With a swirl of space, Ren appeared in his no longer so secret safehouse in the Land of Tea, inwardly feeling very darkly satisfied as he gained the memories of a clone he had left behind. The fury on Killer Bee's face was almost as sweet as the 'Oh shit' look in Sasori's eyes before the eight-tailed jinchuuriki decided to start a fight.
Not that there was any other choice. The excuse of, 'Oh, I am sorry, the two people who killed my teammates did so unintentionally, so I let them go,' was not going to fly. Even if they started off as allies of convenience, Killer Bee could not just let them go after their weapons killed Elite Jonin from his village. It was a principle of the thing, and the reputation of Kumo was at stake.
Ren was... not wholly happy with how that ended. He would have preferred kicking Killer Bee's ass, preferably in a very humiliating way, after pushing Guyki so deep into the seal that Killer Bee would sooner shit himself from the effort of trying to push his chakra out than summon even a single drop.
Vaporizing that village was going too far. Ninja machinations or not, that crossed the line. In fact, Ren would have loved to give Bee's head an indefinite vacation from the rest of his body for that. Unfortunately, he had this crippling affliction called 'Future Knowledge'. It made deciding on killing people who were potentially very important to the possible good future outcome very challenging.
So, humiliation had to be enough, except then the Akatsuki duo showed up, and even that went down the gutter. Ren was not going to fight three S-rank ninjas alone. The whole point of learning how to teleport was to have another option in situations like these. Not using it would have been... dumb.
Even if Ren could feel a small desire to stay and fight. To test himself against truly hostile S-rank ninjas. To see where he stood in this world. But no. He long ago decided to do the smart thing and keep to the shadows like a proper ninja instead of-
"You can teleport!?" Baki exclaimed, causing Ren to blink as he turned toward the man who was staring at him simultaneously with the most dead-fish-eyed stare he had ever seen that also somehow managed to show deep horror underneath all that 'too-tired-of-this-shit energy it exuded.
"Yep." Ren nonchalantly nodded with a knowing smile that made Baki put his face in his hands, letting out something akin to a despairing groan. Ren could swear he heard a small sob, but he might have misheard.
Yeah, well, the man probably realized that with a teleporter from Konoha in their village, their internal security would be compromised twenty-four-seven, and there was nothing they could do with it, considering they insisted he come to their village themselves.
Sucks to be them.
Ren inwardly chuckled and decided to give Baki space so he could grapple with his anguish in peace. Ren turned toward Kankuro, who was lying on the couch in the room, and had a belt tightened around his stump to stop it from bleeding.
Temari was kneeling next to him, fussing over him in a frantic worry, while the young man tried to grin through his pain to reassure her that he was okay despite his face being so pale his countrymen might confuse him as somebody from the Land of Snow.
Ren's slightly improved mood evaporated near instantly, and the vexing feeling of discontent returned in full force. With barely a thought, he summoned a shadow clone, and before anybody in the room could react, space swirled around said clone, and he was gone.
Ren then approached Kankuro and unsealed his severed limb. "Need a hand?" Ren weakly joked as he got their attention and slowly waved Kankuro's arm around.
That earned him a teary-eyed glare from Temari, but instead of berating him, only a choked sob tore out of her throat. At least Kankuro let out a pained chuckle, finding the small spark of humor in the situation.
That was good. Ren didn't misjudge him, then.
"Heh. I think it might be too late to reconnect it." Kankuro grimaced, and underneath his tough guy facade, Ren could see the growing distress he was trying desperately to keep hidden.
He was a young puppeteer. Losing a hand might as well be a career-ending injury for him. Sure, Suna has wooden prostheses. But relearning how to use his puppets with a new wooden arm would take time and limit his future potential.
"Nah." Ren disagreed and casually unsealed a comfortable chair before sitting on it. A pack of Pocky appeared in his hand, and he started to slowly open it. "I called for Hinata. She will put you together in a jiffy." He shrugged and pulled out one stick before biting on it.
If the nearest medic was all the way back in Suna, then yes, Kankuro's arm would have been a lost cause. But the whole point of learning overpowered abilities like teleporting and telepathy seals was a situation like this.
Ren put in an enormous effort to become overpowered. He might as well damn enjoy it, no?
... He suddenly halted, and his eyebrows furrowed at the incredulous looks Temari and Kankuro were giving him. He gulped down the Pocky in his mouth and pursed his lips.
"I, sorry, am I being too nonchalant?" He sheepishly asked, resisting the urge to rub the back of his head.
"You think? My brother just lost his arm!" Temari gritted out, her fists balled as she tried to rein in her temper. But deep down, it was obvious she was scared witless for her brother, and getting angry was a coping mechanism for her emotions.
"No shit." Kankuro snorted, only to wince when it made his injured arm move and aggravated his wound.
"Apologies. That is an unfortunate side-effect of living with-" Ren started speaking, but was interrupted when Hinata arrived with his clone.
Everybody promptly ignored Baki's small flinch as he realized that yes, Ren could teleport others to him, too.
"I heard a disarmed patient is waiting for me?" Hinata stepped forward and, in a split second, she inspected Kankuro with her eyes. She approached him and took his severed arm from Ren before kneeling next to the sofa where he was lying.
Kankuro and Temari's minds finally registered her presence, and both opened their mouths, but right at that moment, Hinata harshly pulled the belt off Kankuro's stump, causing him to yowl in pain.
"What a hands-on approach." He quipped through his gritted teeth.
Hinata gave him a pointed look, but her hands didn't stop as she rapidly jabbed her finger into several points on his arm.
"Are you trying to be a handful?" She innocently asked, and Kankuro grinned as his pain quite visibly subsided.
"For sure. I will definitely try my best hand at it." He let out a relieved sigh, but he still looked quite haggard. Both his forehead and clothes were drenched in sweat... and what really miffed Ren was that his blood was now all over his couch.
Granted, it wasn't the nicest couch. But Sage, dammit!
"I gotta hand it to you, you certainly do." Hinata hummed with a small smile as she reopened his wound with her chakra scalpel and lined his severed limb with his stump. For a moment, she stopped and looked Kankuro in the eyes with a mirthful expression. "Here, let me lend you a han-."
"Will you just heal him already!?" Temari loudly exclaimed, unable to take it anymore. Her brother still needed medical attention, and they were joking around, throwing stupid hand jokes!?
Temari panted a bit, and then she realized what she had done as all four eyes from Baki, Ren, Hinata, and Kankuro were on her. She slightly blushed before trying to cover it with a scowl as she ducked her head and quietly mumbled an embarrassed, "Please." toward Hinata.
"No problem. I understand that this is stressful for you." Hinata gave the older girl an understanding smile. One that Temari was about to reciprocate, when Hinata continued. "But I have it safely in my hands."
And Temari cringed with a groan. Now it was she who had her face in her hands.
Hinata chuckled as chakra strings filled with medical chakra and a facsimile of the chakra scalpel technique penetrated Kankuro's skin under his bewildered stare and hanging jaw. Under Hinata's control, they had quickly sewn his severed limb onto his stump, Hinata adjusting it by slightly twisting it to the sides while her medical chakra was healing the two parts together.
"That's amazing. I have never even thought chakra strings could be used this way." Kankuro said with a plain awe in his voice as he watched the procedure with a worshipful gaze.
"You are truly an amazing medic." Even Baki had his eyes wide in astonishment as he muttered that. He probably didn't even mean to voice his thoughts. They just came out on their own.
"Thank you." Hinata politely nodded and dismissed the chakra strings. "I have had a lot of practice." Hinata idly stated, and for the next dozen seconds, she kept her hands glowing with medical chakra around Kankuro's previous wound, healing the stitches. "Nowadays, I have to stitch my arms back to my body at least twice a day during my experiments." She casually said with such a creepy giggle that all inhabitants in the room subconsciously tried to back away from her.
"There you go." Hinata stood up and patted Kankuro on the shoulder, "Now you can take matters into your hands again."
He moved his previously missing arm in wonder, moving his fingers. There wasn't even a scar. It looked as if he had never lost his arm.
"Right. That should do it." Hinata said, satisfied with her work as she gave it one more once over with her hidden Byakugan. Everything seemed to align exactly as it should.
"Thank you. Seriously. I-." Kankuro stammered, both speechless and wanting to profusely show his gratitude to Hinata at the same time. The confusing mix was making it very hard to find words.
Used to these things, Hinata graciously smiled, "You are welcome. If some complication arises, tell Ren to call back." She said, stepped back, and turned toward Ren before she pecked him on the lips. Ren smiled as she pulled away and kissed her back, much to her delight as she sweetly giggled into the kiss.
It was short and ended soon enough. They pulled away... and Hinata puffed out of existence.
The room descended into silence as the trio of Suna ninjas had a hard time comprehending the implications of what they had just seen.
Ren, in the meantime, enjoyed the aftertaste of Hinata's lipstick. 'Hmm. Blueberry. Nice! I must tell her I enjoy this one a lot.' He decided and mentally nodded to himself.
"That was just a clone." Baki vacantly stated out of nowhere, his shoulders slumped. "Kankuro's severed arm was healed by a clone. In less than two minutes." He repeated in a hollow disbelief.
"Hinata is busy." Ren shrugged.
"..." And all three Suna ninjas gave him blank looks.
---
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