Hinata walked into the training area forty-one with Sasuke Uchiha trailing behind her. She flared her chakra in a specific pattern the second she entered Ren’s sensing range, letting him know there would be uninvited guests, so he and Ino should dismiss or hide all their shadow clones.

Taking the Uchiha to their training ground was one thing, but showing him their actual training? No, thank you very much.

Ren might have some issues with some of Konoha’s authorities. But honestly? The Uchiha boy could be an authority on issues.

Having to go to the academy with him was enough for Hinata. She didn’t want to be stuck with him all day. Especially not with Ino nearby. That’s the literal definition of hell. And she didn’t want him to get too interested in their training either because she just knew he would have tried to spy on them.

Just like he couldn’t help but spy on her rear ever since she started leading him here. Joy.

They finally entered the clearing, and Hinata smiled as she saw Ren. Her smile only widened when he gave her a very unimpressed look after glancing at Sasuke.

“Hello, teacher.” She serenely said as she approached Ren, “I am sorry for being late. I was followed by my classmate and tried to shake him off, but it didn’t work.” She sighed, a bit of her frustration seeping into her tone.

“I see. We will probably have to work on that aspect of being ninja, then.”

It was a bit embarrassing for both Hinata and Ren that she couldn’t run away from an academy student. But they never trained in evading a chase, so Ren couldn’t give her a hard time for this. His usual advice for evading chase would be to just bitchslap their stalker but… well, that would have been a problem when it came to the last Uchiha.

“He wanted to know who trains me.” Hinata continued with an exasperated shrug, making Ren rub the bridge of his nose as the Uchiha boy eagerly nodded.

“Yes. It is nice to meet you. I-” Sasuke started, only to be completely ignored by Ren, who kept looking at Hinata.

“So, why not just tell him instead of taking him here?” He flatly asked, and Hinata’s lips twitched in amusement while Sasuke’s gaze darkened.

“I don’t want to deal with him. So I decided to make him your problem.” Hinata nonchalantly admitted, and Ren noticed that Sasuke looked a bit hurt at that admission. It made him inwardly sigh. He didn’t need more teenage drama in his life.

“It is because he is staring at your ass, isn’t it?” Ren raised an eyebrow at the girl, causing the Uchiha boy to gape and look like a startled deer staring into headlights as he tried to sputter denials, but Hinata just casually nodded.

“It’s quite awkward.”

“… Fine. Go practice throwing senbon or something.” Ren grumpily said, sending Hinata off.

He couldn’t say he enjoyed it when he noticed Sasuke staring at his girl’s posterior, but Hinata was a big girl who could gently fist the boy’s balls off with laughable ease if she was so inclined.

She did not need his protection.

While a part of him did want to give Sasuke a hard time for it, the more grounded and calm part simply admitted that the boy had good taste.

Ren turned toward Sasuke, who watched him awkwardly, looking almost ready to bolt. He did not expect the conversation to steer in that way and was now deeply outside of his comfort zone. Ren smiled a bit at the teenager.

He was fifteen now, and yet, despite looking similar to his canon counterpart, he was just so… inexperienced. Innocent. Not yet batshit insane? There was still that spark of naivety in the boy. Despite the anger at the world apparent in his gaze.

“So, you want training?” Ren hummed to himself.

“Yes.” Sasuke answered, determination filling his eyes and posture.

“Nope. Not gonna happen.” He gave the boy an easy-going eyesmile. It was his civic duty to prepare him for the horror of being Kakashi’s student.

And if he pissed the boy off for his own amusement in the process, well, multitasking was an important skill.

Sasuke didn’t instantly burst into an angsty tirade as Ren slightly expected. Instead, the boy tried to stay reasonable, “I can pay you. I can even double what the Hyugas are paying you.”

Ren’s smile fell at that, and he sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. Okay. Treating the boy like an angsty character from a bashing fanfic felt bad. Especially when the boy was at least trying to be nice.

So, Ren switched into his serious mode and decided to deal with the fifteen-year-old teenage duckbutt as if he were an adult. “You sure can. Still not happening.”

Sasuke scowled and balled his hands into fists, his body tensing in outrage as he asked, “Why?” He was visibly upset, gritting his teeth as he barely kept his temper in check and only stopping himself from a long, angry tirade because Ren sharply raised his palm in a ‘stop’ gesture.

“Politics.” He told the boy.

“Poli-“

“Yeah. There are some people in this village, high-ranking people, who don’t want you to get stronger.” Ren nodded. “Getting stronger means an increased chance to be promoted, which means more dangerous missions. You are the last Uchiha and while they can’t order you to stay in the village and screw every girl they throw at you, they will certainly try their damnedest to keep you safe, and breeding with indirect means.”

“Is that why my applications for early graduation were all rejected?” Sasuke asked, glaring into the distance.

Ren smiled at him. Now he was getting it. The boy wasn’t as stupid as his hair looked.

“Most likely. I am not going to teach you because the political repercussions to me would be quite distasteful. I am just a chunin. I don’t really have the necessary clout in the village to sidestep these things.”

That wasn’t exactly true. Ren could have taken Sasuke under his wing while showing his middle finger to any supposed retribution by the higher-ups. They needed to at least appear reasonable and couldn’t outright punish him for teaching the boy.

But dealing with the indirect problems they would cause him would be a massive hassle.

It just wasn’t really worth it.

He had already knocked out the ANBU or ROOT operative, following the boy with his shadow clone when they entered the training ground. The last thing he wanted was to have ANBU or ROOT ninjas permanently skulking around his training grounds.

“Then how am I supposed to get stronger?” Sasuke glared at his feet, his voice betraying the sheer rage simmering under the surface as he realized the system was hugely skewed against him.

It didn’t matter how much the village praised him for being the last ‘loyal’ Uchiha. How some shops literally offered him things for free. In things that mattered, the village did screw him up.

After living in Konoha and having a direct insight into these things, Ren can say with a clear conscience that Sasuke was smart to leave Konoha in canon. The Hokage did not want him to go after his brother. So, he tried to hamper his growth by not offering him advanced opportunities.

Danzo did not want Sasuke to grow stronger in fear that the boy would one day learn about the massacre. He wanted nothing more than to kill Sasuke, but he couldn’t do it while Itachi was alive.

The Hyuga clan did not want Sasuke to grow stronger because they did not want the Uchiha clan to regain their influence.

And others in the council either did not care or were far too easily persuaded with bullshit reasons. Despite how many fanfics had the council lick Sasuke’s posterior, in reality, they were happy to use his existence for propaganda or advertisement, but they really did not care all that much about him or his goals.

Watching the teenager sink deeper into his emo mode, Ren sighed and turned toward Ino before shouting at her, “Ino! Give me your scroll on the basics of elemental ninjutsu!”

The blonde girl stopped trying to set her leaf on fire with her glare and raised her head as her eyebrows furrowed. She glanced at Ren, then at Sasuke. A lightbulb went off in her head as she nodded and unsealed the scroll Ren asked for and tossed it to him before returning to her task.

All of this was done without even a single word, and Sasuke was staring in disbelief at their interaction. Ren smirked. The Uchiha had never seen Ino actually invested and focused on something. He probably expected her to shout and fangirl about him. Being ignored by the girl must have been a new experience for him.

Ren caught the scroll and offered it to Sasuke after unsealing a bit of chakra paper. “Here. When a chunin wants to get a promotion to jonin, he needs to have techniques of at least two elemental natures.” Exceptions full of natural Gainess excluded, of course. “The scroll can teach you how to train the first exercise of elemental chakra. The paper will tell you your elemental affinity when you push your chakra into it. I’d recommend focusing on your affinity first.”

Sasuke took the scroll with trembling hands, as if in disbelief that he actually did get something that would make him stronger. He gave Ren a wary, inquisitive look, but when Ren nodded at him, the boy took the scroll and unrolled it, only to see the contents with a massive amount of obnoxiously colorful and girly notes on almost every inch of the document.

Oh, and ponies. There was an excessive amount of ponies, too.

Sasuke’s expression twisted into an abject horror before he gave the smirking Ren a ‘what the hell is this!?’ look.

Chuckling, Ren spoke, “Ino is great at ninjutsu. She also loves to take notes. A lot of notes.”

“You don’t say.” Sasuke whispered in a horrified deadpan, and Ren just shrugged.

“Stop being a sissy. Yes, the notes are pink and orange and purple, whatever.” He rolled his eyes with a snort. “Every note in there can help you understand the exercises better. Ino is done with the scroll, so you can have it.”

What? It wasn’t his right to give Sasuke something that belonged to Ino? Psht. He was her teacher. Of course, he could rightfully appropriate her property. Teacher’s privileges.

Sasuke’s expression turned conflicted. “I… thank you.” It was obvious that the boy lacked somebody showing him genuine concern and giving him genuine help.

Well, Ren was in a good mood today, but he wasn’t going to be the boy’s support pillar all the way through.

“Thank Ino. It’s her scroll.” He nonchalantly said, causing Sasuke’s expression to twist in distaste, much to Ren’s amusement. Obviously, interacting with his blonde student was not something Sasuke wanted to do.

“I will.” He grudgingly muttered.

“There is a risk of injury if you intend to train in elemental chakra alone.” Ren told him, a wicked grin spreading on his lips in his mind, “But Hinata is training to be a good medical ninja. Feel free to ask her to heal you if you need it. Just keep in mind that her training is secret.”

Here, that should teach her. Bringing in strays to their training ground as if he was running a daycare. Had she really thought there would be no repercussions? Sasuke was a training maniac. Ren would eat his forehead protector if the boy didn’t require healing every two days.

And as a great teacher, it was Ren’s duty to provide Hinata with a willing lab rat. The fact that she disliked Sasuke was just the cherry on top.

“Other than that, you have money. Why not hire ninjas to train you?”

Since Ren had started to give the boy advice, he decided to do it properly. Sasuke wanted a way to get stronger? Sure. Ren could give that to him. The rest would be on the boy’s determination, but he could tell him how to game the system.

Ren couldn’t wait to see the result. He wondered how Sasuke would develop with a proper path.

“Really? I can do that?” Sasuke asked incredulously, taken aback that he had never thought of it.

“Well, duh.” Ren rolled his eyes again. It was only natural that the boy didn’t consider this. He was only a kid. “How do you think literally ninety percent of chunin get to learn things?”

Not everybody had their personal jonin instructor, after all.

“The higher-ups can’t stop you from posting a mission request. Even if said mission is to train you for a few hours. Granted, most high-level ninjas will not accept such a request. They can earn more money and contribute to the village by taking higher-ranked missions. But your clan name should help you there.”

And wasn’t that a kick in the balls? Ren still remembered he had to wait weeks until somebody finally decided to teach him the shadow clones, and even then, it was only because Ebisu wanted to dodge the responsibility of tutoring Hinata.

But Sasuke? Ren was certain that the boy was going to have so many jonin wanting to stick their head up his ass, all willing to teach him, that he will need to chase them away with a stick.

Unfortunately, the world wasn’t fair.

“There will be many people who will recognize that you will one day sit on the village council, and they will try to make connections with you. Don’t let them manipulate you. But be smart. Use it. They want to hamper your growth? Just find a way they can’t block without looking unreasonable. And then, grow stronger. It’s that simple.”

Ren shrugged and started feeling quite awkward when he noticed that Sasuke was almost not breathing with how enraptured he was by his speech.

He had the worrisome feeling that he had just gained a new, unwanted fan.

Why couldn’t he just leave the kid to Orochimaru again?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep