Ronin had been carefully watching Uvogin's movements the entire time. When he heard activity below, he initially thought Uvogin was heading for the airship's cockpit.
He didn't expect him to stop halfway.
In that instant, Ronin knew he was about to be exposed.
When Uvogin's En expanded and swept over him, it confirmed his suspicion. Ronin immediately sprang up from his hiding spot and sprinted toward the top of the airship.
Chakra clung to the soles of his feet. After only a slight stumble, he was running along the airship's outer hull as if it were flat ground.
Behind him came the screech of tearing metal—it was Uvogin.
He ripped open the metal plating of the airship's exterior, stuck his head out, and instantly spotted Ronin sprinting ahead.
Without the slightest hesitation, Uvogin burst out of the corridor and onto the outside of the airship as well.
Ronin noticed Uvogin's move and curled his lips into a cold smile.
The shattered glass of the airship had been blown out on purpose. It wasn't just to give him a way outside—it was also to ensure the airship could descend smoothly toward the ground.
That way, even if he couldn't defeat Uvogin, he would still have room to maneuver or escape.
Staying in the sky would only mean being chased endlessly by Uvogin. That was the last outcome he wanted.
Now that Uvogin had come outside, Ronin might have become a clear target—but in terms of speed while climbing along the airship's outer hull, Uvogin was no match for him.
And once Uvogin was outside, there was no one left to stop the airship from descending.
Ronin formed hand seals, twisted his body mid-run, inhaled sharply, and the instant the seals were completed, he unleashed the chakra he had been brewing straight toward Uvogin.
Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!
Unlike the Great Fireball, which released a single massive blast, Phoenix Flower was better suited for attacking multiple targets—and for harassment.
The technique earned its name because the trajectory of the expelled fireballs resembled the scattered seeds of a phoenix flower.
After realizing he could use C-rank ninjutsu, Ronin had focused his training on Phoenix Flower and Great Fireball in particular.
As a result, his control over the Phoenix Flower fireballs was extremely precise.
The moment the fireballs left his mouth, they fanned out in an encircling trajectory, closing in on Uvogin from multiple angles.
Uvogin, however, was in no position to be so relaxed.
To cling to the nearly vertical hull of the airship, he had to drive his hands into the metal itself.
Faced with the incoming fireballs, the only thing he could do was pour out an even greater volume of aura and wrap it around his body.
In other words—he tanked it head-on.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every single fireball struck Uvogin.
They didn't knock him off the airship, but they left him scrambling awkwardly as he continued climbing.
The searing heat even burned through his aura defense, leaving multiple scorch marks on his body.
Still, Ronin could clearly see that those superficial burns did very little real damage to Uvogin.
But the fact that Phoenix Flower could pierce Uvogin's defenses only strengthened Ronin's conviction that this Uvogin was vastly weaker than the one from three years later.
Maybe… he really could kill Uvogin here.
Once that thought took root, it refused to go away.
There was no hatred in Ronin's eyes—only icy calm.
He was the same as Uvogin in one regard: neither of them liked letting grudges go unpaid, much less leaving them overnight.
If Uvogin hadn't chased him so relentlessly, Ronin would have postponed his revenge. But now, Uvogin's pursuit posed a direct threat to his life.
Since that was the case, how could Ronin possibly pass up a chance to kill him?
Uvogin, already enraged after being struck by the Phoenix Flower, sensed the killing intent from above—and that only fueled his fury.
A rookie like this—how dare he?!
Uvogin could feel that Ronin had grown stronger compared to their encounter in the forest.
Even so, he didn't believe Ronin stood a chance.
He was confident that as long as he could get in close, he could crush Ronin in an instant.
The damage from Phoenix Flower was limited. Ronin, who had briefly paused, moved again—but instead of retreating, he suddenly accelerated straight toward Uvogin.
He sprinted in a way that formed a perfect right angle with the airship's hull, blatantly defying the laws of physics.
Seeing this, Uvogin wasn't shocked—he was delighted.
Ronin didn't know about timing.
But right now, the terrain was absolutely in Uvogin's favor.
If Ronin wanted to take him down, this was the best possible place.
Whether he knocked Uvogin off the airship or attacked him in a position where Uvogin couldn't fully exert himself, the advantage was Ronin's.
Uvogin didn't understand how Ronin could stand on the airship's outer hull like that.
But he knew that in his current position, his movements were severely restricted. Even so, the idea that this kid thought he could challenge him was laughable.
Clinging to the hull, Uvogin suddenly lifted his leg—
Boom!
He slammed his foot straight into the airship's exterior plating.
Rolling his ankle once, he then exerted force with both legs.
In the next second, he was standing upright on the airship's hull as well.
At the same time, Ronin reached his side.
In terms of pure taijutsu, Ronin's original body couldn't possibly compare to Uvogin.
But right now, Ronin held his greatest trump card—
The pair of double-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes.
Every one of Uvogin's movements—even the flow of his aura—was laid bare before those eyes.
So when Ronin closed in, Uvogin's punch was easily avoided with a simple dip of his head.
Ronin's own fist, meanwhile, smashed straight toward Uvogin's chest.
In that instant, he saw Uvogin's aura surge rapidly toward his chest.
It was the advanced Nen application: Ryu.
That meant the moment Ronin closed in, Uvogin had shifted from Ren into the combat-oriented Ken.
Ken is an advanced application that combines Ten and Ren.
To enter Ken, one must place the entire body in a Ren state and keep aura constantly surrounding it.
Ryu, meanwhile, is the ability to rapidly redistribute aura while in a Ken state.
Normally, when aura is spread evenly throughout the body in Ken, the defensive power at any single point is only about fifty percent of what could be achieved by concentrating all aura in one place as Ko.
But through Ryu, a Nen user can quickly shift more aura to specific body parts, pushing defense well beyond that fifty percent threshold.
When two fighters are both in Ken, breaking through the other's defense comes down to two things: total aura output, and mastery over Ryu—that is, how well they can adjust aura distribution during offense and defense.
Ronin's mastery of Nen was unquestionably inferior to Uvogin's.
But in his Sharingan state, what Ronin controlled wasn't aura—it was chakra.
And rapid chakra concentration could also unleash a formidable C-rank taijutsu technique.
A technique inherited from Tsunade, later refined by Sakura Haruno—
Chakra-Enhanced Strength!
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