Chapter 29: Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet
Taking advantage of a bathroom break, Ronin created a Shadow Clone. He sent the clone back to Room 2333 with Miria, while he used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself and slipped away to his secret room on the 188th floor.
The next day, Ronin received a file from Miria.
After Ronin gave her Uvogin and Shalnark's descriptions the night before, Miria had immediately deployed her network to investigate.
Ronin popped the VHS tape into the player and watched the footage from the lower-floor arenas.
It was a recording from yesterday's matches on the 1st Floor.
Miria had already marked the timestamps. Ronin fast-forwarded to the marked section and saw Uvogin fighting in the ring. When the match ended, the camera caught two figures waiting for him below the stage.
Shalnark and Nobunaga.
Three of them?
Ronin's gaze sharpened. Seeing the trio together, a thought occurred to him. Have these three been hunting me non-stop since we parted ways at the Yanshui Airport?
Are they dogs? Why are they so persistent?
While fast-forwarding, Ronin spotted another familiar figure.
Kurapika.
He was surprised to see that Kurapika was also participating in Heavens Arena matches.
He had assumed Kurapika would try to contact him immediately upon arrival. Seeing him fight in the ring suggested Kurapika had other plans.
Should I contact him now?
Ronin hesitated. Bringing Kurapika into his orbit right now was dangerous.
After a long contemplation, Ronin decided against it. At the very least, he needed to deal with the Phantom Troupe trio first.
If things went south on his end, Kurapika's personality would likely drag him into the mess, resulting in both of them dying here.
Nobunaga didn't sign up for matches.
From the start, he advocated for simply finding Ronin's room, kicking the door down, and chopping him into pieces.
This whole "arena dueling" charade felt like playing house to him.
Uvogin, however, was having the time of his life. He was even planning to stick around and challenge a Floor Master after killing Ronin.
It seemed the simpleton had been assimilated by the Heavens Arena atmosphere.
What annoyed Nobunaga most was that Uvogin watched him like a hawk every night, practically guarding him to prevent him from sneaking off to kill Ronin prematurely.
But Nobunaga found his chance.
He stood outside Room 2333, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana.
While Uvogin was busy fighting in the ring, Nobunaga had extracted Ronin's room number from Shalnark.
Having briefly clashed with Ronin at the airport, Nobunaga felt a vague sense of danger regarding the boy's rapid improvement.
And Nobunaga trusted his instincts.
Especially since, before they split up for this mission, he had asked Machi if this trip would go smoothly.
Machi's answer was: "No."
That woman's hunches were practically prophecies. So Nobunaga chose to trust her, and trust himself.
Worst case scenario, he would present Ronin's severed head to Uvogin and then fight Uvogin seriously to settle the dispute.
Shing.
The katana flashed. The door was sliced open instantly.
As Nobunaga stepped into the room, his powerful Nen expanded into an En.
He limited the radius to roughly four meters—exactly twice the length of his arm plus his blade.
He could expand it further, but he believed this specific radius was perfect. It was his killing zone.
He even had a name for it: Domain.
Anything that entered this domain would be cut instantly.
Stepping inside, Nobunaga saw Ronin sitting casually on the sofa in the living room.
"Yo! We meet again," Ronin said calmly, greeting him like an old friend.
Nobunaga's response was to vanish from his spot.
Slash!
In the blink of an eye, the katana pierced the sofa. But where the blade struck, Ronin was gone. In his place was a cut log.
Substitution Jutsu!
Nobunaga raised an eyebrow. With a flick of his wrist, the razor-sharp blade sliced through both the sofa and the log, continuing its arc toward his right side.
Splash!
He cut Ronin.
But just like at the airport, the "Ronin" he cut exploded into a burst of water.
Simultaneously, a flurry of shuriken shot toward him from the direction of the bathroom.
Nobunaga lowered his stance slightly. His blade became a blur of steel.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
No matter how tricky the angle, every single shuriken was sliced perfectly in half mid-air.
But as Nobunaga took a step toward the bathroom, his expression changed. He retreated rapidly.
The moment he stepped back, the bathroom door swung open. Ronin stood there, his chest fully expanded with air.
His hands held a seal in front of his chest, and another near his mouth.
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu.
A massive sphere of fire erupted from his mouth, roaring toward the swordsman.
Nobunaga, still retreating, flicked his blade upward, launching the coffee table into the path of the fireball. He sidestepped toward the living room window.
BOOM!
The fireball smashed into the table and detonated.
Through the flames, Nobunaga saw Ronin stepping out of the bathroom, his hands already blurring through a new sequence of seals.
Ram － Horse － Snake － Dragon － Rat － Ox － Tiger.
When the final seal locked, Ronin felt nearly all of his Chakra drain away in an instant.
But the Jutsu was complete.
This wasn't a C-Rank technique. This was a true high-level B-Rank Ninjutsu.
Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!
Three roaring dragons made of white-hot flame materialized from Ronin's left, right, and center simultaneously. They screamed through the air, converging on Nobunaga's position.
The temperature in the room spiked instantly, the heat distorting the air.
Nobunaga felt a surge of frustration.
From entering the room to being surrounded by fire dragons took only seconds. Ronin had clearly set a trap and waited for him to walk right into it.
And this kid was clearly stronger than he appeared in the ring.
Crash!
The window behind Nobunaga shattered.
It was his only exit. The intensity of these three fire dragons reminded him ominously of Feitan's Rising Sun ability—something he definitely didn't want to tank.
As he leaped out of the window, Nobunaga caught a glimpse of Ronin's pale face behind the flames. His eyes flashed with cold fury.
He also noticed a figure appearing at the room's entrance.
Instead of running, he stayed to ambush me? Did he really think I came alone?