Oboro vs. Sato (2)

Oboro vs. Sato (2)

Sato, a ninja of the Hidden Group's Cloud Hidden Style.

Oboro had already learned about this man's abilities and background from the Nen users under Brown's command.

The name Hidden Group sounded familiar to Oboro. Later, he remembered... Hanzo, who had taken the Hunter Exam alongside the main cast, had also come from there.

It seemed to be an organization dedicated to training ninjas.

Hanzo was a jonin of the Cloud Hidden Style. He had become a Hunter in search of the Dream Scroll. Before learning Nen, there had been a clear gap between his strength and that of several protagonists. But he had a pretty good personality... so Oboro remembered him vividly.

As he pondered, Sato finally caught up from behind.

He drew the two sheaths at his waist... strangely, both blades had only hilts and no actual blades.

The black-clad ninja unleashed a flurry of slashes at Oboro.

Sharp glints tore through the air. Despite the extreme speed and frequency of his attacks, they made no sound at all.

Oboro kept retreating and dodging. Invisible blades around him formed a cage woven from cold flashes, enveloping him.

In an instant, cuts opened across Oboro's body... fortunately, they were all superficial wounds.

For the moment, he had no intention of tangling with Sato... and continued accelerating as he repositioned.

A moment later, the two returned to the plaza.

Brown and the others were still there. Seeing Oboro's bare upper body covered in blood, the dozen or so people became visibly excited.

The unease on Brown's face eased somewhat as well...

Sato... was still trustworthy.

Even after buying a pack of vicious Garou from Meteor City, no one could replace Sato's position.

"Kakushi..."

After hopping away and widening the gap between himself and Sato, Oboro came to a stop and narrowed his eyes.

Since Sato held only hilts and no physical blades... it was difficult to judge his attack range. And Sato was an Emission type... his ability allowed him to materialize ninja tools with Nen. Put simply, he could alter the length of his blades whenever he wanted. One second, the blade might be only a meter long, and the next, it could become two meters.

That was hard to guard against in a fast-paced exchange.

On top of that... Sato had kept his weapons in a state of Kakushi the entire time.

That required a certain level of mastery over Hatsu. To fight him, Oboro had to maintain Gyo constantly.

"Keeping an eye on his weapons is useless, because he can change their shape at any time... I only need to catch the movements of his hands and determine the path of his attacks!" An idea for dealing with him emerged in Oboro's mind.

At the same time, vortex-like ripples appeared in the empty space beside him, where digitized pixel blocks emerged one after another before opening into a black hole.

This time, it was a resource-type summon! Sato would not let him release his Nen ability so smoothly. In an instant, he left an afterimage across the field and arrived before Oboro... Nen coated Oboro's arm as he used his flesh and blood as a weapon to clash against Sato's blade. But Sato's flexibility and the force of his swings were no weaker than his own.

That meant... at least in terms of physical ability, the two were roughly equal.

Moreover, every angle and movement in Sato's attacks was incredibly unnatural... not only did he constantly change his moves, but they were also extremely inhuman.

Most sword techniques centered around chopping, hacking, slashing, lifting, thrusting, and deflecting, but Sato was different... through his Nen ability, he could retract the emitted ninja tools formed from Nen and make them disappear.

That way, the tiny hilt would not interfere with his close-quarters movements... allowing him to use his fists and legs perfectly while fighting Oboro, then turn those hilts back into blades that "shot out" from every angle! Catching his opponent completely off guard—it was underhanded to the extreme...

He could even use his body movements to block Oboro's line of sight and conceal his follow-up attacks.

His hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship constantly interwove, making it impossible for anyone to adapt to his "rhythm."

So... after their figures crossed back and forth for only half a minute, the number of wounds on Oboro's body had increased...

They were not fatal! But if this continued, it would definitely become unfavorable for Oboro.

"It's hard to spot any weakness... An ability like this was probably refined through countless battles, discovering and patching up flaws until the fighting style matured into a system of its own! Excellent physical prowess and martial arts, seasoned experience... and a Nen ability that suited him perfectly, without a single flaw... Wonderful!"

Oboro sighed in heartfelt admiration.

In terms of compatibility with his ability alone, this Sato was nearly comparable to Hisoka... the only difference was their style and type.

Of course, that did not mean their strength was equal... after all, Oboro had no idea how far Hisoka had grown by now.

With a swish.

A blade flashed past, failing to strike its target.

Just as Sato was about to press the attack, three enormous wolves suddenly pounced out of the nearby black hole! Several raptors also spread their wings as they flew out from the alternate space, circling high overhead with piercing cries.

They were Shadow Wolves and Raptors!

"Nen beasts?!" The term surfaced in Sato's mind, only to be immediately rejected. He had noticed that the bodies of these suddenly appearing monsters... were made from countless pixel blocks...

He knew about Oboro's ability... They were identical to the little soldiers in the tournament footage, something akin to a "game." These were corresponding products of that game.

There were three giant wolves, one large and two small.

The leading wolf slammed its claws down, shattering the stone beneath its feet.

It missed him. The other two wolves immediately bared their fangs and lunged in to bite.

In the air, a flock of Raptors also streaked down like arrows, locking onto their target.

Sato was stretched too thin and completely entangled by the monsters... He had no time to mind Oboro himself. Yet as he swung his weapons, blade flashes burst forth, cutting left and right.

As he moved through the attacks, the two smaller wolves first let out cries and vanished. Then he flipped onto the larger wolf's back and drove a blade tip into the alpha wolf's brain, killing it.

His movements were clean and decisive, without the slightest waste.

Then, a shadow descended from above.

A Raptor extended its sharp talons, clawing for Sato's crown.

Yet as the ninja dodged and landed... he flicked his arm, throwing several shuriken that accurately struck the Raptor's head and eyes. The monster immediately crashed to the ground, flapping its wings before quickly dissolving into a stream of data and disappearing...

At the very instant he attacked, before both of his feet had even touched the ground, Oboro seized the opportunity and shot out like a venomous snake lurking in the grass! His timing was perfect!

But... Sato seemed to have sensed it already. Blades appeared simultaneously on all four of his limbs... as though they were hidden mechanisms.

The two blades on his feet traced a semicircle, forcing back the close-range Oboro. Then... two hand blades shot straight at Oboro's face.

"His ability does not merely materialize the two blades in his hands, but all ninja tools! They have no physical substance and are composed entirely of Nen, capable of being emitted... Whether shuriken or other hidden weapons... they work on the same principle as Nen bullets. A ninja's combat methods are inherently diverse. His ability was developed on the premise of using anything a 'ninja' could use..."

Clap! Clap!

Oboro punched away the hidden weapons.

At that moment, a small arrow pierced through the back of his hand.

Looking up, he saw that Sato now had a small crossbow on his forearm.

All of Sato's ninja tools were fired in a state of Kakushi... and could be canceled or reappear at any moment. Their concealment was unbeatable! Even Oboro found them difficult to guard against! Having dispelled Oboro's intention to launch a sneak attack, Sato noticed more monsters emerging from the black hole. One was an enormous frog covered in mushrooms... just like a Magical Beast. Without a second thought, he turned and ran... There were still raptors overhead. He could block one sneak attack from Oboro, but he could not guarantee success every time!

He could not let these monsters tie him down and give Oboro another opportunity...

He would deal with these "game products" first.

"Running away? Your boss... is still here. Aren't you afraid I'll kill him?"

The moment Sato moved, Oboro's laughter suddenly rang out.

It brought him to an abrupt halt.

"That guy beside him alone can't stop me!"

Oboro threatened him again.

Sato's eyes flickered. Distracted by Oboro's interruption, the remaining Raptors had already dived down above him.

The Gromp also instantly shot out its cannonball-like tongue, striking at the figure among the birds.

The pressure on Sato multiplied... He still escaped using his nimble footwork, but he did not dare go too far. He only needed to maintain enough distance to reach Brown in time if something happened.

"Did he figure it out..."

Sato's actions appeared to be meant to guard against him, but Oboro felt something was wrong.

This man... had noticed the "restriction" of his Nen ability! Sato had followed the Ten Dons and stood at the pinnacle of underground Nen users. The number of Nen users he had fought and killed far exceeded Oboro's. He possessed no weak understanding, insight, or analytical ability when it came to all kinds of Nen abilities.

In battles between Nen users, analyzing each other's abilities was an extremely important benchmark! So that's it... range!

A moment later, Sato leaped onto the dome of a palace, several hundred meters away from Oboro. The frog that had been pursuing him, along with the two remaining Raptors, suddenly turned back along their original paths and stopped attacking.

Sato understood at once, silently confirming that his judgment had been correct.

Every Nen ability had activation conditions and restrictions. That was the principle... The simpler the ability, the fewer its conditions and restrictions, perhaps even to the point of being negligible. This changed according to how an individual designed their ability.

The most direct example was a certain requirement for aura volume, as was the case with many Enhancement types... Or there could be delays in attacking, charging time, and so on. For someone like him, in order to materialize and emit ninja tools, he had to equip small, simple mechanisms and gear around his body that were easy to conceal. The devices in his sword hilts, inside his sleeves, and at the tips of his shoes were all "conditions" for releasing his Nen ability. He could not materialize ninja tools directly without using anything at all.

The stronger the ability, the harsher its conditions and restrictions.

He could tell that Oboro's Nen ability was very complex and demanded an astonishing amount of aura! At that level, no matter how much he reduced the two factors of conditions and restrictions, it was impossible to erase them completely... because no Nen ability existed that had no drawbacks and only benefits! Even if Oboro had developed his ability from birth and spent a long time using the principle of equivalent exchange to lessen and reduce its "shortcomings," they would still exist!

Oboro had not fought him immediately. Instead, he had run back to the plaza before opening that black hole, then verbally threatened him to keep him from fleeing and widen the distance... Using Brown, one of the Ten Dons, as bait to mislead his thinking. His true purpose... was his ability!

"That transportation passage... once opened, its location becomes fixed!"

Sato murmured.

His tone was certain.

"The attacks of these monsters are almost guaranteed to hit, but if you are strong enough, you can evade them... Furthermore... they have a certain attack range. Once you move beyond that range, they stop..."

"No wonder... he wanted to kill Monte from the start. As a sniper, Monte's ability was very troublesome for him!"