After testing out the new Ninja on his way, Kakashi finally strolled into the shop.
To his surprise, he found Asuma and others there as well.
They were even drinking some cheap liquor Yuto had apparently scavenged from who-knows-where, but it seemed passable.
Seeing Asuma and Kurenai chatting casually, Kakashi guessed they were already slightly tipsy.
So he walked over and greeted them, "Yo, good morning, you two."
At this moment, Haku also came over to welcome him.
Asuma, whose date had just been interrupted, was initially annoyed, but when he saw it was Kakashi, his expression brightened.
"Yo Kakashi! You're finally here!"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Me? Were you waiting for me?"
He glanced at Kurenai sitting across from Asuma, his expression saying, 'Aren't you two here on a date? What does this have to do with me?'
Seeing this, Kurenai smiled slightly and said, "Asuma mentioned he just discovered a really strong character and wanted to challenge you."
Kakashi facepalmed, "It hasn't even been that long since the update. Did you practice during the Jonin Meeting or something?"
Asuma coughed lightly, "Well, I also want to improve my gaming skills to earn rewards that can boost my strength."
Since Kakashi was here to play the game anyway, he happily agreed.
As the number of players had grown, Yuto had long since introduced the [Add Friend] and [Friend Battle] features, so players no longer had to rely on luck to match up in ranked battles like Naruto and Sasuke had to months ago.
Back when there were fewer players, that might have worked, but now, with more and more people joining, that system clearly couldn't keep up.
On the Ninja selection screen, Kakashi couldn't help but ask, "By the way, what's this strong character you mentioned?"
Asuma grinned mischievously, "You'll find out soon enough. These two characters are incredibly strong! I feel like they're even better than Zabuza and Haku!"
Zabuza, Haku, and Kakashi were widely regarded as the strongest lineup among players during this period.
"Oh? But this update only added B-Rank and C-Rank Ninjas, right? Can they really replace A-Ranks?"
Although Yuto had buffed [Momochi Zabuza] to be stronger than his original version, the character's long recovery frames were still a significant drawback, especially for these Ninja players.
They tended to prefer lighter, faster characters, and Zabuza's design somewhat went against that.
But Haku?
Kakashi was puzzled. To be honest, he felt that Haku, a B-Rank character, was even better to use than Zabuza and himself, who are both A-Ranks!
Currently, Haku had the only long-range basic attacks, two versatile skills, a special basic attack that allowed her to create ice mirrors for movement, and most importantly... her ultimate could combo!
If it weren't for her being labeled a B-Rank, Kakashi would have thought she was an A-Rank!
'Stronger than Haku? What kind of character could that be?'
Kakashi, who had been a little excited after discovering Dosu's strength as a C-Rank, was now worried again.
He hadn't tried the other Ninjas yet, 'Could there really be some hidden gems among them, as Asuma claimed?'
With a mix of anticipation and anxiety, Kakashi was about to start the match when...
Zabuza, who had been sitting nearby playing the game, overheard the conversation and walked over.
He had heard Asuma's earlier tease.
Stronger than Zabuza and Haku...
But Zabuza and Haku were right there.
At this moment, the slightly tipsy Asuma suddenly realized the awkwardness of the situation.
But since they didn't really know each other, only recognizing each other by reputation, it was hard to explain.
Zabuza didn't press Asuma. Instead, he walked over to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, can I watch you play a match?"
Zabuza was trying his best to sound calm...
But with his appearance, his voice, and his infamous reputation across the Ninja World...
It was hard not to feel on edge.
At this time, Asuma felt a few beads of sweat form on his forehead and he instantly sobered up from his tipsy state.
Kurenai also tensed up, her hands coming together in preparation. If things took a turn for the worse, she would immediately use her Genjutsu.
From his time interacting with Zabuza over the past few days, Kakashi knew that Zabuza had no reason to attack them now.
But he also understood Asuma and Kurenai's nervousness. After all, as Ninjas, it was better to be cautious. Otherwise, you might not even know how you died.
"Alright... alright, sit here..."
Zabuza, noticing their wariness, shook his head, "I won't sit. Boss might ask me to move some things later."
Kakashi and Asuma both breathed a small sigh of relief. Although they were all of similar strength, it was precisely because of that they couldn't afford to underestimate Zabuza.
Zabuza's intentions were simple.
He simply didn't have enough Ninjas to even unlock the Jonin-rank.
And he didn't have many coins to spend on pulling Ninjas from the gacha...
He still didn't have A-Rank Zabuza and the B-Rank Haku.
That's right. As the actual person, he hadn't even used these two Ninjas yet.
Now, hearing that there were characters stronger than these two, it wasn't hard to connect the dots to the new characters Yuto had just released.
Although Zabuza really wanted to try them out, since he hadn't bought them, he couldn't.
As for what Asuma had said, Zabuza didn't mind. In fact, he wanted to see which Ninjas Asuma was talking about. If it really was that good, he could save up enough coins to buy it later!
Zabuza stood at a distance, keeping a relatively safe space between himself and Kakashi.
Kakashi's usual team setup consisted of Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku.
Now, Kakashi wanted to try out the new Ninja in this match, but he wasn't sure which one to replace.
Considering Zabuza was behind him, Kakashi decided to replace his own character, [Hatake Kakashi] with [Kinuta Dosu].
He placed Dosu in the second slot.
The first character remained Zabuza.
After finalizing the team, the loading screen appeared. Kakashi looked at Asuma's lineup and felt a bit uneasy.
[Ebisu, Yakushi Kabuto, Hatake Kakashi]
In Asuma's team, there were two Ninjas Kakashi wasn't familiar with.
He was somewhat familiar with Ebisu and Kabuto in real life, but he had no idea what their skills were like in the game.
Asuma said in surprise, "Oh, I didn't expect you to use a new Ninja too? I haven't tried that one yet, but I think it's a C-Rank, right?"
Kakashi nodded and quietly waited for the game to begin.