Another few days passed and Ino started to notice the small progress she was making. Ren still remembered her jumping up and down in glee when she came to the training one day, shouting about how she beat Kiba on the track field in the academy during a running competition.
Later on, Hinata told Ren that Kiba was ill and felt really sick that day... but Ren wasn't going to rain on Ino's parade. He let the girl enjoy it.
She was improving, after all.
He was so proud that he gave the girls a technique on hair manipulation he invented in the academy. He had a lot of time to play around with chakra back then and nothing to do during the lectures.
So, he tried to replicate Jirayia's hair techniques. He figured out how to grow his hair quickly, how to harden or sharpen them... but he failed to figure out how to shoot them like needles.
And then he found fuinjutsu and he never really finished his hair techniques, now that he thought about it.
With a sigh, Ren called a waiter and ordered two sticks of dango for himself and a box of nine sticks as a takeout. He was trying a new dango shop for lunch today.
But back to his pupils, he promised Hinata these techniques weeks ago but he kinda forgot. So, he had to use the excuse that her hair was too short for them until recently.
It was bullshit and sadly, she was going to realize that in the future.
But that was a problem for the future Ren. And only if it was brought up by her.
... He hoped she would forget.
Fortunately, a part of the reason he gave them the techniques was that he needed to go on another mission tomorrow so the girls would have a week or so of self-study.
He was really curious how far they would get with the technique during his absence.
Heh. He chuckled as he thought of Ino's expression upon receiving the technique and learning what it was supposed to do. He had probably become her favorite person. After Sasuke, of course.
Ren would bet that Ino was going to spend every waking moment practicing it. If only to make her hair look prettier.
A fond smile appeared on his lips.
Ren's good mood was suddenly interrupted when a one-eyed old man with only one arm came and put a plate with two dangos on Ren's table before quietly sitting opposite him, making Ren blink at him.
"Aren't you a bit too old and crippled to be working here as a waiter, grandpa?" Ren eye-smiled but inwardly he wanted to be anywhere but here.
Danzo Shimura.
Why the hell was his childhood bogeyman here!?
He still remembered the nights full of nightmares when he was a child about how Danzo would kidnap him. For years, he feared it. But with each year, Ren became less and less fearful, and more weary.
He remembered being tired of being afraid. Thinking back, he did go to the same orphanage as Naruto so it was probably well monitored so Danzo couldn't most likely do anything. And when Ren joined the academy, he kept himself in the middle of the pack. Neither disappointing nor praiseworthy. Just another generic civilian-born orphan ninja.
Danzo probably didn't have a reason to approach him until now.
'So, why the hell is he here?' Ren mentally went through the possible reasons until his mind stopped on one possibility.
During the mission in the Land of Waves, he found a document stating that Gato was supplying somebody in Konoha with talented orphans for money.
Gato probably kept it as a blackmail but Ren knew that the document was not worth the paper it was written on. So, he didn't bother with it. Neither the Hokage nor the Daimyo would do anything about it anyway.
Whoever was buying the kids, and even then it was obvious to Ren that it was Danzo, never signed anything himself. Everything was done by a proxy.
Well, no matter. It wasn't like Ren was afraid of the man anymore. He was still cautious and there was no way Ren would be meeting his eyes anytime soon, but that was just common sense. Not fear.
The man did possess Shisui's Mangekyo, after all. Fortunately, he would need eye contact to use it.
"I take it you know who I am, then." Danzo stated, the man's eyebrow didn't even slightly twitch at the provocation. He was a ninja longer than Ren lived. He wouldn't break his composure because of some childish insult.
Ren clicked his tongue. There went his peaceful lunch.
He had to give it to Danzo. Ninjas in a dango shop within a ninja village? Ren never suspected a thing up until the moment Danzo showed up.
But for this to work, the shopkeeper would have also needed to be one of Danzo's.
Ren regretfully glanced at the dango on the table. This shop was famous for its dango and he was so looking forward to it.
"You can eat it. It's not poisoned."
Ren chuckled, "I don't trust you."
Danzo nodded and took one dango stick, taking a bite.
"I paid for that." Ren dryly said, before sighing. 'Well, whatever.' He decided to just go along with it and took the other stick of dango as he put a paper in the middle of the table.
Danzo looked at the paper but kept his composure and just turned back toward Ren and raised his eyebrow. "An exploding tag?"
"Mhm. This one can level this entire building." Ren leisurely said and continued to eat the dango as if he hadn't just stated he put an explosive within arm's reach of the Konoha's council elder.
"Just a precaution. I heard you are not a man to be trifled with. Besides, you brought your bodyguards and that makes me feel uneasy." Ren glanced over the room. He counted six but there were probably more of them hidden. All on guard and prepared to pounce at him. Yikes.
Maybe Ren was just imagining it but there was just a teeny little bit of respect that was missing before in Danzo's expression now. "You would blow yourself up?"
"And why wouldn't I?" Ren asked with an amused smile, preparing to spew the bullshit of a lifetime, "It's for my will of fire!"
"I see." Danzo impassively said. Ren was a bit confused but shrugged it off. These words worked almost all the time even though he didn't think they had a proper unified meaning. They meant whatever the speaker wanted them to mean. It was a truly convenient phrase.
"Nevertheless, I came bearing an offer to you. There is a special secret division of ninjas under my leadership. We noticed your efforts in the Land of Waves where you assisted in bringing down Zabuza and your abilities as a teacher for young ninjas and a seal user. We could use a man of your talents. Join us for the greater good of Konoha and prove your will of fire." Danzo said, almost showing a bit of passion.
But Ren just continued looking at him with a dry look for a moment, causing the atmosphere to turn awkward.
Inwardly, he was surprised Danzo had the brass balls to speak so casually about ROOT. Then again, he didn't exactly name it and Ren had no proof. He could go to the Hokage and repeat this entire conversation to him and it wasn't like Danzo would get in trouble for it. It would be the word of a councilman against the word of a fresh chunin.
In fact, Ren was certain that if he did that, the whole situation would be spun so against his favor it wouldn't even be funny. Danzo simply held a lot more influence and authority in the village than Ren. People like him had their ways.
"No thanks." Ren casually rejected the offer anyway.
He had kept a low profile up till now to avoid exactly this kind of situation. But here they were and this happened anyway. There was no reason to stay polite right now. Danzo wasn't going to disappear into thin air just because Ren wished for it hard enough.
It was time to be assertive.
Danzo hummed at that answer and gave Ren a thoughtful look, tapping his finger on the table for a few seconds before opening his mouth again, "I am Konoha's elder and can make life very difficult for you in this village."
Ren snorted, "Yes. but there is just one small problem with that. I signed up to serve the Hokage. Not you. Unless you have a signed order from the Hokage that says I am under you now?"
Of course, he wouldn't have that. ROOT was supposed to be disbanded after the Uchiha massacre and Danzo was just an advisor. There was no way to get such a document for him. How would he even justify it to the Hokage? He wasn't supposed to have subordinates anymore.
Even if he tried to falsify it, there would be no way to falsify the Hokage's special stamp that he kept on himself at all times.
Besides, Danzo could make things hard for him. Sure. Promotion was basically unattainable now that Danzo would actively boycott it. With his influence in the council and other Konoha's departments, Ren could save the village from Pain and he would still not get that Jonin rank.
But the joke was on Danzo, Ren didn't want to be promoted anyway.
There were other things Danzo could probably do but nothing overly blatant. Oh, Ren had no doubt that life was going to turn a lot more dangerous for him now.
But it was still a better outcome than obediently becoming one of Danzo's little slaves.
"Hm. Thought so." Ren retorted when Danzo stayed silent.
Not wanting to hear more threats or attempts to persuade him, he grabbed the exploding tag from the table and sealed it into the seal on his wrist before he gave Danzo a two-fingered salute... and disappeared into a puff of smoke, showing that he was just a shadow clone.
...
Back at the training ground forty-one, Ren suddenly turned his head toward Konoha, his lips set in a frown before he released a groan and shook his head.
He sent that damn clone for his lunch and not only was he late, enjoying dango, but he also gave him a headache.
The worst part? His clone forgot to seal the takeout box before he popped.
'How troublesome.' Ren rubbed his neck.