Chapter 10: Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu
"Surprised?" A triumphant smirk spread across Uvogin's face. "Once I knew you were heading for Yanshui City, all I had to do was get here first. The local thugs became my eyes and ears."
Ronin had already guessed as much, even without Uvogin explaining it.
Faced with the giant's smugness, Ronin simply raised his hand, pinching his thumb and index finger together to signify 'a little bit.'
"Yeah, a little surprised. You're smarter than I gave you credit for. I thought you were just a gorilla who liked to bark."
What truly surprised Ronin wasn't the method, but the patience. He never expected Uvogin to actually wait for him.
Simple-minded indeed. He holds a grudge just as badly as I do.
"Sharp tongue," Uvogin growled, his aura flaring into Ren. "Let's see if you can still talk after I rip it out!"
Ronin knew the importance of striking first. The moment Uvogin tensed his muscles, Ronin's hands were already blurring through seals.
Snake － Ram － Monkey － Boar － Horse － Tiger.
Six seals completed in a fraction of a second.
Ronin inhaled deeply, leaning back, his chest expanding. Then he snapped forward, exhaling a torrent of flame.
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!
A massive sphere of roaring fire erupted from his mouth. The windows of the airship corridor shattered instantly from the heat and pressure as the inferno rolled straight toward Uvogin.
Uvogin, charging forward, was ready.
He saw Ronin's eyes change and his hands weave signs. He knew an ability was coming.
But seeing the boy literally breathe fire still shocked him.
Transmuters can mimic fire properties, but conjuring this much volume this quickly? That shouldn't be possible for a rookie!
Trapped in the narrow corridor, dodging wasn't an option.
So Uvogin stopped. He planted his feet, twisting his torso to coil power, and focused a terrifying amount of aura into his right fist.
As the wall of fire crashed into him, Uvogin roared and punched straight into the heart of the inferno.
Big Bang Impact.
It was his signature move. A simple straight punch, enhanced to the absolute limit by his Ko and immense physical strength.
BOOM!
The sonic boom exploded after the punch connected. The sheer shockwave generated by his fist collided with the incoming firestorm.
The front of the fireball caved in, and a split second later, the entire mass of flames was pierced through the center.
The shockwave blasted the fire apart, scattering embers harmlessly around Uvogin. His long hair whipped wildly in the wind pressure, but he stood unharmed.
However, as the smoke cleared, Uvogin frowned.
Through the hole he had punched in the flames, the corridor was empty. Ronin was gone.
Ran away again? Or is he setting up another ambush?
But where can you run on an airship? Uvogin grinned cruelly. If you want to leave, I'll turn this entire ship into your flying coffin.
Ronin was indeed no longer in the corridor.
He hadn't run toward the passenger cabins. Instead, using the explosion of the Fireball Jutsu as cover, he had slipped through the shattered windows and was now clinging to the outside hull of the airship.
Uvogin isn't as invincible as he is in the manga.
Even though Uvogin had punched through the fireball effortlessly, Ronin felt a shift in the power dynamic.
I'm not helpless anymore.
Ronin attributed this to two factors. First, this was 1995. Uvogin hadn't reached his peak yet; his mastery of Nen was still developing compared to the Yorknew City arc three years later.
Second, the evolved Two-Tomoe Sharingan gave Ronin the Chakra reserves and kinetic vision to keep up.
Through the Sharingan, Uvogin's movements didn't look like blurred streaks anymore. Ronin could track them. He could react.
However, reacting and winning were two different things.
Breaking Uvogin's defense was the real problem. Without an external factor—a weapon or a trap—his current attacks wouldn't leave a scratch.
Furthermore, maintaining the Sharingan drained him faster than Uvogin drained aura. A prolonged fight meant certain death.
It has to be a sneak attack. Or...
Ronin glanced at the metal plating of the airship's hull.
Inside, he could hear commotion. People were rushing into the corridor, drawn by the explosion and the wind rushing in through the broken windows.
Ronin pressed himself flat against the hull, barely breathing. He knew how terrifying an Enhancer's senses could be.
If he made even a slight scraping sound against the metal, Uvogin would hear it.
He was also wary of En.
If Uvogin used En to extend his aura detection radius, he would spot Ronin immediately given how close they were.
Inside the ship, Uvogin's face was grim.
Crew members were flooding the hallway. Some were trying to calm the passengers, others were approaching Uvogin to "help" him away from the danger zone.
Uvogin overheard a steward radioing the captain, asking to turn the ship around for an emergency landing due to hull damage.
That must be the kid's plan, Uvogin realized. force the ship to land so he can escape in the chaos.
Uvogin turned and started walking toward the cockpit. He wasn't going to let this ship land. The sky was the perfect cage for his little rat.
"Sir, please..." A steward tried to block his path.
Uvogin, annoyed, simply raised his hand and grabbed the steward's head like a basketball.
SPLAT.
The skull offered no resistance. It popped like a watermelon in Uvogin's grip.
Chaos erupted. Passengers screamed, and the crew froze in horror.
But Uvogin ignored them. He stopped walking, tilting his head as a realization struck him.
Wait.
It had only been a few seconds between the fireball and the crew arriving.
If Ronin had run down the hallway, someone would have seen him.
"Did anyone leave this corridor before you arrived?" Uvogin asked, his voice calm but his aura terrifying.
Simultaneously, he expanded his aura. En.
He wasn't a master of En like Zeno Zoldyck, but he wasn't as pathetic as Nobunaga, whose range was limited to the swing of his sword.
Twelve meters.
That was Uvogin's current limit.
If Ronin was within twelve meters, Uvogin would sense him. Even if the kid was using Zetsu, he was a novice; he couldn't hide his presence completely from an active scan.
No one answered Uvogin's question. They were too busy screaming.
But he didn't need an answer.
His En pinged a presence. Someone was clinging to the outside of the ship, just beyond the wall.
"Found you!"
Uvogin leaped, his massive hand punching straight through the metal wall of the airship as if it were wet paper.
He grabbed at the space where Ronin should have been.
But his hand grasped only thin air.