Half a year passed since Ren was able to convince Itachi to join the Baransa, and Ren sometimes took time off his journey, sometime to help a village,others to hunt down some really messed up missing-nin, and others time he just went back to Konoha to pass some days with his family and friends.
Of course he always took Peri with him, the first time he went home with Peri, his father cried because he couldn't come up with platypus puns, while his mother asked his Peri was some kind of summoned beast, Ren of course said that Peri was just a pet he saved and the he was part of the family, Ren also paid for a pet house to be built in their garden, and the night while everyone was sleeping he also built a undergroud hideout for him, with secret entrance in the pet house and in his room.
He also spent some time with his former sensei and his family, playing with little Mikatsuki, who even if 1-year-old was already playing with the toy sword he gifted, and was finally able to put Jiro and Taro on the Wall of Shame, in this year both developed a crush on Hinata and had the brilliant idea of asking for a date at the same time, in an isolated alley, but as the two were fidgeting to ask her out, Hinata activated her Byakugan and hit them with the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms), leaving both of them bruised and knocked out, but with a silly smile on their face as they touched their goddess, and Ren who saw everything, just changed their position a little and then took a photo.
Talking about dates, Ren finally got the courage to ask Yakumo out, they had a great fun together and he took her to the only place in Konoha he didn't go until now, Ichiraku's Ramen, and he had to admit that it was good,and after dinner he took her to the top of the Hokage Mountain, until the very end the date went well, but unfortunately he ended up in his own Wall of Shame when he send her back home, Yakumo's parents were waiting for them, and till that point is all well, but when Murakumo notice the blushing Yakumo, he misinterpreted the events and started attacking Ren, with everything he got, Ren could swear that Murakumo started forming is own Ido, and while all this was happening from the corner of his sight he saw Agent P with a camera in hand, and when he was finally able to escape thanks to Yakumo and her mother help, he found on the Wall of Shame his own photos of the events.
Meanwhile, on the others member of Baransa, Itachi now fully recovered, once again started obtaining info on the various Jinchuriki while doing mercenary work with Kisame,he said that they planned to start capturing them in 1 year, as soon as Sanbi fully reform.
Dosu was able to destroy some hidden bases of Orochimaru, but they were the ones where he left the failed experiment, so nothing of importance there, and Haku and Zabuza also took some time off from hunting down missing-nin, and Haku also reported that Zabuza and Mei were starting to grow closer, as he is often seen in the Mizukage office, and Ren as soon as he heard the news, sent to Haku a camera and a note, written on the note was "You know what to do ;)".
Now back to the present Ren and Peri travelled to the Land of Medicine the name commonly used for the region surrounding the "Three Wolves" mountain range, because of how many medicinal plants grow there, using just the plants that grow near the Howling Wolf Village, over three hundred different medicines can be produced, there are 3 village in this region, the already mentioned Howling Wolf Village, the Awakening Wolf Village and the Nourishing Wolf Village.
The mountains and villages that are established upon them all have "wolf" in their name because of Rōen, a wolf-like monster that has terrorized the area since ancient times.
And is because of this monster that Ren and Peri are here, rumors of it came to Ren ear especially some rather concerning details,
One, this monster Rōen periodically attacks this region since the ancients times, even before Kaguya era, Two from what he heard and if the rumor are true, Rōen is about to attack once again and this time the 3 village are preparing some blue fire powder, a special substance that creates a large explosion when exposed to water, to fight it.
Three, Rōen is said to be as strong and big as a Bijuu (Tailed Beast) but he also consume Chakra and Souls of the people with his tentacles, this one detail, plus the incident of one year and half ago with the "Shinigami" made Ren cautious, as it is probable that Rōen is another Hollow that for some reason is in this world.
Now from the legend and rumors, if are true and trustworthy, Rōen should still be a Hollow of the Adjuchas class, and if that is true then is a relief as Adjuchas while still powerful are just at the power level of a average Capitan/Kage.
Soon Ren and Peri arrive at the Howling Wolf Village, originally a settlement of the Kodon clan, by selling medicines and offering modest shinobi services, the Howling Wolf was able to support itself as a hidden village, but the coming of Kumanoi clan who invented the blue fire powder, changed some thing, split the village between who wanted to make full use of the blue fire powder "tubes" and forgoing the ninja, and those who wanted them both to protect and sustain the village.
Once there the first thing he did, was renting a room for the night and then together with Peri, went around the village to familiarize with the various locations, then they went back to their room to rest.
Once inside Ren then brought up a simple barrier that made so that the sound won't get out of the room, as Peri as soon as he got inside, brought out his radio, and soon a loud electric guitar sound started to come out of it,it was continuously getting louder, and soon, the AC/DC's song Thunderstruck could be heard.
Hearing this Ren could only shake his head 'That one is one of the most useless way to use a Bankai, basically I made the illusion of the various songs real and then recorded it, that is also how I made the Agent P theme, and a bunch of other songs to pass time during the journey, but to think that Peri was a fan of Rock, now that I think about it, I could torture Nagato with "Let it Go" on loop, then he will really understand the true pain, or even worst "Baby", but now that it think about it, it is too cruel even for me'.
Like this Ren spent a couple of peaceful days, exploring, relaxing, and of course gathering information, and as the evening of the 3rd day just ended and the sky was turning dark, Ren that was talking with Peri still in pet mode about, going to the other 2 villages to check, "So what do you think, will this Rōen really attack or he is only some legend?".
But just as Peri was about to replies, a really loud, strange but somewhat familiar, roar, was heard, it was so loud that all the glasses shattered and the building were trembling.