Chapter 7: Evolution
As Ronin stared at the aura shrouding his hands, an idea sparked in his mind. Following this instinct, he extended his Nen onto the glass jar itself.
He recognized this technique. It was Shu (Enfold), an advanced application where a user extends their aura onto an object, treating it as an extension of their own body.
The moment his aura enveloped the Scarlet Eyes within the jar, a strange warmth flowed from the eyes, traveling back through his aura and into his body.
What happened next was even more shocking: the Scarlet Eyes inside the jar began to dissolve as if melting into liquid light.
A vibrant, crimson energy flowed from the dissolving eyes, riding along his aura stream directly into his own eye sockets.
There was no pain. Only a profound, comforting warmth.
Simultaneously, Ronin felt a surge of strength return to his limbs. He knew immediately that he had involuntarily entered the Sharingan State.
His hypothesis was correct.
Fusing with the Scarlet Eyes was the method for his Sharingan's evolution.
Moreover, as the crimson hue in the jar faded into nothingness, Ronin felt his stamina completely replenish. Even his Chakra reserves felt deeper and more robust than before.
Does absorbing the Scarlet Eyes not only evolve my Dojutsu but also increase my total Life Energy?
Time ticked by. Ronin remained seated on the tree branch. The rain had stopped unnoticed, leaving the forest in silence, broken only by the occasional insect chirp or bird call.
Meanwhile, Uvogin had returned to the Kurta Clan village.
Only a few Spiders remained among the ruins. Feitan, short and menacing, spotted Uvogin approaching and his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Yo. Where are the eyes?" Feitan asked, his tone dripping with mockery.
Uvogin's face was dark.
When his phone was destroyed, he knew he had been played. But returning empty-handed was an admission of incompetence.
Faced with Feitan's taunts, he could only grit his teeth.
"Kortopi. Can you still sense his location?" Uvogin ignored Feitan and walked straight to the small man whose face was almost entirely hidden by a mane of messy hair, revealing only a single eye.
Kortopi touched the duplicate sticker on his own chest. "I can. But he stopped moving a while ago."
"Give me the coordinates," Uvogin growled, baring his teeth in a predatory grin. "When I catch him, I'm going to crush every single bone in his body, one by one."
Kortopi shook his head. "We're done here anyway. I'll go with you. I'm curious about the kid who managed to slip through your fingers."
"Two pairs of eyes. Find them, then head straight to Nancha City. Don't bother coming back here," Feitan's sly voice chimed in again. "The Boss and Pakunoda have already gone ahead."
Uvogin didn't reply, just waved a dismissive hand.
But Feitan wasn't done twisting the knife. "It's okay if you can't get them back. You are a bit weak, after all. If you beg me, I might help you."
Uvogin's only response was a raised middle finger as he walked away.
Back in the forest, the red liquid in the jar had completely vanished. Ronin felt revitalized, his condition even better than before the chase began.
He formed the "Ram" seal again.
Poof.
A clone appeared before him.
Ronin peered into the clone's eyes. Instead of a single tomoe, there were now Two Tomoe spinning in each crimson iris.
It worked.
Theorizing was one thing; seeing the confirmation was another. A weight lifted off his chest.
However, realizing that the Scarlet Eyes were essentially "evolution fuel" sparked a dangerous thought regarding the Phantom Troupe.
They have the rest of them.
But he quickly suppressed the urge.
Even though his strength had spiked after absorbing his "father's" eyes, he was still no match for the Spiders. Trying to rob the Phantom Troupe now would be suicide.
It would be smarter to wait. Let them sell the eyes on the black market, then track down the buyers. Robbing rich collectors was far safer than fighting Uvogin or Feitan.
Of course, that didn't mean he would let the Troupe off the hook.
Ronin held grudges.
But revenge required patience. He preferred the idea of showing up when he was powerful enough to crush them effortlessly.
For now, the priority was escape.
He didn't believe for a second that Uvogin would give up. After being humiliated repeatedly, that brute would hunt him to the ends of the earth. And next time, he wouldn't be alone. He would likely bring Kortopi or other members.
Facing Uvogin alone was already a struggle. Facing a team was a death sentence.
Nancha City is out of the question.
That was the nearest city to the hidden village. The Troupe would likely head there to catch an airship. Going there was walking into a trap.
As he leaped through the trees, moving deeper into the mountains, Ronin cross-referenced his memories of the manga.
He recalled Chapter 410 and Kurapika's Memories side story. As a die-hard fan, he knew the lore inside out.
When the massacre happened, Kurapika had been gone for six weeks, searching for a doctor for his friend Pairo.
But more importantly, the news of the Kurta Massacre broke worldwide because a "lost female traveler" discovered the bodies.
The Kurta lived in deep isolation. Finding them by accident was statistically improbable.
Ronin had always suspected that "traveler" was a plant, or perhaps a setup by the Troupe to inflate the value of the eyes by confirming the clan's extinction.
With the massacre complete, the number of Scarlet Eyes in the world was capped at roughly 34 pairs.
Minus Ronin's own eyes, his "father's" eyes (which he just consumed), and Kurapika's eyes.
One pair took me from One-Tomoe to Two-Tomoe.
Ronin wondered how far he could evolve if he consumed them all.
The Kurta Clan had 129 members in total. However, more than half were actually outsiders who had married in or non-Kurta residents, since the clan wasn't strictly closed off.
The number of pure-blooded Kurta with Scarlet Eyes was only roughly 36.
Subtracting the survivors and the consumed, the Phantom Troupe currently held about 33 pairs of eyes (assuming 36 total purebloods minus 3).