Turns out, Hinata used her Byakugan because she was worried that something happened to Ren when he didn’t answer his door. She heard that he returned to the village from his mission injured so she hurried over to check on him.

Once again, the twenty seconds necessary to use his transportation seal screwed Ren over. It took a bit of persuasion but eventually, Ren managed to make Hinata drop the whole teleportation issue and keep it a secret. At least, for the time being.

“Are you really okay?” Hinata asked, concern clear in her voice, as they sat at Ren’s kitchen table, eating together the food she brought in her basket.

And Ren was very grateful for her thoughtfulness. He didn’t fancy going out to eat today. So, having her homemade cooking felt great. But most importantly, he was a bit happy that Hinata cared enough to do this for him. Deep down, it made him feel appreciated. It was nice.

“The breaks in your ribs are almost joined but there are still multiple small fractures.” Hinata said with a small frown, looking intently at Ren with her Byakugan.

A thought that she was looking at bones within his body passed through Ren’s mind and he subconsciously shivered. It was a bit creepy.

Seeing him shiver, Hinata misunderstood it. She stood up and took her jacket from her chair before walking toward Ren and caringly putting it over his shoulders as she muttered under her nose, “Stupid Kiri ninjas.” with her lips angrily pressed together.

Ren gave her an amused smile in return, patting in appreciation her hand that rested on his shoulder.

The gesture was adorable… as was her belief that it was Kiri ninjas who ambushed him. Naturally, Ren didn’t say in his report that ROOT attacked him.

Firstly, he was not supposed to know about ROOT. Secret ANBU division meant that even the majority of jonin in Konoha had no idea about its existence. If he knew about them, it would instantly bring suspicion to him.

And secondly, even if he complained to Hokage, there was no proof these ninjas were from ROOT. He couldn’t just say that they wore blank masks so ‘obviously’ they belonged to Danzo.

Plus their bodies were incinerated by his paper bombs so their sealed tongues were not available either.

Sure, if Ren informed the Hokage about his suspicions and the previous meeting he had with Danzo, the man would probably pay more attention to his ‘wayward’ friend. But Ren doubted it would have much effect.

Sarutobi knew Danzo was a piece of shit. He survived two assassination attempts of his, after all.

It’s not even that Sarutobi can’t do anything. He could mobilize his ANBU and kill Danzo and his ROOT in one day. It’s simply that he doesn’t want to deal with the political consequences and management issues that would ensue afterward.

And if even an attempt at assassinating the Hokage was something Danzo could get away with under Sarutobi’s rule, then the attempt at killing Ren would be just laughed out of the room. Maybe even if he had concrete evidence.

Without said evidence? Why even bother going through the official channels? This was Konoha. Things didn’t work that way over here.

Inwardly shaking his head as he enjoyed another spoonful of Hinata’s homemade curry, Ren decided to focus on the here and now.

He looked at Hinata who was once again sitting opposite him, “You know… I should really get some books on medical ninjutsu for you. Your Byakugan will give you a very unfair advantage. Most medics have to do their thing by vague feelings from their diagnostic jutsu and experience. But you Hyugas can actually see what you are doing.” Ren hummed.

Then he remembered that he had promised something along those lines to himself the second Ebisu pushed his tutoring duties onto him. He just really didn’t want to deal with having to find a medic amicable enough to give some lessons and lend books on the subject. It was going to be a pain in the ass.

So, Ren previously just kept pushing it to his future self.

He looked at Hinata and decided to make sure he wouldn’t just keep doing that, “Remind me, if I forget, okay? Pester me until I get you the materials if you must.”

“Alright.” Hinata seriously nodded and Ren mischievously smiled.

“Oh, and the curry is delicious. You will make one man very happy when you grow up.” He said, trying to lighten the mood.

He got his desired result when Hinata’s cheeks instantly flushed and she ducked her head. Because of it, Ren only saw her happy smile from under her hair and inwardly smirked… before he remembered his blunder with Naruto, and that made him put a lot of effort into not grimacing on the spot.

He would try to explain to the boy why Hinata did not help him with his studies when he met him next.

But he would not meddle in their relationship anymore. If there was supposed to be something between them, it would happen even without Ren’s meddling.

He would probably only screw things up even more if he tried.

After a few seconds of awkward silence full of Hinata’s eyes staring into her plate, but well, Byakugan so Ren couldn’t be sure, she started opening her mouth to say something when the apartment bell suddenly rang, completely dispelling the fluffy atmosphere around.

Hinata sprang forth, almost standing up from fright at the sudden sound before falling back onto her chair and making Ren chuckle as he slowly stood up and went to open the door.

Hinata just sat in the room, staring wide-eyed at the kitchen door Ren had just exited, trying to calm her racing heart.

But then, a moment later, a blonde avalanche burst into the room, widely grinning and dragging the awkward Ren to the kitchen by his wrist.

Seeing Hinata, Ino stopped in her tracks and casually waved at her, “Yo, bitch.”

Hinata’s eyes twitched, all the warm and fuzzy feelings she felt were suddenly gone. She narrowed her eyes, “Bimbo…”

Ren could swear he felt a smidgen of killing intent but it was gone as quickly as it appeared and he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t just imagining things.

“Oh! Free food!” Ino happily exclaimed as she led Ren to the chair before ruffling through his cupboards until she found additional cutlery and a plate for herself.

She put them on the table, about to get herself a serving from the curry on the table when her eyes found something much more important than food.

“Look at you!” She huffed and walked behind Ren, completely unaware of Hinata who was still glaring at her, “What are you doing with such messy hair.” She clicked her tongue and pulled a hairbrush from her handbag.

“Let me fix it.” She said and started trying to tame Ren’s bed hair. He could only sit there, completely bewildered and wondering what the hell was going on.

Hurricane Ino was… something else.

“What… are you doing here?” Hinata asked in an annoyed tone with pursed lips, throwing Ino an irritated look.

But Ino just continued brushing Ren’s hair while cluelessly tilting her head, “Huh? The same thing as you. Just checking on my injured teacher.” She said in an, ‘isn’t it obvious, duh?’ kind of tone.

“Right.” Hinata bluntly deadpanned, her fingers briefly twitching, giving Ren a hunch that she wanted to punch Ino in the face.

He just sat there, having a vague feeling that he had just missed something important but he couldn’t be bothered to think about it right now.

Ino was quite good with the brush and the feeling of her fingers on his scalp was very pleasant. He decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember when was the last time somebody gently touched his head.

Wasn’t that just sad?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep