Kaizen snapped back to his senses and looked at Gon and the others.
"Finished?"
Gon nodded. "We've already won."
A total of five matches—best of three.
Due to Kaizen's presence, the events had shifted slightly from the original course, but the outcome remained unchanged.
Killua defeated the bald convict.
Leorio lost to Johness.
Gon and Kurapika both won their matches.
Compared to how things originally played out, Kurapika seemed calmer—likely because Killua had already demonstrated his surprising strength earlier. His ruthlessness in battle had left an impression.
Kaizen rose to his feet, glancing at the blue-skinned youth slumped in the ring—a fraud.
The man appeared burly, but in reality, his strength was lacking.
He wasn't even a real fighter.
All the tattoos covering his body were fake.
"Congratulations," the bald convict said, his gaze sweeping over Kaizen and the others. "You've won. Now you can proceed to the next level."
The group pressed on.
Kurapika walked with his head lowered, clearly unsettled by the previous events.
He still knew little about the true circumstances surrounding the massacre of the Kurta Clan. Every lead pointed toward the Phantom Troupe, and so, in his mind, they remained his greatest enemies.
Even the mere sight of a spider emblem was enough to drag him back into the depths of his memories.
...
Time passed slowly.
Traps, choices, tests of human nature...
Everything revolved around these themes as they progressed.
Eventually, they neared the final stage.
Kaizen recalled that in the original test, the last choice came down to two options:
A passage that allowed all five of them to proceed together—but required dozens of hours to traverse.
Or a shortcut that would allow only three to advance, forcing the remaining two to be eliminated.
However, the final challenge before Kaizen was different.
Instead of those two paths, the test now presented five separate corridors—one for each person.
Above them, a screen displayed a message:
"Even the closest of comrades must part ways eventually."
"For the rest of this journey, you will walk alone."
Kaizen's eyes narrowed.
"Was this change made because of me?"
"Did Chairman Netero arrange this?"
That was the only explanation Kaizen could think of.
He had no connection to the warden of the Trick Tower—the examiner in charge of this phase—so it was unlikely that they had altered the test just for him.
Which meant this was Netero's doing.
"In that case, it doesn't really matter which route I take."
"It's already been arranged based on the examinees."
Kaizen exchanged glances with the others.
One by one, they each stepped forward and chose a door.
Kaizen pressed the switch.
Click!
The door creaked open.
He stepped into a long, narrow corridor.
Pitch black.
Only the sound of his footsteps echoed through the silence.
...
After walking what felt like hundreds of meters, he finally saw a faint light ahead.
A massive chamber came into view.
In the center of the room sat a man.
Middle-aged.
Dressed in a prisoner's uniform.
Unkempt beard. Messy hair. His entire appearance was ragged and disheveled. His eyes remained half-closed, as if he had been dozing until just now.
As Kaizen's footsteps echoed, the man stirred.
"You finally made it."
The prisoner stood up.
A presence unlike any of the previous criminals radiated from him.
"Nen..."
Kaizen's expression grew serious.
"And not just any Nen..."
"This aura is completely at an A-rank level."
"Someone like this appearing in the Hunter Exam?"
"Netero..."
"Just how confident are you in my strength?"
Given what Kaizen knew of Netero and the Zoldyck family, he was certain of one thing: Netero wouldn't deliberately put him in a situation meant to kill him.
Even if there were tensions between Netero and Zoldyck, if he wanted to target an heir of the family, Killua or Illumi would be more likely candidates.
No, this wasn't meant to kill him.
If Netero had placed this prisoner here, it meant he believed Kaizen could handle him.
Kaizen frowned.
"But why does he seem familiar?"
And it wasn't just him.
The prisoner was also studying Kaizen with an expression of recognition.
"Kid, have we met somewhere before?"
Kaizen scrutinized him carefully.
...
Memories surfaced.
Then, it clicked.
"The Kute Gang of Thieves...?"
"Old T?"
A flood of recollections rushed into Kaizen's mind.
He had never personally met Old T before, but he had sent Raiken to handle a situation involving the Kute Gang.
The Kute Gang of Thieves—
Four A-rank Nen users, each with unique abilities.
Together, they were classified as an S-rank threat.
Old K's ability was Nen Beast.
Old O's ability was Lava.
Old U's ability was Water.
Old T's ability was Tree.
Years ago, in pursuit of forbidden knowledge, the Kute Gang came to Meteor City and unleashed four catastrophic events—at the cost of millions of lives.
Because of Kaizen's involvement, Zeno learned of their presence early and relayed the information to the Hunter Association.
The elders of Meteor City also became aware of the threat.
They sent their elite force, Wild Beast, to eliminate the Kute Gang.
But the bandits crushed them completely.
The elders had no choice but to hire Zeno and Silva Zoldyck.
However, the two assassins only agreed to take the job under one condition:
They would never face all four Kute members simultaneously.
Meteor City suffered tremendous losses before Zeno and Silva finally killed Old O.
Ging Freecss—one of the Zodiacs—then stepped in and personally subdued Old U and Old T.
Both were taken into custody by the Hunter Association.
At the time, Kaizen had not participated directly. He had merely sent Raiken to handle the situation.
Because back then, the Kute Gang were simply beyond his level.
But now...
Kaizen stood before Old T, fully prepared to face him as an equal.
A true opponent.
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