Chapter 48: The Black Coffin and the Flowing Rock Shattered Fist

Merging the skill orb into his body, Aoki Kawaki instantly mastered the power contained within it.

An advanced demon technique: Breaking Way No. 90 – Black Coffin.

Once activated, the Black Coffin forms a massive black cube resembling a coffin, imprisoning the target inside and subjecting them to a thousand blades' torment.

As a high-level demon technique, Black Coffin’s damage potential is immense. In Aizen's hands, even a weakened version without incantation—less than a third of its original power—could instantly kill a captain-level Soul Reaper.

In the ninja world, if the opportunity arises, while it may not effortlessly slay someone of the Five Kage’s caliber, it is certainly more than enough to handle a typical Jonin.

Of course, such destructive power comes at a tremendous cost.

In the Soul Reaper world, unleashing a high-level demon technique like Black Coffin requires at least the spiritual pressure of a captain or vice-captain.

For Kawaki in the ninja world, using Black Coffin is only possible by resorting to extraordinary means.

After fully assimilating the Black Coffin skill, Kawaki suddenly felt immense gratitude toward his teacher, Makoto Akane.

Without Akane’s recent breakthrough—the Chakra Cloak—there would be no way Kawaki could employ a technique like Black Coffin in such a short time.

Even with a massive chakra reservoir, no matter how formidable its regenerative ability, Kawaki’s body can only hold so much chakra, and any that dissipates is utterly wasted.

But with the chakra cloak acting as an external battery, storing that stray chakra, Kawaki now had the energy needed to unleash Black Coffin.

So, in this regard, Akane-sensei truly is eternal.

Suppressing his excitement, Kawaki decided to immediately sacrifice the Gentle Fist technique sponsored by the Hyuga clan, then rush to Akane’s place to learn the chakra cloak technique.

At that point, his damage output would undoubtedly reach the pinnacle of the current ninja world.

He would no longer need to worry about the impending Third Great Ninja War or the looming threat from the Hyuga family; his absolute strength would be enough to crush any of their conspiracies.

With his heart pounding, Kawaki transferred the Gentle Fist manual from his memories into a memory orb and placed it on the sacrificial altar.

Soon, the altar emitted a radiant glow, signaling the start of the sacrifice.

When the light faded, the ritual was complete.

Just as before, the reward was another skill orb.

This time, however, the orb was pale blue, with irregular streams flowing within it.

“Huh,” Kawaki murmured in surprise. He hadn’t expected much from the Gentle Fist manual, yet it had yielded a valuable result.

Initially, Kawaki didn’t think sacrificing the Gentle Fist manual would bring anything worthwhile—not because he disliked Gentle Fist, but simply because the Hyuga clan was too stingy.

Even when scheming against him, they never handed over a complete manual.

Advanced techniques like Eight Trigrams Empty Palm or Eight Trigrams Palm: Reversal were never even mentioned in the full manual.

Now, to receive a skill orb that looked quite promising—such luck was truly unexpected.

Without hesitation, Kawaki immediately merged the blue skill orb into his body.

As the skill integrated within him, his mind brimmed with new moves and insights related to martial arts.

“Flowing Water Rock Shattering Fist,” he named the new technique he had obtained.

This is the signature move of Silver Fang Bang, the third S-class hero in One Punch Man.

Its power is unquestionable; once mastered, taking down a shadow-level ninja would be no problem.

Even now, it significantly boosts Kawaki’s personal combat ability.

With this martial art, he could confidently face a Chunin without using any enhancements, and with his hack augmentations combined with the Navy Six Style’s Razor Finger Gun technique, his strength would be even greater.

What’s more, Flowing Water Rock Shattering Fist boasts strong compatibility and, due to its nature, switching moves mid-fight wouldn’t cause the bodily harm that Navy Six Style would inflict.

Beyond all that, the most valuable aspect of this fist technique to Kawaki was its ability to strengthen his physique.

By this measure alone, it far surpassed the rigid and soft fist styles found in the ninja world.

However, the Flowing Water Rock Shattering Fist Kawaki acquired still had minor flaws.

Perhaps because the sacrificed Gentle Fist manual was incomplete, his version lacked the powerful subsequent moves: the Roaring Energy Sky-Splitting Fist and the Fang-Interlocking Dragon Killing Fist.

Although these two ultimate moves were combinations of Flowing Water Rock Shattering Fist and Whirlwind Iron Slash Fist, what Kawaki valued most was understanding the combination method itself.

If only he could grasp the principles behind those combined strikes...

Having such ambitions only showed Kawaki’s insatiable desire for growth.

But that’s a natural reaction for anyone.

With a trace of regret, Kawaki left his home and headed straight for the Sunset Residence.

What could be more joyful than acquiring two ultimate techniques? Acquiring three.

As for the Hyuga clan’s watcher trailing behind him, Kawaki wasn’t concerned they’d uncover the secret of his potion.

The Sunset Residence wasn’t as remote as his own home; it was located in the very heart of a civilian district.

On that street alone, Kawaki knew of seven or eight Jonin living there.

If a Hyuga clan ninja dared to activate their Byakugan there, the consequences would be... well, quite severe.

“Ah, Aoki, you’ve come just in time. I was just about to ask Makoto to summon you,” greeted Makoto Akane with excitement and joy when he saw Kawaki at the Sunset Residence.

Surely, after completing the Chakra Cloak technique, Akane couldn’t help but boast to his disciple, proving that his talents as a teacher were no less impressive.

After all, having a prodigious student like Kawaki, gifted in both ninjutsu and taijutsu development, put considerable pressure on Akane.

Kawaki, having come to seek guidance, naturally didn’t want to embarrass his teacher and played the perfect foil.

“Akane-sensei, you seem so happy. Is there good news?” Kawaki asked, hitting the mark on Akane’s excitement.

With a proud smile, Akane replied, “Indeed, there is good news. Aoki, do you remember the technique you mentioned a few days ago? The one that reuses the chakra suppressed by the potion after drinking it?”