As he ran, the previous owner's memories in Ronin's mind grew clearer and clearer, and he gradually understood something:
Before his "revival," the original Ronin hadn't mastered Nen at all.
In other words, he must have awakened Nen because he was struck by a Nen attack.
But it was also that Nen attack that sent the previous owner straight to heaven.
Unfortunately, Ronin could tell that what he had now wasn't Post-Mortem Nen—the kind of energy that becomes even stronger after death.
And even if he did have Post-Mortem Nen, in Ronin's eyes, facing Uvogin would still be nine deaths out of ten.
It was April 1, 1995—more than three years, nearly four, before the main plot even began—but Uvogin already had Nen at this point.
On top of that, Uvogin had grown up fighting, and after he got older he lived by robbery. The gap between them—in experience, strength, even mentality—was simply unbridgeable.
So running was Ronin's only option.
But if he just panicked and fled blindly through the forest like this, Ronin knew for sure he wouldn't get away.
He didn't know how much time the previous owner's father could buy him. What he had to do now was find a way to shake pursuit within that time window.
Ronin's mind spun at full speed, but the more he thought, the more despair crept in.
What a hellish start.
The rushing sound of water came from nearby. Ronin stopped beside a small stream. Thunder boomed overhead, and a lightning bolt—like a roaming dragon—split the sky.
Ronin lowered his head toward the water at last. In the brief flash of light from the lightning, he finally saw his reflection clearly—his face, and his eyes.
Under short, pale-golden hair was a handsome but deathly pale face. And where his eyes were, a crimson hue had surfaced.
That crimson should've been the Scarlet Eyes… but something felt off. In the records, Scarlet Eyes were described as scarlet, not this darker, blood-red shade.
Was it because he wasn't angry enough, so the Scarlet Eyes he triggered weren't "beautiful" enough?
With that thought, Ronin leaned closer to the stream, just as another jagged bolt streaked across the sky.
Amid the rolling thunder, he saw his eyes in the water clearly—only they weren't the Scarlet Eyes from his memories.
They were eyes that didn't belong to this world.
Because inside those blood-red irises… he saw a tomoe.
Ronin's mind went blank with shock.
In the manga he'd read, there was an eye just like this—blood-red, marked with tomoe—and its name was the Sharingan!
He only had a single tomoe right now, but Ronin was certain: these were the Sharingan just after awakening, not the Scarlet Eyes!
So… was this his cheat ability?
Ronin accepted it almost instantly. The change his transmigration brought was that the previous owner's Scarlet Eyes had transformed into the Sharingan.
No wonder he'd been able to see Uvogin's movements clearly from over a hundred meters away—even the flow of "aura" over their bodies.
So that was it.
After all, Kurapika—who had Scarlet Eyes in Hunter x Hunter—never displayed any special ocular techniques.
What the Scarlet Eyes gave their owner was: first, an additional Nen category after "opening the eyes," and second, greater strength and defense for Kurta clan members while in the Scarlet Eyes state.
While Ronin was thinking this, he saw the blood-red eyes in the water slowly fade, returning to a pitch-black color.
At the same time, a wave of fatigue spread rapidly through his entire body.
It wasn't enough to completely exhaust him, but he could clearly feel a big chunk of stamina being drained.
A side effect of using the Scarlet Eyes.
But Ronin couldn't afford to care. He stepped over the stream and kept running forward.
Meanwhile, his mind was already racing with a new question:
Could he use ninjutsu?
If he could, then he'd found a way to stay alive—maybe even a way to escape.
And just as Ronin crossed the stream, Uvogin had already ended the fight.
He was holding a head in his hand. The head's eyes had been gouged out and stuffed into a bottle filled with nutrient solution—one Chrollo had specifically handed him before he left.
Uvogin didn't throw the eyeless head away. He wrapped it up and hung it at his waist together with the bottle containing the Scarlet Eyes.
He glanced down at the torn clothes on his chest and the large bruise blooming on the skin beneath. When he lifted his head again, a cruel smile spread across his face.
He wasn't going to let that boy—the one who also had Scarlet Eyes—get away.
And using this fresh head… should make the boy's eyes bloom into their most beautiful color before he died, right?
With that thought, Uvogin strode in the direction Ronin had fled.
Ronin was a hardcore anime fan. Whether it was Hunter x Hunter or Naruto, he'd watched them countless times.
He'd even done cosplay before—after all, "Amaterasu" was insanely popular.
But if you wanted to stand out among a sea of cosplayers, you needed more than just being handsome. You needed skills—like fluent hand seals. And if you paired that with long, pale fingers that could double as "hand model" hands, it amplified the effect even more.
So Ronin had deliberately studied all kinds of hand seals and practiced them over and over.
He just never imagined that one day he'd be using them in real life.
Ronin clearly remembered the clone technique's seals: Ram – Snake – Tiger.
He formed seals while running, following his memory. But when he finished, nothing happened.
He frowned slightly, but he wasn't too surprised. Ninjutsu wasn't supposed to be easy—if you could cast it effortlessly, there'd be no need for the Ninja Academy in Naruto.
But the problem was this:
He didn't have time to learn slowly. He was being hunted.
So he had to find a way to cast a technique quickly.
He actually already had some ideas. If he couldn't find the answer by experimenting, then he'd have to use the double-edged sword of "Vows and Limitations" to force a way into mastering ninjutsu.
In any case, from the moment he discovered he had the Sharingan, he'd bet everything on ninjutsu.
So the first thing he did was think through what mattered most in casting a technique.
Generate chakra, then complete the hand seals—that's how you use ninjutsu.
He'd done the hand seals.
So… chakra…
Ronin frowned and looked down at his hands. He could clearly see them wrapped in a layer of energy.
He knew that energy was Nen.
Then he suddenly remembered what he'd seen of himself when he activated the Sharingan earlier.
In that instant, something clicked.
Without activating the Sharingan, what he had wasn't chakra—it was Nen.
As Ronin understood it, Nen was life energy, while chakra was the product of evenly mixing spiritual energy and physical energy.
Then his thoughts snapped back to his eyes.
If those really were the Sharingan, then the power driving them had to be chakra.
Which meant: when he entered the "Scarlet Eyes"—or rather, more accurately, the "Sharingan"—state, chakra would be produced within him.
Link that with Kurapika's situation, and Ronin arrived at a conclusion in a heartbeat:
Maybe converting Nen into chakra, and converting Scarlet Eyes into the Sharingan… was his "Specialist" ability while in the Scarlet Eyes state!
In other words, only when he switched into his Specialist mode… did he become a true ninja.
A being capable of using ninjutsu!