He had actually started to grasp this the moment he deactivated his Sharingan state.
After all, once the Sharingan was turned off, the strange energy he'd been able to see inside his body while it was active spilled outward, wrapping around him completely.
Ronin knew what that was—it was the most basic application of Nen: Ten.
A technique that prevents "aura" from naturally dissipating, keeping it contained within the body instead.
Once he understood that, Ronin also became clear on what he needed to do next.
He had to activate the Scarlet Eyes and enter Sharingan Ninja Mode, converting his Nen into chakra so that he could truly gain the ability to use ninjutsu.
And how did you enter the Scarlet Eyes state?
Simple—strong emotions.
Anger, excitement, fear… any intense emotion could trigger it.
When Ronin thought about Uvogin, who could catch up to him at any moment, his eyes genuinely changed. The transformation was obvious, especially in the darkness of the night.
His vision became sharper, and a powerful surge of strength flooded his body. Even his running speed increased noticeably.
Realizing he had activated the Scarlet Eyes, Ronin didn't dare waste any time. Every second they stayed active drained his stamina at an alarming rate.
Once again, he formed the same simple three hand seals: Sheep – Snake – Tiger.
But this time was different. When he completed the seals, he felt something strange.
A portion of the limited energy inside his body was suddenly consumed—and right in front of him, another "him" appeared.
The Clone Technique… succeeded!
Was it really that easy?
Ronin abruptly stopped and stared at the boy in front of him—someone with the exact same face as his, especially those eyes with a single tomoe Sharingan. He couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
But as he took a closer look at the clone, a few suspicions formed in his mind. His ninja abilities were probably connected to his transmigration in some way. Otherwise, even a Specialist-type ability shouldn't make casting ninjutsu this easy.
Still, now wasn't the time to dig into that.
Ronin focused and began experimenting with other techniques.
Slowly, he realized that he couldn't cast every ninjutsu he imagined.
Instead, whenever he tried forming hand seals, he could clearly feel his "chakra" being mobilized.
Each ninjutsu consumed a certain amount of chakra. If he could afford the cost, the technique would activate. If he couldn't, then no matter how many seals he formed, nothing would happen.
In other words, while in the Sharingan state, he only needed to meet two conditions to cast ninjutsu:
1. Enough chakra.
2. Hand seals.
At the moment, though, Ronin couldn't remember many hand seal combinations. After all, in the manga, a lot of ninjutsu had their seals heavily simplified.
He clearly remembered that early on, when Kakashi copied Zabuza's Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, he had formed 44 hand seals.
But later, no matter how powerful the technique, most ninjas only used a few seals—some even used just a single "Ren" seal, which was essentially any arbitrary hand gesture.
With that in mind, Ronin tried forming random seals to cast a technique.
To his surprise… it actually worked.
He casually raised his hand and formed a single seal, successfully casting a technique that had previously required three seals.
That immediately sparked several theories in his mind.
Maybe hand seals were a restriction on using ninjutsu—but not a fixed one.
Then there was the chakra issue.
Based on his current reserves, Ronin realized he was only slightly stronger than an average Leaf Village Ninja Academy graduate—and even that advantage was limited.
There was no helping it. His "ninja" power came from Nen.
By activating the Sharingan, he converted his "aura" into "chakra." So if he wanted to get stronger, the simplest solution was to increase his aura.
More aura meant more chakra, which naturally meant more—and stronger—ninjutsu.
For now, though, the number of techniques he could use was painfully small. After sorting through them, he found that he could only reliably cast D-rank or lower techniques.
As for C-rank techniques he remembered—like Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique or Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Technique—even though he knew the hand seal sequences, he still couldn't cast them.
That struck him as odd, but for the time being, he chalked it up to insufficient chakra.
After gaining a deeper understanding of his situation, Ronin looked up at the rain still pouring down and thought of a technique that was perfectly suited for the current conditions.
But before acting, he needed to test every ability he planned to use next.
Only by combining those abilities with the combat experience inherited from his predecessor's memories would he have a chance at fighting his way out alive.
…
As for tracking, Uvogin couldn't say he was particularly skilled at it. Still, judging by the traces left behind in the forest, the fugitive was clearly even worse.
It almost felt like someone fleeing in blind panic.
But as the pursuit went on, Uvogin's expression gradually grew serious.
The traces were becoming fewer and fewer. Now, standing still and scanning the shadows of the forest, it was getting harder to find any clear signs at all.
Even so, Uvogin knew the man's options were limited.
Either he ran toward X City, over a hundred kilometers away, or he fled deeper into the mountains.
But that didn't really matter.
Because Uvogin had a much easier way to find him.
Lightning flashed across the sky, briefly illuminating Uvogin as he stood in the forest, a headless corpse hanging from his waist—looking like a man-eating demon straight out of a nightmare.
He took out his phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, the call connected.
"One got away. I need a direction," Uvogin said calmly.
Back when they were capturing people in the village, Kortopi had placed duplicated stickers on everyone they caught.
First, to prevent escapes. Second, to keep a record.
Kortopi's ability—Gallery Fake—allowed him to duplicate dead or immobile objects through touch. The copies lasted for 24 hours, retained all the original item's functions, and by touching the original, he could sense the copy's location.
When Uvogin split from the group to capture Ronin and his father, he had Kortopi leave a sticker on him as well. As long as Ronin hadn't torn it off, Uvogin could pinpoint his exact location anytime within 24 hours.
Kortopi's confused voice came through the phone.
"Huh? Weren't you all together?"
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