Ronin had been watching for Uvogin's reaction the whole time. When he heard the commotion below, he thought Uvogin was heading for the cockpit.
He didn't expect the man to stop halfway.
In that instant, Ronin knew he was about to be exposed.
And when Uvogin's En swept over him, it confirmed it. Ronin immediately got up, left his position, and dashed upward along the airship.
With chakra clinging to his feet, he only stumbled once before he was running along the airship's outer hull as if it were flat ground.
Behind him came the sound of metal tearing—Uvogin.
He ripped the airship's outer plating open with his bare hands. The moment he stuck his head out, he spotted Ronin sprinting away.
Without the slightest hesitation, Uvogin also burst out of the corridor and onto the outside of the airship.
Noticing Uvogin's movement, a cold smile tugged at Ronin's lips.
He'd blown out the window on purpose—not just to escape outside, but also to ensure the airship would be forced to descend.
That way, even if he couldn't beat Uvogin, he'd have room to maneuver or run.
If they stayed up in the sky, he'd be chased endlessly—and that was the last thing he wanted.
Now that Uvogin had come outside, Ronin had become a clear target—but Uvogin's climbing speed on the hull was nowhere near his.
And once Uvogin left the inside, there'd be no one left to stop the airship from descending.
Ronin formed hand seals with both hands. While running, he twisted his body, inhaled, and the instant the seals completed, he spat the chakra he'd been building straight at Uvogin.
Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!
Unlike the Great Fireball, which released a single massive sphere of flame, Phoenix Sage Fire was better for striking multiple targets—and even better for harassment.
It was called Phoenix Sage Fire because the fireballs' attack paths resembled the fruit of the phoenix flower.
After realizing he could cast C-rank jutsu, Ronin had focused his practice on Phoenix Sage Fire and Great Fireball.
His control over Phoenix Sage Fire's projectiles was extremely precise.
The moment the fireballs left his mouth, they arced in a pincer-like pattern, spreading to envelop Uvogin.
Uvogin wasn't nearly as relaxed as Ronin.
To cling to the airship's nearly vertical hull, he had to drive his hands into the airship's structure for purchase.
So when the fireballs came, the only thing he could do was flood his body with a thicker aura layer—
In other words, tank it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every single fireball slammed into Uvogin.
They didn't knock him off the hull, but they made his climb far messier.
And the searing heat even burned through his aura defense, leaving scorch marks and patches of burned flesh.
Still, Ronin could see clearly: those minor burns barely hurt Uvogin at all.
But the fact that Phoenix Sage Fire could burn through his defense only reinforced Ronin's belief that Uvogin right now was far weaker than Uvogin three years later.
Maybe… he really could finish Uvogin here.
Once that thought appeared, it refused to go away.
Ronin's eyes held no hatred—only ice-cold calm.
He was like Uvogin in that way: he didn't like letting grudges go unpaid, and he especially didn't like leaving them overnight.
If Uvogin hadn't come after him, Ronin would've postponed revenge.
But Uvogin's relentless pursuit had become an immediate, lethal threat.
If there was a chance to kill him—how could Ronin possibly let it slip?
Uvogin, already raging from the Phoenix Sage Fire hits, sensed killing intent from above, and it made him even angrier.
A rookie like this—how dare he?!
Uvogin could feel that Ronin's strength had increased compared to their encounter in the forest.
But he still didn't believe Ronin was truly his match.
He was confident that if he got close, he could crush Ronin in seconds.
Phoenix Sage Fire's damage was limited. Ronin, who had paused briefly, moved again—but instead of turning and fleeing, he suddenly accelerated straight toward Uvogin.
He ran in a way that formed a perfect right angle with the airship's hull—completely defying physics.
That made the furious Uvogin not startled, but delighted.
Ronin might not understand "timing," but in terms of terrain, the advantage was absolutely here!
If Ronin wanted to make a move, this was the best place.
Whether it was knocking Uvogin off the airship, or attacking him in a position where Uvogin couldn't fully fight back—either way, it benefited Ronin.
Uvogin didn't know how Ronin could stand on the airship's outer wall like that.
But he knew that in his current posture, his movement was severely limited. Still—did the brat really think that meant he could challenge Uvogin?
That was insulting.
Hanging on the hull, Uvogin suddenly lifted a foot—boom—and drove it straight into the airship's exterior.
He rolled his ankle, found a stable anchor point—
Then, in the next instant, he kicked with both legs and stood up on the hull as well!
And at that very moment, Ronin had already reached his side.
The original body's taijutsu couldn't compare to Uvogin's, but Ronin now had his greatest trump card:
The two-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes.
Every one of Uvogin's movements—every shift of aura—was laid bare to that gaze.
So when Ronin closed in, Uvogin's punch was easily avoided with a simple dip of Ronin's head.
And Ronin's own fist drove forward, blasting straight toward Uvogin's chest.
In that instant, Ronin saw Uvogin's aura surge toward his chest—clearly the advanced Nen technique Ryu at work.
Meaning: from the moment Ronin entered close range, Uvogin had shifted from Ren into the more combat-ready state of Ken.
Ken was an advanced application of Ten and Ren.
To enter Ken, you had to maintain Ren across your whole body, keeping aura constantly surrounding you.
And Ryu was the ability to rapidly redistribute aura while in Ken.
Normally, with aura spread across the whole body in Ken, your defensive output would be only about fifty percent of what you could achieve by concentrating all your aura in one point—forming Ko.
But with Ryu, you could rapidly funnel more aura to a specific body part, pushing defense above that fifty-percent baseline.
When two fighters were both in Ken, breaking the other's defense came down to two things:
1. Who had more aura.
2. Who controlled Ryu better—who could adjust aura faster and smarter in offense and defense.
Ronin's mastery of Nen was obviously inferior to Uvogin's.
But right now, in Sharingan state, what Ronin controlled was chakra—generated within him.
And chakra, when concentrated instantly, could unleash a powerful C-rank taijutsu burst—
The monstrous strength technique passed down from Tsunade, later refined by Sakura:
Cherry Blossom Impact!