"Good morning."
Ren heard Ino mumble as she entered the kitchen in his apartment with a big yawn and her right hand stuck under her pajama top, groggily rubbing her belly. She blearily looked around until she located a kettle full of coffee. Briefly stopping, Ino suddenly hastened her steps as if the coffee was a magnet pulling her to itself.
"Morning." Ren mumbled even as his focus stayed on scribbling something onto a scroll with the tip of his tongue sticking out of his lips in concentration.
"Good afternoon." Hinata answered with a teasing smile, taking a small jab at Ino, which made the blonde aim a half-hearted glare at her as she was pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"Yeah, yeah. Unlike you, I had a busy night yesterday." Ino lazily rebuked as she walked toward the table where Ren and Hinata sat, and took an empty seat before her expression melted into a relaxed delight as she took a sip from her cup.
"I don't know. I'd say my night was busy enough, too." Hinata playfully quipped, making eyes at Ren in a way that Ino couldn't help but notice.
"Yes. You were loud." The blonde girl rolled her eyes, "I sure as hell heard your attempts at trying to imitate a monkey while I was going through Danzo's memories. Oo Oo Oo Aa Aa Aa." She mockingly imitated the sounds until Hinata kicked her in the shin under the table, causing her to start snickering at the Hyuga girl's annoyed expression.
"You are just jealous." Hinata huffed and leisurely pulled her left leg more to the side, evading Ino's retaliatory kick to her own shin with ease while speaking with her elbow on the table and cheek leaning on her palm, "Besides, it's not as if you had to go through his memories right away. You could have joined us."
"Nu-uh. I was too curious. He said some interesting things after you left." Ino protested as a shadow clone burst into existence next to her.
The clone winked at Ren before pecking Ino's cheek. Using the small distraction, the clone was able to grab Hinata's mug from the table and nimbly darted toward the kitchen countertop as she took a sip from Hinata's mug under the unamused stare of the Hyuga girl.
"Did anybody ever tell you that you might have a problem with narcissism?" Hinata turned toward Ino, who blinked and shrugged.
"No. I am not responsible for the actions of my clones." Ino grinned.
"I expect a proper refill." Hinata said, a bit loudly for the clone to hear, before Ren idly interrupted them with his own question.
"What did Danzo say?"
Ino let out a pondering hum, "The Uchihas were responsible for the Senju clan's demise and Hatake Sakumo's suicide."
"Bullshit." Ren spoke before he could engage his brain and the shock was enough to cause his brush to slip and ruin his work. "Ah! Fuck!" He exclaimed as he saw the unintended vertical line across his new sealing attempt that irreparably ruined it.
Sighing at the waste, Ren couldn't help but have irritation seeping into his tone as he looked up, "No." He halted as his eyes finally saw Ino, and he barely prevented himself from laughing at her terrible case of bed hair.
His gaze flickered toward Hinata, who covertly returned a smirk in his direction, and their eyes sparkled as they reached an unsaid accord. Neither of them was going to alert Ino of her current predicament.
Wait, really?" Ren asked, half because he was truly curious, and half because he wanted to lead her attention away from his barely stifled snickering.
"No idea. It certainly was not Danzo, and his memories indicated the breadcrumbs of evidence led to the Uchiha clan, but who can really say at this point?" Ino uncaringly said, just as her clone returned with a newly filled mug of coffee in one hand and a plate full of spaghetti bolognese in another.
Ino's clone put the mug in front of Hinata, leaning forward to peck her on the cheek, before she straightened up and suddenly had a pair of chopsticks in her hand.
"Oi!" Ino exclaimed as she watched her cheeky clone quickly gobble up some of the spaghetti before Ino managed to dispel her.
In a nice display of precision, Ino managed to catch the plate and the chopsticks from the air without spilling even a drop, but her scowl showed she didn't appreciate the help with her food.
Ren smiled at the display as Ino huffily stabbed her chopsticks into the spaghetti. "Danzo not being the root of all evil in Konoha. Hard to believe, to be honest."
"Eh, he might not be responsible for everything, but he was plenty evil." Ino shivered, "Most of his agents were orphans who were forced to go through brutal training that maybe only thirty percent of participants survived, and that was a good year. And even then, half of those died by their third year in Danzo's service. His whole organisation was... a meatgrinder."
"How did he manage to do that in the village?" Hinata asked in a befuddled tone before Ren could utter a word. Honestly, he was always curious about that.
Unlike in fics, somebody would have noticed it here. Orphans going to Danzo meant orphans not going to the Academy. With all the years ROOT existed? Thousands of kids had to go through it. Ren doubted Danzo could make that work even if he had an official permit to recruit from Konoha's orphanages. Konoha had a lot of orphans, but not quite the number required to keep a thing like that going.
"Easy. He didn't recruit the orphans from the village. Those went to the academy. The Land of Fire is big and has many failing orphanages. He wasn't strapped for unwilling recruits." Ino shrugged and put a mouthful of spaghetti into her mouth while Hinata's expression darkened.
"Filth." She muttered under her nose, and Ren reached for and comfortingly squeezed her hand.
"What I found interesting was his plans for Sasuke, though." Ino spoke after gulping down the food. "You said Danzo was afraid of Itachi Uchiha coming after him, so he let Sasuke be, right?" She smirked at Ren, who raised his eyebrow at her but casually nodded.
"Well, that was not it. Danzo didn't give a shit about Uchiha the Senior." Ino derisively snorted, still sore at the fact that Itachi was slightly better at her in straight combat. "Itachi is apparently ill, and his Mangekyo makes him go blind. The only reason why Danzo didn't send his ROOT ninjas after the man was that his information was useful."
"Danzo had even Jiraiya's network infiltrated?" Ren's eyes widened. Where the hell did he not have his spies entrenched? Was it any wonder that nobody in Konoha could do anything about him?
"Yup. Some middlemen or whatever were copying reports and sending them to Danzo. In fact, he had a lot of those in many important places. I might actually step in and take over his network." Ino pursed her lips before lightly shrugging, "I guess it will depend on whether I can sell Danzo's death as him simply deciding to stick to the shadows long enough to subvert his spy network. We will see."
She ate another mouthful of her spaghetti.
"And? So, what had our nefarious Elder planned for the village's precious and most sought-after boy toy?" Hinata asked with a mirthful smirk.
"Let me guess," Ren rolled his eyes, "Breeding stock? Making a new, obedient Uchiha clan would certainly fit in Danzo's modus operandi."
"Close." Ino spoke with a somewhat full mouth before gulping the bite down, "Let's just say there is a reason why so many civilian girls are so enamored with the idea of boinking with Sasuke. Some manipulation, quite a bit of subtle genjutsu, and the word of Sasuke's inherited wealth spreading out as rumors. And the girls just can't help themselves around our resident boy-wonder." Ino chuckled.
"Danzo kinda hoped that Sasuke would be more immature and would, ahem, spread his seed all over Konoha with many youthful indiscretions. He even had some of his ROOT kunoichi trying to get into his pants, but as we all know, Sasuke shows no interest in the fairer gender." Ino continued. "Anyway, what is this?"
Ino gestured toward a small message scroll on the table, and that caused Ren and Hinata to exchange wry smiles.
"An ANBU delivered it this morning." Ren sighed. "Apparently, the Sunagakure delegation will be here tomorrow alongside Temari."
"They are really not giving us any time to plot a way out." Hinata grumbled, and Ren helplessly shrugged. The fact that they would be arriving in Konoha so soon meant they were on their way for at least two days already.
Hiruzen pretty much conveyed the message at the last possible moment that would still allow Ren to get ready to greet them. The man was definitely getting heavy-handed here, but that was okay. He could manage.
"Oho~, so we are going to have a chance at a serious discussion with our newest sister? I can't wait." Ino giggled in a way that made Ren hope she was not going to make Temari run from Konoha screaming.
"It's such a drag, too." Hinata petulantly pouted, "I was so excited to start researching the Mangekyo Sharingan and the Mokuton arm we acquired yesterday, but now I'll have to go back to my clan and start preparing to represent it."
"At least you are not the guy who will most likely get screamed at by an unhappy girl." Ren resignedly said, looking at the message scroll as if it deeply offended him.
He could only hope that tomorrow would go well.