Ren put a small bowl with fresh tomatoes on the night table next to Sasuke Uchiha's bed in the hospital, and with a sigh, he sat in the chair prepared for visitors. The same chair that Sakura spent most of her time in this past month.
The girl was neglecting her training again in favor of watching over Sasuke.
'Now that is one unintended consequence of my inaction.' Ren wryly mused. And the girl was doing so well so far, only to start reverting back when her resolve was shaken. It was a pity.
One of these days, Ren would have loved to sic Gai on her. Sadly, the guy was too busy with missions for the village to notice that his precious Pink Beast of Konoha was neglecting her youthful training.
It has been a month since the confrontation with Itachi and Kisame, and Ino and Ren spent two more hours shopping in the village after that. An hour into it, Ren did notice Sasuke running through the street with the desperation of a teenager about to commit suicide.
Ren moved to stop him. But then he had a thought, and in the end, he didn't do it. He let Sasuke run straight to Itachi.
Seeing the boy unconscious in the bed, in a coma for the last month, made Ren slightly regret his decision. The fact that he would do it again if the time were reversed made it only worse.
Unfortunately for Sasuke, Ren remembered that Sasuke's presence might have given Jiraiya the necessary seconds to show up and save the day in the anime. Things were different now. Naruto was older, more mature, and stronger.
Yet, Ren doubted that it would raise his chances against Itachi and Kisame overly much. Nah. The fox boy would have been bitchslapped even harder because he would probably not have been seen and treated as a weak child by Itachi and Kisame.
So, Ren was put in front of a decision, and he chose to let Sasuke confront his brother, serving as a distraction. Granted, Ren had no idea if it would work. He had no idea if the events would massively diverge from canon or stay more or less the same.
It was a dilemma. With a rueful huff in his mind, Ren realized that the Hokage probably felt this way quite often. He also sent men and women on missions, making the best judgment he could with the available information, while not having any assurance that it would turn out well.
It was a shity feeling. Fuck the hat and fuck the position. There was no way Ren would ever accept this kind of responsibility. It wasn't for him.
Sure, he could have intervened more directly. He could have run after Sasuke and confronted Itachi and Kisame with him. But Ren refused to do that. Jiraiya was right there. If he needed to interfere when arguably the strongest S-rank ninja from the village was basically next door, then he might as well start interfering in every little thing, and there would be no end to it.
Was he being stubborn?
Ren didn't know. He just didn't want to be the fix-it man for every bad situation. He already didn't have enough time in the day for his sealing, shop, training, and spending his time with his girls. He couldn't even tell when was the last time he went out for a meal with Choza.
When was the last time he simply went to an Akimichi restaurant alone to enjoy the food?
When did he actually cook something better than a sandwich without relying on his clones that always screw the dish up in some small way because they know they wouldn't eat it?
Sage, bless Hinata and her golden heart. The kind girl usually cooked food for both Ren and Ino. She even packaged it into bento boxes. Ren was grateful and regularly assaulted her with kisses and tickles after in the evenings.
She truly deserved it.
When was the last time he just took a scroll, ink, and brush before he spent his afternoon just chilling while trying to come up with a new seal? As a hobby? Not for some purpose. Not to make Konoha stronger. Not to make himself stronger. But to just... goof around with it?
He started regretting establishing a clan and opening his shop. Things were so simple back then. He truly had no idea how much work it would take to keep a clan and a business going. The other clans with businesses usually have hundreds of civilian members who take care of them.
Ren had one measly shop, but he had to create every single item for sale himself. Or with his Clones. Or with his seal-making boxes. But it was still mostly his labor and chakra put into it.
The biggest killer was the paperwork and all the red tape the powers that be in Konoha loved to throw in his way for some reason. Ren had to stop selling the Jutsu Scrolls entirely because, somehow, a few Otogakure ninjas managed to get their hands on a few scrolls and used them against Konoha ninjas during the invasion.
Was it complete bullshit? Yeah! Ren argued it was the same problem as an enemy ninja picking up and using a kunai made and sold in Konoha. It wasn't an issue the maker could prevent or be responsible for. But the governing officials didn't care. It was obvious that somebody was trying to screw with his business.
Three guesses who, and the first two don't count.
Ren didn't even muster the will to care after he tried to plead his case for the first time and was promptly shot down. These scrolls helped your everyday Konoha ninja, but the higher-ups did not give a rat's ass about that.
It was a bit funny to realize, a week later, that it made his life easier. He couldn't sell the Jutsu Scrolls, thus he didn't need to make them, thus he had more time. It worked out for him.
It still pissed him off, though.
The biggest problem was that he did not enjoy running the business. He was doing it to strengthen Konoha. He did not enjoy running a clan. He was doing it to get at least some influence in Konoha and to be taken more seriously by other clans.
He had read so many fics in his previous life where the main characters established their own clans. Or where the Naruto self-insert re-established the Uzumaki clan. They always made it sound and seem so glorious and easy. So effortless.
It was anything but that. The Jutsu Scrolls were but a start. Worse were the vultures 'inquiring' about blueprints for his Secrebo. Or designs for his seals. They always tried to bring some sort of political pressure on him or guilt him with some will of fire bullshit and his civic duty to help the village after the invasion, because they knew any threat of physical harm was pointless with the disparity of strength between them and him.
It always ended up the same way. He told them where they could stick their request before he told them to not so politely fuck off. They pouted or scowled before throwing some sort of 'This is not the end of this!' exiting remark, and then they skedaddled off to the horizon only for some other dipshit to show up the next day.
Only his Anti-Pregnancy Seals were left untouched by these machinations, and Ren had an inkling that it was not because of some sort of human decency. It was because doing so was political suicide.
After these weeks, Ren was honestly wondering if closing his shop down wouldn't be the correct choice. He wanted to strengthen Konoha's forces, but there was no progress toward that desired result because of the red tape and the restrictions some upjumped office ninjas were trying to impose on him.
There was even this one absolute moron who tried to forbid Ren from even using his Jutsu Scrolls. That idiot was quickly reminded why it was not smart to try to tell a clan head that he could not do something classified as a clan technique.
Sadly for him, Hinata refused to heal him at the hospital after Ren was done using him for some involuntary testing of seals, so the dude had to spend a week healing the proper way.
Oh, Ren got an official reprimand for it, but that scrap of paper ended up in the trash can after he and Ino had their laugh.
Ren rubbed the bridge of his nose, and his eyes fell on Sasuke. A fond sigh came out of his lips.
Even these visits to Sasuke. He only visited him for like twenty minutes every week. Sarutobi tried to promote him again three weeks ago. Ugh. Both he and Ren left that meeting disappointed. Ren had gotten more 'punishment' in the form of D-ranks and the Hokage.
Alas, the old man still had no idea that Ren was using Shadow Clones for them. He was far too busy dealing with the negotiations with Suna and the restoration of the village. Even the Daimyo had sent representatives to inquire about the situation, and Ren imagined navigating the whole political situation while organizing the necessary materials and funds must be a real pain in the ass.
These days, Hiruzen is even sleeping in his office.
Raising his head, Ren looked at the clock and realized that he should go. He gave Sasuke one last look before he stood up and was about to exit the room. Naruto should be back with Tsunade any day now.
Although... Ren had no idea how dragging her back to Konoha would go with no Orochimaru to facilitate some character development and plot progression. Naruto's charisma had to come in clutch to save the day.
Hopefully, all will be well because if not, with his luck, it would be he whom Hiruzen would send to drag Tsunade back to Konoha by her pigtails out of sheer spite for refusing the promotions.
A conflicted feeling rose in Ren's chest. Yeah. He could totally see that kind of future, and he didn't like it even one bit.