Heavy silence settled over the group as Ino asked her question. All that effort they had put into preventing another war from erupting, and now it seemed it was for nothing. Neither of them, Ren least of all, expected such a curveball.
After a while, Hinata finally deflated as her severe expression turned into sour weariness. She walked toward the armchair and sat down. "I won't lie to you." Her shadowed eyes looked at Ino and Ren. "It's bad. There was a lot of grief and disagreement in the council over this incident."
Hinata sighed and resisted the urge to rub the bridge of her nose. "Konoha might have put in a lot of effort into 'forgiving' Suna's invasion, but in the end, we had a lot of casualties during that incident. We have not forgotten. And now some Suna ninjas wanted to frame us for the murder of the Land of Earth Daimyo's father-in-law?" She dryly chuckled and gently shook her head.
The unsaid message was clear. The entire alliance was shaken at its core. Killing an important noble like that was simply one of the biggest taboos in this world for ninjas.
There were reasons why even the mad lunatics in Kirigakure during the height of its Bloody Mist regime did not have the balls to kill their own Daimyo. It was simply suicide.
Targeting one of the most important nobles in the world was not much better. The bottom line was, the nobles could not leave such a thing unanswered. They had to act. They were not stupid. They knew the threat the ninjas posed to their power and rule. But there was a status quo in the world that worked based on unspoken rules. Rules that were now blatantly broken.
"You know that Sunagakure's higher-ups did not authorize it." Ren weakly said, but even to his ears it sounded like an unsatisfactory excuse.
He could feel a bead of sweat roll down his temple as his mouth went dry. Ino's embrace tightened in an attempt to comfort him, but he had to admit, it wasn't having much of an effect, as his mind desperately whirled, trying to find some miraculous, wishful solution to the situation he knew was unsalvageable.
So far, he had no luck with it.
Hinata did not call Ren out on his weak excuse. She just gave him an understanding look with a small, strained smile that contained a hint of despondent pity. "I do. But we all know it won't matter."
"I don't!" Ino cheerfully interjected with a raised hand, trying to bring some levity to the situation.
It fell flat, but Ren patted her forearm of the arm that was still embracing him in appreciation.
Hinata just gave her a fed-up look and rolled her eyes at her before she turned back toward Ren, but her smile was a touch softer than before. "The Inuzukas are howling at the sky in anger, the Aburames are buzzing in irritation, the Sarutobis..." Hinata trailed off as her expression scrunched in distaste.
Who the hell even knew what they wanted? The young clan head, Asuma, was leaning toward a more aggressive approach. Since conflict was inevitable, he argued that striking first was only sensible.
Hiruzen, however, in his capacity as the advisor, advised for softer methods and pushed for organizing a Five Kage meeting to address these issues, while Tsunade had a headache that even several bottles of sake could not cure.
And through it all, the Yamanakas, the Akimichis, the Naras, the Inuzukas, and the Aburames all subtly looked toward Hinata for solutions she simply did not have.
"Anyway," Hinata inwardly huffed in exasperation to chase away the deep pang of helplessness as she returned to the present with her mind, "Sunagakure is not a very popular topic in Konoha's council chambers right now. I managed to calm things down until an investigation could be conducted, but..." She grimaced, followed by Ren, while Ino almost erupted in laughter that she barely managed to restrain.
Because, really. What investigation? It wasn't as if Iwa let Konoha ninjas into the Land of Earth to look at the crime scene or something. The investigation was going to turn inconclusive because there was nothing to actually investigate here.
This was just a delaying tactic. The entire Konoha could stand on its head, but the clan heads would not be getting the answers they wanted. That was a fact.
Ren nodded, understanding the outrage of Konoha's higher-ups. Naturally, the alliance would not be broken. Konoha and Suna needed each other too much in the upcoming conflict. But its foundation was shaken, no matter what the truth of the matter was.
Ren was certain that the higher-ups of most villages and countries had realized the entire situation was extremely fishy. But it was beside the point. This could not be swept under the rug.
He didn't have the time to ponder 'What-ifs'. He needed a plan of action. He had maybe a week before the shit hit the fan at a terminal velocity.
Immersing himself in his thoughts, Ren stopped paying attention to the world around him for close to twenty minutes. When he finally came back to reality, the table in front of him was actually filled with food and drinks that Hinata's clone had prepared. Ino was no longer behind him, but now sat next to him while both she and Hinata were distractedly eating cookies, waiting for him.
Noticing that Ren's thinking was over, Hinata leaned forward, "You kind of zoned out in the middle of my explanation." She amusedly chided him, and Ren gave her an apologetic chuckle, making her smile. "So, what do you want us to do?"
Ino grasped his hand and smirked at him, "Yeah. Should I prepare for the Land of Earth Daimyo assassination? I can totally make it look like the work of Kumo ninjas!" Her eyes sparkled while Ren slightly paled.
"No. I'd rather not get on every shit list that existed in the history of shit lists on this continent." Ren dryly replied, making Ino pout.
"I could so pull it off without anybody suspecting us."
Shaking his head, Ren patted Ino's head. From the glint in her eyes, he knew she was just joking. "No. I have something different in mind." He looked at his girls with a wry smile, "Anybody here who wants to join me for a small stroll and an impromptu black operation on the side?"
...
After Ren, Ino, and Hinata finished discussing the details of their upcoming outing, they ate the food Hinata prepared. Then, Ren left to do all the necessary documents before he could leave Konoha.
He needed that official paperwork, just in case somebody checked where he was heading. It was going to be a good alibi.
Three hours later, he rushed out of Konoha's gate, heading toward Suna at high speed in a hurry. Only when he was five kilometers away from the village and out of the sight of any patrolling ANBU team, Ren stopped and used his intangibility seal to teleport back to the Little Garden, where both Ino and Hinata already waited for him, all geared up and ready for trouble.
For a moment, Ren couldn't help but admire their combat attire, but he snapped out of it quickly enough. Ignoring the shared glance and smirks that appeared on the girls' lips, Ren reached out with his hands and clasped them on a shoulder.
The world stretched and spun for them for a moment. The entire experience was over almost as soon as it started, and suddenly, Ino and Hinata found themselves staring at a completely new scenery. Their breath became misty white as breathing became a little bit harder than before, as mountain peaks stretched in front of them.
Ino curiously looked around while Hinata's mood darkened. "Kumogakure?" Ino asked, tilting her head at Ren, who chuckled with a small nod.
"If we can't prevent the conflict from happening, then damage control is the best we can do. And that means, we can't let Iwa and Kumo easily become best buddies. Iwa, Konoha, and Suna already have issues, and now-"
"It is time for Kumo to have some issues on their own." Hinata interrupted with a beautiful, sweet smile. One too sweet to be anything but sinister. "If we are going to have a bad time, everybody else should be kind enough to share our misfortune." She giggled, but her eyes were not smiling, "Not that it would not be deserved."
"Yup." Ren shrugged, deciding not to comment on Hinata's dislike for Kumogakure. "Could you please use your Byakugan and look for a place where they hold their prisoners?"
"Bloodline ones?" Hinata asked as her lips twitched. She started catching up on Ren's plan, and the idea made her quite delighted. There was indeed one easy, sure-fire way to make Kumo into a pariah number one among the hidden villages.
"Of course." Ren put his arm around Ino's shoulders, "Let's call it Operation Great Hate Harvest. Kumo must reap what they so painstakingly sowed over the last few decades."
If shit was going to hit the fan, and peace was not an option, Ren decided to make sure everybody would get their fair share of stray shots hitting them.