Free kills delivered on a silver platter—what could be better than that?
"Fine. Just you wait."
Kiba growled, still on the death screen with five seconds left before his respawn, his fury aimed straight at Hayashi Ren.
"Kiba, listen to me—Hayashi Ren isn't someone you can handle,"
Shikamaru quickly warned in the team chat.
"Tch. Don't worry, Shikamaru. I'll solo him,"
Kiba replied with a snort, completely brushing off the warning.
"Man… you're just too reckless,"
Shikamaru sighed.
Kiba didn't respond.
He knew—talking was pointless at this stage. The only way to shut everyone up was to solo kill Hayashi Ren. That would solve everything.
Shikamaru stopped trying, too.
He could already picture what would happen: Kiba charging back onto lane, only to get caught by Ren's Shadow Leaf Dance, then smacked with a Leaf Gale and a Leaf Hurricane, and topped off with a few extra kicks—his health bar instantly erased.
And sure enough, Hayashi Ren's voice rang through global chat:
"You challenged me, and now you expect me to wait for you? What kind of logic is that?"
He was already in the top jungle, punching the Red Buff in the face.
A Shadow Leaf Dance, followed by a Leaf Hurricane, then two kicks, and finally, a Smite—boom. Red Buff gone.
Kiba saw the message and nearly exploded, his teeth clenched so tightly it sounded like they might crack.
Through gritted teeth, he hissed:
"Fine. I'll be waiting for you. Top lane."
"No need to meet at top,"
Hayashi Ren replied indifferently.
"I'll see you near your Stone Beetle spawn."
He could hear the rage in Kiba's voice, but it didn't faze him in the slightest.
Why would it?
Mentally, Hayashi Ren was mature enough to be Kiba's father. He wouldn't get angry over something like this.
"This kid… he's different."
Deep in the shadowy, sunless depths of "Root", Danzo sat behind his desk, one eye narrowed in deep thought.
He had originally assumed Hayashi Ren was just another average brat—ordinary strength, ordinary looks. Nothing special.
But watching this match had completely changed his view.
Ren wasn't just strong—he was sharp, calm, composed, and above all… confident.
All traits of a natural-born elite.
A young man with those qualities could never be called ordinary.
"The Uchiha orphan… the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki's 'future boyfriend'... and now this—another with the qualities of a true powerhouse…"
"I'm starting to think that 'average' look of his is all an act."
Danzo's eyes opened fully for the first time, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk.
A glint of clarity pierced through his usually murky gaze, and the corners of his mouth curled into a crooked, sinister grin.
He turned toward the darkness outside his office and gave a cold command:
"Send two people to monitor Hayashi Ren. I want a full report on his every move."
"Understood."
A voice—cold as ice—answered back.
A gust of wind whooshed through the office a moment later, lifting the documents on Danzo's desk.
One of them fluttered open to reveal Hayashi Ren's profile photo.
Everything about him was recorded there.
Danzo calmly pressed the file back down onto the desk, then turned his attention to the MOBA battle interface. He was ready to observe the so-called "duel" between Ren and Kiba.
"Though honestly,"
he thought with a smirk,
"calling it a duel is generous. It's more like a one-sided slaughter."
Even if Danzo was the weakest of the Kage-tier shinobi, he wasn't blind. With Kiba's level of strength, there was no world in which he could stand a chance against Hayashi Ren.