As the Ball Control attribute hit 90, the number on Renzo's personal panel flashed a vibrant orange. According to the system's grading, he had moved past "Professional" and into the realm of "Exquisite Excellence."
He felt the change instantly. It wasn't just a number; a cool, rhythmic energy seemed to rewire his nervous system.
The next morning, Renzo sprinted to the training ground before dawn.
9.91 seconds.
His time for the 20-meter dribbling slalom—maneuvering through a forest of poles—had finally broken the 10-second barrier. He ran it again. 9.93s. Then 9.92s.
"Ren? You're practicing ball mastery this early?"
Mohamed Salah strolled onto the pitch, a playful grin on his face. In the current squad, Salah was the undisputed king of the slalom, usually clocking in around 10.9 seconds.
"Your passing is god-tier, kid, but in terms of 'stickiness,' you're still a bit off," Salah joked, taking the ball. "Watch a textbook demonstration. Time me."
Salah nimbly danced through the poles. 10.95 seconds. "Hiss! I'm in top form today! Come on, Ren, let's see if you can break 11 seconds this week."
Renzo smiled, lined up, and exploded. To Salah's frozen shock, Renzo didn't just look faster; the ball seemed to be an extension of his feet. There was no friction, no slight bobble at the turns.
9.90 seconds.
"The timer is broken," Salah stated flatly. "It has to be. Nobody improves by a full second in a week."
Renzo just patted Salah's shoulder, echoing the Egyptian's earlier tone. "Keep working hard, Mo. I believe you can be the second person in this team to break ten seconds!"
Three days later, the air in Ukraine was biting cold. Fiorentina had traveled to the Olympic National Sports Complex to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals.
Shakhtar was confident. They were Champions League regulars who had reached the quarter-finals just a year prior. Their coach, Werner, had been vocal in the press: "We will establish our advancement in the first leg. We want a victory by a large margin."
To the Ukrainians, Fiorentina was a wounded animal. They had just lost to Juventus in the Coppa Italia, snapping their legendary winning streak. Surely, the Italians' morale was in the dirt.
But as the teams lined up in the tunnel, the Shakhtar players felt a strange chill that had nothing to do with the Ukrainian weather. The Fiorentina players weren't looking down in defeat. Their faces were masks of suppressed, fiery anger.
From the first second of the match, Shakhtar Donetsk realized they had made a catastrophic miscalculation.
Fiorentina didn't retreat into a defensive shell. Instead, the moment Shakhtar kicked off, the "Viola" surged forward like a dark purple tidal wave.
High Pressing.
Mario Gomez, Salah, and Cuadrado hunted the Shakhtar defenders. Behind them, Renzo, Aquilani, and Badelj formed a second wall, cutting off every passing lane.
Coach Werner was stunned on the sidelines. This isn't in the scouting reports! Fiorentina doesn't play high-press!
High-pressing is a luxury tactic. It requires three things:
Infinite Stamina: Which Fiorentina's "Stamina Monsters" (Salah, Cuadrado, Badelj) had in spades.Tactical Discipline: Which Montella had drilled into them for months.A Lethal Core: Someone who can turn a turnover in a tight space into a goal instantly.
For Fiorentina, that third factor was Renzo Uzumaki.
In the 4th minute, Badelj and Salah trapped a Shakhtar midfielder in a pincer movement. Salah poked the ball to Renzo in the center.
The Shakhtar defense scrambled, but Renzo's new 90 Ball Control allowed him to kill the ball's momentum instantly and, in the same motion, thread a "sword-like" through ball between three defenders.
Mario Gomez timed his run to perfection. He didn't even have to break stride. Bang! A first-time volley into the bottom corner.
1-0 Fiorentina!
The stadium went silent. The Shakhtar fans hadn't even sat down yet, and their "Champions League level" defense had been torn to shreds in four minutes.
"Why are they so aggressive?" Werner muttered, pacing the touchline.
He didn't realize that Shakhtar was currently serving as a giant punching bag. The Fiorentina players were still fuming over the narrow loss to Juventus. They felt they had something to prove to the world—that they weren't just a "flash in the pan."
Shakhtar bore the brunt of that frustration. Every time a Ukrainian player touched the ball, two or three purple jerseys swarmed them. It was claustrophobic. It was suffocating.
In the 30th minute, the pressure told again. Another turnover, another lightning transition, and Mario Gomez tapped in his second goal after a mesmerizing dribble and lay-off from Renzo.
2-0!
The "fortress" of Donetsk was crumbling. The Ukrainians were dazed, looking at each other in confusion. They had expected a demoralized opponent; instead, they had encountered a team that played with the cold, calculated fury of a titan.
Renzo Uzumaki stood in the center circle, his orange "90" attribute translating into a performance that made the Europa League feel like a playground. The hunt wasn't just on—it was a slaughter.
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