Ren’s belt swished through the air toward Orochimaru, but unfortunately, the Snake Sannin managed to twist his body and evade the strike as he leaped away with some inhumanly flexible movements.

Silently clicking his tongue, Ren glanced at Guren. ‘Oh, well. You win some and you lose some.’ He decided, as he activated the seal put on her back, that his clone put on her with his belt.

A quick explosion rang out through the rooftop, followed by a pain-filled female screech as flesh, blood, and pieces of bone covered the ground underneath Guren before she collapsed.

The seal was on her lower back, and as the smoke from the explosion dissipated, it became clear that Guren’s spine in that area was irreparably shattered, with her flesh torn to shreds. The big, bloody hole on her lower back made seeing it easy. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have Kimimaro’s bone armor underneath her skin, so it was properly deadly.

Ren inwardly grimaced a bit at the sight. He didn’t really mind the violence anymore. He was born in the Narutoverse. It was what it was. He got used to it. But killing this gruesomely still made him a bit uneasy.

He recognized that it was irrational. But he couldn’t help it.

It was a pity that Guren had to die like this. The woman was pretty enough, and more importantly, she was the only one in existence to have a crystal release. Her death was a massive waste. But killing Orochimaru was more important to Ren, and she stood in his way.

He turned away from the dying woman on the rooftop in front of him and looked at Orochimaru, who watched him with furrowed eyebrows as if he were trying to solve a puzzle. He didn’t spare Guren even a single glance.

“So, this was a trap all along.” Orochimaru suddenly spoke, “I should have aborted the invasion the second I encountered you in the Forest.”

Ren blinked, surprised at the unexpected banter. “Why didn’t you?”

“I thought you were just some foolish bounty hunter pretending to be Akatsuki.”

Ren’s lips quirked up under his mask. It was obvious that Orochimaru still wasn’t sure what to think, and it was getting to him. He probably hoped Ren would clarify or talk and let something slip.

He recognized this for what it was. Some people just loved to monologue when they realized they had their target cornered. Orochimaru was probably hoping Ren would be like that. And to be fair, with all the theatrics and taunting, it was not a baseless assumption.

“Yeah, well-” Ren rolled his shoulders as Hiruzen nonchalantly walked next to him before facing Orochimaru with a disarming smile. They exchanged a short glance before they burst into a flurry of movement, rushing at Orochimaru together.

As he swung his belt, hoping to hit Orochimaru and put a seal on him, Ren lamented the fact that the barrier around them also went underground, so he couldn’t use his favorite Hiding Like a Mole technique.

Alas…

Knowing the danger of Ren’s belt by now, Orochimaru showcased his flexibility and agility by cleanly evading every single swing while also dancing around Hiruzen’s staff moves with a familiar ease. The man was completely on the back foot, too busy dodging melee strikes to even use a ninjutsu, and yet, his combat ability was never in question.

“Hiya!” Ren exclaimed as he stepped forth and sent his belt careening through the air. Orochimaru, as always, dodged, but Ren was far from deterred!

“Huyiaaa!”

“Hayia!”

“Hach-a~!”

“Huuu-chaaaa!”

Having had enough after a few minutes of that, Hiruzen stopped his onslaught and took a step back before asking in a veiled, fed-up tone. “… Are the noises really necessary?”

“Hwa-chia! Yes!” Ren confidently declared, “It’s setting up the atmosphere!”

Plus, it was annoying the heck out of Orochimaru, judging by the slight twitch in his left eye.

Hiruzen gave Ren a doubtful look as he casually sidestepped a lunge from Kimimaro, who had already activated the final stage of his Cursed Seal. Honestly, the boner kid was kinda ignored at this point despite that.

Hiruzen backhanded Kimimaro away like an unwanted stepchild so fast that the bone spikes sprouting out of his cheek were not fast enough to inflict any damage on Hiruzen’s hand. Then, he gave Ren a look. But Ren simply shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it, old man.” He ruefully shook his head as a wind blade passed through his body. “You are too old to understand!”

Hiruzen’s lips twitched as he hopped to the side, evading several deadly earth bullets whooshing through his previous position. Sighing, he tapped his foot on the ground, and Orochimaru had to lean back as an earth spike rose from under his feet, almost skewering him.

Kimimaro decided to lunge at Ren next, and once again, he only passed through him. Ren turned around and grabbed him by the back of his collar, intending to throw him at Orochimaru. Jagged bones shot out of Kimimaro’s neck, almost skewering Ren’s hand.

He managed to let go in time, and the bones just passed through him as a satisfied glint appeared in his eyes. Kimimaro turned around, and for a moment, his determined and unshakable gaze met Ren’s.

Ren smiled. “Vrooom?”

The slightest furrow of Kimimaro’s eyebrows was all the indication of the boy’s confusion, but it was gone almost as fast as it appeared. The Kaguya boy was intent on continuing the fight and making a nuisance out of himself.

Only… the space suddenly swirled on the small seal on the back of his collar. The disturbance rapidly expanded, and Ren could see panic in Kimimaro’s eyes.

“Bye-bye.” Ren waved at him before he snapped the portal shut with Kimimaro’s head in the way.

Blood spurted up from the now headless body of the boy. It looked confused for a few moments before the realization that it was dead struck, and the body fell to the ground, forming a puddle of blood underneath it.

Ren remembered the Dance of… Well, he forgot its unimportant name, but it was the last hurray attack Kimimaro had used against Gaara. The one where he could create a forest of bones.

He didn’t want that to happen. So, Kimimaro had to go before he could start cosplaying as the Impaler.

Turning toward Hiruzen and Orochimaru’s fight, Ren’s fingers twitched. He could have ended it right here. Just one ambush attack from behind.

Maybe it wouldn’t work, maybe it would. But in the end, Ren calmed himself. Not yet. He still needed to accomplish one thing during this fight.

Running at Orochimaru again, straight through a massive wave of pressurized air that would have torn a lesser man to shreds, Ren cheerfully exclaimed, “Orochimaru-kun! You are almost as big of a cockroach as Kakuzu-kun and Hidan-kun!” He loudly yelled as he swung his belt at the irritated Snake Sannin.

The fight continued, and as time passed, Orochimaru’s fighting style started becoming more desperate. The efficient precision strikes aimed to take out the opponent with the least amount of chakra and effort started becoming more destructive until they ceased altogether. Orochimaru threw caution to the wind and started throwing around massive, devastating ninjutsu in hopes it would cause some damage to his opponents.

Shockwaves, waves of pressurized air, a freaking firestorm, earth spikes rising across the entire rooftop, and even what looked like an entire river was dropped onto them.

But it was when Orochimaru used a small application of fire chakra, and with a deafening sound, the place where he and Hiruzen stood violently exploded.

Ren just passed through it, but Hiruzen took all these attacks like a champ, blocking every single one of them. Even if he was starting to look tired.

Smirking under his mask, Ren looked at Orochimaru, who tried to hide his labored breath. “That was so cool!” He childishly exclaimed and hopped up and down. “Deidara-kun always says that the Art is an Explosion! Ne, ne, Orochimaru-kun! Do you also believe that? Sasori-kun always said it was bullshit! What do you think? Can you throw another explosion like that? Please? Pretty please?”

With each sentence, Orochimaru looked more and more as if he wanted to strangle Ren. His exhaustion was starting to show, and seeing Ren’s exuberant behavior was definitely not helping Orochimaru’s mental state.

‘There. That should do it.’ Ren inwardly hummed. Sharing the names of the four Akatsuki members was very important. Sure, Konoha had Itachi, which was why he didn’t bother mentioning him or Kisame, but one never knew. This was to make sure that Konoha would know exactly who to prepare for.

These names probably didn’t mean much to Hiruzen right now, but Ren was going to change that by the end of the day.

Hiruzen also noticed Orochimaru’s falter in composure and didn’t hesitate to attack. His staff flew toward Orochimaru’s shoulder, but Hiruzen miscalculated.

Orochimaru let the staff smash against his shoulder. But because Hiruzen only had one arm left, the strike was not as devastating as against Guren. It still broke Orochimaru’s bones, but the injury was manageable.

He instantly used his sword in his other hand to stab at Hiruzen. The old man managed to twist at the last moment, but the blade of the crystal sword still bit into his side.

The two men glared at each other with stubborn determination to end the other…

Except, Hiruzen’s eyes suddenly widened as Ren used his exhausted and wounded state to force a substitution on him and appeared right in front of Orochimaru when he least expected it.

“This. Is. Sparta!” Ren giddily shouted and kicked Orochimaru in the abdomen.

He had always wanted to do that!

Orochimaru’s body was sent back, straight into the purple barrier behind him. He had been vaporized before he could have let even a single whimper.

Surprise Kawarimi for the win! Praise the Log!

‘Worship the morning wood.’ Ren added in his mind with a grin as he carefully scanned the surroundings for any sign of Orochimaru’s survival.

The man was way too fond of using mud clones to trust seeing his body vaporized. But it seemed Ren was in luck because he had not found anything out of the ordinary within the barrier.

It seemed Orochimaru was really dead.

Well, as much as some Voldemort-wannabe could be dead. Ren was still suspecting that the man could pop up out of nowhere in the future, making his day highly unpleasant.

But he hoped killing him once would be enough.

“And so ends my traitorous student.” Hiruzen approached with a weary sigh. And as nonchalant as he looked, Ren did notice that he was on guard against him. “I must thank you, Sherif Tobi.”

Ren chuckled and beamed at him. “Man~! You are so nice!”

“Thank you.” Hiruzen gave him his trademark grandfatherly smile, and Ren was a hundred percent certain some sort of recruitment speech was going to follow.

Well, he didn’t have the time for that, and he still needed to make Hiruzen pay more attention to Akatsuki. ‘Here we go!’ He cackled in his mind as he gave Hiruzen a nod.

“I almost regret that my brother from another mother killed your wife and then released the Kyubi! Hehehe.” Ren blurted out like a child, pretending not to notice how Hiruzen froze.

Gasping as if he just realized he said something bad, he instantly exclaimed, “But it was an accident! I swear! I am not lying!” He waved his hands around.

“What?” Hiruzen reeled back and quietly whispered with a tone cold as an arctic winter.

“If it makes you feel better, he is adopted.” Ren said in a placating tone before he pretended to look at his nonexistent watch. “Uh, oh. Look at the time! I gotta go. Bye!”

With that, he disappeared in a swirl of space before the stupefied Hiruzen could react.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep