Ch96. A new training ground

"Ready to go?" Ren, still wrapped in noticeable bandages and somewhat injured, asked Hinata and Ino as they entered the training ground forty-one.

Hinata did a great job healing him, but he deliberately had her not finish the job because he wanted the paid leave. And for that, he needed to show up to Konoha's hospital with an injury that would justify it.

It sucked.

During the whole meeting with the Hokage two days ago, Ren was grumpily complaining in his head due to the pain that racked his body while outwardly he used chakra to make his state unnoticeable to the old coots.

Insulting Danzo was almost therapeutic for him back then. It made the pain way more bearable.

"I still don't get why we needed to trek all the way here from the village. Couldn't we just go from your living room?" Ino huffily complained with her arms crossed under her chest as she sullenly walked next to him with a childish pout. 

When he told her he was prescribed bed rest for a week in the hospital, she was elated. She even excitedly pulled out her nightgown from her storage seal, already prepared for a sleepover, as Ren watched her with a dry look.

But then Hinata cockblocked her with 'no sex' rule and Ino was throwing a tantrum ever since then.

Sage, bless his sweet Hyuga girl. Walking was a problem for Ren right now. He wasn't exactly in the shape for handling Ino in bed currently.

Sighing, Ren put his hand on Ino's head and ruffled her hair, much to her annoyance as she quickly ducked away with a loud, "Hey!"

"People saw us leaving for the training ground." Ren rolled his eyes. "It leaves tracks. This way, nobody will question where we are."

"Nobody would question where we are even if we stayed in your house, though." Hinata idly interjected with a casual hum. "You are supposed to be on a bed rest. Not walking around the village. This is more suspicious, actually." She called out Ren's bullshit with a small amused smirk, almost causing Ren to stumble because he was caught off guard.

After a brief moment of awkward silence, where he ignored Ino's pointed stare, Ren finally shrugged, "... I was just bored."

Hinata giggled, and even Ino chuckled at that. They could sympathize. Ren didn't tell them not to go train. They didn't really need him with them there. But they still stayed with him for the most part these two days, opting to take a small break from their usual training schedule.

But that left them a bit bored, too. Ren focused on his fuinjutsu. Hinata on medical texts. Even Ino had a book from her clan about the human mind. After two days spent like that, they all needed to just get out of the house.

It was one of the downsides of having chakra, Ren found out. In his previous life, he could spend months holed up in his room, reading books.

But now? He had a hard time staying still for a week. The strong Yang component of his chakra was making him feel as if he was on a constant low-level sugar rush.

"Anyway, come here." Ren said and invitingly spread his arms. Already knowing what came next, Hinata and Ino quickly walked toward him and glomped at him from both sides, their arms snaking around his waist.

A smile appeared on Ren's face as he put his arms around their shoulders, gently pulling them deeper into their embrace while he started channeling his chakra into the transportation seal.

"You should really improve your teleportation seal, " Hinata said with a scrunched expression, her chin resting on top of Ren's shoulder. "Twenty seconds of activation time is... how do I say it politely?" She mumbled the last part to herself, but considering her mouth was very close to Ren's ear, he heard her clearly. His smile turned into a sheepish one.

It wasn't so easy! Maybe if he got a peek at the Flying Thunder God seal, he could improve his work. But he doubted that was going to happen anytime soon.

The more he dabbled in it and tried things out, the more he suspected his way of teleporting was using a different method from the way the Second Hokage did it.

Minato had it easy. He was given the Flying Thunder God technique, already finished and working. He only had to learn it. Ren, however, had to create his own way of teleporting from scratch! It was... Ah, a work in progress, still.

Fucking Obito, getting a very versatile space-time ninjutsu for free just because Kakashi reached Rin's heart. The damned simp.

"Please, don't change it!" Ino, nuzzling her cheek into Ren's upper arm, whined. "I enjoy these few seconds a lot. It's the best part about this technique!"

"Of course, you do." Hinata snorted before Ren could reply. "It gives you the time to drool on him."

That stopped Ino in her tracks, and she exasperatedly sighed. "One time. It happened one time, bitch."

"And we shall never forget it, bimbo." Hinata helpfully reminded her with a fond smile, making Ino groan as she buried her face back into Ren's arm.

Shaking his head in mirth, Ren felt the seal ready for transportation and...

The surroundings around them abruptly changed.

No longer did they stand in the middle of the forest surrounding Konoha. Now, they were in a big, grassy clearing encircled by trees, with towering snowy mountain peaks visible in the distance behind them. On the right side was a homely log house Ren had his clones construct over the past few months since he had found this place, and around fifty meters behind said log house started a sandy beach with a crystal clear sea.

Ino absolutely loved that part. She spent a considerable time playing in the water, usually dragging the reluctant Hinata along with her after their training sessions.

Sadly for them, only Ren could teleport them to this place for now. He was working on a way for the girls to access it on their own, and hopefully, it would be ready for their academy graduation. It would be a nice present.

Ever since Ino pulled off her wind dragon on Ren's ass, he was looking for a place where they could train, using techniques like that, without being noticed by anybody. Their usual training ground was a tad bit too close to Konoha for his liking.

This place was in the middle of literally nowhere. No important outpost, city, trade route, road, or anything like that was nearby. No human settlement could be found within a fifty-kilometer radius.

It was behind a big mountain range in the southernmost parts of the Land of Fire, with massive forests full of dangerous animals and even chakra beasts.

Nobody lived anywhere nearby. Nobody had any business coming to this part of the country. There was nothing of value over here.

It was a perfect place for a secret base or a ninja training ground. And Ren was happy that one of his shadow clones had pulled Zoro, gotten lost while exploring, and found this place.

Bless his directionally challenged self.

Ren led the girls toward a wooden table in front of the log house, and they sat down. Hinata was next to Ren, while Ino clicked her tongue as she sat opposite them.

"I can't wait to live here." Ino wistfully sighed while looking at the beautiful and calm waves in the sea washing over the beach, as a dreamy smile stretched on her face.

Hinata chuckled with a small nod before she leaned her body on Ren, resting her head on his shoulder.

Ren, however, only rolled his eyes at their antics. They had it all figured out already. His opinion was apparently not a big factor, either.

After their graduation, they both intended to move in with him. They wouldn't have as much time to spend with each other after their graduation because of their new duties and teams. And the girls refused to accept it. So, this was their solution.

Ren remembered that discussion as if it were today. Hinata proposed to rent a bigger flat and offered to pay for it herself. Ino refused that and offered to split the rent. After all, the two would be full-fledged ninjas by then and therefore earn their own money.

They were already discussing specifics before Ren's mind even registered that his house was volunteered for such a thing without his consent!

To give the girls credit, Ren knew they would accept it if he said no. They would grumble, or whine in Ino's case, a bit, but despite getting ahead of themselves, they knew where the line was.

But he didn't exactly have anything against them living with him. They were already in his house more often than not anyway. It would be easier for him to count the nights where he didn't have one of them sleeping over.

They had their own baskets for laundry. They had their own toothbrushes. Their creams, perfumes, and whatnot else the women used were already lined on the top of his bathroom table. Hinata has basically privatized his kitchen by now, just as Ino did with a large part of his wardrobe space.

Yeah. He was already in the deep end. He had already lost this fight.

And it's not as if they had to share his medium-sized apartment. Ren had a house in the capital, and now, he also had this log cabin that sported his newest experiment.

The space-expanding seals.

Ha! Suck it, Harry Potter! He could do it, too!

Well... okay. Alright. He can admit it. They imploded several times over the past three weeks, killing his clones. But the last implosion was a week ago, before he even went on his most recent C-rank mission! He was always improving their stability, and there was no accident for an entire week!

By the time the girls graduated, he would have the seals ready and safe for use.

... Dattebayo!

Hopefully.

Ren was suddenly pulled from his momentary reverie as he felt Ino's foot softly land on his inner thigh, slowly dragging itself higher and higher...

He gave Ino an exasperated look, but she returned it with an innocent expression and a small grin. Her grin only widened when her toes touched something hard in Ren's pants, but her fun was interrupted when both Ren and Hinata's hands caught her ankle, momentarily startled when their hands met, but they quickly overcame that surprise and then they, at the same time, pulled Ino's foot a bit away from Ren's crotch.

Hinata coughed, narrowing her eyes at the blonde girl into an unamused stare. "No sex for two more days."

"Oh, come on! He does not even need to move. I'll do everything myself." Ino indignantly protested, and Ren let out a small, frustrated groan.

It was bad enough that he had just cockblocked himself. But now they need to discuss it in front of him, too?

"Girls. At attention." He flatly said, and both Ino and Hinata suddenly tensed. Their backs became ramrod straight as they quieted down and waited.

There was that bit of discipline that came from going to a military school.

"I actually have something important to talk about with you before I start teaching Hinata a new jutsu and Ino will go to the capital with my clone to practice her techniques on Samui."

Both girls blinked in surprise. It had been quite a while since Ren taught any of them a new technique. He mostly just gave them an idea, a direction, and then he let them explore the options and experiment themselves.

For a second, Ino looked jealous as she glanced at Hinata, and Ren noticed, but she quickly schooled her expression into a pout while Hinata showed a delighted smile.

Huffing, Ren ran a bit of lightning chakra straight into his hand that held Ino's leg. He channeled it into said leg and also into Hinata's hand that was partially touching his.

The chakra quickly stimulated their nerve endings with a pleasurable jolt and caused the girls to let out a short moan out loud with a visible shudder as both Ren and Hinata let go of Ino's ankle.

Hinata quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, showing a mortified, wide-eyed expression while Ino, rubbing her thighs, sensually licked her lips with a wide smile.

"I knew it! I am not the only one sexually frustrated here!" She cackled and gave Hinata a winning, smug look.

Hinata, with red cheeks from embarrassment, averted her eyes away from Ino's pointed stare and decided to try changing the topic. "What did you want to talk about?" But there was still a small quiver in her voice.

Ren's amusement quickly faded. He knew that if he let them, they would fool around the whole day. So, giving the girls a serious look, he spoke. "You are both scratching the surface of Jonin-level combat prowess. So, I think it is high time to talk to you about what it means to be an S-rank ninja and how they differ from your normal, run-of-the-mill Jonin."