Ronin put out his top speed. In one blink he was in front of the Chairman.
The punch he threw was a Super Destruction Punch he had already tuned to the way his body liked to load force.
Netero did not move to slip it. As Ronin closed, he said one word, almost pleased.
"Good."
The palm was already there. It caught the fist.
The aura collision went off like a charge.
Netero's free hand came across in a slap aimed at Ronin's head.
Ronin's eyes were already Mangekyō. He did not fire a technique. He used the sight. The slap was not the 100-Type Guanyin. It was still fast. It was not past what he could read.
He leaned out of it. The trapped fist stayed locked with Netero's grip, two people trying to fold the same point.
The kick came up while he was still bent back.
It never landed. Netero's foot found the instep first and drove Ronin's leg at the floor.
Ronin's other hand had already gone to a claw, reaching for the arm wrapped around his fist, as if the stomp were a price he had decided to pay.
Netero saw the Nen packed into those hooked fingers.
He let the fist go. The stomp did not stop. Ronin's foot went into the platform.
Netero felt the truth of it at once. The stomp would not hurt him. That was not the point. A foot buried in stone made a hole in the next motion. That was the point.
The corner of his mouth started up.
The smile did not finish.
Ronin's hands had already completed seals in front of his chest.
He had wanted this as Enhancement work, close and ugly. One exchange was enough. The gap in martial skill was a cliff. Ninjutsu was the only way to keep a hand on the man.
Netero saw the odd motion. He also felt the Nen go wrong.
In that instant most of the aura on Ronin vanished.
The output did not drop with it.
Interesting.
The thought was still forming when Ronin dragged in a breath. Something in Netero's chest turned over.
Fire came out of Ronin's mouth and went for his face.
It never even made a ball. The flame sheet tore apart, and a huge golden palm took its place. One easy sweep killed the fire. The same sweep kept coming for Ronin's body.
The golden arm did not land.
A crimson arm the same size came out of empty air and punched it.
The sound that hit the roof was worse than the first clash of fist and palm.
Netero was already gone, distance opening fast, surprise sitting in his eyes. His hands had joined in front of him. The Guanyin that had thrown the palm was gone.
What remained around Ronin was armor. A massive Susanoo, plated and standing.
Fast.
Too fast.
Knowing the ability from a page and standing in front of it were different jobs. When the 100-Type came out, Ronin was sure of one thing. Without Amenotokotachi already moving, that palm would have launched him before the Susanoo finished forming.
Too strong.
Netero did not rush. He studied the Susanoo with real curiosity.
He had felt it. After the Guanyin smashed the fire, the palm had hitched. A fraction. He did not know how Ronin had done it. The eyes were the obvious guess.
He had never seen eyes like that.
He was not walking in blind. After last year's Hunter Exam, a file on Ronin had landed on his desk.
"You have strength," Netero said. The ease had thinned. "If that is all of it, it is not enough."
Ronin heard the other line under it.
His mouth ticked.
"Again."
Earn the old man's respect and the unsanctioned road to the Dark Continent might come out of his mouth.
Beating him was another matter. Ronin did not think he could do that yet.
Aura growth had slowed after the last batch of Scarlet Eyes. Ninjutsu scaled with the tank. He had a few odd techniques that helped him run a fight. Almost none of them would steal a clean edge from the 100-Type. What he could throw sat in five natures: wind, lightning, earth, fire, water. After watching the Guanyin swat a Great Fireball into sparks, his read was simple. Water Style might buy him something. The rest would get broken.
He was going to keep fighting anyway.
The seals went out. A long blade condensed in the Susanoo's hand and came down on Netero's position.
Netero stopped holding the rest back. His palms met before the cut arrived.
The 100-Type rose behind him, huge.
Earth Style: Falling Clay tore a hole in the air overhead. The clay had not even started its drop. A Guanyin hand swept through the fall and slapped the whole mass back into the rift.
Two more arms took the Susanoo's blade the way a man takes a stick, bare.
The sword burst into sparks.
The Guanyin vanished. Netero's hands met a second time.
It came back. Out of all those arms, only two extended. They clapped into the Susanoo's body like a pair of open hands.
Ronin did not look at the cracks. He looked at Netero.
The armor webbed. It was going to go.
He did not care. His seals were finished. No jutsu came out of them. He watched the old man's hands.
The instant the Guanyin disappeared again, Ronin fired the attack he had been holding for that gap.
Amenotokotachi.