It has been three months since Ren received an unwanted observer and recently, he was starting to get really annoyed. Enough to start planning a murder.

Fortunately, two days ago, just a measly week before his plans were finished, his relentless stalker finally stopped showing up. It was the third day of his absence and Ren let out a relieved sigh because it meant that Danzo finally decided the observation mission was not worth the time investment considering the lacking results.

It wasn’t that misleading or that fooling his stalker was hard. Ren still had his daily training and every day, he needed to make his observer follow a clone before he did it. It was a total waste of a precious clone that could speed up his training but it had to be done.

But living with the knowledge that there was a dude in the shadows, watching him and waiting for him to make a wrong move was taxing on Ren.

Technically, Ren knew that Danzo couldn’t waste his limited resources to have him watched indefinitely. It was a waiting game until his observer left and that’s why Ren did not intervene. But it wasn’t an enjoyable couple of months for him.

That said, there was a benefit to it too.

As apologetic as Ren was for delaying the important training bits for Ino and Hinata, and he felt really bad because they were good enough with their chosen weaponry to move on to something different a month ago but he delayed their progress due to the observer, it gave him time to focus on his own research and development.

At least, Hinata understood. She definitely noticed the ANBU following them. And it worried her. She tried not to show it and didn’t say anything. But Ren noticed how she sometimes nervously glanced in the direction of the hidden ROOT ANBU.

Danzo either didn’t have anybody competent enough to evade Byakugan or he simply didn’t care about the Hyuga main branch pariah noticing his agent because she was far too young to tell that the man was not from the official ANBU.

Honestly, it could be either of those two options.

As for Ino… she had no idea. Konoha was still a happy place for her. Her safe zone. Ren wasn’t going to cure her of that delusion, though. Maybe it was a misguided desire to protect her ‘innocence’, but… not just yet.

All three of them were now in the training ground forty-one and Ren was finally about to give the girls the good news. He had a new technique and a new seal for them. Both of these had been months in the making and he finally could share them with his students.

Just considering the research data he would passively gather in the next few weeks made him almost salivate. But all in due time.

“Come here, Ino.” Ren leaned on a tree and said to the blond girl who curiously came closer to him. He unsealed a scroll from the seal on his wrist before giving it to her, “Read it. It’s a cooperation technique and the paper holds your part. Tell me when you are ready to perform it. As a Yamanaka, this should be right up your alley.”

Ino took the scroll and the further along she read, the more focused she seemed. When she was done, she seemed to space out for a second and her blue eyes went blank only to come back into focus five seconds later.

“I am done.” She said with eyes wide from awe, “That… is built on some amazing concepts.”

Ren smiled at her but didn’t feel particularly happy about the praise. Most of the principles on that scroll were already in existence thanks to Tobirama. Ren just took them apart into pieces and put them back together in a different way to create something new. So, he didn’t feel as proud of the technique even though it took him months to put it all together in a workable manner.

“Already?” Instead of feeling good about the praise, Ren was surprised about Ino’s speed. Her mind technique was unique. It was something new she found. And she had just used it to learn the contents of a quite difficult scroll about yin release manipulation in under five seconds. It was nothing short of amazing despite the fact that yin manipulation was her forte.

“Yup.” Ino slightly preened, enjoying the surprise Ren exuded. Of course, she had to boast more, “I practiced a lot so I could enter my mindscape much quicker and without meditation. It’s not a big deal.” She finished with a smug smirk that made Hinata scoff.

Ren dryly chuckled in his mind. Inoichi would cry tears of joy if he had heard her. The man would probably write entire songs about how genial his daughter is.

And honestly speaking, Ren was totally going to take credit for it. Teacher’s privileges.

“Do I want to know how much time passed in your mind during those five seconds?” He asked and offered Ino his palm. He would definitely need to go through some tests with Ino’s mindscape technique.

It seemed safe to use and she had no issues despite using it for months now. But Ren was afraid of how it would affect her mental age and state if she overused it. There was a reason why new techniques were usually extensively tested. Who knew what side effects a technique that messed with a user’s head, even if in a beneficial manner, had?

But it was her technique and since it was a derivative of her clan jutsu, it fell under the category of clan technique. He couldn’t forbid her from using it even if he wanted and Ino was stubborn about not telling anybody about it.

Which… fair. Ren had his own share of secrets.

“Not much. It was just fifteen minutes.” Ino admitted and put her palm flatly on his, each finger facing its counterpart. Ren slowly moved his fingers and Ino followed along according to the instructions on the scroll, their hands intertwining in a singular hand seal as both Ino and Ren started internally channeling their chakra to do their own part of the technique.

“I still have no idea what this is supposed to do.” Ino idly mentioned with her eyebrows deeply furrowed and her eyes narrowed in a deep concentration.

Fortunately, Hinata was observant enough to realize she should stay quiet and let them focus but from the corner of his eyes, Ren could see she stared at their hands with a slight envy.

He felt bad about it. Hinata could certainly learn the technique too and he was going to teach it to her too. But it would be much harder for her than for Ino.

Ren went slowly, carefully molding his chakra and letting it join Ino’s. He had practiced the technique, both parts, with his shadow clones and he didn’t want to interrupt her part by hurrying her along. So, their first attempt took them a solid thirty seconds of concentration.

But feeling the chakra build-up to be finally sufficient, Ren pushed the technique into completion as he spoke, “It’s the custom remake of the mental component for-“

A puff of smoke appeared next to them and a bewildered clone of Ino popped into existence, looking at Ren before redirecting her gaze at her original in utter astonishment.

“- the shadow clones.” Ren smugly finished with a grin. Even though the girls couldn’t yet know how much better this accomplishment was going to make their training, Ren couldn’t help but feel great about the options it opened. Both for him and his students.

Ino and her clone stared at each other in a silent incomprehension. She knew what Shadow Clones were. Ren used them almost daily. But she also knew she didn’t have enough chakra reserves for them yet. Because she asked Ren. Repeatedly. Until she annoyed him enough to make her run laps around the pond.

She didn’t even know the technique but she had just created her own clone?

“No way.” Ino whispered.

Ren was about to say something that he thought would make this moment even more epic… but he didn’t get the chance as Ino jumped at him and tried to hug the stuffing out of him in joy.

“I can finally use my clone to try out clothes!” She squealed in pure girlish glee.

And all feelings of accomplishment were drained from Ren who promptly facepalmed. That… was so not why he spent months creating a cooperation version of Shadow Clones!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep