Ren watched the whole interaction between Anko, Ino, and Orochimaru, laughing at how it ended for Ino.
She had definitely lost that one, and the Yamanaka girl knew it. She also knew that quite a few of the participants had noticed.
Oh, how that must burn her ego.
This was also why he wanted his girls to go through the Chunin Exams. They were powerful. No doubt about that. But they still lacked a whole lot of experience.
Ino could mindscrew many ninjas into doubting themselves. But dealing with somebody mindscrewing her? Not so much.
It is going to be a valuable experience for her.
The following moments ensued similarly to canon. The explanation was the same. The task was the same. The proctor was still Anko. Choji still asked about food. And Shikamaru still groaned out loud, "Troublesome."
Except, Naruto did not have any sarcastic and clever remarks that would earn him a kunai scratch on the cheek after Anko's warning of the dangers in the Forest, making Ren quietly proud.
He quite liked this butterfly effect.
Karin was good for the boy. He still acted childishly from time to time, and even the redheaded Uzumaki could not get him to abandon orange color in his attire, but she gave him the attention and family he so dearly craved.
Sasuke was also much friendlier after training with Gai. At least, that's what Ren heard. Sakura was begrudgingly civil with him. Hinata and Ino were also his friends, which meant the ever meddlesome Ino dragged Shikamaru by his ear, and Choji with the promise of food, into this dynamic.
Ren guessed that Naruto probably did not feel the need to act out. After all, he had everything he had ever wanted. Friends. Family. People who acknowledged him.
The only thing he did not have yet was the Hokage hat.
For the next several hours, Ren boredly watched, relaxedly sitting at a nearby tree in plain view of any ninja who bothered to look, as the scrolls were distributed and the teams slowly made their way to their respective entrance gates.
It looked so fast in the anime, but in reality, the travel time could not be just cut out of the equation. By the time everyone was in the position, it was already late afternoon.
Ren did not follow Ino or Hinata's teams as they made their way to their gate. Instead, he waited, wanting to see when exactly Anko would be alerted to the discovery of the three Kusa genin corpses that Orochimaru used to infiltrate the Exams.
It happened only a few minutes after the signal to let the participants into the Forest, and sent the whole monitoring team into a frenzy as Anko rushed away from the command center, probably going to check out the corpses.
Ren smiled. That was good for him. With them sufficiently distracted and on the lookout for the three Kusa genin, the chance of encountering some pesky Konoha ninjas trying to stop him significantly decreased.
He sent a mental nudge to Hinata through the telepathy seal, signifying that he was ready when she was, and vanished from his spot with body-flicker.
It was time to suit up.
...
Ren, wearing his cartoonish Tobi costume with duck-taped red clouds made of paper on a black coat, appeared in front of Hinata, causing her to raise her eyebrow at him while the corners of her lips started to twitch upward.
... He looked ridiculous.
Realizing what went through the girl's head, Ren grinned at her. After all, that was the whole point of the costume.
Ren's eyes glanced at Kiba and Shino, who were knocked out behind Hinata, their unconscious bodies were sitting on the ground and leaning on a tree trunk.
"Had problems with your teammates?" Ren casually asked.
She was acting like a sort of beacon for his teleportation and was supposed to signal him when the air was clear around her. But her 'go ahead' signal came a bit later than he expected.
"Yeah. We were tracked by quite a few people." Hinata nodded with a wry smile, aware that it was her fault because of how much attention she drew to her during the preparation time. "It wasn't safe to leave my team or knock them out until now. Sorry."
"It's okay. I am glad to see that you are responsible." Ren said as Hinata approached and hugged him, her arms circling his waist.
She lifted her head, giving Ren an adorable look as she trailed off. "So..."
"So?" Ren lifted his eyebrow at her in amusement, secretly enjoying how she was pressing her soft chest into him.
"We are alone. In the Forest. Anything could happen." Hinata hummed, pressing herself more into Ren.
"I guess you are right." Ren nodded in agreement as his hand finished wandering and ended up firmly grasping Hinata's butt.
The girl flushed with a big, eager smile, decorating her expression. "Y-"
Suddenly, Ren let go of Hinata, and she spun, drawing a long needle in the process before tossing it into the treeline. A moment later, an explosion resounded through the surroundings as the explosion seal on the needle went off, and a charred husk of a person fell to the ground.
He didn't manage to let out even a single shout before he was dead.
Ren looked at the corpse, noticing the half-melted Kumo headband and wryly chuckled. "As you said, anything could happen, so we'd better not get distracted." He said with a small head shake, causing Hinata to pout.
She should have noticed him far sooner. And she would have if she had her Byakugan on. But from what Ren once heard her confess, the Byakugan vision was not very... fun. Hinata preferred to look at the world with her own eyes. It was far more colorful that way.
She never used it when they were intimate or flirted with each other.
Hinata let out a fed-up sigh, giving the charred corpse a small glare, and Ren could not help but to compare the woman in front of him to the memory of watching her child self on the screen as she was hiding in the bushes and shaking in fright because she witnessed Gaara squish his opponent's body into a paste.
His Hinata was different.
It was yet another butterfly effect he was responsible for. But he also liked this one.
"I should be on my way." Ren said, making Hinata give him a reluctant nod.
"Fine. I'll be fending off Kumo idiots for the next few days anyway." Hinata said with a sigh before she gave Ren a short, affectionate kiss and gestured for him to go.
Chuckling, Ren kissed her forehead before putting his orange mask on his face as he ran off.
He had a quite short time window for his plan. Orochimaru was going to be attacking Team Seven, which meant he would not be paying attention to Kabuto.
It was time to deal with the biggest threat from the Fourth Great Ninja War. There would be no improvement in Edo Tensei by Kabuto. He was going to permanently solve that problem.
---
Author Note:
If you wish to support me or read 22 advanced chapters ahead of time:
ko-fi.com/kasicair
or
patreon.com/kasicair
And if not, that's totally fine. I hope you will enjoy the story.
Have a nice day.