Ren and Hinata arrived on a street where Ino was helping several ninjas with a certain situation.

“Three Oto ninjas. Four hostages. Two children.” Hinata instantly reported to Ren what her Byakugan was seeing before he even asked. Then her face scrunched. “It’s the family of Councilor Utatane.”

“So, nothing of value lost? Good. We can go home.” Ren quipped, getting a huff in response.

Sadly, it was just a small joke. Utatane Koharu was an old, unpleasant hag, but that didn’t mean her family deserved to die.

As they came closer, Ino finally noticed their arrival and turned toward them with a cheeky smile and a wave. She promptly left the group of ninjas, who were trying to come up with a way to save the hostages, and ignored the annoyed look Shikamaru threw her as she walked toward Ren and Hinata.

“Yahoo~. How is it going?” Ino cheerfully greeted, and Ren reckoned that if he didn’t have his arms full, she would have already jumped into them. Ino looked them over until her eyes stopped at Hanabi.

Ino and Hinata’s eyes briefly met, and Ino’s expression slightly shifted into a small frown. It lasted only a split second, and if Ren didn’t pay attention, he would have most likely missed it as Ino’s lips stretched into a smile again when she abruptly turned toward him.

“I hear everything went according to the plan except a small case of attempted kidnapping?” She teasingly hummed, putting her right hand on her hip, her eyes glancing at Temari and Gaara. Especially Temari, who was definitely not a part of the plan.

Ren did share the info about Akatsuki with Ino and Hinata. They knew he wanted to use this opportunity to reseal the One-Tailed Beast. Neither of them was happy about it, deeming it too risky. But Ren wouldn’t budge, so they eventually grudgingly accepted it. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have several complaints.

“Yup. I caught myself a panda, and as a bonus, I summoned a stray blonde. Lucky, right? Maybe I should try my hand at gambling.” Ren nonchalantly spoke, already aware that Hinata most likely informed Ino through the telepathy seal when their eyes met.

Fortunately, he never shared with Hinata how close Shukaku was to breaking free. He wasn’t interested in hearing Ino’s ‘I told you so’.

‘- and I cooked a snake.’ Ren mentally added through the telepathy seal in an attempt to divert Ino’s attention.

‘So, Orochimaru is dead?’ Ino asked while sending Ren a sense of smugness through their mental link, to make him know she knew what he was doing.

But Ren didn’t mind. She could have her small victory. Happy girl, happy relationship, and all that.

‘No idea. That man is like a cockroach. But he was vaporized in front of my eyes, so one can hope, right?’ Ren shared his genuine thoughts about the situation.

‘Well, if he survived, we will simply have to kill him again.’ Ino casually said. Ren was a bit envious of how easy-going she could be about the issue. He definitely did not feel that confident about it.

That moment when Orochimaru managed to get a jump on his clone and pierce his chest just as he attacked… Ren flinched back then. He remembered that his throat went dry because, fuck. He was lucky he sent a clone. That could have easily been him.

By all means, that should have been him. Only his caution toward S-rank threats saved his ass. If he were a bit more arrogant and disregarded Orochimaru because he had intangibility now, he would have been a corpse.

It kinda put things into perspective for Ren, and he realized he was nowhere strong enough to be too arrogant. In hindsight, confronting Akatsuki was foolish.

At least, if Orochimaru survived, he would be looking for Tobi of Akatsuki and not Ren of Konoha. That was yet another reason why Ren hadn’t confronted him in his normal identity. As strong as he, Ino, and Hinata were, they were not invincible.

“How about you? Any issues with your battle? You alright?” Ren asked Ino, a bit of concern seeping into his tone.

“Yeah. Sure. I am fine. Why,” Ino was giving Ren a confused look before she suddenly exclaimed and brightened as an idea struck her. “Ah!” She fondly chuckled, indulgently smiling at Ren.

‘I know what you are doing.’ She mentally sent Ren an impression of playfully pecking his cheek. ‘It’s sweet. Really. But I don’t need consoling or comforting, darling.’

Her eyes darted toward Hinata for a moment, and her smile became more pleased at what she was seeing.

‘You did a good job with Hinata, though. I guess killing so many took its toll on her mind far more than she would like to show?’

Ren stifled a grimace and sent the impression of a displeased nod to Ino. And while she did send an apologetic feeling back, he shrugged it off because he knew she didn’t feel sorry at all.

The thing was, the two girls deliberately misinterpreted his orders.

It wasn’t just Ino who was supposed not to kill too many Suna ninjas. He told that to both Ino and Hinata because he knew they could run through the ranks of ordinary Suna ninjas like a scythe through wheat.

But important was what he didn’t tell them.

He never freaking told them to go and face a freaking army on their own! For freak’s sake!

He almost had a heart attack when he heard what they had done.

No. Going straight to the epicenter of fighting was a decision they made for themselves. Hinata facing the main Oto forces, while Ino took on the main Suna forces, was not his design. How could it be? He didn’t know Oto and Suna’s invasion plans.

He would have never risked them like that. He was already uncomfortable with them participating, even if he knew it was unavoidable. He certainly wouldn’t throw them against thousands of ninjas by their lonesome.

He thought they would help with fighting small groups of ninja in the village. With their skill sets, they could have made a massive difference and helped push Oto and Suna ninjas out of Konoha fast. But nope. The girls wanted to show off.

And Ren didn’t need to be a genius to realize the initial spark came from Ino.

Giving the blonde a deadpan look, Ren replied. ‘Yeah. Who would have thought, right?’

Ino’s lips twitched, but her smiling facade held despite the genuine mental wince Ren felt coming from her. ‘I just wanted to make you proud. I hate it how so many people look down on you. And Hinata agrees. We just wanted to show them the results of your training while protecting our village. This was supposed to be my, our day, dammit.’ She mentally gritted out.

In a perfect world, the invasion would have never happened, and she could have just shown off during the Chunin Exams. Alas, this was not a perfect world.

‘Ino-‘ Ren started, but Ino cut him off.

‘No. I get it. You don’t want to be in the spotlight.’ She started, and Ren awkwardly stayed silent, remembering that every S-rank ninja in Konoha usually ended up in a very bad way.

No, duh. Of course, he didn’t want to be in the spotlight. Reading about somebody fighting off assassination attempts and sabotage might be fun, but he didn’t want to live through that.

‘It’s not as if I expected Hinata to slaughter an army either. That decision is solely on her! I expected her to fight alongside the Konoha ninjas and help them win. That’s all.’ Ino added, defending her choices.

‘And it’s not as if I wanted to face an army by myself. That also just happened. I was there, the only person preventing an entire army from rushing deeper into Konoha. I couldn’t exactly just run away!’ Ino heatedly stated, but it lacked bite. Her words rang hollow because she was aware she was not sincere. She could have, and should have, run away.

Ren ruefully smiled in his mind. He tried his best to train the arrogance out of his students. And yet, here it was. Rearing its ugly head again.

He could only sigh.

‘Are you really okay?’ He asked the blonde girl.

‘I… yeah. Don’t worry. I am more pissed at how it all turned out. One life, a hundred, or a thousand, it is all the same to me.’ She mentally shrugged. ‘It’s Hinata who is the strange one as a clan kunoichi, and I didn’t want her to go through the guilt of killing so many. I’ve fucked up. I know. And it makes me angry. It’s hard to even keep my blasted cheerful persona going right now.’

Ino admitted, and Ren was surprised at how much she unloaded on him. But he guessed she really needed to get that off her chest.

‘Ren? Thanks for caring.’ Ino ended her little tirade.

Outside, barely two seconds passed during their mental talk.

“You have heard I have faced the main forces of Suna, then.” Ino concluded, looking sheepish. It was pure theatre for the onlookers, but Ren played along.

“Imagine my surprise.” He answered in a deadpan tone, giving her an unamused look to which Ino nonchalantly shrugged.

“It was a drag. I’ve got most of them with my genjutsu and caused enough chaos that their commanders and Jonin didn’t have the time to figure out it was spread through smell. After fifteen minutes, they started giving up and began contemplating retreat. But it still took them over another thirty minutes to rescue the still living, crazed comrades of theirs before pulling out.”

Hinata gave Ino a knowing smile, making Ino avert her eyes a bit.

It sounded impressive. But honestly, Hinata knew that Ino had to let most of the Suna ninjas go of her own volition. She also managed to reduce the casualties just as Ren wanted. Out of the thousand and then some Suna ninjas, only one hundred and sixty-nine died.

The rest ran for the hills out of fear and despair, and would be great fodder for any conflict that could ensue between Suna and Iwa.

“Oi! Ino! Stop yapping and come back here, you troublesome blonde!” Shikamaru suddenly yelled out with an irritated look, causing Ino’s eye to twitch.

“Excuse me, somebody is asking for a beating. See you at home.” Ino cheerfully said, loudly enough for Shikamaru to hear before she walked off.

Ren and Hinata looked at each other in amusement.

“Well?” Ren asked, “How long do you think it will take her to realize?”

Hinata giggled and whispered, “Don’t ruin my fun.”

Back in the house with hostages, all occupants, both the hostages and invaders, were unconscious with needles sticking out of their necks.

Hinata didn’t waste the free time she had while Ino mentally talked with Ren. She only wondered how long it would take Ino to realize all the tedious, lengthy planning she was doing with her comrades was completely unnecessary.

Hanabi looked between Ren and her sister with a weirded-out expression. “You are all weird.”

…

AN: Honestly? I’ve done fwucky-wucky. I didn’t like the idea that Ren sent his girls to face armies of ninja. So, I tried to come up with a reason, only to realize I should not overcomplicate it.

Simple, youthful arrogance mixed with things gone not according to plan should suffice.

Share your thoughts about it if you want. No idea if the chapter was okay.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep