Nen Techniques: Beginner to Advanced

Beginner Techniques of Nen:

Once a person has opened their Aura Nodes, they must learn to keep their aura from leaking away from their body. Ten (纏, Envelop; Shroud) is the process of keeping the nodes open, but also having aura flow through and around the body rather than away from it. Once maintained, it creates a shroud around the user that feels similar to standing in lukewarm, viscous fluid. Ten maintains youthful vigor and reduces one's aging, since the energy powering the body no longer leaks away; one can keep the body from breaking down and deter the aging process. Ten is the most basic defense against emotional Nen attacks, and it also offers limited protection against physical attacks, but hardly any when said attacks are enhanced with aura. Through frequent meditation and practice, one can improve the quality of their Ten and even maintain it in their sleep. Once it has been learned, it will never be forgotten, much like cycling and swimming. Despite being the most elementary technique of all, Ten is also one of the most important, since, together with Ren, it plays an instrumental role in determining the strength and smoothness of a Nen user's aura flow.

While Ten allows a user to keep aura from leaking away from their body, Zetsu (絶, Suppress; Null) stops the flow of aura from their body altogether. By closing all of their Aura Nodes, the user is able to halt all outflow of their aura like water from a valve, making their presence much harder or even impossible to sense. Shutting off the nodes in their eyes prevents the user from being able to see aura, but, since they are no longer surrounded by their own aura, they become more sensitive to the aura of others. The enhancement in perception is such that Zetsu can counter In, although it is not advised to employ it this way. This technique is thus doubly useful when tracking another person, as not only it will make it easier to follow them, it will also prevent other users of Nen from noticing their pursuer. However, there are other ways to perceive a person hiding with Zetsu: aside from the five senses being effective, particularly perceptive individuals are capable of detecting the gaze of another person, although they might not manage to discern the position and number of onlookers. Furthermore, if Zetsu is utilized within a certain range from a Nen user, that Nen user might notice their presence disappearing, especially if the Zetsu user's aura is powerful. Despite the technique not affecting vision directly, activating Zetsu in front of someone else will give them the impression the user has turned transparent.

Zetsu can also be used to relieve fatigue, since it forces the body's external layer of aura to be fully contained within. However, for the same reason it can be dangerous due to it leaving the body defenseless against any aura attack. Even a weak attack enhanced with Nen could do massive damage. Since even the thin protection offered by Ten is gone, a Zetsu user is particularly susceptible also to hostile emotional attacks, resulting in their mind becoming as vulnerable as their body.

Ren (練, Refine; Enhance) focuses on outputting a larger amount of aura than Ten, projecting it outwards explosively. This amplifies the user's physical strength and durability and provides a large pool of aura for any advanced techniques or individual skills they decide to use, albeit at the cost of expending said aura. One can train their Ren to extend its duration and increase the amount of aura at their disposal. It is said it takes one month to prolong one's Ren outside of combat by 10 minutes. If Ten is considered purely defensive, Ren can be regarded as its offensive counterpart, although it also grants the user vastly enhanced defensive abilities. With the right timing, Ten can be used to contain the aura produced with Ren.

By tingeing one's Ren with hostility, a Nen user can exert what is colloquially referred to as "bloodlust". A prolonged emission of malicious Ren can induce uncontrollable dread in those who cannot use Nen, paralysis and, if contrasted without Ten, even death. On the other hand, a neutral Ren can rarely be felt by non-users. Since Ren is a show of power, it can also intimidate other Nen users, as it offers an approximate measure of the user's raw strength; in fact, by "show me your Ren", Hunters generally mean they want to see the fruits of one's training, such as a Hatsu ability, rather than their Ren per se. In most cases, Ren reflects the user's hostility without their control, and it can even leave faint traces in the environment after the Nen user has left the scene.

Hatsu (発, Release; Act) is one's personal expression of Nen. Its qualities are influenced by but not restricted to the Nen user's natural Nen category, one of the six available, which is decided by nature and nurture. Hatsu is used to project one's aura to carry out a certain function, creating a special and unique paranormal ability that is colloquially called "Nen ability", "Hatsu ability", or simply "Hatsu".

At first, Hatsu appears simply as a consequence of using Ren during Water Divination; however, it is more than a mere property of the latter, and it can be trained individually either through Water Divination itself, which however seems to only affect the user's natural category, or by honing one's skills in a Nen category via specific exercises. Once a certain level of skill has been attained, the student can attempt to create their personal Nen ability. Since they can have an immensely vast range of effects, Hatsu abilities may be recognized as any manifestation of one's Nen that cannot be ascribed to one of the basic or advanced techniques, although there are instances of Nen abilities being essentially applications of Ko (an advanced Nen technique which however makes use of Hatsu) with special conditions or restrictions. A good Hatsu ability reflects a person's own character, regardless of its complexity; one can never truly master Nen if they only copy someone else's abilities.

Advanced Techniques of Nen:

Gyo (凝, Focus) is an advanced application of Ren by which a Nen user concentrates a larger than normal portion of their aura into one specific body part. It increases the strength of that one body part, but leaves the rest of the body more vulnerable.

In (隱, Conceal) is an advanced form of Zetsu used to render one's aura imperceptible, effectively concealing it. Unlike Zetsu, however, In does not stop the user's aura flow; instead, it hides it, making it impossible to perceive with any of the five senses or extrasensory perception.

En (圓, Circle) is an advanced application of Ten and Ren. In Ren, aura usually envelops only a small amount of space around the user's body. En is when one extends their Ren so that their aura extends further than normal, then uses Ten at the same time to contain and give shape to that aura, normally a sphere. The minimum requirement is to extend one's aura to a radius of more than 2 meters and hold it longer than 1 minute. Someone using En can feel the shape and movement of anything within the area covered by their aura, with the degree of awareness and finesse depending on their level of skill.

Shu (周, Enfold) is an advanced application of Ten. Shu allows a user of Nen to enshroud an object with their aura, allowing them to use that object as an extension of their own body.

Ko (硬, Temper) is a combination of Ten, Zetsu, Hatsu, Ren, and Gyo in which all of the user's aura is concentrated into one particular body part. Gyo is utilized to focus aura on a part of the body, while Ten is used to prevent it from dispersing. Zetsu is used to completely stop the flow of Nen in all other parts of the body, increasing the output in the desired area. With Ren, the amount of aura is increased even further. This makes that one body part extremely powerful, but at the cost of leaving the rest of the user's body completely unprotected. Due to the risk it carries, Ko is regarded as a purely offensive technique.

Ken (堅, Fortify) is the advanced version of the basic Ren and Ten techniques. It is a primarily defensive technique where a Nen user maintains a state of Ren for a prolonged amount of time. The amount of aura surrounding the user's body during Ken is about 10 times higher than during Ten. Ken allows a Nen user to guard against attacks from any direction, but the large amount of aura produced makes it tiring to maintain.

Ryu (流, Flow) is the term for use of Gyo from a state of Ken to perform real-time offensive and defensive value adjustments. If Ko devolves 100% of one's aura to offense or, much more rarely, to defense, and Ken splits it evenly between the two, Ryu is redistributing one's aura according to any other percentage.