Ren walked through Konoha’s streets, feeling perplexed.

He wanted to study Sasuke’s Cursed Seal, and just a few moments ago, he was on his way to the Uchiha Compound when he realized that Sasuke was not there because Kakashi had taken him for training.

Honestly, Ren had completely forgotten about that detail. Hence, his frustration.

But with everything that was going on right now, it was understandable that he wouldn’t remember details like that. Unfortunately, there was no Occlumency in the Narutoverse, and he was leery of messing with his mind directly.

Telepathy Seals? Sure.

But making direct alterations to his mind with zero knowledge of how these things work? Nah. There was a reason why nobody tried to copy the Yamanaka clan.

Oh, attempts did happen. But the unfortunate bastards who tried it usually ended up as vegetables. At best, they turned only slightly more mentally challenged. At worst, dead.

Messing with your own mind was dangerous, and even if he did succeed, there was no guarantee he could both do it fast enough for it to matter and that he would regain any knowledge he had already lost.

So, Ren resigned himself to the fact that he definitely forgot quite a bit of the canon plotline. He remembered the important bits.

… He hoped.

But the small details?

No. He didn’t even know the names of Naruto’s chief toad summon. The Gamabint or something, the one who wore a red haori and sword.

That toad’s kids? Ren drew blanks. Probably also something with Gama at the start.

There were more instances of this. Kiba blades, for example. Ren knew the wielder was alive. He knew he was called Raiga. Getting that name was easy from the bingo book.

But he couldn’t freaking remember in which town the man was hiding, and it was inconvenient as hell because these swords would have been godsent for Hinata.

Ren knew there was this clan with a forbidden technique on their backs that was practically the Narutoverse version of nuke. But he couldn’t remember their last name either. Once again, that frustrated him because watching out for people who carry a nuke on their back is just common sense.

At the very least, he wanted to stay far away from them in case they decided to spontaneously combust.

Now that he thought about it, his knowledge of the less important plot points was abysmal. He knew there was something about a clan serving Orochimaru? Then there was that crystal chick, Guren? And the boy she adopted whose name Ren couldn’t give a bigger shit about.

They sealed Isobu during that plotline! That much he remembered. But holy hell, he really could not remember which lake Isobi was hiding in.

It would have been nice to know that. Even if he will not be reformed for around two more years. Having at least a guess where he would appear next would simply be very nice.

Sighing, Ren spotted Ichiraku ramen and decided that he might go for a bite. His plans for the day were already ruined, so why not?

Sure, he could have gone and tried to locate Sasuke and Kakashi. But it would have been futile. They went to train, and Kakashi would definitely not like Ren disturbing them. Sasuke would have liked that even less.

He would not be very cooperative.

Not to mention, Ren didn’t want to clue the village in to his interest in the seal quite this fast. And revealing it to Kakashi was as good as screaming it to the Hokage’s face.

Plus, putting the effort into finding them would have shown a level of eagerness in seeing the seal that would have alerted quite a few higher-up people in Konoha.

In the end, Ren could only give up until after the Chunin Exams.

He entered the Ichiraku ramen stand and ordered his food before he unsealed a notebook with some minor seal designs he didn’t mind puzzling over in such a public place.

“What interesting work you have there.” A deep, male voice interrupted Ren’s thoughts after a few minutes when he was immersed in his problem-solving.

He turned his head toward it, only to see Jirayia sitting down next to him, looking at his notebook with a clear interest.

Ren, with a deep sense of satisfaction, one that did not show on his deadpan face, slammed the notebook shut, enjoying how Jirayia’s expression twitched.

“Ok.” Ren dismissively said, before turning away, drumming his fingers on the closed notebook as an awkward atmosphere formed around them.

Jirayia coughed after a moment of silence. “Right!” He forced a grin on his face. “You probably don’t know who I am. You are too young to recognize a legend like me!” With an exaggerated gesture, he started introducing himself. I am-!”

“I know who you are.” Ren interrupted him and turned toward him again while looking him straight in the eyes. “You are the S.O.S.”

“S.O.S?” Jirayia’s face scrunched. He felt really awkward about having his introduction interrupted. That was not a reaction he expected.

Ren nodded and elaborated. “Sexual Offender Sage.”

Aghast, Jirayia vehemently protested, “That’s slander! I am a perfect gentleman. Ladies love me!”

‘Yeah. When you pay them.’ Ren almost rolled his eyes. Instead, he raised one eyebrow at Jirayia, feeling a deep sense of amusement as he asked, “So you don’t peek at women in the bathhouse?”

“No! I am doing research!” Jirayia proudly and loudly proclaimed with a massive grin, and Ren could feel that he actually meant it.

Which was simply ridiculously shameless. And for that alone, he respected the old toad. Not many could have such a straight face while saying something so shameless. That took real talent.

“You can call it observation training for all I care, but the fact that it is just peeking on bathing women won’t change, old man.” Ren lazily rebuked with a small snort.

But he decided to end this line of discussion here.

Everybody had their own way of dealing with trauma, and Jirayia’s was his perversion. Ren wasn’t going to give the man too much shit because of it.

After all, half of the kunoichi in the village could actually tell when he was peeping on them. Jiraiya wasn’t very subtle during his ‘research’. Most simply didn’t care.

Kunoichi were expected to use their bodies for their village on missions. Many of the older ones experienced it. So, what was a little peeping compared to that?

Why should they bother standing up from the comforts of hot water and chase some pervert?

Body shame was also beaten out of ninjas and kunoichi early in their careers. The only kunoichi who reacted to Jiraiya’s antics were the sheltered ones. Usually, the clan kunoichi or those like Kurenai.

And besides, it wasn’t as if Jiraiya ever went beyond peeping. It was a widely known fact that the man was mostly harmless to his comrades of the female variety. Unless they worked in a brothel, he wouldn’t be touching them.

Before Jiraiya could reply, Ren spoke again, “Anyway, I doubt you came here desiring to shower me with the secrets of your perversions. Is there something I can do for you, oh great sexual offender?”

He doubted he was on Jiraiya’s radar just yet. So, the man definitely wanted something.

“I am looking for Naruto.” Jiraiya blandly admitted, not liking his new nickname at all. But for the sake of getting the desired intel, he held his tongue.

“And you are asking me?” Ren chuckled, only to smile at Ayame as she put a bowl of steaming hot ramen in front of him.

“I was told there is a chance you know where the brat is.” Jiraiya spoke, a hint of seriousness seeping into his tone.

That was fair enough, in Ren’s opinion. He indeed knew where Naruto was. The boy was in his house, studying seals and most likely loudly complaining while whining under the strict supervision of Karin, who dragged him there by his ear just this morning.

Funnily enough, Ren did notice that Naruto was a bit sulkier than usual, but he didn’t ask why or make the connection with Kakashi refusing to train him at that moment.

And to be fair, Ren was on Kakashi’s side in this argument. First, Jiraiya had been in the village for a few days already, so Kakashi most likely knew the toad sage wanted to seek out Naruto to train him in his inheritance a bit.

Giving the boy to Ebisu for a few days before Jiraiya found the time was reasonable. Especially when Naruto mostly lacked in basics, and Ebisu was good at training people in them.

Well, that was in canon. Right now, Kakashi has left Naruto to Karin’s tender mercies. Ebisu didn’t make an appearance.

Ren didn’t think that Kakashi was particularly favoring Sasuke. Naruto was going to fight Shikamaru. A fellow Konoha ninja. The chances of that match turning deadly were minuscule. Win or lose, it didn’t really matter.

Sasuke, on the other hand…

In Kakashi’s position, Ren would give him specialized training, too, because holy shit, even with that, there is a chance the kid would be squashed in a short order.

From Kakashi’s perspective, he probably thought he had several years to train Naruto and Sakura as his genin team. Because that’s usually the norm. But Sasuke simply needed him now, and he needed him a lot.

Ren still disliked Kakashi, though. He was a bastard.

As for Jiraiya…

“Oh? Finally decided to act like a godfather and give the kid the time of your day?” Ren lightly asked, but his undertone was completely vicious.

He wanted it to hurt, and judging by how Jiraiya bristled, he was successful.

Jiraiya was the Narutoverse’s Dumbledore. Seriously, how hard would it be to check on the kid even once during all his childhood years? He is the best spymaster in Konoha, but he can’t find out that his godson is being mistreated literally in his home turf?

Was Ren seriously supposed to believe that bullshit? At the very least, Jiraiya was a negligent asshole.

“How do you know that?” Jiraiya dangerously asked, his killing intent subtly spiked as the atmosphere in the ramen stand turned tense enough even for Ayame and Teuchi to notice and start sweating.

Ren, however, just loudly slurped on his noodles, taking his time while Jiraiya glared at him.

To be honest, he had forgotten that this was supposed to be secret. But eh, whatever.

Gulping the noodles down, Ren wiped his mouth with a napkin before he spoke, “Please. Did you think his parentage was a secret? Half of the important people in the village know. I wouldn’t be surprised if other ninja villages already knew, too. Just stroll through Konoha in henge and try starting a discussion about the ‘demon brat’.” Ren rolled his eyes, making Jiraiya’s intimidating posture fall as he turned uncomfortable.

The man grimaced and looked at his hands in a small show of shame. “I was… busy.” He sullenly admitted in a quiet voice.

“You could have at least sent birthday presents or postcards.” Ren hummed, putting more noodles into his mouth with his chopsticks.

Learning to eat with these infernal wooden sticks was a… journey. Zero out of ten, totally not recommended if you don’t want more of your food to end up on the floor rather than in your mouth.

“Hey! I totally did! I sent him presents and letters, too!” Jiraiya indignantly defended himself, his shame forgotten in the face of Ren’s accusation.

Ren found that very interesting. “Funny. Naruto never received them.” He informed Jiraiya, and his lips quirked because that meant there was interference, and now Jiraiya realized it as well, considering how his expression darkened.

That was a plot point Ren hadn’t expected. Maybe the toad botherer of Narutoverse was not as bad as the goat botherer of Potterverse, after all.

“Look. Can you just tell me where the kid is?” Jiraiya tiredly asked, letting out a fed-up sigh.

Ren almost wanted to tell him, ‘No.’ But fortunately for him, he had already relocated any sensitive sealwork research to his house in his secluded training place by the ocean.

The one where he could only enter through space-time seals. He even managed to make a variant of his transportation seal, so that Ino and Hinata could use it without him. The twenty-second usage time was still there, but now the girls no longer needed him, or his clone, to access their home.

Naturally, he wouldn’t be revealing such a thing to Konoha anytime soon because it was pretty much similar to a waypoint system in games. If properly set up, it could give Konoha a massive military advantage.

Which meant, if the higher-ups knew about it, they would never stop bothering Ren about it until he caved and gave it to them.

Noticing how haggard Jiraiya suddenly seemed when he realized at least some of the depth of his mistakes concerning Naruto, Ren decided to cut him some slack.

“Sure. I will bring you to him. Let me finish my food first, though.” He relented.

Of course, Ren was not guaranteeing that Naruto would take Jiraiya’s sudden reappearance well. Naruto was no longer that affection-starved, thirteen-year-old, mentally underdeveloped kid who would accept any link to his dead parents.

Ren also might or might not have informed the kid that he had an absentee godfather a few months ago, and needless to say, the kid was not happy.

Opsie?

‘Drama incoming?’ Ren inwardly grinned.

—

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep