"Stop giggling, we still have a job to do today." Ren groaned as he ushered the two girls back into his apartment, but he only managed to make them double down on their wordless teasing, much to his silent aggravation.
With laughter, the two girls ran back inside, causing him to follow with a small, fond smile. Unfortunately, they had a long night in front of them, and that meant Ren could not indulge in inane childishness. They still had work to do.
In a short order and without any preamble, all three of them got into preparations. Three hours later, the night had been darkening for a while outside, and the three of them met back in the living room that was already tidied up courtesy of Ren's shadow clones.
They all wore black clothes, the color dull enough that made them hard to notice during the night. The clothes and even the three of them took a long soak in a specially prepared liquid that erased all scents, getting rid of things such as perfumes and body odors for the next few hours and making them hard to track that way.
Not leaving anything to coincidence tonight, Ren also stitched... yes, it was embarrassing to admit, if only because of how many times he had failed and had to start all over again... seals with black, chakra-infused thread into the clothes. Seals that he aptly named 'Notice-me-not' seals.
They were not anything overly spectacular. He knew Hinata and Ino were there, next to him, and he knew who they were, so the seals did more or less nothing to him. But people who were not aware of them, people like wink, wink, nudge, nudge, the Hyuga guardsmen, for example? They just might have their attention diverted and overlook their presence in the dark.
Of course, the effect had its limits. Directly entering the physical line of sight was still a no-go. Coming through the front gate would still make the guards notice them nearly instantly. These seals worked best when sneaking around and were there as a countermeasure to Byakugan.
And making countermeasures for something as overpowered and broken as Byakugan was still a pain in the ass. It could not really be blocked. It could not be avoided with so many eyes watching every move within the compound at all times. Invisibility would not work because Byakugan could see chakra. Genjutsu would not work because Byakugan could see chakra. Hell, sneaking around would not work, no matter how good a stealth expert one was, because Byakugan, once again, could see freaking chakra.
Honestly, bribery of the clan elders seemed like the most effective ninja technique to get around the Hyuga defenses, but neither Ren nor Hinata wanted to alert anybody that something was up tonight. Especially not the elders.
So, Ren went for misdirection. The eyes of unknowing observers would slide right off their bodies, protected by the seals, as long as the aforementioned observers had no clue they were there. But any hint or suspicion could easily break the effect.
Looking at Hinata, Ren noticed how nervous she was and put his arm around her shoulders, half-hugging her while kissing the side of her head, "Don't worry. Everything will go according to the plan."
Hinata raised her head and nodded, "I believe it. Just... I was dreaming about this moment for so long, and now it is already here. I can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. It is a peculiar feeling." She tried to smile, but failed to hide her worries.
Ren chuckled and, with the hand that was on her shoulder just a second ago, he gently patted her head. He could understand that all too well. He always had this plan to somehow help the Hyuga clan, but for the most part, it sounded like wishful thinking in his head. Yet, here he was after spending thousands of clone hours trying to figure out the Caged Bird Seal and its substitute.
He had finished the last tests and adjustments of his Eye-Protecting Seal only this morning. And now... Now it was time to have an enthusiastic nightly walk through the Hyuga compound.
Tonight was a good night for some changes.
...
"WHAT!?"
The morning had barely started, and Tsunade's booming voice reverberated throughout the Hokage Tower, sounding both surprised and not at all pleased as her chakra angrily flared. Many still mostly asleep paperwork ninjas needed a change of pants after such a fiery wake-up.
"What do you mean, the Hyuga clan went through a coup during the night, and now there is a new clan head!? That's not how it works!" Tsunade hissed at the poor Hyuga messenger who flinched in her place, looking mightily uncomfortable under Tsunade's glare.
Inwardly, Tsunade felt a bit bad about unloading her fury on the quivering civilian Hyuga girl, who could not be more than sixteen. But her presence also made her even more furious because she knew that Hinata Hyuga sent this particularly mousey-looking, weak civilian girl to soften Tsunade's reaction.
And it was fucking working! Yelling at the girl was pointless. Demanding answers that the girl obviously did not have was also meaningless. Tsunade could only seethe in the privacy of her mind as fury blazed in her eyes and her new desk creaked under her tightened grasp while Shizene tried to get her attention and make her stop squeezing the poor piece of furniture so hard.
"Um... L-Lady Hinata... she... um," The poor Hyuga girl tried to stutter something out, causing Tsunade to raise her hand to shut the girl up even as she snarled to herself.
She gritted her teeth. Did these idiots not realize that Konoha was already severely weakened and with a very real threat of war looming over them all!? They had to play their political games? Fucking now?
The biggest, richest, and most influential clan in Konoha truly could not pick a worse time to go through their little internal political tantrum! The village needed to present a united front right now! Not squabble among themselves for bits and pieces of power!
Tsunade was of a half mind to walk into the Hyuga compound and start swinging. She wistfully indulged in that daydream for a few seconds. If only that would not make the situation worse.
Taking a sharp intake of breath, Tsunade forcefully released a calming sigh before she started rubbing her forehead. She was in the office for a few short days, and she was already regretting letting the orange-wearing brat and her bastard of a teammate persuade her to return.
Surely, not even being a rogue ninja would be this shitty.
Of course, as angry as she was, she realized what this was about. With the corner of her eye, she could clearly see the unblemished forehead of the Hyuga girl.
She almost assumed the girl was from the main house if she hadn't remembered her from the hospital. She had healed this girl a few days ago. She remembered she sported a certain seal on her forehead back then. She remembered her silently crying as she healed her very unfortunate injuries. She remembered being almost as furious about the girl's situation as she was now. But her hands were tied. She could not intervene in sage-damned clan matters because of fucking politics.
The fact that the girl now sported no seal on her forehead was a declaration in itself, and Tsunade was certain the new Hyuga clan head counted on Tsunade recognizing the girl.
Tsunade's anger decreased to a low simmer, and she deflated in her seat, dearly wishing she had a bottle of very strong sake on hand.
'Great. Now I can't even feel that angry about it.' Tsunade inwardly muttered, hating that the implications actually pleased her despite the ridiculous number of issues she knew it was going to cause her in the immediate future.
She wanted nothing else but to go Tsunade smash on the smug bitch who was now the Hyuga clan head. Sending the civilian Hyuga girl was a subtle manipulation, and Tsunade hated that it was working on her. It irked her fiercely.
What she could do was to curse the general incompetence of her ninja.
Three people infiltrated a clan in Konoha, knocked everybody unconscious, removed a seal from over ninety percent of the clan's inhabitants, put a new seal on every single one of them, and did not alert even a single soul.
Despite her ANBU patrol routes going close-by the Hyuga clan compound several times a night. The only indication that something had happened was a girl coming to deliver a message in the morning. Tsunade could not even put into words how ridiculously bad that was. It wasn't as if the Hyuga were like the Uchiha clan and lived in a remote place. The Hyuga compound was smag-dab in the middle of the affluent part of Konoha!
How could Ino, Hinata, and Ren get through all the Hyuga guards, Tsunade had no idea. It wasn't as if they could teleport!
As she was contemplating the lackluster security of her village and how much pain in the ass it was going to be to improve it because the clans were obviously not going to cooperate, Hiruzen suddenly opened the door and walked into her office as if he owned the place.
Tsunade blinked.
Hiruzen smiled, "Are you alright, Tsunade-chan? I could feel your anger all the way to my office. What is the issue?" He said, completely relaxed and seemingly all too pleased with himself.
Tsunade blinked again. An idea struck her.
She threw the message scroll the Hyuga girl brought to Hiruzen with a gruff, "Read."
Hiruzen raised his eyebrow at her as he caught the scroll, but with a small chuckle, he unrolled it and started reading out loud in a good cheer.
"I, Lady Hinata Hyuga, the new clan head of the Hyuga clan, hereby invite Lady Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, to witness the internal trials of clan criminals..." Hiruzen's voice got progressively slower until it completely stopped without finishing reading, and he was left staring at the message, utterly flabbergasted.
He didn't need to be a genius to know who the mentioned criminals were. That part was pretty obvious.
"Advisor Sarutobi, congratulations. I am too busy to deal with this shit right now. You are going to deal with this problem in my stead. Good luck." Tsunade said in a flat voice, beckoning him with her eyes to get on with it.
How dare he come to her office, looking as if he was having the time of his life when she was on the verge of starting to tear her hair out due to frustration?
'Here. Play shitty games, win shitty prizes.' Tsunade thought with an inward glee as she watched her Sensei look at her with an absolutely lost gaze.
"Go on, or you will miss the trials." She helpfully reminded him with a pointed look.
And Hiruzen suddenly paled as his mind caught up and he realized this was not a joke. He shakily looked at the scroll in his hands and gulped. At least a third of his political support had just been thrown into the garbage bin.
He... He had to salvage this. Somehow. And fast! Before the damned girl started chopping the heads of his political supporters off!
Turning around, he rushed out of Tsunade's office without bidding her a farewell.
Tsunade watched him leave with surprise, but then she snorted as she returned to her morning paperwork. 'Well, if he is going to be so enthusiastic about dealing with clans, I guess I should delegate more of their issues to him.' She idly thought.
She almost felt bad for screwing her Sensei like this, but then she remembered the long, unending list of requests and demands from various clans that landed on her desk pretty much the second she was sworn into her office, and she decided that it required more experienced and patient hands than hers.
She'd rather have some free time.