Hyuga Arin completed his registration smoothly. Since he chose the option to fight at any time, his first match arrived the very next day.
Stepping into the arena—
The cheers of the audience surged endlessly.
"Hehahahaha."
Standing opposite him was a man wrapped head to toe in a red cloak. His lower body, however, was supported by an iron rod.
One of the many victims of Nen.
After suffering a baptism of malicious Nen, his body had been permanently crippled. In the end, he awakened Nen himself.
This sort of thing was fairly common in Heaven's Arena. Some fighters with outstanding martial skills climbed to the 200th floor, only to encounter the so-called "rookie baptism." Though they awakened Nen, they paid the price of irreversible bodily damage.
This man, in the original timeline, should have been Gon's opponent—Gido.
"Choosing me because I'm a newcomer?" Hyuga Arin stood casually in the center of the ring.
These people, desperate not to be knocked down the rankings, always sought out newcomers to fight.
Perfect timing—he could test the Nen ability he'd just developed.
As the referee announced the start—
"Battle Waltz!"
More than ten spinning tops were flung out, launched by the man's cane.
Hyuga Arin didn't move at all, allowing the opponent to control the spinning tops and attack freely.
The whirling tops passed straight through Hyuga Arin's body, as if cutting through air, rippling his form like water.
"Transformation Jutsu… I can barely afford to use it now, but the chakra cost is still huge."
Hyuga Arin's chakra pool had reached over two thousand—enough to support the Transformation Jutsu.
By altering his own mass, he turned himself directly into wind.
Even so, that single use consumed nearly 500 points of chakra.
"What?! How is that possible?!" Gido cried out in shock. His spinning tops had passed straight through the opponent.
What kind of ability was this?
Unwilling to believe it, he launched another attack.
This time, Hyuga Arin didn't dare use Transformation Jutsu again. Four uses would drain his chakra dry.
As the spinning tops closed in, Hyuga Arin raised both hands. Flames ignited in his palms.
"Fire Release · Unknowable Fire."
"Flame Rotation."
Using Gentle Fist, he struck out with fire, forming a semicircular barrier that blocked the spinning tops outside.
He used two ninjutsu in succession—
Without forming a single hand seal.
This was his new ability.
Chakra Nature Manipulation.
By directly altering the nature of chakra according to a technique's requirements, he could bypass hand seals entirely and cast jutsu instantly.
The defining trait of this ability was simple:
As long as Hyuga Arin understood the chakra transformations involved, any ninjutsu could be used without hand seals.
In other words, his skills were now effectively cooldown-free.
Hyuga Arin's abilities never had cooldowns to begin with—just like in the real world—but the hand seal delay still existed.
With this Nen ability, even that delay was gone.
For ninjas, this was absolutely lethal.
(Right, Kisame? Zabuza?)
Hyuga Arin leapt up from the spot and took a deep breath.
"Fire Release · Great Fire Dragon Technique!"
A blazing fire dragon burst from his mouth, carrying searing heat as it charged straight at Gido.
Gido immediately tried to dodge at high speed—
But the fire dragon clung tightly to him, chasing relentlessly.
"No—!"
Amid his terrified scream, the fire dragon slammed into his body.
[EXP +1562]
On the pile of ash that remained, a drop item lay quietly.
"Winner: Hyuga Arin!!"
As the referee's declaration echoed out, the entire audience erupted.
Hyuga Arin stepped forward and picked up the dropped item.
[Skill: Whip Strike]
"This thing has a pretty wide range."
He chose to learn it immediately.
[Whip Strike (Lv1) EXP (0/100) Trait (None)]
The method of use flooded into his mind.
"So this is basically Serpent Awakens."
But this version came from Baki. It made the arms flexible, allowing them to lash out like whips.
It was slightly different from Killua's Serpent Awakens. Killua dislocated his arm bones, while this relied on force control to soften the arms.
"As expected—martial arts–type."
This drop overlapped with skills from Kumogakure.
"So Hunter Association enemies drop Konoha-related items, while Heaven's Arena drops martial arts items."
Having clarified two drop paths, Hyuga Arin shook his head and left the arena.
The next four battles disappointed him somewhat.
In total, they granted him:
[EXP +5121]
The main issue was that battles couldn't be fought consecutively—only one match per day.
After five consecutive fights, he ran into an awkward situation:
No one dared to fight him anymore.
All five opponents had died without exception. Everyone began refusing matches against him.
Just like Hisoka—very few people actually dared to fight.
Still, among the five drops, there was one decent item.
[Demon Back (Lv1) EXP (0/100) Trait (None)]
The others were things like:
[Skill: Niko Style · Adamantine Kata · Indestructible]
[Nichirin Blade: +55–60 ATK, +10 vs Yin-type spirits]
[Skill: Triceratops Fist]
Hyuga Arin had no intention of going down a muscle-build path. His early combat power was already established; he didn't need martial skills to carry him in the early game.
The Nichirin Blade was nowhere near as good as his Dark Battle Blade.
To him, they were all basically junk, so he tossed them into his inventory.
He then spotted Hisoka in the stands, watching a match intently. Gon was currently fighting on the stage, and Hisoka's eyes were locked onto the battle.
Only then did Hyuga Arin realize—
Gon and Killua had already reached the 200th floor.
This was Gon's first match. In the original timeline, his first opponent—Gido—had already died by Hyuga Arin's hand.
The person fighting Gon now was someone Hyuga Arin didn't recognize at all.
"Hey, Hisoka," Hyuga Arin called out directly, stating his purpose. "Fight me once."
He didn't want to waste time here anymore.
If he could fight several matches a day, that'd be fine—but one per day, and now no one even wanted to fight him.
Hisoka shifted his gaze from the arena to Hyuga Arin, a brilliant smile spreading across his face.
"Sure~ Lately, quite a few people have been comparing the two of us."
Two fighters who killed their opponents without restraint—naturally, people loved to talk.
"Tomorrow," Hisoka said.
After greeting Hisoka, Hyuga Arin turned and left.
To fight Hisoka, he needed proper preparation.
Against others, knowing their Nen abilities meant he'd already won half the battle.
But Hisoka was different.
Even if you knew everything about his abilities, you might still have no chance of winning.
Hyuga Arin was heading back to his room to rest—
When a figure blocked his path.
"Hyuga Arin, are you going to fight Hisoka?"
Gon, dressed in green, stood in front of him and asked.
"That's right. After I fight him, I'm leaving," Hyuga Arin replied casually.
He was heading off to hunt the Phantom Troupe.
If he remembered correctly, there was a Troupe member named Machi around Hisoka.
But Hyuga Arin didn't plan to touch Machi for now—otherwise, he'd have to deal with Hisoka at the same time, which would be troublesome.
Gon clenched his fists, then turned and walked away.
Hyuga Arin looked baffled.
So… why did he come find me in the first place?