Ren sneaked into the arena where the preliminary rounds for the last part of the Chunin Exams were going to take place and anchored himself on the roof while he watched the Hokage give his speech to the participants.

Funnily enough, the final number was the same as in canon. Ren could not really say if this was some kind of ‘fate’ or just a coincidence, and he decided not to bother thinking about it.

The Sound Team and Kabuto’s Team were dead, but in their stead, there were Karui and Omoi from Kumo, whose third teammate had to drop out because he got careless, fell into a trap, and ended up doubly disarmed in the forest.

Poor dude, masturbation was going to prove extremely hard without any arms. Oh, and his ninja life was also over, Ren guessed.

Then there were the three mooks from Amegakure that Gaara had bulldozed over in the canon. The umbrella and senbon using guys. One chunin called them Team Shigure, so that was probably their designation.

These three mooks seemed to be far luckier this time around and hadn’t met Gaara in the forest, somehow managing to bumble their way all the way to the Tower.

As for the other participants, it was the same as in canon. There were the Konoha Nine, Guy’s team, and the Sand siblings.

The Hokage’s speech ended soon enough, and the teams started to go up on the elevated balcony along the sides of the arena, where they claimed a bit of space for themselves and grouped up into their designated teams to watch the fights.

Only Ino and Hinata were exceptions as they did not join their Jonin Instructor and teammates, opting instead to stay together, taking a bit of space between where their teams stood for themselves.

Ren smiled in amusement when he saw how Ino was petulantly complaining at Hinata for something while his Hyuga girl was distractedly nodding along, half listening and half ignoring the blonde as they stood next to each other, leaning on the hand railing.

From his experience with his girls, it was obvious that Hinata was more focused on scouting the opposition, Ino’s complaints going in one ear and out the other. Not that Ino noticed just yet, too absorbed in her own world and grievances. But that was nothing unusual with the two of them.

Observing Hinata, Ren nodded in satisfaction. She was properly taking stock of her opponents. Unlike Ino, who finished first and had several days in the Tower to scout out the other teams, Hinata’s team only arrived yesterday evening alongside Team Seven.

He had heard what happened in the Forest. Inoichi Yamanaka paid him a brief visit this morning and informed him of the fact that Kumo tried to kidnap Hinata again.

Ren only found it hilarious. If they had targeted Neji, they might have had a chance for success, but with his meddling, they would need to send the Raikage or Killer B if they wanted to have a chance of success at capturing Hinata alive.

A few barely Jonin-level idiots would not cut it. From what Hinata relayed through the telepathy seal, these ‘Jonin’ were, in fact, experienced chunin at best. There was one, maybe two of them, that were skilled enough to earn the Jonin rank. But at the end of the day, they were nothing to write home about.

Then again, that was sensible. Kumo would not send their cream of the crop on what practically amounted to a suicide mission with high chances of causing a diplomatic incident that would have all ninja villages pissed at them.

No. They took six desperate idiots with no chance of promotion. Strong enough to have a chance to pull it off. Loyal enough that they would not betray the village. And most importantly, stupid enough not to ask questions. And then they most likely gave them a ‘chance’ to prove themselves.

They have given them the Jonin rank, made them Jonin Instructors, and off with them to Konoha, where they would need to do something small for their village to prove they deserved their new rank.

The idiots were actually excited to be of use to their village when they were on their way to Konoha. They only learned that Kumo’s higher-ups want them to kidnap an unsealed Hyuga after they arrived.

How did Ren know about that?

Well, Yamanaka are rumored to be capable of getting information even from decapitated heads of dead enemies. And Ino was an exceptionally peerless Yamanaka when it came to mind walking.

Hinata’s clone simply grabbed a head from a decapitated Kumo guy after she fired her Railgun, and then forwarded it to Ino, who got the information.

Of course, mind-walking the dead brains was much harder than living ones. A lot of information ended up unclear, and details were scarce. Ino mentioned something about the mindscape of dead people being fractured, which made the mind-walking dangerous and difficult. So, she mostly managed to get their reason for attacking Hinata out of them, but she did not bother taking the risk to get more information out of the head.

Ren agreed. If it was indeed risky, then it was not worth the effort. He didn’t need to know these things if the process endangered Ino.

Sneakily appearing behind his girls, Ren grinned as he heard their friendly bickering.

“Are you even listening to my complaints, Hinata?” Ino whined, making Hinata sigh in exasperation.

“What do you want me to tell you, Ino? I am sorry that your kinky side was shown to your teammates? Why did you even pack panties like that for the Chunin Exams?” She asked with a brief touch of sarcasm invading her tone as she rolled her eyes.

“I thought Ren would visit me in the Forest or in the Tower.” Ino sulkily muttered, discontentedly glaring into nowhere.

Both Hinata and Ren snorted at that.

Hearing his snort, Ino and Hinata froze for a second before they turned around, and their expressions lit up.

Ino beamed and loudly, without any shame, exclaimed, “Ren! I missed you!” before she glomped on him, affectionately rubbing her head against his shoulder.

Ren let out an awkward laugh as several eyes landed on him, but for the most part, he ignored the looks in favor of gently rubbing Ino’s head with his right hand.

“I missed you too.” He whispered to the girl, making her let out a delighted mewl in embarrassment as she buried her face into his shoulder, her arms tightening the hug.

“Can you be here?” Hinata asked with a hint of worry, her lips now stretched into a small, happy smile.

Ren gave her back a reassuring smile of his own, “Don’t worry. I got permission from the Hokage.” He invitingly stretched out his left arm, leaving open an easy access to the left side of his body that Ino deliberately left empty as she monopolized his right side. “Now, come here.”

Hinata did not need more prompting as her body softly impacted Ren’s.

“Mhmm.” Hinata released a contented noise with a flushed face as she melded into Ren’s left side. “Everybody can see us.” She embarrassedly whispered, but contrary to expectations, she did not pull away. Instead, she looked up, coming face to face with Ren before she pushed herself on the tips of her toes and her lips landed on his, all the unimportant observers be damned.

Hiashi Hyuga? The Hyuga Elders? Fuck them. There was already going to be a headache because Hinata dispatched four Kumo ‘Jonin’ alone. Which should not have been possible for a talentless genin, as the Hyuga Elders loved to call her. Even Hokage was probably very curious about how Hinata managed it and how much of her strength she was hiding. The only reason that fact had not been questioned yet was that the village had bigger issues to focus on.

Hinata’s performance was not a pressing issue. Orochimaru was. The village’s response to Kumo’s audacity was. Hell, even investigating the S-rank lightning Jutsu that, unknown to them, was cast by Hinata, was more important right now than satisfying their curiosity about Hinata’s abilities.

So, if the Hyuga clan was going to be an issue anyway, Hinata decided to give them something to truly grumble about. Hiding her relationship with Ren no longer mattered.

Ren was a bit taken by surprise, but he realized what the gesture meant. He respected Hinata’s decision and reciprocated the slow, lazy kiss, much to Hinata’s delight.

He could almost hear the growl coming from Neji from the other side of the room.

Enjoying the kiss, Ren’s left hand slowly slid a bit down, toward her posterior, only her casual telepathic message, ‘You’ve kissed the girl from Ame again, haven’t you?’ made it freeze in its tracks.

If he weren’t kissing her, his jaw would definitely drop in surprise, but his mouth opened anyway, allowing Hinata’s tongue to cheekily slip past his lips as she deepened the kiss with no care in the world while Ren could only inwardly wonder.

‘How the hell did she know?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep