Ren watched Temari with veiled displeasure as his stomach sank. His preferred future was falling to pieces right in front of his eyes, and he had no way to do anything about it.
"I just did what you advised me. It's not my fault that this is the result!" Temari coldly bit back, glaring at Ren because she noticed a hint of his disapproval at Gaara's proclamation.
"It's none of your or Konoha's business anyway!" She protested and crossed her hands on her chest with a 'hmph!', signifying that the topic was over as she dared Ren to say anything more about it with her blazing, angry teal eyes.
Ren inwardly grimaced. He knew he would be getting nothing else from the girl, so he took a mental step back and re-examined Gaara and Temari's behaviour since he stepped into the room.
He noticed that they were way too at ease with each other in comparison to how they behaved during the Chunin Exams. And then, the realization struck him, almost enough to make him lose his breath.
His attempt at Talk No Jutsu toward Temari.
It worked. It fucking worked! The girl definitely tried to repair her relationship with her brother, and the fact that they had cells next to each other and their chakra was restrained probably helped her immensely.
Gaara, no longer tormented by Shukaku, had his first sleep in who knows how long. And sleeping came with dreams. With the boy's childhood and upbringing? Nightmares were almost guaranteed.
And who was conveniently placed in the cell next to him to comfort him? Who was here to keep him company and keep the night terrors at bay?
... Who was most likely emboldened by Ren's words to actually approach her brother instead of fearfully keeping away?
Ren closed his eyes and let out a breath full of indignation as he stifled a long-suffering groan while cursing the damned butterfly effect in his head.
This was not how it wanted to go.
Don't get him wrong. He was happy that Gaara's and Temari's sibling relationship was on its way to restoration. That was a good thing. But Temari as the Kazekage?
Wasn't that a disaster?
Gaara was raised like a weapon. Not like a leader. In many ways, he was quite naive. That was usually a bad thing in a leader, but in this case, Ren believed that it was this naivety that would give way to good relations with Konoha despite the strain the two villages had between them.
It didn't mean that Gaara would compromise the interests of his village for Konoha. Not by a long shot. But it would enable him to give the diplomacy between their villages an honest effort without having to care overly much about something like his perceived dignity or the village's image.
Pride had no place in the talks between their villages if they truly wanted to make up after so many unpleasant things had happened between them.
The problem was, Temari was raised like a leader. Rasa was clearly grooming the girl to be his successor in a few decades. And with that upbringing came the pride in her village.
That worried Ren. He had no doubts that Temari could suppress her pride in her village to make some sort of alliance. But would it be long-lasting? Would the villages try to be buddy-buddy, or would they go back to trying to secretly screw with each other in short order?
In which direction would Temari take Sunagakure? Would her actions completely unravel the future as Ren knew it?
Even something as simple as the Kage Summit. Without Gaara's support, Tsunade would have never managed to form the alliance between the villages.
Gaara not being a part of the equation was... yeah. Ren couldn't even begin to grasp how much that would affect. And to think that it was his Talk No Jutsu that caused this whole mess felt like a gut punch.
Why couldn't he have the same effect as Naruto? When that blonde brat gives a Talk No Jutsu to somebody, things turn instantly in his favor! Why did things go in a completely opposite direction from what he wished when Ren tried it!?
He opened his weary eyes with a long sigh and looked at the scowling blonde girl. A weak smile appeared on his face. Here he was antagonizing her for fun, not realizing that she could fuck everything up for him.
Not for the first time, Ren started having doubts about his chosen path. He would surely not have these kinds of trouble if he had chosen to simply take over Konoha.
Well, he doubted it would go over well for many people, and there would be other kinds of problems, so it was a moot point. But the fantasy of it was nice.
Noticing a few subtle hints from Temari's body language now that he was paying her attention, Ren frowned. She didn't seem as elated as she should be upon hearing that her brother, the most likely candidate for the position of the ultimate leader of their village, was going to support her instead.
"This becoming Kazekage... that's not your idea, is it?" Ren unsurely asked, getting a snort in return from the girl.
"No." She shrugged. "Not that it matters. We are still prisoners of Konoha. Talking about who would become a Kazekage is useless. For all we know, the village higher-ups might decide to support Kankuro." She gave Ren a stink eye.
Or even appoint their own candidate and try some fwucky-wucky with the whole line of succession... was what she had not said, but Ren heard the unstated concern anyway.
Yeah. Taking them prisoner probably did nothing good for their chances at garnering support among the high-ranking people in their village.
And Kankuro as the Kazekage? Ren inwardly groaned. He would take Temari over him every time. Kankuro was hotheaded and easily riled up. He was the kind of man who needed supervision rather than being one who was supposed to give it.
'Just how much did I screw up with my actions?' Ren exasperatedly thought as his shoulders slumped.
The worst part was that he just knew he was not seeing the whole picture. This was a wake-up call. Unpleasant one, but one he sorely needed. He realized that for all he knew, his actions might have... will definitely have unforeseen consequences that he could not yet predict.
He noticed that Temari was just as uncertain about the future as he felt right now. She was just hiding it better. Trying to cheer her up, Ren put an encouraging smile on his face, but it only made her scowl at him harder.
Well, it is what it is.
...
Ren accompanied the almost bouncing Naruto out of the T&I department after their talks were finished. As he promised, he did talk with Gaara for a few minutes after he and Naruto finished talking.
In that time, Naruto went to annoy Temari for a bit, and Ren took a measure of schadenfreude from the pleading look she had thrown his way, practically begging him not to leave her alone with the exuberant blonde.
Ren only smiled at her back then before he did just that.
Naruto and she were both blonde. Surely, they could find out a common topic! Heh.
Even Ino had a common topic with Naruto. Granted, it involved her fist, his face, and not very much talking, but Ren decided not to dwell on semantics.
Well, there was a reason why it was usually Hinata and not Ino who joined him during his meetings with the boy.
Suppressing yet another shiver that he felt at the thought of Temari becoming a Kazekage, Ren hoped his discussion with Gaara was not going to screw things up even more for him in the future.
They didn't speak about anything important or interesting. He gave the boy some encouragement and advice. That was pretty much it. But one never knew how a person could take even haphazardly thrown advice.
He learned his lesson. The future could not be controlled. Not even by somebody with foreknowledge. But hell, if he wouldn't at least try. The future he knew about was already shit.
It couldn't really get worse, now, could it?
... Could it?
No.
Right?
Ren shook the apprehension off and patted Naruto on the shoulder, "This is where we part. I promised Ino to visit her."
"Oh! Sure. I need to talk with the old man anyway!" Naruto happily nodded, and after a few pleasantries, he was off, running toward the Hokage Tower.
Ren snickered. Naruto was most definitely going to try annoying Hiruzen into letting him visit Gaara again. Poor old man. Serves him right.
As he watched Naruto's back slowly disappear in the distance, Ren slowly turned around and walked back into the T&I department. He needed some much-needed cuddle time after all the revelations and realizations he had today.
The future foreknowledge was most likely fucked beyond repair even more than he initially thought, but right now, that was a problem for the future Ren.
---
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