Chapter 9: Level Up
Ronin's pace was deliberately slow. He moved toward Yanshui City in a stop-and-go fashion.
Part of this was to familiarize himself with his new Nen abilities. The other part was to test the limits of his evolved Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
The fusion with the Scarlet Eyes had boosted his Chakra reserves significantly, unlocking a wider arsenal of Ninjutsu.
Techniques he had failed to cast before, like Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu and Phoenix Flower Jutsu, now activated successfully once he completed the hand signs.
He discovered that the more Chakra he poured into a technique, the more powerful it became.
He went from spitting out a candle flicker to exhaling a fireball the size of a small house. The progress was terrifying.
However, the giant fireballs consumed a massive amount of his Nen. In a real fight, Ronin felt the multi-target Phoenix Flower Jutsu was probably more practical than one big, flashy explosion.
During these experiments, Ronin also quantified the trade-off of simplifying hand signs.
Using the same amount of Chakra, a Jutsu cast with simplified signs had roughly 50% of the power compared to one cast with the full sequence.
Furthermore, it wasn't about performing the "correct" signs perfectly, but rather the quantity of signs that mattered as a condition.
The magic number was 44.
If he performed a full sequence of 44 hand signs—regardless of what the signs actually were—the Jutsu's power would be maximized to 100%.
If he simplified it down to 7 signs, the output dropped to 70%.
The choice was obvious. Most of the time, Ronin would opt for the single-sign cast for speed, accepting the 50% power output. If he needed more punch, he would weave 7 signs.
He could also mix it up—using 7 signs to bait an opponent into expecting a slow cast, then snapping a single sign to catch them off guard.
As for the 44 signs? Anyone who wanted to use that could go ahead. Even with his enhanced speed and dexterity, weaving 44 signs took him about 6-7 seconds.
By the time he finished that, an enemy like Uvogin would have already torn his arms off.
Ronin estimated that with his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, his Ninjutsu ceiling was currently capped at C-Rank.
It felt like a restriction placed upon his ability.
Every time his eyes evolved, a new tier of Jutsu would unlock.
To cast B-Rank Jutsu, he would need the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Following that logic, S-Rank techniques would likely require the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Ronin couldn't remember every single C-Rank Jutsu off the top of his head, so he would have to experiment to find what worked.
Aside from his Ninja abilities, Ronin was also keenly interested in his base Nen type.
The Sharingan State was a Specialist ability. But as a Kurta, when his eyes were black, he belonged to one of the standard five categories.
To find out, he needed to perform Water Divination.
Water Divination is the standard test of the Shingen-Ryu school. By placing a leaf on a cup of water and injecting Ren into it, the changes in the water reveal the user's aura type.
Ronin was hoping for the same result as Kurapika: Enhancer.
Since he already had the Sharingan and Ninjutsu for versatility, he didn't need a complex Hatsu. He needed raw stats. He needed a body that could hold more Nen, which would translate into more Chakra.
So, when Ronin saw the water level in his bamboo cup rise and overflow as he injected his aura, he pumped his fist in excitement.
Water Volume Increases = Enhancer.
However, remembering Hisoka's personality test for Nen users, Ronin felt a bit conflicted.
Enhancers are simple and determined.
Ronin didn't think he was simple-minded. Nor was he particularly "pure."
I guess Hisoka's theory isn't 100% accurate.
Regardless, Ronin had a plan for his Enhancer training. He needed to increase his aura capacity (POP) and physical durability.
His first milestone: Surpass Uvogin.
He wanted to reach a level where he could tank a bazooka shot with just his body and Ken, without a scratch.
But how to train?
Ronin recalled the scenes of Biscuit Krueger training Gon and Killua. If he followed those steps methodically, he should see rapid improvement.
Unfortunately, he didn't have Biscuit there to correct his form or give him massages. He would have to figure it out himself.
Five days after escaping Uvogin, Ronin arrived in Yanshui City.
He used his crumpled, sun-dried bills to buy a new set of clothes at a generic store and ate a massive meal at a restaurant. Only then did he head to the Airship Terminal.
To avoid complications, he planned to leave Yanshui immediately.
Passing a newsstand, he saw the headlines. The Kurta Clan Massacre was front-page news.
Word travels fast.
It had only been a few days, but the world already knew.
The report matched his memory of the manga: A female traveler who had gotten lost in the forest discovered the aftermath.
The only clue left at the scene was a message from the perpetrators:
"We reject no one. So take nothing from us."
Ronin wondered how Kurapika originally connected this phrase to the Phantom Troupe. Perhaps there were other, more specific clues left in the ruins.
Ronin stuffed the newspaper into a trash can and walked briskly into the terminal.
He didn't buy a ticket. Instead, he identified a flight that was boarding and used a Genjutsu on the gate agent to slip past security and onto the airship.
While his Genjutsu was weak against Nen masters like Uvogin, against a normal civilian, it was god-tier.
He did this for one reason: If Shalnark hacked the passenger manifest later, Ronin's name wouldn't appear on it.
As long as he left Yanshui City, tracking him would become exponentially harder for the Spiders.
The airship slowly ascended. Ronin stood by the window in the corridor, watching the airport shrink below him.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind him—a voice he absolutely did not want to hear.
"Trying to run? If you jump now, you might still survive the fall."
Before the sentence was even finished, Ronin spun around, his body snapping into a combat stance.
His eyes instantly shifted into the Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
Confusion mixed with his fear.
Why is Uvogin on this airship?
Has he been watching me since I entered the city? How did he find me so fast?
[Translation note: how the fuck did you not see it coming? You can avoid it all together with usage of transformation Jutsu i don't believe that you don't know the seals for this jutsu, and even if Uvogin can see through it with gyo normal person cannot see through it and i don't believe Uvogin will use gyo all the time he must be using the local gangs or mafia to know your location so if you use your brain you can get away with it]