Ren, in his guise of Tobi, preened under the wary looks the other ninjas threw at him. It was a part of his act, and in his humble opinion, he was starting to get somewhat good at acting childishly. It was unexpectedly a lot of fun, too.

He thought long and hard about this encounter against Orochimaru. At first, he wanted to appear as himself. That would have allowed him to use some heavy-duty, destructive seals to completely raze his ass into oblivion.

It would enable him not to hold back, as he couldn’t really use those in his guise of Tobi. The moment this Tobi persona started using Ren’s personal seals, everybody would start having suspicions.

And suspicions were a dangerous thing in the world of ninjas.

But as Tobi, Ren didn’t have the necessary firepower to give Orochimaru a finishing blow. The man was far too slippery and would no doubt run away.

Except… Underneath his mask, Ren’s eyes gleamed as he glanced at the purplish barrier that was subverted by his seals. He couldn’t help but smirk a bit from the pride that filled him in the moment. There would be no running for Orochimaru this day.

“Hi, guys! Howdy? I saw that you were having a lotsa fun over here, so I came to join you!” Ren exclaimed and waved his hand at them while the voice-changing seal on his neck made his voice sound perfectly boyish and high-pitched.

Orochimaru’s eyes were scanning Ren’s figure with diamond-hard focus. Especially the cloak with red clouds that seemed as if it was put together by a five-year-old.

“Akatsuki?” He asked with a frown, feeling a bit restless.

On one hand, the man in front of him looked and acted like an utter fool. For all Orochimaru knew, he could be an impostor. But then, why choose Akatsuki? It wasn’t as if Akatsuki was a well-known organisation. The only one who knew about their true face and strength here was he, and if this weird man wanted to strike a fear into him, he should have worked harder to make his outfit look more authentic.

On the other hand, it could be a diversion tactic aimed at lowering his guard. And that made it dangerous. He had no idea if this was for real or if some idiot with too much knowledge to be healthy for his continued existence was just playing around with things too dangerous for his limited comprehension.

“Oh~, Orochimaru-kun! You naughty, naughty boy. I didn’t see you there!” Ren feigned surprise, but his act was so fake that even Kimimaro sweatdropped as he tried to wipe away the whipped cream from his face.

To the side, Guren deadpanned while Hiruzen chuckled. Of course, both were also subtly preparing for the next confrontation.

Orochimaru, however, just ignored the act altogether and gave Ren a piercing, yet curious stare. “So, you have come for me.”

For now, he had decided to err on the side of caution and take this as if it were a genuine attack by Akastuki. He would no doubt know for sure in the following moments, but underestimating a possible ambush by S-rank ninjas just because the first visible clue looked like an idiot was not good.

“Eh? You are no fun. You could have at least pretended…” Ren said with a voice full of sullen pout while he also crossed his arms on his chest.

But seeing that Orochimaru had no reaction, Ren threw his hands in the air. “Moh! Fine! Konan-chan was very disappointed when you tried to do ‘Surprise, surprise!’ at Itachi-kun!” He huffed, and with the corner of his eye, he also glanced at Hiruzen.

This was a hint for him. Or rather, for Jiraiya. The old man was no doubt going to discuss this with the pervert. It was time for them to start paying some proper attention to Akatsuki, and this was Ren’s warning that the Akatsuki had a Rinnegan wielder.

Hopefully, Jiraiya would catch the subtle meaning.

“I don’t know why everybody makes such a big deal out of it, though.” Outwardly, Ren continued with his act and tilted his head while making sure the confusion in his voice was obvious to all. Then, his lips quirked up underneath his mask and with a very fake innocence, he declared, “It is not as if you managed to even scratch him!”

For the first time, Orochimaru reacted. Not much. He was still staring at Ren with stone-cold calculation and wariness. But his eyes narrowed.

Ren’s lips stretched into a small smile. There. That one hit the spot.

“Couldn’t you just apologize and make up? Oh, I know, I know! Why don’t you offer him a yummy roasted snake?” He brightened up and perked up as if he had gotten a great idea, but then he suddenly deflated and pretended to look around with confused body language. “Er… Orochimaru-kun? Where are your snakes? You look waaaay less impressive without them, ya know?”

Orochimaru didn’t react as Ren hoped. He simply raised his eyebrow at Ren, and a smile returned to his face. “I am going to kill you.” He casually said as if commenting on the weather.

Ren hummed, thinking that it was fair enough. Orochimaru was too experienced to react to subpar taunts like this. Why do it, then? Well, it was fun seeing the irritation on Orochimaru’s face.

… Not to mention that Hiruzen regained some of his strength and was raring to go again.

But that was definitely just a coincidence!

“Since the negotiation has failed,” Ren’s tone deepened and gained a more sinister tone as a puff of smoke appeared on his hand. “Then behold! My secret weapon!”

Everybody tensed at the sudden change in his tone, only to deadpan when the smoke dispersed and Ren snapped the weapon in his hands with a resounding ‘twang’.

“A belt?” Hiruzen asked, looking mightily amused while Orochimaru’s face was starting to get full of impatient disgust.

Ren was absolutely certain that the man would have attacked him by now if he weren’t so cautious about falling into a trap.

To be fair, a stupid-looking dude interrupts his fight and starts to act foolish in front of him, openly taunting him while fully knowing who he is? It totally looked like a trap. One that wasn’t even trying to be disguised.

“No! Its name is The Belt!” Ren proudly proclaimed, inwardly giddy, that even Hiruzen Sarutobi did not notice the hidden, invisible seals inscribed across the belt.

Orochimaru let out a long-suffering sigh.

And it was then that crystal spikes suddenly sprang from the ground underneath Ren, skewering him.

The reactions of the onlookers were varied. Hiruzen’s stomach sank as the only possible ally was now killed. Guren faintly smirked in victory. Kimimaro… Anyway, Orochimaru stayed wary.

Because he knew Akatsuki were freaks of nature.

His premonition came true as the skewered Ren suddenly raised his free hand under the disbelieving stares of the spectators and scratched the back of his head.

“That was rude, Crystal-chan.” He said in a disappointed tone and turned his head toward Guren before he casually started to walk forward, letting the crystal spikes pass through his body.

Hiruzen’s eyes widened in surprise while Orochimaru slightly pursed his lips, signifying that he had realized that Ren was going to pose a real threat. Ren had the impression that the snake Sannin didn’t like this situation one bit.

Guren was pale and sweaty. The bones in her shoulder were still broken, and she was in pain. But she fought on. And as Ren started walking toward her, she began to mold her chakra and throw one crystal release attack after another at him.

Crystal bullets passed through him.

He didn’t even bother side-stepping the following crystal spikes and leisurely walked through them.

In her desperation, Guren decided to go all out and tried fully encasing him in a crystal, but he just walked out of that, too.

Guren felt as if an invisible weight pressed on her, and she racked her mind, trying to figure out something that would work against him. She was too injured to fight in taijutsu. She could not hit him with ninjutsu. And she wasn’t good at genjutsu.

It was looking very bleak for her, and she started slightly hyperventilating as he got closer, straight through her attacks.

Suddenly, Ren stopped and looked to the side. Kimimaro leaped at him, slashing his sword and sprouting several bone spikes across his entire body… but he just passed through Ren, too.

Ren chuckled. “Bad boys get punished. Haa-cha!”

The belt in his hand whooshed through the air and smacked Kimimaro straight on his butt with a loud whack a moment after he passed through Ren.

Kimimaro let out a subconscious yowl, and his eyes widened in shock and pain as he hopped forward while his hands involuntarily covered his posterior.

He had experienced much violence under Orochimaru, but never, not once, was he smacked on the butt like a child. The pain and humiliation burned in him, surprisingly affecting even somebody as emotionless as him.

Ren inwardly snickered. That reaction told him his pain seals worked as intended. Most ninjas had an unreal amount of pain tolerance, and his belt wouldn’t be his secret weapon if it couldn’t dish out some painful humiliation even to these people.

Not to mention… With his mind, he subtly probed, and indeed. His design worked as intended. There was a small, hidden marking seal on Kimimaro’s posterior now.

One that would allow Ren to Kamui straight at it, even from half of the continent away. But that wasn’t all!

As Kimimaro was about to turn around and continue with his attack, his posterior suddenly exploded, sending him face-first into the tiles of the roof. Only the bone armor underneath his skin saved the boy from serious injuries, but nevertheless, he would be down for the count for a few moments.

Satisfied, Ren turned back toward Guren, continuing on her walk toward the injured kunoichi, not noticing how Orochimaru’s eyes narrowed in contemplation the second he attacked Kimimaro.

Guren whipped out a kunai, refusing to make it easy on her attacker as Ren approached her while playfully swinging the belt around his body. She tried to jump back and did manage it. Once. The intense pain that hit her as she landed made her outright kneel while gritting her teeth as she stared at Ren in stubborn defiance.

“Accept your funishment!” Ren suddenly shouted and disappeared from Guren’s sight. The air at the back of her neck stood in alarm, and she realized he was behind her!

The belt whooshed through the air.

She tried to turn around. The belt hit her on the ass. Pain flared through her. The fear of having her butt exploded filled her mind.

And the next thing she knew, Orochimaru’s crystal sword was piercing the masked ninja straight through his chest. And there was blood!

Guren was abruptly filled with immense relief.

“Y-You figur- ugh.” Ren gurgled.

“Heh. I told you I would kill you.” Orochimaru gloated with deep satisfaction as he brutally twisted his sword, shredding the heart it was piercing.

Only to be smacked away when his skull caved in upon Hiruzen’s staff smashing into the side of his head.

The battlefield froze for a moment… and then Ren puffed into smoke.

“A shadow clone?” Hiruzen muttered with a wary wonder as Orochimaru proved his freakishness when the new him crawled from the mouth of his injured body, shedding it like skin.

Snarling, Orochimaru glared at Hiruzen, but he suddenly tensed as Ren’s cheery voice sounded from behind him.

“Heeh~, you didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep