Chapter 3: Hatsu

After training for over a month, Soren had finally been able to sustain his Ren for over an hour, but this was still lacking in his opinion, as he wanted to be able to hold out for at least 3 days before his Ren would weaken, but taking the next step was more important right now, as it was time to create his Hatsu.

'How do I do that though?... Do I visualize what I want my Nen to do, similar to how I trained to awaken my Nen?': soren

Soren then began visualizing different kinds of things, but what came to his mind first, is multiplying his power by his base, and that became the foundation for his Hatsu.

'Power multiplication is indeed broken, so I will need something that will act as the key for unlocking this power boost… In the Anime, there was a member of the Troupe who also could multiply his power based on how many times he rotated his arm, but that just seems stupid… Wait, Naruto had power boosts relevant to how many tails appeared while cloaked in his 9-Tailed chakra cloak, so maybe I can set the multiplier based on how many Nen tails appear': soren

Soren then began visualizing the massive Kyuubi from Naruto, as he surrounded himself with Ten before using Ren to slowly increase his power, while behind him stood a massive 9-tailed fox spirit that exuded an overwhelming force of Nen aura as it seemed to want to swallow Soren whole, as he had yet to make proper rules.

'I can't get the most out of this without rules to abide by, otherwise I will be swallowed whole by the world for breaking the balance… I want a total of 9 restrictions that I can unlock for a power multiplying boost, but I understand that I can't withstand the power, so I must train to obtain it': soren

Soren spoke in his mind as he began staring at the gigantic fox that looked down at him waiting for the right moment to swallow him whole, but as Soren made more balanced rules, the fox began to calm down as it waited for any added properties as Soren continued by adding consequences based on opening the limiters without the proper training, and upon seeing that everything was in a reasonable balance, the fox took a more docile approach, waiting for the birth of its creation.

'And finally, I want control over the 5 elements, transmuting Nen into fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning… But when using the final limiter, I want it so these 5 elements combine to make chaos orbs that can be manipulated into different shapes and forms… Is all of this reasonable?': soren

Soren spoke in a questioning tone, as the entire time he was creating his Hatsu ability, he was conversing with the 9-tailed fox who was the medium between him and the will of the world that gives the power of Nen to its creatures. The fox itself seemed to be contemplating, and after a long pause, the fox bowed its head towards Soren, as Soren himself motioned to reach out and touch the foxes head as a sign of acceptance, and just as Soren touched the head of the fox, the fox turned into red and orange flames that began to engulf Soren as he felt a strong connection with the world, but at the cost of damaging his body.

'Young child, you wish to have such a power, but there is a test to achieve it, as this power walks the border of balance… Survive this test and this power shall be yours… Die, and this power will never be allowed to resurface ever again… Good luck, child of fate': ???

Soren heard a voice inside his head, but due to the pain he was feeling now, he couldn't fully understand what it was saying other than this is a test to see if he was worthy of such power. Soren felt like he was being burned to ash, but this was incorrect, as these flames were directly affecting his aura nodes as his body had no damage at all, but after a few minutes, the pain began to disappear as Soren felt his body being reinvigorated.

'Did I pass?... I'm not dead, so I guess I passed': soren

Soren looked down at his hands as he called forth his Ten, only to be shrouded in a vial of bubbly red aura, and looking behind himself, he noticed that there were no tails, but he had a feeling that he had access to 9 limiters that he could break at any given moment.

'This is strange… My Nen feels like it has been boosted to at least 2 fold what it was previously, and my body no longer aches from the pain of being burned': soren

Soren was confused, wondering if he had also gained a healing factor like Naruto had when the Kyuubi cloak was active, but after using his switchblade to make a small cut across his palm, Soren was able to quickly tell that he didn't have a healing factor, as the cut was still present even after 10 minutes.

'Well that was pointless… But I do feel that something has changed within me… Almost as if all that pain had made me stronger… I felt it once before after healing up from the beating I received from those 5 drunks, but I didn't think about it too much back then': soren

Soren didn't keep his thoughts on this for long, as he quickly wrapped up his palm before releasing his Ten, leaving the room and heading into the receiving area where he saw both Chrollo and Nobunaga talking with another boy right around the same age as him, wearing simple black worn out clothes with a mask made of bandage wrappings as his dirty black hair was covering the top half of his face, and upon walking in to introduce himself, Soren quickly watched as the boy disappeared and reappeared behind him with a knife rested against his neck.

"Feitan!... Relax, that's Soren!': chrollo

"Yeah, yeah!... He's one of us, don't do anything drastic!": nobunaga

Both Chrollo and Nobunaga quickly began explaining who Soren was, while Feitan quickly released Soren after assessing that there was no longer a threat, while Soren himself only thought that this was his ticket to learning better assassin techniques.

"I'm sorry I attacked you… I noticed you using shadow step and thought you were someone sent by the organization to retrieve me": feitan

"It's fine… But what is this organization you were talking about?": soren

Soren was quite curious as to what Feitan's background was, and he was quite lucky that Feitan was willing to explain.

"My name is Feitan Portor, I used to work for an organization known as Eclipse… It was an organization who focused on training mindless assassins from a very young age… They normally focus on recruiting children at the age of 10 or younger, and they recruit from Meteor City because of how desolate this place is… I was taken in at the age of 5, and have been trained in countless assassination methods, and by the age of 8 I had become the most skilled youth they had, but I never wanted to kill, I was forced to kill, and when I had turned 10, I broke free from their hold and have been on the run since then… That was about 4 months ago, and when I saw your friends today, I thought they had finally caught up to me, but fighting them, I knew they weren't from the organization, so I came with them to talk and here we are'': feitan

"That sounds rough, but as I'm sure Chrollo has told you, we are looking for skilled members to join our crusade so to speak, and if you join us, we can get revenge on that organization and make sure they never do business again": soren

"Yes, he did say the same thing… I will join you guys": feitan

When Chrollo saw that they now had a new member, he was getting excited to see his plan coming to fruition, as now there were a total of 4 members to their group. For the next 2 months, Soren would be training with Feitan to learn all the different assassination techniques, as he planed to be a speed and strength type attacker with the occasional elemental attacks to keep enemies dancing in the palm of his hand.

"Alright, today we will be starting weighted training… I want you to move all of this junk over there": feitan

Feitan pointed to a gigantic pile of scrap and junk where the lightest thing in the pile was at least 50 kg, and even though Soren could easily do it with the use of Nen, he wanted to strengthen his physique so he could use open more limiters when fighting, so for the next 3 months, Soren spent his days moving junk from one spot to the other. After 1 and a half months, Soren was able to casually toss pieces of junk that weighed around 100 kg with one hand, a month after that, Soren was able to lift 400 kg with one had as easily as picking up a can of juice, and after the 3 month mark, Soren was able to move 1,000 kg quite easily using his entire body, though he was still far from being able to open the testing gate of Kukuroo mountain with just brute strength.

"Hey, Soren… Come say hello to the new member": chrollo

Over the last 3 months, Chrollo had progressed by leaps and bounds in his Nen training, he was now working on awakening the other members, and when he came to Soren one night, he was shocked to find out that Soren had already awakened his aura nodes, and Soren's excuse was that he one day woke up leaking a mist like substance and it scared him because he felt weak as it leaked out, but it became controlled when he wished and tried to will it to stop leaking. Chrollo accepted this and began training Soren to use the further stages, and Soren only accepted as he tried to make himself look like a total beginner, and today was the day a new member would be added to the group.

"Alright… It better be a girl, or I'll start questioning your taste in the opposite sex": soren

Although Soren was physically 11 years old, but mentally he was 19 years old, as when he woke up in this body, it was already that of a 10 year old, and he had died at the age of 18 in his last life, so in this life he had a more mature outlook on things.

"Hahaha… Don't worry, I think you will like the person who is joining us": chrollo

Soren was then led by Chrollo back to the hideout as they walked through the front door and noticed both Nobunaga and Feitan accompanied by a new face, a pink haired girl around the age of 10 or 11, she wore a dirty set of clothes that made her look like a kunoichi, and her cold expression would make most men who looked at her keep their distance.

"Soren, this is Machi Komacine": chrollo

Soren looked at the cold face of the pink haired beauty as he sent a bright smile her way hoping to melt the ice cold heart of the deadly beauty as he introduced himself.

"My name's Soren Nightheart… It's nice to meet you, Machi-chan": soren

Soren added chan to the end of her name in hopes of getting a blush out of her, but instead he received a thin needle thrown towards his left eye that Soren caught quite easily due to using his Ten to detect attacks that are directed towards him, it was a small scale version of En and it only expanded 30 cm in every direction.

"Hey, that wasn't very nice… I would have gone blind if that hit me!... Chrollo, I thought you said I would like this one?": soren

Chrollo just laughed it off as he spoke.

"Yeah, she is a girl, just like you wanted": chrollo

Machi's expression still had no real change to it, as she kept her cold appearance, but deep down she was feeling a bit embarrassed, as Soren wasn't bad looking, and the way he addressed her was quite cute, but her impulsive action was to attack and she felt bad for attacking him, bust she was glad he caught the needle.

"Alright, enough of the games… Everyone has been practicing Nen for around 2 months now, and everyone's Ten looks excellent! I think tonight should be the night that we make our first move against the powers of Meteor City": chrollo

"Nen?": machi

Machi was quite confused, as she had never heard of Nen before, but Chrollo was the first to speak up.

"Nen is what every living being uses to sustain their lives, but those who know of it and practice its use will gain power beyond imagination but right now we are only at the stage that enhances our strengths": chrollo

"I see… Could I learn this as well?": machi

"That's the plan, but it will have to be done tomorrow, as tonight we will be going on our first real mission while you stay here": chrollo

Machi didn't like the idea of being locked away like a doll, but she didn't know how dangerous the mission would be, that they needed to be proficient in something that sounded like magic to be able to complete the mission.

"I understand… I will wait here then": machi

Chrollo then gave everyone a time to be ready as they all went to their rooms to prepare for the night, as they mostly dressed in dark colored clothes to blend with the night.

'Looks like we will become famous tonight if we can pull this off… Tonight we will be robbing the Meteor City auction house': soren

After the sun had set, Chrollo, Soren, Nobunaga, and Feitan had gathered atop one of the roof of the building that sat adjacent that of the auction house, and after counting all the rich folk who entered and seeing that there would be no more present, the group descended the building through the stairwell and made their way into the auction house with a bunch of chains and locks to lock the doors.

"Is the escape route prepared?": soren

"Yeah, it's ready whenever we get finished here": nobunaga

"Then let's get started… We will make ourselves known tonight": chrollo

All of the doors were locked tight as the group made their way onto the stage after knocking out the staff who were women taken as slaves from the abandoned district and forced to do all sorts of things. After taking everything of value from the storage room, Soren and the others walked on stage, shocking the guests as nobody from Chrollo's group wore the attire of the auction house, but it was clear what was about to happen next after hearing what Chrollo said.

"Hand over all of your valuables and you will receive a swift death… I'm a patient man, so I'll wait for your decision": chrollo

<[How will Soren's first heist go? Will there be any problems? Will there be any hesitation when it comes to killing the guests of the auction house? Find out next time, on The Strongest Hunter!!]>