After another few days of testing, she finally concluded that any external use of Mana deteriorated rapidly, almost as if the act was being rejected by the world itself. It was quite an annoying drawback, but not something she couldn't handle as fortunately her style of fighting didn't require many external uses of Chakra if any at all unlike many of those who relied on puppetry.
Alright, let's get the next test going… She thought as she held Yami in her hands, though to an observer it would appear as if she was holding nothing. Though one could clearly tell that she was gripping something, empty space took the place of the black and red sword she usually wielded.
It was the effect of the first limiter which she discovered during the past week. [Yami] held a total of four limiters, the second and third being extremely destructive in nature if used to their fullest potential whilst the fourth, according to Kurama, had the potential to be the most deadly attack currently in the Elemental Nations, including everything the tailed beast had seen in her life, Sage of Six Paths included.
Though she was proud of the fact that she possessed such an attack, it was a problem that there was currently no possible way for her to unleash it.
She had made leaps and bounds in the Sage Arts since becoming a Mana Construct. Though she initially believed that the path was locked to her forever due to no longer possessing chakra, she found that interacting with mana in the air was far simpler than chakra, meaning that techniques commonly used in Sage Arts could be converted into a useable form with Mana.
Only in the morning did she finally manage to succeed in a method to use the mana in the air to power her attacks.
Her more destructive attacks such as Phoebus Catastrophe (which to her delight, she found could finally pull off) required extremely high amounts of mana to actually pull off, and the amount within her body whilst enough, would lead her completely exhausted. Thanks to Kurama's help she had found a method within her vast pool of knowledge to use the chakra in the air to power jutsus instead of the chakra within the body.
The technique was not an easy one, and only useable by those extremely knowledgeable about the uses of chakra and were familiar with their own chakra networks. Since her entire body used to be made of chakra, she was more than qualified in terms of knowledge.
The process, whilst difficult due to her utilizing mana instead of chakra, allowed her to convert chakra in her vicinity to mana (a process she had mastered over the past week by familiarising herself with it) and using that mana to directly power her large scale attacks instead of using the mana within her own body.
The experiment had proven to be a success, and whilst it took her a few seconds more to prepare and cast, almost completely subverted the mana costs.
The problem with [Yami] 's fourth limiter, was that the activation cost was higher than that of the concentration of chakra that existed in the air, meaning that even with her almost cheat-like technique, there was no possible way to use it unless she found a way to create mana or chakra.
The first limiter had the effect of completely concealing [Yami]. Length, width, size, form and even the pressure it exhibited was concealed. She had tried to bring her hands close to the blade, but surprisingly she couldn't touch the blade itself, almost as if being stopped by a wall of air.
Kurama, who was far more educated in the sciences of the world, hypothesized through observation that the phenomenon was made possible through compressed air, though even the tailed beast couldn't further as she had never really paid attention to the wonders of the world as some curious humans had.
Used normally, it proved to be extremely effective as the compressed air surrounding the blade made for sharper cuts whilst the magical energy that was also constantly present increased its overall damage output.
What she wasn't prepared for however, was what would happen if she released it. The first time she had done so without preparing herself, she was sent propelling backwards at almost the speed of sound, knocking her out for a minute or two.
As the magical energy and air around the sword was released, it was also accompanied by an extremely powerful gale which blew any and everything away, though unfortunately it was a one-use attack possible only whilst releasing what she now liked to call [Invisible Air] .
Now back to the present, she had been attempting to use the magical burst accompanied by the releasing of [Invisible Air] in different fashions.
Whilst moving at a speed beyond that of sound, she held [Yami] at her waist and pointed behind her as she steadied herself. The releasing of [Invisible Air] did not require any verbal incantations nor cast time, meaning that it could also be used to catch an enemy off-guard.
…KAI!' She shouted within her mind to pull the mental trigger, and at the same time her figure which could still be tracked by mid to high level jonins completely disappeared, or at least seemed to. If one were to look carefully around a second later, they would see her skidding along the forest floor almost a kilometer away.
WHAAT THHHHHEEEE FUUUUU—She was cut off from her thoughts as she crashed straight into the side of a fairly large hill at a speed three times that of the speed of sound. A loud explosion echoed as a cloud of dust covered the area. As it cleared, one could see a man sized hole running deep into the rocky side of the hill. Naruko swiftly emerged from the hole whilst coughing since there was a chance that the little cave she had accidently dug for herself could collapse in on itself.
"That… was SPEED!" Kurama said accompanied by a joyful cheer not long afterwards. It seemed that the tailed beast had enjoyed the experience quite a lot.
Riiiiiight… Naruko sweatdropped whilst dusting off her dress after one final cough. After realising that the releasing of [Invisible Air] created a powerful gale that could be used as an attack, she theorized that it could also technically be used as a tool for a short burst of speed, inspired by the first accident she had with the ability.
She had NOT expected to go three times faster in an instant, even though it was only for a moment. It was clear to her that she was not ready to control the burst of speed whilst moving, meaning she could only use it whilst stationary for now. Leaving the thoughts for now, she began to walk slowly towards the direction of Tazuna's house.
"Do it again!" Kurama demanded.
"SHUT IT, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT HURT!" She shouted back mentally.
"Boooo little missy can't handle a litt—" The tailed beast began before being interrupted by an ominous presence.
The temperature dropped by a few degrees as Naruko's forced smile seemed to twitch.
"...Call…! Missy…?" she stammered, temperature dropping as she echoed each and every word.
"Ahahaha… yeah I have something to do, bye bye!" Kurama cut off the connection in a hurry to save herself before Naruko could get a hold on her, causing the girl to sigh in frustration as the presence from earlier disappeared.
It seemed that she was quite close to her destination from the beginning, and to her surprise she could already see Tazuna's house from where she was, though something seemed off. It felt a little too… rowdy.
As she got close however, she could smell a few entities that most certainly weren't her family's. She immediately got up onto a tree for a better view, and her eyes narrowed as she saw what seemed to be a dozen thugs or so attempting to get past Haruka's protective seals, though Naruko knew that they would not be successful as her sister's seals were on the level of masters by now.
Looking closer, she could see Tazuna and Tsunami along with her son Inari through the window at the front, looking at the thugs with worry.
So it's started… she thought. Through deduction, she could conclude that her siblings and Kushina were fighting at the bridge if thugs were sent to Tazuna's house. She would need to get there fast.
Without wasting a moment, she began a swift run up. Though she couldn't move at full speed during a duel do to the disorientation it would cause without absolute perfect control, she could still utilize her extremely high mobility to engage for a swift kill.
If the enemy had no honour, then she would show none to them.
She began to accelerate as she took step after step after equipping her [Dress of the Lily], transforming into a blur after leaping forward on the first step. The thugs didn't even know what hit them even after their heads separated from their bodies, each and every one of them lifelessly dropping in an instant.
Common thugs usually grew up in civilian areas with little to know knowledge of chakra and its uses. There were a rare few who managed to learn how to control basic amounts through sheer luck, but most were simple brutes who had less combat potential than graduate genins.
Though it was a fact that they were still living creatures. She might not be a human anymore, but she was a huntress and a swordswoman with honor at heart, and she gave anything and anyone, regardless of who or what they were, swift and painless deaths.
Flicking her blade to the side, blood splattered on the grass as she looked back towards the window, where Tazuna was watching. Tsunami and Inari were nowhere to be seen, understandable as they most likely had never seen such a brutal act before.
Giving the seals a check, she gave Tazuna one last nod before leaping towards the direction of the bridge with a burst of speed.