{Ino's home, Yamanaka Clan Compound, Konohagakure}
{5:47 PM, 6th July 13 Yrs ANB}
{3rd Person POV}
Her face was flushed and her eyes a little misty as her gaze focused on Ren sitting in her living room with a mask on his face. Several things happened instantly that made her change her approach.
As she flung herself over she noticed the way her mother put her hands up, her father putting his hands up indicating her to stop.
"Careful, Ino-chan I'm just a shadow clone..." Ren's words reached her seconds later. Chakra was useful for many things and one advantage of learning the tree walking exercise was that she was able to kill her momentum just in time.
Ren backed up just one step but since he saw Ino controlling her momentum he allowed her to hug him. It was a soft hug, somewhat completely different from what Ino was going for.
He awkwardly stepped up and embraced Ino as she sobbed lightly, the guilt of not talking to her before leaving once again came back but he managed to suppress it.
"Ino-chan?" Ren whispered in her ear, her hair smelled like lavender.
Ino shook her head and hugged him tighter, he didn't know how much damage a shadow clone could take but since they could punch and kick a hug should pop him right.
His eyes met Karui's and he looked at the stoic look with which she looked at the scene. Feeling a little embarrassed he nudged Ino again and asked, "Ino-chan?"
Ino finally nodded and let go, her eyes searching towards his face so he unclipped his mask and smiled at her.
"I'm sorry I didn't find you before leaving, but I was given a mission by Hokage and was instructed to leave immediately," Ren replied.
He had debated on whether to lie or how to approach this conversation, but anything other than the truth wouldn't be fair to Ino. He went through his weapons pouch and pulled out the original mission scroll that was given to him.
"This is an S-Rank mission and if you do decide to read through it you will have to keep my mission a secret," Ren smiled and extended the scroll to Ino.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she took the scroll and opened it.
"Are you sure that is a good idea, that is an S-rank mission?" Inoichi asked, Karui glared at her clueless husband.
"Hokage-sama allowed me to talk to Ino, I'm sure he's aware that I wouldn't lie. And he didn't order me to lie, so..." Ren replied.
Inoichi nodded.
Karui sighed as she shook her head.
Meanwhile, Ino was reading the mission as Ren slowly got her to settle down on another cushion. He looked at Inoichi and Karui in awkward silence a couple of times during the time Ino finished reading the mission. When she gave the scroll back Ren extended the scroll towards Karui who took the scroll without hesitation.
"So you killed the sand guy with the gourd that you warned Shika and me not to go against?" Ino asked with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah, he came at me from the beginning and he looked like he was going insane. Plus he was a Jinchurki and with the way he was using the beast's chakra I didn't really have a choice." Ren replied.
Ino's eyes became puzzled for a moment and then she asked, "What's a Jinchuriki?"
"Uhh..." Ren stalled as he looked at Inoichi for any help.
"A Jinchurki is a person inside which one of the 9-tailed beasts is sealed," Inoichi replied, he took this chance to take control of the conversation again, he knew that Gaara was the son of the Yondaime but the fact that he was a Jinchuriki wasn't mentioned in the briefing that he received.
"How do you know for sure that he was a Jinchuriki?" Inocihi asked.
'Because I have an ability that allows me to read someone's life story?' Ren thought.
"I remember that night you know, somewhat, It is one of the earliest memory that I could remember. The malicious chakra that Gaara was emitting was exactly the same..." Ren replied.
Ren to be honest didn't remember that night, but since he was a year old during the nine tails attack he could use that excuse. Plus with him mentioning his personal trauma Inoichi would surely drop this line of questioning.
"Wait, what night, what seal?" Ino asked, she didn't quite understand everything right now.
"You know the 9 tails right, there are 9 such dem-" Ren's clone began explaining but he froze as a new set of memories appeared in his mind.
"Ren-kun?" Ino nudged causing Ren to focus back on her and Inoichi who recognized the phenomena as the memory feedback from a shadow clone.
"Uhh yeah sorry, just got a memory feedback from the boss..." Ren waved away Ino's concern though he was still thinking about the the actual situation of his real body.
The shadow clone Jutsu was a weird one, each shadow clone was capable of having individual thoughts but he was pretty aware that he was just a shadow clone. His actions would always mirror Ren's thoughts because they were the same in the end.
'Hokage-sama told me that I need to report to him as soon as I can, but I can delay things a little bit.'
"Is your real body really stuck in Amegakure?" Inoichi asked.
"Yeah, I was interacting with the black market as I dealt with the Suna's shops in the border villages. That's when I encountered a missing nin named Aoi Rokushō." Ren spoke, and he noticed that Inoichi's eyes lit up at that name.
"You know him, that's a little unusual he's not that strong..." Ren muttered.
"It's a personal grievance," Inoichi waved the question away.
"...Anyway, I remember his bingo book entry and also the fact that he stole the Sword of the thunder god that was Tobirama-sama's sword. So I interacted with them in an attempt to reclaim that sword..." Ren spoke, he then looked at Ino and Karui.
"...and one thing led to another when I found out some confidential info that I should first share with Hokage-sama." Ren finished.
"Are you okay though?" Ino asked, she was still trying to wrap her head around what Ren's mission was. All this seems a little too dangerous for genin to handle.
"I'm okay, not officially a part of 'Amegakure'. I'm sort of 'under observation' for the next 3 months and would have to lay low for a bit." Ren replied.
Inoichi felt like something was wrong but he didn't point it out. Ren was just a genin so Ame should not risk having him in their force. He could understand when Aoi Rokushō was inducted as an Ame Jonin but he provided Ame with a lot of intel. What could Ren provide that would tempt this action from Hanzo...
The atmosphere became a little solemn as everyone got lost in their thoughts a bit. After a while Ino looked at her mom with a pointed expression and Karui nodded as she stood up and gave Inoichi a look.
With a sigh, Inoichi stood up as he followed Karui out of the door. With Ren's passive sensing, he could easily see that Inoichi stopped following Karui and turned to listen through the door.
"...Ouch alright I'm coming..."
A small smile appeared on Ren and Ino's face as they listened to Inoichi being dragged away by her mom.
"You know you can't beat me right or I'll pop..."
...