Chapter 4: The First Clash
Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu.
This technique allows the user to burrow underground and pull the target down by their ankles, burying them up to their neck. It's perfect for ambushes.
Once Ronin realized he could activate jutsu with simplified seals, he immediately used this technique to hide underground.
Uvogin arrived almost exactly when Ronin expected. What surprised Ronin, however, was the phone call.
Hearing Uvogin's voice through the soil above, a terrible suspicion formed in Ronin's mind.
In that split second, he made his decision.
The ground beneath Uvogin's feet suddenly cracked open. A hand shot out from the dirt, reaching straight for Uvogin's ankle, intending to drag the giant man into the earth.
But before Ronin's pale, slender fingers could even graze the skin, Uvogin was already looking down.
A savage grin split Uvogin's face. He lifted his massive, bear-fur boot, effortlessly dodging the grab, and in the same motion, stomped down with crushing force.
BOOM!
The stomp didn't hit flesh. It smashed directly into the earth, the sheer kinetic energy blasting a crater into the already fractured ground.
The "Ronin" that Uvogin had aimed to crush vanished instantly upon impact, exploding into a puff of white smoke.
A clone?
Confusion flickered in Uvogin's mind, but it lasted less than half a second.
Simultaneously with the smoke explosion, another figure materialized on Uvogin's flank, launching a high-speed strike aimed at his head.
Thwack!
Ronin's left leg whipped out like a lash, connecting solidly with the side of Uvogin's face.
Or, more accurately, with Uvogin's right hand—the one holding the phone.
Ronin had put every ounce of strength into that kick. It was enough to knock Uvogin's head slightly to the side, but more importantly, the impact forced Uvogin's grip to tighten violently.
Crunch.
The cellphone shattered in Uvogin's hand, reduced to plastic shrapnel.
Ronin knew he couldn't hurt Uvogin. The man was a tank. His full-power kick didn't even leave a bruise; it likely just annoyed the giant. In terms of damage, the insult was probably greater than the injury.
But Ronin didn't stop to admire his work. The moment his foot connected, his hands were already weaving a new seal.
A split second later, Uvogin's fist, heavy with rage, slammed into Ronin's body.
Bam!
But again, Uvogin's eyes widened in surprise. The boy he struck didn't break bones or spit blood. Instead, he transformed instantly into a rotting log.
Substitution Jutsu.
The real Ronin had vanished.
As Ronin disappeared, a thin mist began to rise from the forest floor, thickening rapidly around them.
What the hell is this?
Uvogin tossed the remains of his phone aside, his face darkening with fury.
He reached down and grabbed the severed head tied to his waist by the hair, holding it up like a lantern. His voice dropped to a demonic growl.
"Running away again? Don't you want to see your daddy? He was begging me to spare you right before I ripped this off his shoulders!"
Twenty meters away, perched high in a tree, Ronin hid within the gathering fog.
His chest heaved, gasping for air. His hands held the "Ram" seal—the final seal for the Hidden Mist Jutsu.
He had copied this directly from Zabuza Momochi in the anime. The way Zabuza vanished into the mist was iconic, and fortunately, it was a D-Rank technique, falling just within Ronin's current capabilities.
However, he quickly realized the cost. Maintaining the mist required a continuous drain on his Chakra. To keep it thick enough to hide him, he had to keep pouring energy into it.
Ronin's heart hammered against his ribs.
Before today, he was just an office worker. He had no idea he could remain this calm in a fight to the death.
But he knew this icy calmness was the only reason he was still breathing.
He had anticipated Uvogin tracking him. He had anticipated the speed. Fusing with his predecessor's memories gave him survival instincts he didn't know he had—specifically, how to erase physical tracks in a forest.
Using the Headhunter Jutsu to hide underground was supposed to be his checkmate for stealth.
But the phone call changed everything. When he heard Uvogin ask for his location, he knew he had been tagged.
Kortopi.
Ronin deduced the culprit instantly.
While other Phantom Troupe members could track targets, he had already checked his own body with the Sharingan.
He saw no foreign Nen attached to him. This ruled out Machi, whose Nen threads could be attached to a target for tracking. Even if she used In (Concealment) to hide the threads, Ronin doubted she could hide them from the Sharingan, especially when he used Gyo (Focus) on his eyes.
That left only one person who could track a target without attaching aura directly: Kortopi.
Kortopi's ability, Gallery Fake, created exact copies of objects that lasted for 24 hours. By holding the real object, Kortopi could track the location of the copy.
Or in this case, by holding a copy of something Ronin was wearing, he could track the real item on Ronin's body.
Ronin didn't know which item on him was the fake.
This left him with only one tactical option: destroy the line of communication. He had to cut Uvogin off from Kortopi.
That was why he attacked. Not to hurt Uvogin, but to destroy the phone.
He used the clone as bait, struck the phone, and then used the Substitution Jutsu to escape the counterattack.
It had gone perfectly. Uvogin probably never expected an ant to bite back.
But now, Ronin faced a new dilemma. He couldn't just run.
When he got close to Uvogin for that kick, he felt a pull. A visceral attraction to something hanging at the giant's waist.
Next to his father's head was a bloodstained cloth pouch.
Given the empty sockets in his father's skull, Ronin didn't need to guess what was inside.
The Scarlet Eyes.