Ch4. Meeting the Hyugas

Ren sat in Hiashi's office, nervous and trying to prevent himself from sweating with some clever application of chakra he made himself in his younger years when he was bored out of his mind in the academy.

In front of him with a desk between them, was Hiashi in all his stoic glory and bland grey kimono that wouldn't be amiss in a labor camp, and Ren was genuinely happy that Hyugas could not read minds, staring dispassionately at him with a stiff poker face. But from the atmosphere in the office, Ren had the inkling the man did not like him all that much.

It made him wonder what kind of bullshit Ebisu told Hiashi.

To the side, closer to the wall rather than the table sat Hinata in her jacket, making Ren briefly wonder why she wore it inside, and her hair cut in a bob cut that really did not do her looks much good. Her face also clearly betrayed that she would love to be anywhere else but here. It was anxiously scrunched up and her eyes darted all over the room but at her father and Ren. She really looked like a cornered animal that wanted to flee.

When Ren greeted her a few minutes prior, the girl couldn't even look him in the eyes properly. It was bad. A part of him regretted taking Ebisu's offer but then he had to remind himself how much time he was going to save every week and how much research and experimentation it opened up for him... only to be reminded how much time he would have to spend actually teaching Hinata because his pride would not let him neglect her once he took her as his responsibility.

He had very mixed feelings about his situation.

"Your duties as Hinata's tutor will be teaching her how to be a competent ninja and helping her with her academy practice. You shall escort her to the academy in the mornings and pick her up in the afternoon. Then, you can either bring her to the Hyuga compound or proceed to give her lessons. Her afternoons and evenings are free but I want to see her back home no later than ten in the evening." Hiashi spoke, giving this tutoring thing some ground rules.

Ren barely managed to nod his understanding when Hiashi started speaking again, "My daughter is unfit for the kunoichi lifestyle. It pains me to say, but with the increased graduation requirements and her lack of talent, she will have a hard time getting good enough to graduate. That's why it was decided to hire a personal tutor so she wouldn't shame the Hyuga name further."

Ren slowly blinked, keeping his expression impassive as his mind tried to process what he just heard.

'Was that burn necessary?' He inwardly asked himself with a wince, noticing from the corner of his eyes how Hinata ashamedly ducked her head and gripped the hem of her jacket with both hands.

Hiashi basically called her incompetent enough to be unable to become genin on her own to her face. Considering that even civilians managed to do that... It really showed how much faith he did not have in her.

"Unfortunately, she was deemed unfit to receive more clan training until she showed she was worth the time and effort. Something she hasn't done for a very long time." He continued, throwing a disapproving glance at Hinata, but she stayed silent and Hiashi broke his poker face, actually showing a small disappointed frown. If only for a second.

'Stop it. She is already dead.' Ren inwardly sighed when he noticed the hint of tears in the corners of Hinata's eyes.

But Hiashi was not done yet.

"You may try to bring her up to speed... and if you manage, I would be most grateful. But don't worry. Failure is expected."

'Now you are just deliberately firing shots into a corpse, man.' Ren's lips twitched. That was harsh. If the girl lived with this for most of her childhood, it was no wonder she turned into a mess.

Hinata released a small sob before shutting her eyes as she wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. She barely managed to choke the rest of her sobs, her lips quivering as she held her emotions inside.

This time, however, Hiashi did not look at her at all. As if she wasn't even in the room.

It made Ren wonder if the man was truly that bad at parenting or if he was experimenting with some new form of mental torture for children.

"I also feel I need to warn you. My daughter showed a proclivity for inappropriate thoughts about males outside the clan." This made Hinata's body visibly shiver and Ren realized Hiashi was speaking about her crush on Naruto. It made him wonder what was up with that. But he wasn't stupid enough to ask. "Such a distasteful hobby was reluctantly tolerated while she was the heiress but as Hyuga, she has a duty to her family. I can no longer avert my eyes."

And considering the man had Byakugan, that's a serious thing to say.

Ren also understood that this was a subtle warning for him. "Don't worry. I have an inborn mental block preventing me from romancing underage girls." He dryly said. He was a touch rude but honestly? He was so done with this prick.

As a reincarnated individual, he was a tad bit more mature than his peers. It was almost impossible to make friends. As for romance? Ren would love to have some of that. But the younger girls were immature and the older kunoichi were... well, kunoichi.

And that was a massive problem on its own with the brainwashing Konoha had going on. He wasn't 100% on the 'I'd die for Konoha' bandwagon and he didn't want to start a relationship with some fanatic only to always look over his shoulder, wondering if his beloved kunoichi was going to betray him for some 'I am a good Konoha ninja' points.

Signing and deciding to leave this depressing topic, Ren instead focused on what Hiashi said and couldn't help but mentally chuckle.

'Duty to her family, my ass.' He inwardly rolled his eyes. 'What an excellent way to say that she is supposed to breed only with her family members.'

Well, at least now he knew how to give the girl some serious motivation. Naruto just might save the day without even knowing it. As expected from the protagonist.

"Good." Hiashi seriously nodded, "I'd like to ask you to watch her and report any indecency that would bring shame to the Hyuga name from her side. We shall correct it promptly."

'Did this prick just ask me to gestapo his own daughter with her still in the room?' Ren wondered as he noticed Hinata slightly flinch, realizing that the indecency he mentioned was Hinata's stalking problem.

Clearly, the Hyugas threw the boot hard on Hinata and her activities after she stopped being heiress. Ren expected this to be bad but the situation exceeded his expectations.

"I had someone look into you." Hiashi changed the topic and Ren found himself involuntarily glad about it, "You became a Chunin only a year after your graduation. That is commendable. While you are no genius, that's still sufficient to help tutor my daughter through the academy."

'Bruh? He switched targets from Hinata to me, didn't he?' And with that, Ren's amusement was back. Unfortunately for Hiashi, Ren was not a child. He also didn't give a damn about Hiashi's opinion so his words did not hurt him. 'Such a shame that Neji hadn't graduated yet or I would have a field day pointing out that not even their fabled clan genius managed to become a chunin within a year.' He regretfully thought.

Ah, the missed opportunities...

"Even if the promotion was issued from a less regarded place like the Barrier Corps." Hiashi continued, and Ren had the suspicion the man was doing it on purpose to see his reaction.

'Heh. He totally just implied my division is inferior.' Ren thought as his lips quivered. He just barely managed to prevent himself from smiling. Because from a ninja point of view, the man wasn't wrong. Most of them were not fighters.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Ren asked, interrupting Hiashi's observation. He was genuinely curious about what the man would say next.

"I know you are an orphan but it would do you well to learn some etiquette." Hiashi's tone did not even fluctuate as he said that. It stayed bland and polite, "Maybe my daughter could teach you. It is one of the very few things she is actually quite knowledgeable about. Even if she constantly fails at practical implementation."

Unphased, Ren just nonchalantly shrugged, "Okay. If you would allow it, my Lord, I'd like to take my new student to training grounds and get our introductions out of the way, maybe test her a bit to know where to start."

"Better." Hiashi said with a mild frown. Definitely not liking the casual shrug. He then nodded at Hinata before looking back at Ren, "Dismissed."

Ren didn't need to be told twice. He gestured at Hinata to follow him and left the room, hiding behind his guise of ignorance and not even giving Hiashi a farewell bow as was proper.

In the end, maybe the man did manage to get under his skin.