Ron was practicing, as usual, in his lab, which had undergone significant expansion and transformation. Compared to its original size, the lab was now nearly five times larger, equipped with advanced tools and enhanced chakra-infused infrastructure. This expansion reflected the ever-growing scope of his research, at this time, particularly his efforts to refine and develop new Black Lightning-style jutsu for the village.
Unlike the exclusive nature of many secret techniques, Ron sought to make Black Lightning more accessible within Kumogakure, similar to how Purple Lightning had been developed. His goal was to establish a set of jutsu that any sufficiently skilled shinobi could learn, provided they possessed the necessary chakra control and some affinity for Yin Release. By doing so, he aimed to create a legacy of powerful techniques that could strengthen the entire village.
Despite his exceptional chakra control, Ron still needed to build chakra memory, an essential aspect of mastering nature transformation and form manipulation. This principle was akin to muscle memory, where repetitive practice allowed the body to react instinctively. He could already generate Black Lightning and shape it into various forms, effectively granting him access to multiple techniques. However, this high-level control came at the cost of battle efficiency, as consciously molding lightning into different forms required time. To make these jutsu practical in high-speed combat, he focused on refining a select few that would be the most effective.
Building upon existing techniques like Black Lightning-Black Panther, Ron created several new jutsu tailored for different combat scenarios. One such technique was Black Lightning Spear, also known as Kuroi Kaminari no Yari OR in short Kuroinari no Yari; Ron named these series of ninjutsu Kuroinari; a C-rank jutsu. This technique formed a concentrated spear of Black Lightning, designed for long-range attacks with exceptional piercing power. The spear could be launched at high speeds, making it an ideal jutsu for both offensive strikes and counterattacks, against defense.
However, his most ambitious creation was an S-rank close-combat technique, Black Lightning-Spirit Sword Jutsu. This jutsu allowed the user to form a sword-shaped lightning aura in their hand, resembling the energy blade wielded by Vegito in Dragon Ball Z. The blade could be extended at will, enabling the wielder to mow down multiple opponents or cut through large objects, including summoning beasts. The technique was conceptually inspired by Raikiri and Chidori Spear, but the unique properties of Black Lightning gave it an even sharper and more stable cutting edge.
While these techniques bore the names of traditional weapons like swords and spears, their appearance depended entirely on the user's chakra control. Even with the incorporation of Yin Release, Lightning Release was inherently volatile. Only elite jonin, with precise chakra manipulation, could shape these jutsu into solid weapons with minimal flickering, similar to how Kakashi could sculpt a dog face into his Earth Wall Jutsu with his chakra control skills.
Initially, Ron considered applying Black Lightning Flow to actual weapons. But normal ninjas would need to focus more to control the chakra extended to objects, as, except for Ron, and the third Raikage, other ninjas had chakra imprints, and still faced the lack of control over their own chakra when it left their body! Most importantly, Black Lightning's intensity had a greater detrimental effect on standard weapons than normal lightning or other types of chakra, causing rapid degradation unless they were made from specialized materials like chakra metal or they were the legendary Kusanagi sword.
Recognizing the immense value of chakra metal in his research, Ron had been hoarding every piece he could obtain. To him, chakra metal was more than just a tool for weapons and armor, chakra metal was the key to making Chakra-seal-electronic based processors/technology, which could combine all three technologies into one, so to Ron it was a treasure. No matter how much of this rare material he collected, it was never enough for his ambitions. Even if he had enough to outfit every shinobi in Kumogakure with chakra-infused gear, he would still prioritize research over widespread distribution.
Thus, after extensive refinement, the 16-seal, S-rank Black Lightning-Spirit Sword technique was born. Though Ron had designed it to be as sealless, given its close-combat nature, allowing even ninjas with chakra imprint to perform it like Rasenghan, but even elite jonin proficient in Black Lightning required at least three hand seals to execute it properly.
In addition to these innovations, Ron also re-created several common jutsu based on the Lightning Style, refining and enhancing their effectiveness. Among them were Lightning Web and Thunder Wave, both mid-range area-of-effect techniques designed for battlefield control.
Lightning Web could effectively destroy surrounding shadow clones in an instant or force enemies to keep their distance, lest they risk being paralyzed by the web's conductive energy. Meanwhile, Thunder Wave was an original A-rank technique developed by Ron himself. This devastating jutsu unleashed multiple horizontal slashes of black lightning similar to the wind slash jutsu, cutting through defenses and continuing forward with unrelenting force. The number and size of these slashes depended on the user's chakra control and proficiency, making it a versatile technique for both offense and area denial.
At this time, Ron was deep in research within his laboratory, with Ed reporting to him on various projects. One of his primary goals was to create a defensive ninjutsu based on Black Lightning, aiming for something beyond conventional barriers. While he had already developed Lightning Wall, inspired by the Earth Style's Earth Wall, and even crafted variations like Lightning Swords spikes that emerged from the ground, similar to the Earth Spike Technique, he sought an even greater defensive technique. Notably, Lightning Swords required the Lightning Web to be cast first in order to properly conduct and form the structure, though two ninjas working in unison could circumvent this requirement.
However, Ron wasn't satisfied with these techniques alone. Black Lightning Wall could withstand Rock Style and even Fire Style techniques, but it struggled against Wind and, to a lesser extent, Water Style attacks. The biggest limitation was that no matter how large or thick the wall was, it could not stop his father's Hell Stab, nor could it withstand other high-level destructive techniques. Ron needed something stronger, something that could defend against powerful ninjutsu without requiring an excessive amount of chakra to construct a massive wall.
To achieve this, he delved deeper into Yin Style, a fundamental aspect of Black Lightning and created a more solidly formed wall type jutsu with a higher level of Yin chakra added to it. While mastering Black Lightning required a ninja to have complete control over Active Yin-Nature Transformation, this was not something just any shinobi could achieve. Only those who had mastered advanced Genjutsu or high-level sensory abilities possessed the necessary Yin-style attunement, or those who intentionally trained it to master Black Lightning or other jutsus. Even among those proficient in Yin-nature transformation, replicating Ron's level of mastery was virtually impossible.
This was because Ron was different. His soul was inherently stronger than others, not due to life-or-death experiences that ninjas face in their growth, but by its very nature. The quality of his spiritual strength had already reached the level of a Kage/Shadow, even though he still lagged behind his father in terms of quality. However, in terms of spiritual quantity, his reserves exceeded those of anyone he had encountered.
In the world of shinobi, a ninja's rank, Genin, Chunin, Jonin, or Shadow/Kage, was not merely a measure of skills but also an indicator of their spiritual quality, ninjas usually raised this aspect through their growth and experience. This could be seen in the quality of their chakra. For instance, in the original timeline, despite Naruto possessing a vast amount of chakra as a child, he was still only a Genin. The reason for this lay in the spiritual quality aspect of the chakra, which affected chakra control, force of the chakra, which in turn affected the performance of ninjutsu by that ninja's chakra, and Yin-nature refinement also depended on it.
Because of this, Black Lightning, when performed by an ordinary ninja, would never match Ron's version in terms of durability and defensive power. Even if another shinobi managed to activate Yin-style transformation to a higher level, their Black Lightning would lack the same solidity and resilience unless they were also a shadow level ninja.