Of course, after that, the ancient monkey-reject finally left Ren's hospital room, leaving him mind-blown and barely responsive to the world.

Ren inwardly admitted his defeat. The man was an undisputed pinnacle of ninja-hood. With just a few words, he totally massacred Ren's confidence without even trying. Truly, a killer without a peer.

If just a few words could change this much, Ren realized that no matter how much he tried to keep things in line, it simply would not work.

It wasn't a question of effort. The real world simply did not work that way.

Alas, Ren was not left to his musings for long because a minute after the Third Hokage left, Ino and Hinata entered his hospital room. Seeing Ino's determined face, Ren's mood soured even more. Yes, he promised her an explanation after he reported to the Hokage but did she really need to stomp into his room not a minute after the old man left?

Couldn't she let him mentally reel in peace for a bit? Was asking for five minutes full of silent self-pity and brooding too much?

Truly, when it rains, it pours.

Though, Ren could understand. Ino, despite her flirty attitude, was still a kid deep down. She was naive, didn't think things through, and didn't even bother to see 'underneath the underneath'. She was also the heiress of the Yamanaka clan.

Konoha will always be important to her because this is the place where her family lives. Adding to that the academy propaganda... Yeah. Ren was actually happy the girl was reasonable enough to be willing to hear him out before arbitrarily deciding he was a traitor because he was willing to voice out that Konoha sucked.

Not that it would affect his standing in the village or anything. Most ninjas in the village came to that conclusion during their careers. It was an open secret and the higher-ups learned to live with it. As long as the ninjas stayed loyal, the higher-ups did not care if they lost their naive outlook on the village.

Ren just didn't want to engage in more teenage drama.

He wanted to slowly ease the girls into this realization as months, maybe one or two years, passed but looking at Ino's peeved expression, Ren realized neither of them would get that luxury. She had already waited two days and it didn't seem she was up for waiting any longer. He mentally grimaced as he realized he would have to pull the big guns and shove some really disturbing examples in front of her innocent and naive eyes.

He didn't like having to do it. But he needed her to realize that the real world wasn't a fairy tale where everybody is a friend because they are from the same village. Her rose-tinted glasses had to be discarded.

"Well?" Ino stopped in front of Ren's bed and asked, her arms crossed on her chest. Ren smiled a bit. She looked cute when she was angry.

He looked at Hinata next to her, but the Hyuga girl just casually shrugged. She clearly did not care about his reason for distrusting Konoha's leadership. She took his medical chart that was pinned to his bed and started reading.

What she did care about was apparently his health and that made Ren's smile widen into a grateful one.

"First, calm down." He calmly said as he looked back at Ino who just huffed.

"I am calm."

"Right." Hinata didn't forget to add a bit of sarcasm into her tone as she visibly rolled her eyes, causing Ino to give her an irritated look.

"Fine." Ino let her arms fall along her body as she relaxed her posture, "Just... I like you, teacher." She balled her hands into fists and looked down while chewing on her lower lip, "Don't go betraying the village, please. I don't think I could handle that." She said in a quiet but pleading tone, making Ren sigh.

"Teenage girls. Stop inserting so much unnecessary drama and angst into everything." He deadpanned and both girls gave him a flat look at that. Ino even added a scowl, much to his amusement.

"Right. Come here." Ren patted the sides of his bed and Ino looked at Hinata for confirmation. Unfortunately for the blonde girl, Hinata just happily stepped forward and took her seat on the right side of Ren's bed. Then she grabbed his right hand into her hands and supportively squeezed while averting her eyes by ducking her head with a small blush covering her cheeks.

Ren appreciated the supportive gesture but unfortunately, he didn't see her reaction because his eyes were firmly set on Ino. Sighing to herself, the blonde girl followed, taking her place on the left side of his bed before, much to his surprise, taking his left hand and copying Hinata with a displeased huff.

When Ren lifted an eyebrow at her gesture with an amused smile dancing on his face, Ino flushed, "It's just to ensure you don't try anything funny!" She retorted, giving the squeeze all her strength in her petty revenge, probably trying to make it somewhat hurt.

Ren nodded. Right. Both of his hands were restrained by beautiful girls. Oh, woe is him.

See what he meant? Teenage drama everywhere.

Sadly, Ren had to forgo teasing Ino. They would get nowhere if he started because she would try to match him. He actually did want to resolve their issues so best to get to that.

"Could you scan the room, Hinata?" Ren asked, glancing at her, only to feel supremely embarrassed because he instantly had to channel chakra to the lower part of his body. It would be very awkward if he popped a boner right now.

Ren was still just a man and she was downright adorable and gorgeous at the same time. It took a considerable effort to keep his attraction from showing but fortunately, his focus was quickly caught by how the veins around her eyes bulged despite her not releasing his hand.

She had managed to use Byakugan without hand seals. That was new. Ren knew she couldn't properly do that when he was leaving for the clusterfuck of a mission.

Hinata, noticing that he was looking at the area around her eyes and guessing his thoughts, gave him a winning smile full of pride, "There is nobody but us in the room."

Ren chuckled, "Good." He gave her a brief proud smile, "I'll need my hands now."

His hands were reluctantly released by the girls and he unsealed four tags, giving each girl two. They knew what to do with them because he used them to secure his apartment from spying eyes when he was getting patched up after Yagura wrecked him.

They stood up without a prompt and put one tag in the middle of each wall in the room, creating an invisible sealing barrier that would prevent anybody from eavesdropping or looking into the room with a Byakugan.

"My clan would go crazy if they knew something like this existed." Hinata mirthfully mused as she sat back on the right side of his bed and unashamedly took Ren's hand gently into hers again.

Ino finished with her tags just a second later and did the same thing as Hinata but Ren actually started inching his hand away from her when she sat down. It didn't deter her as she forcefully grabbed his hand.

"Oi. Be gentle, woman." Ren complained without any heat in his tone, only to get an unamused look from Ino. Still, there was a bit of pink in her cheeks so he counted it as his win.

"Start talking." She retorted but her grip on his hand relaxed, her thumbs subconsciously running circles across his hand. Ren had to admit she had very tender hands. They were very enjoyable to touch.

But it also made him wonder how the hell did she accomplish that. She studied kenjutsu, for sage's sake. She should have calluses all over her hands but...

Ino suddenly pinched his hand, pulling Ren out of his reverie, her eyes holding a threat of more pinches if he dared to stay silent for a moment longer.

Ren inwardly grimaced. Yes. He was stalling. Sue him.

With a sigh, he quickly checked the detection seal he had on his body, getting no positive result outside the three of them. Then, he checked the barrier covering the room. There was no life force outside the three of them inside his sealing barrier.

Good. That meant there was indeed no ANBU hiding in the room. As much as he wanted to trust Hinata's Byakugan fully, she was not even a genin yet.

The Hokage might have looked like he believed Ren's report fully but one just never knows with old coots like him. They might be openly smiling at you while preparing a dagger behind their backs.

It was better to triple-check these things.

Now- "Ouch!" Ren yelped as Ino pinched him again, this time with way more strength, making Hinata giggle at their antics.

"Stop being so troublesome." Ino exasperatedly said and Ren gave her a grin.

"I was just checking if we are really alone. No need for domestic abuse, dear."

The joke's on her. She was no longer even a bit angry. Dealing with an exasperated female was much easier than dealing with an angry one.

Ren counted this one as a success.