Ronin unleashed his fastest speed.
In a single instant, he was already right in front of Chairman Netero.
Using a version of his Destructive Dragon Fist adjusted to better suit his own way of generating force, he drove a punch straight toward Netero.
Netero showed no intention of dodging. Instead, as Ronin closed in, he lightly breathed out a single word:
"Good."
By the time the word fell, his palm had already caught Ronin's fist head-on.
Boom!
The collision of powerful Nen erupted with a violent roar.
Netero's free hand then swept toward Ronin's head in a slap.
Ronin's eyes had already entered the Mangekyō Sharingan state, but he didn't use any special ability. He only relied on the Sharingan's extraordinary perception to observe Netero's movements.
Although this wasn't a monstrous technique like the Hundred-Type Guanyin, Netero's palm strike was still astonishingly fast.
But it had not yet surpassed Ronin's limit of observation.
So Ronin dodged.
At the same time, with his fist still held by Netero, the two of them entered a contest of strength.
As Ronin leaned back to avoid the slap, his leg shot upward in a rising kick.
But before it could land on Netero, Netero's foot came down directly on the top of his foot. Tremendous force drove Ronin's leg straight toward the ground.
At the same time, Ronin's other hand formed into a claw and reached for the arm Netero had wrapped around his fist, as if he had abandoned any attempt to avoid having his foot stomped.
But Netero's eyes caught the dense Nen gathered around Ronin's dragon-claw-like fingers.
The hand gripping Ronin abruptly let go, but his foot did not stop. It smashed Ronin's foot straight into the ground.
Yet Netero could clearly feel that this stomp had not injured Ronin at all.
Not that it mattered.
A foot pinned into the ground would create an opening in Ronin's movements.
That was the key.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Netero's mouth.
But before that smile could fully spread, Ronin's hands had already completed a seal in front of him.
At first, Ronin had wanted to use Enhancement and fight Netero in close-quarters combat.
But after just one exchange, he sensed the enormous, almost heavenly gap between them in martial arts.
So using ninjutsu was the only way to keep up with Netero.
Naturally, Netero saw Ronin's unusual hand movement. At the same time, he noticed something strange about the Nen around Ronin.
Because in that instant, he felt most of Ronin's Nen vanish.
The important part was that he did not feel Ronin's strength drop.
Interesting.
The thought had only just appeared when Netero saw Ronin inhale sharply, and a sense of danger rose in his heart.
In the next second, flames spewed from Ronin's mouth, rushing straight toward Netero's face.
But before the flames could even form into a fireball, they suddenly scattered.
In their place appeared a huge, golden palm.
With a casual sweep, that palm extinguished the flames. Then, after wiping them away, it continued crashing toward Ronin.
But before that golden arm could strike Ronin, an equally enormous crimson arm appeared out of thin air and punched straight into the incoming palm.
Boom!
A roar even more explosive than the earlier clash between Ronin's fist and Netero's palm rang across the entire rooftop.
Netero's figure rapidly retreated in that instant, pulling distance between himself and Ronin. A few traces of surprise appeared in his eyes.
At this moment, Netero's hands were already pressed together in prayer before him, but the golden Guanyin statue that had just swung its giant palm had vanished from behind him.
Around Ronin's body, however, there still stood a massive armored Susanoo.
Fast.
Too fast.
Ronin was deeply shaken.
Even though he already knew Netero's ability from the manga, seeing it in reality still sent a lingering chill through him.
Because when Netero used the Hundred-Type Guanyin, if Ame-no-Tokotachi had not activated, Ronin felt he might not even have had time to manifest Susanoo before being sent flying by that one palm strike.
Too strong.
Netero did not rush. Instead, he studied Ronin's Susanoo with great curiosity.
He could feel that after Hundred-Type Guanyin's palm shattered the flames, it had suffered a brief delay.
He didn't know how Ronin had done it, but he suspected it had something to do with those special eyes.
Those were eyes he had never seen before.
Still, he wasn't completely ignorant about Ronin. After last year's Hunter Exam, information on Ronin had already appeared on his desk.
"You're very strong. But if this is all you have, it isn't enough." Netero's expression grew a little more serious.
But Ronin heard another layer of meaning in Netero's words.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Again."
If he could earn Netero's recognition, would he be able to obtain the smuggling route to the Dark Continent from him?
As for defeating Netero—
Ronin felt that his current self still couldn't do it.
His aura growth had entered a slow period after absorbing the last batch of Scarlet Eyes.
The power of his ninjutsu was completely tied to his aura quantity. Although he still had some special ninjutsu that could expand his tactics, it would be nearly impossible for those techniques to gain an advantage against Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin.
After all, at present, most of the ninjutsu he could use were concentrated in the five elements: Wind, Lightning, Earth, Fire, and Water.
But judging from the way Hundred-Type Guanyin had smashed the Great Fireball Technique apart, aside from Water Release possibly giving him a certain advantage, most of those techniques would probably be shattered directly by Hundred-Type Guanyin.
Still, no matter what, he would keep fighting.
With that thought in mind, ninjutsu had already activated from Ronin's hands. At the same time, Susanoo condensed a long blade in its hand and slashed toward Netero's position.
But this time, Netero no longer held back. Before the attack arrived, his palms had already come together again.
The enormous body of the Hundred-Type Guanyin appeared behind him.
The clay from Earth Release: Falling Clay had only just poured out from the spatial rift torn open high above when Hundred-Type Guanyin's giant hand swept upward, smacking all of the clay back into the alternate space with a single palm.
As for the long blade Susanoo brought down, two other arms of Hundred-Type Guanyin directly caught it barehanded.
Bang!
The long blade shattered into countless specks of light.
Hundred-Type Guanyin abruptly vanished, and Netero completed a second prayer gesture before him.
The vanished Hundred-Type Guanyin reappeared.
Among its many arms, only two extended this time, striking Susanoo's body like a pair of clapping hands.
Ronin's eyes, however, were fixed firmly on Netero at that moment.
Under Hundred-Type Guanyin's impact, countless cracks appeared across Susanoo's body.
It was a sign that it was about to break.
But Ronin didn't care at all.
His hands had already completed their seals in front of him, yet no ninjutsu appeared. He simply stared intently at Netero's movements.
The instant Hundred-Type Guanyin disappeared again, Ronin finally launched the attack he had prepared all along.
Ame-no-Tokotachi!