"Thank you for the food." Temari said in a subdued tone as they finished the dinner, causing Ren's inward frown to grow. He had expected her to be much, much more snarky and confident today, but she was oddly acting out of her usual norm.
Hinata stood up, intending to carry the empty plates to the kitchen, and as she was taking Temari's plate, the girl practically oozed discomfort. She tensed up as Hinata came closer and her eyes subconsciously followed her actions with deep warriness.
Ino and Hinata exchanged a quick, meaningful glance before Hinata subtly shot Ren an apologetic look at an angle that Temari would be unable to see. Ren sighed.
Ren was aware of their nightly excursion to Temari's hotel room with the intent of talking things out between the girls. But clearly, they had spooked the Suna kunoichi, and during the dinner, they were swearing up and down through the telepathy seal that they had no idea how. They supposedly only talked with her, but it got instantly awkward because of Temari's stiff attitude, and the talks kind of went nowhere from there.
Ren's lips twitched. He was leaning toward believing in Ino and Hinata. If they did want to scare Temari off, he doubted she would show up today.
The girl was all 'I was born for this!' yesterday, but one visit from Ino and Hinata shook her enough to show how she truly feels about her situation. The good news? She was no longer hiding behind the veneer of bravado. The bad news? That possibly made talking to her harder.
Ren couldn't help but feel bad about it. With his eyes, he motioned Ino to go and help Hinata, and the blond girl clicked her tongue, but nevertheless, she stood up and hurriedly walked to the kitchen after the other girl.
Ren turned his head back toward Temari, and a small, hopefully not too awkward, and hopefully at least somewhat reassuring smile appeared on his face. "So... I heard you had already met Ino and Hinata yesterday?" He leadingly asked, and Temari reluctantly glanced at him.
The girl's lips pursed, and for a moment, she looked as if she was about to snark at him again with her usual attitude, but then she simply deflated.
"We... came to an understanding." She muttered and averted her eyes from Ren, who inwardly groaned.
No, they did not.
Ino and Hinata did not let him sleep for two entire hours yesterday night as they complained about their meeting with Temari. They went to discuss the whole three-way wedding thing with her, but she only nodded along like a frightened squirrel, at least, that's how Ino described it, so they didn't properly get her opinion on things. It made their whole meeting absolutely worthless.
"Oh?" Ren huffed in amusement at how frustrated both Ino and Hinata were yesterday, "And was it their understanding or your understanding?" He jokingly asked, but Temari probably took it the wrong way as she tensed up even more and did not answer.
Well, she did narrow her eyes at him, so there was that. The girl was far less afraid of him than his girls. Hell, from all the attitude she was giving him yesterday, she clearly had no healthy fear of pissing him off.
It was honestly kind of amusing.
"Look." Ren softly and coaxingly spoke while reaching for one of Temari's hands on the table. He took it into his hand, instantly noticing how high-strung she was. The contact made her lock up for a brief moment, but it accomplished what Ren needed as he now had Temari's undivided attention. His smile slightly widened, "Try to be fair, please. All I ask is for you to give this an honest effort. Nothing more. Did they threaten you? If they did, I could give them a talking to."
His offer startled Temari enough that she allowed herself to give him a very dry, incredulous look.
"I..." She started, but her words failed her. For a second, she contemplated just screaming at Ren. She could take all her issues and unleash the frustration she felt at him. She could almost imagine how good that would feel. At least, for a small moment.
But no. That would not be fair. Or helpful. Or conducive to her immediate health.
Temari's mind flailed around, trying to reach for something to say. How was she supposed to explain her situation to him? Ino and Hinata did not threaten her. But... they did not need to!
Ino had slaughtered a significant number of Sunagakure's ninjas, and the remainder only managed to flee because she wanted to let them go. Many of the survivors did not leave unscathed anyway because the mental wounds were many times worse than the physical ones.
Hinata was worse. She had killed so many Otogakure ninjas that the Village Hidden in Sound pretty much ceased to exist. At least, according to the rumors.
So, yes. Temari was scared out of her mind, being in their presence. They acted like normal girls, all haha-hihi, and tried to be approachable in a way that Temari would never quite manage. They tried to look inviting and safe, but Temari could not shake the voice at the back of her mind, whispering to her what kind of monsters they were.
"No. No, they did not." She grudgingly admitted, but she could not hide the undertone of bitterness in her voice.
They did not need to threaten her. Their very presence was threatening enough!
Ren nodded in acknowledgment and gently squeezed her hand without saying anything else on the topic. He could attempt to give her reassurances, but he was pretty certain it would not help at all. It would take time for Temari to get used to Ino and Hinata.
Deciding that a change in the topic might be more productive, Ren pulled a tag with an Affinity Practice Seal from his wrist storage seal before putting it on the table between them.
Temari's eyebrows scrunched as she blinked at it before she gave Ren a questioning look that made him smirk.
"You asked me yesterday what I expect from my time in Suna." Ren said, and almost whistled as he saw Temari switch from her private mode to the Kazekage candidate mode right in front of his eyes. She no longer resembled a girl who was trying to hide how uncomfortable or frightened she was, and now looked like someone who meant business. Just like she did yesterday, Ren idly realized.
"This," Ren let go of Temari's hand and motioned toward the tag, "is one of the things I can offer to your village."
Temari curiously eyed the tag before reaching toward it with her hand, but she stopped short of taking it. She glanced at Ren. "May I?"
"Sure." Ren nodded, and Temari took the tag, studying the seal with the same incomprehensible expression that anybody who could not even make a simple exploding tag would have.
Ren chuckled, getting Temari's attention, and when she realized what he found so funny, she let out an unimpressed huff at him.
"Put the tag on the back of your hand and try doing the wind-chakra molding exercise." Ren beckoned her before she could ask what the seal was supposed to do.
Temari hesitated only for a moment before she shrugged and did what Ren told her. She put the tag on the back of her right hand and put her palms facing each other, with only around half a foot between them.
Temari was not a novice in molding the wind chakra. It was kind of her thing. She was better at it than many of Sunagakure's Jonin. She did not expect the seal to do much for her.
That's why she was left flabbergasted. When her chakra swirled between her palms, creating a small ball of wind that made her hair gently sway, the seal was actually prodding her, trying to show her the deficiencies in her molding technique and nudging her on how to improve it.
Her jaw dropped as she looked at the innocent piece of paper glued on the back of her hand, and the significance it represented. She had pretty much reached what her village called Mastery in the Wind Nature. Her village's resources could not tell her how to improve it further. Only rigorous and extremely time-consuming trial and error could give her small gains, but it was practically hopeless.
Suna was actually the best at Wind Release in the whole world. It was a massive point of pride for her village. Every wind-natured ninja practiced wind techniques and tried to push the Wind Release further. Their discoveries were noted, and slowly, the village's understanding of the element was furthered. It was a village-wide effort spanning decades.
Temari had no delusions of grandeur. She did not think she, of all people, would be lucky enough to make a breakthrough in Wind Release someday. She still tried, but it was more or less a hopeless endeavor.
Yet, this seal... it directly showed her where and how her Wind Release could be improved even beyond what her village currently knew about the topic.
With wide eyes, Temari tried to follow the instructions... and the breeze generated between her palms faltered as she failed. But that was alright. That was expected.
Temari gulped, feeling a bit faint as she tried again. The breeze faltered again. But this time, she inwardly noted with a small amount of trepidation that it felt just a tiny bit easier than before.
It would still take her days, if not weeks, of practice to gain a noticeable improvement in her wind chakra. But it was there. It worked.
'Weeks' sounded way more preferable than 'Maybe years, maybe decades, or maybe never'.
Temari's hands slightly shook, both in excitement and at the importance of this little seal. Especially for her village. Sunagakure had the War Fan Corps, whose entire thing was Wind Release. Give her village a hundred of these seals, and their military prowess might actually jump a level in a few months.
Temari could also feel that the seal would work way better for less experienced people in molding wind chakra. It was meant to help people understand the process and guide them in their learning. No more vague bullshit like, 'make your chakra sharp!'. No. The seal nudged the chakra in a proper direction, practically showing the user what needed to be done.
Wind Release needed years of hard effort to master. But with this seal? Temari could imagine that one year might be enough to go from a total beginner to what her village called mastery right now. That... It was the kind of thing that could make a hidden village into a powerhouse within a few years. The kind of thing that could train an entire army.
Temari gulped again. She looked at Ren, absolutely speechless.
"Why?" She eventually managed to faintly ask.
Why offer this to Suna? Why not Konoha?
Ren hummed, "I was planning to introduce it to Konoha, but let's just say, some political shenanigans got to me first." He shrugged. "So, now I need to adjust to my immediate future. Sucks, right?"
Temari opened her mouth, but no word came out as she let out a choked laugh full of disbelief. She leaned back on her chair and couldn't help but start giggling.
This was unbelievable.
Reading the context right, Konoha lost something like this because some old fossils in their council decided to set up this marriage alliance.
Honestly, Temari had a hard time believing Suna could be this lucky.
A flicker of doubt flashed through her mind as she wondered if this could be a ploy... Except using something like that seal as bait would not be just extremely foolish. It would be a level of never-before-seen stupidity from Konoha.
You don't hand something that could tremendously improve their army to another village. It's just not done. Not even between allied villages.
"I believe," Ren suddenly spoke as Temari started to calm down, "that influence and power will follow naturally if I prove my worth. So, what do I expect from Suna?" He chuckled, "I expect loyalty. Not instantly. I am aware I will be very much disliked at first. But if I am to live in Suna from now on, and if I am to put my time and effort into fixing it, I expect not to be shat on by the people in power in Suna. I want you to keep that in mind, Miss Future Kazekage."
Temari mutely nodded, feeling a bit conflicted. That sounded simple, but she knew better than most how politics worked. She couldn't really promise that.
Biting her lower lip, she decided she would still do her best. Her eyes strayed again toward the small seal tag on the table. The benefits to her village were too enticing not to put in the effort.
"Okay." Temari nodded, and Ren amusedly looked at the door leading to the kitchen that, out of nowhere, burst open, showing a grinning Ino and exasperated Hinata, both in pajamas and carrying a few pillows.
"And now! Pajama party!" Ino excitedly shouted, causing Temari's eyes to widen in incredulity while she inwardly wondered what the heck was going on.
"You are kidding m-mph" Temari started, only for a pillow to land on her face with enough force to snap her head slightly back, much to the giggling Ino's glee.
At least, until Hinata's pillow impacted the back of her head and caused her to almost face-plant onto the floor.
The pillow slid down from Temari's face, and she looked at Ren with such utter disbelief that he couldn't help but start laughing.
He shrugged, and suddenly, a pillow appeared in his hand from his storage seal as he smirked at her with a challenge in his eyes. Temari barely managed to duck as she grabbed the pillow Ino threw at her, and her eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, the living room became a battlefield as more and more pillows were summoned from storage seals and started flying left and right, shortly covering the whole room.