Ronin could feel that pair of eyes exerting an overwhelming pull on him.
It was as if some instinct was driving him to get closer—to seize them, to claim them.
He hadn't expected this at all, but a thought immediately formed in his mind: maybe those eyes were the key to evolving his "Sharingan"!
It was a gut feeling.
And it was a theory born the moment he remembered how, in Naruto, the Mangekyō Sharingan could evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō.
The more he thought about it, the more certain he became: as long as he could obtain those Scarlet Eyes, his Sharingan would definitely evolve!
And then he would be stronger.
Maybe he couldn't jump straight to the Eternal Mangekyō, but evolving into a two-tomoe or three-tomoe Sharingan felt entirely possible.
And this—most likely—was exactly how his Sharingan, existing in the Hunter x Hunter world, differed from the Uchiha clan's Sharingan in Naruto.
This kind of fusion-and-evolution method even reminded him of how the Byakugan could evolve into the Tenseigan.
But the problem was: how was he supposed to snatch those eyes from Uvogin?
The first time he attacked Uvogin, he'd already exposed all his trump cards.
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu was the strongest ninjutsu he could use at the moment. And the Clone Technique and Substitution Technique were basically the only tools he had for escaping.
But the first couldn't break Uvogin's defense at all. As for the second—after Uvogin had seen it once—Ronin seriously doubted he could fool Uvogin's eyes and attacks a second time.
What worried him most, though, was Uvogin's instincts.
Uvogin was a pure Enhancer. And those who pushed raw combat ability to the extreme often had beast-like intuition.
Still… there was one ability Ronin hadn't used yet. If he could trigger it at the right moment, he might actually be able to pull it off.
But it came with massive risk.
So what was it?
Run immediately?
Or gamble everything for a shot at riches?
Ronin couldn't decide.
As for the previous owner's father's head in Uvogin's hand—Ronin didn't care much.
After all, that wasn't his dad. To Ronin, the man was at best a stranger who'd treated him extremely well.
If he got the chance, he wouldn't mind letting the man be laid to rest.
But right now, Uvogin was clearly using the head as bait. Ronin was certain that if he made a move for it, he would pay dearly.
In the forest, aside from Uvogin's filthy taunts, there was only the steady crackle of rain hitting leaves and earth.
Ronin was soaked through. And maintaining the Sharingan state for so long made fatigue seep into his bones.
From the moment he used the Headhunter Jutsu—through Uvogin's appearance—up to now, hidden in the tree… about eight minutes had passed.
Ronin was sure of it. He was the kind of person with a sharp sense of time.
He didn't have much time left.
When Uvogin tossed the head onto the ground and stepped on it like a soccer ball, Ronin finally revealed himself again in Uvogin's line of sight.
In the dark, Uvogin could see those two crimson glows—exactly what Shalnark had tasked him with before they split.
And before leaving, Uvogin had caught the distrust in Feitan's eyes.
That guy seemed convinced Uvogin wouldn't be able to coax out the Scarlet Eyes' most beautiful color.
Uvogin curled his lips into a disdainful grin.
So what if rage made the Scarlet Eyes turn into the brightest, most vivid red?
How hard could that be?
Uvogin suddenly drove force through his legs. The eyeless head beneath his boot—treated like a ball—burst instantly into a spray of pulp.
And in that same instant, Uvogin saw the boy ahead move.
A blade appeared out of nowhere and pierced straight through his chest and abdomen.
Uvogin looked down, disbelief flickering across his face.
And there he saw Ronin's eyes—blood-red with hatred.
But those eyes didn't quite match the Scarlet Eyes he'd collected, because within them he saw a tomoe.
Then a wrongness flooded Uvogin's mind.
He knew it.
With that boy's strength, it was impossible to pierce his chest—impossible even if the boy had conjured a dagger.
The gap between them was like fireflies against the full moon.
Uvogin had already confirmed that earlier, when he took Ronin's full-power whip-kick without any real damage.
And the moment that realization snapped into place, everything in front of him changed again.
The dagger—one that had brought no pain at all—vanished.
Even Ronin, wearing that soul-snatching, demon-like expression, disappeared too.
It was like a brief hallucination.
A short, unreal dream.
But as soon as he shook off that dreamlike feeling, Uvogin sensed an abnormal disturbance in his Nen—especially around his head.
At the same time, he realized the mist that had been forming earlier had now thickened to the point where visibility was cut to less than half a meter.
This fog was unnatural.
It had to be related to Nen.
And combined with the way Ronin had burrowed underground earlier, Uvogin began to understand: whatever ability the boy was using couldn't be neatly classified into any of the five standard categories besides Specialist.
Which meant the boy was likely a Specialist—and judging from how it behaved, it leaned toward Transmutation.
Not bad for a Kurta.
A newly awakened Nen user, and already this annoying.
If he was allowed to grow, he might even become a threat someday.
Uvogin's aura flared violently.
Too bad for the kid—he'd run into Uvogin.
No matter what tricks the boy used today, Uvogin wasn't letting him leave.
It was only fog. Uvogin was confident he could blow it apart by unleashing his destructive punch and dispersing it by force.
But before he could even throw his fist, he felt his waist suddenly go light.
The glass bottle containing the Scarlet Eyes—gone!
Stolen!
That bastard in the fog… didn't run when Uvogin was momentarily disrupted by that strange ability?
A flash of brutality crossed Uvogin's eyes. The punch he'd been about to swing forward abruptly redirected—he slammed it toward his side instead.
Boom!
He didn't hit anything solid, but the force of the punch and the gust of wind it kicked up blew the fog beside him completely apart.
And in the clearing mist, a disheveled figure was staggering away, clutching the glass bottle.
Found you, you damn rat.
Uvogin moved.
His body lunged explosively in the direction Ronin fled.
In an instant, he reached the spot where Ronin had just stumbled past—then his figure blurred again, and he was already behind Ronin in the mist.
A fist packed with violent Nen swung out as Uvogin twisted his torso and hurled his arm forward.
But the fist passed straight through Ronin's body.
Ronin's running form broke apart into a puff of white smoke.
Damn it!
Fury surged up inside Uvogin. He was stronger—far stronger—yet the feeling of having nowhere to vent that power made his whole body heat up.
He was seeing red.
His thrown punch didn't stop just because Ronin had dispersed. Instead, it detonated with even greater force and smashed into the ground.
BOOM!
The earth shattered. Nearby trees cracked and collapsed.
But in the area… there was still no trace of Ronin.