In a dark tunnel deep underneath Konoha, two men wearing blank ANBU masks stood at attention a few meters apart, while guarding a door leading deeper into the underground facility.
They stood motionless, like statues, but while their standard-issue tanto swords were sheathed on their backs, they both were prepared for any eventuality. Their chakra was tense and ready to be shaped into an attack at a moment's notice.
They were well-trained, good ninjas.
It was such a pity.
And a waste.
As one of them blinked, a blond-haired man suddenly appeared, crouching in front of them with a finger on his right hand touching the ground as his blue eyes watched them, shining eerily due to the darkness surrounding him.
The next thing the two ninjas knew, a seal spread from underneath the man's finger and activated before their trained minds could react to the presence of an obvious enemy in front of them. A privacy bubble instantly covered them alongside a good chunk of the nearby tunnel, not that they were aware of it outside of a slight, barely noticeable buzz going through their chakra network.
A split second later, the two ninjas finally reacted. Their postures tensed before they slightly shifted into an instinctive fighting stance. One of them had his hands rise, probably intending to make hand seals. The other went for his tanto. They both flared their chakra, probably trying to activate some sort of alarm, oblivious to the fact that the seal would not let any chakra signal pass outside of its range.
It barely took one second between the blond-haired man's appearance and the moment the blank-masked ANBU guard touched the hilt of his tanto. He was about to attack...
Blood spurted out in front of him, making him blink in incomprehension before the pain hit and he realized his throat was slit. His knees buckled under his body's weight, and he started falling forward as the world went dark for him one final time.
He had never noticed the blond-haired girl who silently appeared behind him and cut his life short with her kunai.
The girl glanced toward the other guard, seeing his hands joined in a hand seal as she silently grabbed the body of her kill, easing it to the ground in a way that prevented it from generating even the slightest noise. It was more of a result of training and habit at this point, rather than any conscious effort on her part. After all, she knew it was not necessary. The privacy bubble would ensure no sound could leak.
The attack of the other guard, however, was also halted as a senbon suddenly penetrated his neck from behind, coming out from its front, while another senbon found its way to his brain through his right ear.
His hands still formed a second hand seal despite him already being dead before his body finally realized the fact.
His corpse, too, was noiselessly eased onto the ground by the Hyuga girl who assassinated him from behind, and then it vanished into a storage seal before even a drop of his blood managed to stain the floor.
The blond-haired girl also stored the man she killed, leaving no corpse behind. But not before every bit of the blood that spurted from his neck floated in the air, caught in bubbles of air that brought it back toward the corpse and let it spill onto his clothes rather than on the ground behind him. Just like the body of his deceased comrade, he didn't leave even a drop of blood behind either.
The three ninjas left in the tunnel wordlessly nodded at each other, and the two girls transformed into perfect imitations of the two killed men, settling into the same postures as they had a moment prior, taking over the guard duty of the tunnel. Their intentions, however, were very different. They were not going to guard the tunnel from any outside intruders. Instead, their purpose was to prevent anybody inside from getting out alive.
The blond-haired man vanished out of existence, showing he was just a clone, and the privacy bubble instantly disappeared with him, alongside the seal that caused it.
The whole thing took four seconds from start to finish, and the tunnel looked exactly the same as it did five seconds ago. There was not one indication that anything had happened in there, neither to a casual observer, nor to a skilled Jonin.
In many other places, tunnels that led both in and out of the underground facility, similar encounters happened without anybody noticing.
...
In a heavily forested training ground, a rather unpopular one due to its remote location, Ren and Ino stood in the middle of the forest, directly above one of Danzo's underground bases.
The same base that had every single one of its exit and entry tunnels being taken over by their clones right this moment. Nobody would be getting out today. Not a single soul.
They had days to plan this operation, and they were leaving nothing to chance.
Hinata's eyes mapped the tunnels and the underground facility, located every exit point, even the really well-hidden ones, and pointed out every alarm or trap within the facility.
Ren prepared seals and put together a plan of attack. He knew his and the girls' prowess very well and knew exactly how to leverage them to make their endeavor succeed.
Ino... looked pretty.
Well, her part was yet to come.
Days ago, right after Hiruzen dropped the Konoha-Suna alliance scheme on them, they had a very long talk about it after their dinner. They talked about their options, their future, the politics around it, and many other things.
They even considered what they could do to ensure Ren could stay in Konoha. But at this point, they realized that was the least appealing choice. There was simply no way to do it without war-starting repercussions.
Even if Ren usurped the current Hokage, it wouldn't help him much. He would still have heavy political opposition in the village that would only become heavier and more discontent after such a coup.
As for killing them all? There were easier ways to kick off the war he was trying so hard to prevent than weakening the village so much that it would be an irresistibly juicy target to Iwa and Kumo.
Ren would even be willing to work under Tsunade. But that was not an option, either. Tsunade, as the Hokage, could not be seen undermining the alliance talks with Suna. Not when it was needed to dissuade Kumo and Iwa from starting another war.
He could show the village his teleportation seal, and that would most definitely make Konoha very reluctant to part with him. It was most likely the only thing that would make them back off from the current deal with Suna. But once again, it would not solve his political issues.
Hell, it was almost certainly going to make them worse. He would become a very important asset to Konoha, but that didn't mean he would be getting much influence. Certainly not enough to enact the changes he desired.
Oh, there was also the small issue that this would most likely start the war, as Konoha would have to deliberately back off from an already signed agreement with Suna. At that point, Ren wouldn't be surprised if Suna straight-up decided to just join Iwa and Kumo. Konoha can screw with Suna only so many times before Suna decides that working with Iwa, despite their mutual hatred, is simply a more beneficial choice.
So, really, the choice was between going rogue and taking the full blame for not upholding the agreement on himself, which would ensure an eager hunt for his head by both Konoha and Suna as they would still ally with each other, or obediently following the village's plans, letting them ship him to Suna as a house husband.
And honestly? Ren decided to leave the decision to his girls.
He had ideas for both outcomes. Some things in his life would be more convenient or inconvenient, depending on which path he would take, but it all hinged on one single, very important question.
Would Ino and Hinata be okay with him marrying Temari?
That was the million Ryo question. Since Konoha was a bust, Ren's best option for his future plans would be to either go build his own organisation as a rogue ninja or go and make Suna into the best powerhouse in this Sage-damned continent. But he refused to do anything that would sour his relationship with Ino and Hinata.
The culture and mindset around these things were very different from those in his previous world, but he didn't want to assume. So, Ren decided to put the decision-making wholly into their hands after explaining his ideas for either route, with both pros, cons, and the likely consequences he could think of.
So far, Ren hasn't gotten a definite answer.
Not because the two didn't have it. They pretty much had it right away. And maybe he should have expected the answer he was given, considering they were two girls raised as heiresses to their clans. But Ren still decided to tell them to properly think and consider it for a few days.
If only to make himself feel better about it.
Another thing they discussed, however, was their reaction to the political scheming that was going to absolutely fuck with their lives in the foreseeable future.
Neither of them was happy letting it just go. Somebody had to pay for this. They easily agreed on that.
But Ren argued they should wait until the situation stabilized and a war was no longer a likely outcome to any sort of further upheaval of the current power balance among the villages.
Ino and Hinata disagreed. Quite vehemently.
Ren was outvoted. What could he say? The second Hinata pouted and threatened him with no longer baking his favorite cookies every week, Ren caved to her totally 'reasonable' demands.
Haa~, his girls could be so childish at times.
It wasn't like they were the ones who had to make a plan on how to retaliate against their enemies without kickstarting the Fourth Ninja War. Oh, no. It was he who had to spend his evenings pondering that!
Which led them to the current situation. Freezing in the forest under the night sky and waiting for their clones to secure the entrances to Danzo's current base.
Danzo was the only affordable target for their retaliation. People like Hiruzen, Danzo, or Tsunade, Konoha's security was built on their reputation. Killing any of them could make the village look weak.
But Danzo fucked up. He just didn't know it yet.
Because he loved to stay in the shadows so much, it wasn't all that unexpected for him to go to the ground for a few months. Foreign spies not getting a glimpse of the old war hawk for months would be taken as normal by now, even if he is one of Konoha's pillars.
By the time the enemy villages realized the old war hawk was not showing his mug for far too long to still be alive, this little pesky war situation would be solved. Konoha would be allied with Suna and maybe Kiri, and the balance would be restored to the world.
Well, hopefully. Alas, Hinata was far too good a baker. Some risks simply had to be taken.
Such was Ren's Will of Fire.
"All entry points are secured." Hinata's clone that stood in the forest with Ren and Ino suddenly spoke while she was observing the base underneath them, "You can start the second stage. The guard's position hasn't changed. All other targets of the second stage are asleep. The main target is also asleep in a separate room. The intrusion was not noticed."
Hearing her report, Ren nodded as he felt Ino's gloved hand slide into his own. It was time to give Danzo a good wake-up call.