Over the next three weeks, Satoru and Tsunade continued climbing the tower without using Chakra. This limitation did not slow their progress, but the matches were not scheduled every day, which delayed them. Fortunately, because of how they overwhelmed all their opponents, they managed to directly skip a few floors.
Tsunade faced a few more Nen users, but none of them had developed Hatsu yet, which greatly disappointed her. At least they managed to last a few more punches than ordinary people.
As for Satoru, he was not that lucky. Except for the forfeited match with Tsunade, all of his opponents were ordinary martial artists.
So, he was not able to use his new skill to convert his chakra to Nen. Frankly, he was not in a hurry or desperate to get it. If he wished, he could have stalked a few Nen users and fought them outside the arena.
But since he was not lacking in strength, he did not bother to look for Nen opponents and waited until he reached the 200th floor.
"So, is there any particular reason why you dragged me to watch the kids' show?" Tsunade leaned on her seat and watched the popular kid named Gon getting his ass whipped by Gido's spinning tops.
"I thought the fight would be more spectacular," Satoru said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Before heading to the 200th floor, he noticed this fight promotion, so he dragged Tsunade here, thinking it would be a good opportunity to show her a proper Nen fight.
But the results were pretty disappointing. Watching this fight as anime in his previous life made his blood pump. But now, as an experienced Jonin, the fight appeared to be merely a joke.
Both he and Tsunade could end the fight with a fireball jutsu or punch.
"Like I said, Nen doesn't seem that impressive to me," Tsunade shrugged. "Even a Genin could win against them. You wasted three million points for nothing."
If you think about it, Nen was indeed inferior to chakra. However, that was not the reason he bought the Energy Conversion Skill; it was due to its potential to use all kinds of energy.
"Alright, alright. I know I miscalculated. But these people are obviously novices. Let's wait until we see an expert before judging."
He planned to take her to Greed Island after they gathered enough money to buy the game and try to see if he could exchange those cards in the system.
During the past three weeks, he recalled the majority of the story and today managed to determine the timeline after seeing Gon.
Should they go to York as well after leaving the tower? There would be a lot of valuable items sold in York that could be exchanged in the system. However, getting their hands on them would not be easy.
Aside from the money problem, they had to deal with the Phantom Troupe, who would steal the items.
He was thinking about whether it was worth it to make enemies with that troublesome group, but eventually, he shook his head.
Even though the Phantom Troupe had tricky Nen abilities, they should not be a problem if he and Tsunade teamed up. Besides, Chrollo's most troublesome stealing ability would not work on their chakra.
Besides, there were plenty of wealthy mafia families in York. They would surely find plenty of valuable items in their vaults.
Satoru woke up from his pondering to see Gon closing his eyes and dodging the spinning tops. He danced around the arena and bent his body in an irregular way enough to make Tsunade raise an eyebrow. But his efforts were futile as the spinning tops surrounded him from all sides and whipped his ass.
"Let's go. There's nothing to see here." Tsunade stood up amidst the audience's cheers and curses and left the stands.
Satoru followed her to the elevator, where they listened to the next floor's new rules from the attendant.
The sound of the elevator chime echoed as they stepped onto the 200th floor of Heaven's Arena.
"Pity," Satoru thought that they would receive a welcome ceremony just like Hisoka gave Gon and Killua once they reached this floor. But clearly, no one treated them like Chinese protagonists ready to get face-slapped.
"So, what do you think of this world so far?" Satoru asked as they made their way to the reception desk. He knew she went out often these past few days and must have collected general information.
"It's quite massive, to be honest. Much bigger than our world. Wars aren't that common, but the casualties are much higher. And you were right about how easy it is to gather information. That weird computer will tell you anything you want to know..."
Tsunade went on to describe all things that fascinated her.
"I'm surprised you didn't mention sake or gambling yet," Satoru teased her and dodged the punch coming his way.
"Shut up," Tsunade glared. "I'm not that clueless to do these things while we're still new here."
Hm, he did not expect her to be so sensible. But again, she was raised as a Shinobi and knew when to enjoy herself or be serious.
"Do you want to stay here or leave once the cooldown ends?"
Those words stopped her in her tracks. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "I never asked you this before, but why were you always adamant about leaving our home?"
She left because her brother died and she was sick of the war that killed all her relatives and separated the Senju clan. But Satoru did not have any of her troubles. He was a genius orphan who managed to surpass many ninja from elite clans and was deeply favored by the Hokage.
He had everything a shinobi could wish for, yet he still chose to leave without hesitation. That puzzled her, and she wanted to understand his motives.
Satoru looked at her in surprise and suppressed the idea of joking around.
"Tell me, Tsunade. Why do shinobi train their whole lives, only to end up killing each other in a meaningless war?"
Confused, Tsunade answered, "Of course, we train to be able to protect our loved ones and the village we live in."
"Exactly," Satoru pointed out. "A Shinobi enters the school at six years old, graduates at ten, and starts receiving missions until he either retires of old age or dies along the way. I'm sick of that way of living."
He clenched his fist. "My desire to get strength was to be free to do whatever I want and travel to wherever I desire, not to spend the rest of my life serving people who could stab me in the back if it was profitable enough for them. I refuse to be the next Hatake Sakamoto."
He turned to her. "Don't you understand, Tsunade? Our home is stuck in a repeated cycle of never-ending wars. Even though the second ninja war ended, there are still some people who are thinking about the next war. As long as the village system exists, the war will never end."
Unless someone with overwhelming strength like your grandfather appears and unifies the villages, the world will never know peace.
Satoru calmed his agitated emotions and smiled. "You can call me a coward for running away, but I place my freedom above everything else. Besides, who could refuse seeing all kinds of wonderful worlds instead of being stuck on that cursed world?"
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