutral way and accurately listed the failures he himself noticed. In some cases, he himself was surprised at what other mistakes were found. Now that he was aware of them, he could try to prevent them from happening again. The overall evaluation of the fights was positive, especially the improvement within the week.

The last part was the evaluation of his personality and he feared that the critical conversations with Nemui would be listed there among other things. The report, however, was quite different from what he expected. It mainly dealt with his mental growth and that he was considered fit for normal missions. Yoroi could conclude that the information that Nemui, Urui and Dodai had gathered about him, but also the conversations during the visits, were probably due more to Dodai's goodwill than to the mission.

He put the final report away and stood up again after this short break. Somehow, the report calmed him down and he was eager to try to coat his sword in Lightning Chakra once more.

It was afternoon and the sun was heading towards the horizon. A light breeze of the sea air made Yoroi's hair flutter. He stood still with only his sword in his hand, breathing evenly and deep. An increasing number of flashes were visible on the blade, until a luminous mass of energy wrapped itself around his blade. Unlike what he would have expected, the mass was hardly transparent and bright white. Occasional flashes ran along the blade and a slight hissing sound could be heard. Joy was written on his face and yet it was over very quickly, for he had no more chakra. "I did it!" He shouted aloud to himself, feeling as if he had wings and could fly into the vastness of the sky.

'That wasn't just a sword coated in chakra, that was plasma, I've seen that in enough documentaries. This world is incredible, I can even create plasma.' Yoroi was more than surprised at his success. In his mind, the plasma blade should be much stronger than his actual aim. Now all that remained was to answer questions about practicability through testing, but he would have another week to do that.

He looked at the sun and decided to leave a little earlier than usual.

After showering at home, he went with Hanai to the restaurant where he had arranged to meet for the evening. Both were the first to arrive and secured a large table before Dodai rolled in a short time later.

"That's not like you, Yoroi. How come you're done with your training so early?" Dodai didn't expect Yoroi to be here so soon and was therefore quite surprised.

"I have exhausted my chakra and since my training was somewhat successful, I wanted to give myself a break. A little balance doesn't hurt in order to be able to focus better."

After a few minutes of waiting, Nemui and Urui joined them and the group was complete.

"Today, as a celebration for your successful mission, I will settle the bill for your meal Yoroi." It was Dodai who spoke to Yoroi and so, to Dodai's dismay, Yoroi ordered a lot of food. He could eat back lost chakra, at least that's how it always felt when he exerted himself.

Later that evening, his old students and their jonin joined the group, even if only because the restaurant was full and there was still room at the table. It was a nice and fun evening. The students were looking forward to the Chunin exam and Yoroi had to promise to be present at the last round. Even without the explicit invitation, he would have watched it, because besides his former students, his team partners for the next mission would also be there. The highlight of the whole event was Darui, Nemui's soon-to-be two-year-old child, who came waddling into the restaurant simply because he missed his father. So Nemui's evening ended prematurely and there was a lot of laughter. Yoroi, meanwhile, was fascinated by the rapid development of children in this world.

The next day, Yoroi slept late into the morning and set off for the training ground with his lunch in hand, which Hanai had prepared. Once there, he could see B sitting at his favourite spot and was indeed glad to see him again.

"B, good to see you again. I brought food, do you want some?"

B was happy about the offer and after a fist bump they both ate lunch. There was much talk about the missions of both and after they had finished eating a hand on the shoulder greeted them. As was often the case, it was A's and Yoroi greeted him with his fist as well.

"I read your mission report and I am very pleased. You did well." A smiled at Yoroi, you could see the joy on his face.

"B, you are doing a training match against Yoroi, I want to see his progress and I don't think I would be a good match up."

"Yoroi, you must be careful, I've grown considerably stronger. I can easily fight with four swords now." After B bragged a bit about his success, they both stood ten metres apart and A gave the start signal.

Both opponents started with Taijustsu and it seemed they were evenly matched, whereas Yoroi felt the power behind B's every strike and knew he could not last long before his arms would tire. He tried to find the rhythm behind B's punches and took a few light hits doing so. At some point he was sure how he was going to get out of the defensive position and so he turned to B's left at a right blow from B and in the turn drew a kunai with his right hand, which he had placed above his hip on his back before the fight. Seeing the kunai, B was forced to interrupt his attack and distance himself. Yoroi still managed to cut B's clothes in the stomach area. He followed up his previous attack by throwing the kunai at B and used his now free hands to form a jutsu. B was pressed to draw his sword as he retreated, giving him no time to stop Yoroi's jutsu formation in time.

"Storm Release: Concentrated Butterfly Flash"

Quick-witted or as if B could share his attention, he reacted by sheathing his sword in chakra. Yoroi could feel the potent chakra a few metres away and was a little envious of how good it would be to have so much and especially strong chakra. The butterfly flew towards B with crazy speed and he could actually deflect it with his sword. However, such a strong jutsu was not without its own power and so B's sword broke at the point where it collided with the butterfly. Yoroi took note of the possibility to deflect the jutsu and followed with another jutsu while he began to run towards B.

"Water Release: Mouth Shot"

This time B could not react in time, because Yoroi could perform this jutsu much faster than before. He was able to land a hit on B's left shoulder and drew his sword while running towards B. The two exchanged a few sword blows and B drew his second sword in the meantime. Both exchanged a few sword blows and B managed to draw his second sword in the meantime. Yoroi dared not underestimate B's kenjutsu and did everything he could to prevent B from replacing his broken sword or using a third. Questioning how B would use three swords was not an option for Yoroi in battle.

At times the fight was going very well for him and he was pleasantly surprised at how well he was coming out of the taijutsu. Still, he was a little worried, both jutsu had cost him a good amount of chakra and the feeling of oppression B's chakra gave him wouldn't let go.

Since none of them gave in, the exchange lasted a few minutes and Yoroi had to struggle to breathe, so exhausting was the fight physically but also mentally. At least his opponent felt the same, which made him feel not too bad. Yoroi was just about to suggest a draw when he felt a chill run down his spine. Red chakra formed on B's arms, giving Yoroi the feeling that he was standing in front of a monster. He knew that it must be the chakra of the eight-tailed beast, but to actually experience it was very frightening.

Immediately he felt that each sword stroke from B was many times stronger and after a few the fight was decided. Against the sheer power he now had, the tired Yoroi could do nothing.

"You have become damn good Yoroi. If I hadn't gotten stronger myself, the fight probably would have ended in a draw."

"If you had used the chakra from the Eight-Tailed from the beginning, the fight wouldn't have even lasted a minute."

A and B were shocked that Yoroi recognised the chakra immediately and so A hooked straight in:

"What makes you think he had used the chakra from the eight-tailed beast?"

"I know B is the Jinjuriki and I can't think of anything else in the world that feels that scary. Every time he used it I felt like I was being suppressed by the chakra."

"Impressive, when B uses it the opponents are normally rooted to the spot, maybe it was because he is your comrade, but still very good for your first experience." A couldn't help praising Yoroi, facing this chakra takes courage and a good mentality, something he placed a lot of importance on.

"I am very pleased with your progress and think you are ready for missions. Your ninjutsu is at a high level, you use it efficiently and purposefully, your reserves have grown considerably. In this aspect you live up to your rank. Your taijutsu is still your weakness, but you have already developed ideas to overcome your disadvantage. Still, you need to improve so that you can keep up there, in that regard you are not stronger than a normal chunin, I don't like that. Lastly, I must say your kenjutsu is just as good as B's. Your sword strokes are much more deliberate and determined, once you master wrapping in chakra no shinobi who doesn't specialise in kenjutsu or is a Jonin can stand up to you." A was really pleased with Yoroi, for him it was something new to take on a student and especially if it was a very talented one. A was not satisfied with himself, because it is embarrassing when the teacher could not contribute much to the success of the student and he was thinking about getting permission from his father to give a "secret jutsu" to Yoroi. 'I have to shine in the missions as a sensei, I can't let my student down.' Unknowingly, Yoroi helped A to become a better teacher, or at least to make him try harder.

"How come you're back so soon, I thought the mission would take a few weeks?" Yoroi, who had meanwhile regained his breath, quickly diverted the topic. He himself didn't know how to deal with the praise, it was too unfamiliar to hear compliments from A.

"Hmm, Dodai wrote A a letter about your progress and how embarrassing it is that you're better off without your teacher. Then he..." Before B could talk further, A who was suddenly standing next to B covered his mouth and said:

"Don't pay attention to B, he has a great imagination. We had just overestimated the opponents and thought there were more." A made up an excuse that wasn't a lie either. He had only changed the strategy to: "I'll beat up everyone within a day so I can go home".

Yoroi recognised the right reason, of course, but knew that he had better not probe any further. In the following, it was A himself who became his sparring partner. No matter how much power Yoroi used, he could not do anything against A's power and so he could permanently go out full. In fact, he got helpful tips and it was the first time that he felt he was making progress through his training and not direct combat. After all, learning by fighting is very dangerous, whereas training also allowed for more serious mistakes and one did not have to fear for one's life. Yoroi's arms were also much more resistant due to the strain of the last weeks and did not hurt as much when he blocked blows with them. Unfortunately, he could not learn any technique from A, as he simply did not have the body for A's fighting style.

To celebrate the day, Yoroi was once again invited to dinner and, like the day before, the group quickly grew in size. This time his team for the mission came by the restaurant and since their Jonin knew about the upcoming mission they sat down with Yoroi's group. The genin did not realise the importance of the meeting and so they got to know their new comrade without any ulterior motives. Yoroi was also able to learn more about his comrades and could confirm that the sensor Megusuri was the man for the plans. All in all, it was a very nice evening and because his house was closer, he invited the tired and stuffed B to sleep over.

Hanai was happy about the unplanned visit and wanted to prepare the couch for B, but he insisted on sleeping in the room with Yoroi. One after the other, they cleaned themselves in the bathroom and finally lay together in the room. B, who would sleep on the floor, was amazed by Yoroi's jutsu which could damage his sword.

"Brother, what a powerful jutsu that was! You cut my sword to pieces."

"Uhh, sorry, I didn't expect it to get that strong. I had basically developed it a few months after the ambush, after I had a training fight against a Jonin with Storm Release. Somehow I had an insight and was able to use the basic idea the same night. After the jutsu looked just beautiful at first, I was able to reduce the finger signs and make variations. The jutstu I used against you compresses a lot of charkra and is therefore very strong against single targets, unfortunately I still can't guide it so it's only effective as a surprise."

"Whoa, you've got to be kidding me! You developed a jutsu in one night that is now so strong after a few months? Everyone keeps telling me how much talent you have and the potential you have, but this tops it all. Do you know how long it took the Raikage to develop his black lightning? A whole five years and they weren't as strong as your jutsu." B was shocked and excited, from his point of view it was a miracle that Yoroi developed a jutsu so quickly. Yoroi, meanwhile, just shook his head: 'If he knew I could use a plasma sword soon...'