Ch109. The respectable Hokage

Rolling his eyes at the girls' reaction, Ren put the remote controller back on the table. "Let's first try the upgrade to the telepathy seal. We should probably check if it works as intended."

Realizing that the newly altered seal on their head had not yet been tested made all complaints from the girls go quiet really fast. They knew how dangerous that could be, but Ren had already made the same changes to his own telepathy seal, so they doubted there was any danger.

Nevertheless, they obediently nodded and let the seal master do his job.

"Hinata, please activate your Byakugan and try to look somewhere." Ren said, and a moment later, Hinata nodded at him in a sign that she was done.

He still marveled at the fact that she managed to get rid of the bulging veins of Byakugan. That was a scary thing, considering that most ninjas used that visual cue to know when to try to ambush a Hyuga and when to back off.

"Okay. Now activate the telepathy seal and focus on sending your visuals to us." Ren nonchalantly continued, and Hinata had to do a double-take as her brain registered what he asked her to do.

The sharing of their thoughts via the telepathy seal was already out there, as far as what his seals allowed them to do. But it wasn't something fully new either. The Yamanaka clan was known to be able to do similar things with their clan techniques.

Managing to do it via seals was still an amazing feat, though. Nobody has done that before.

But sharing the vision with others? Hinata had never heard of that, and if Ino's surprised expression was any indication, she was in the same boat.

This had the potential to completely overhaul how scouting was conducted. It was just a pity that Ren had no intention of sharing the seal with the village unless the political situation changed.

Hinata still remembered the countless hours she spent learning how to properly describe and relay what she was seeing in a concise and precise way. The Hyuga children spend hours every week having those classes. It was necessary for their primary role as scouts for the village.

And it limited the available time for other training endeavors.

On top of that, relaying the information takes precious seconds during battle. Many ninjas died in the field because their Hyuga teammate simply did not have the time to warn them of an impending ambush. Her father loved to scare her with stories like that to get her to continue her lessons whenever she complained about them as a child.

But this seal could change that. There was no need for relaying information if the teammates saw what the Hyuga was seeing.

Feeling the wonder, Hinata did as Ren asked, and Ino gasped when, in her mind, she got a picture-perfect image of the Hyuga compound, with Hiashi Hyuga sitting behind his desk and filling out some documents.

Hinata focused on the documents themselves, finding that it was just some boring clan finance stuff. Ino's mental vision was suddenly yanked away, and she felt a bit dizzy as Hinata's Byakugan refocused and stopped on Hanabi practicing the gentle fist in the academy. Apparently, they had a break right now.

Shaking his head, Ren cut off the connection to his telepathy seal and chuckled. "Well, that is freaky. The dizziness as you zoom around with your Byakugan can be a pretty major downside in the field." He sighed, a bit unhappy with the result.

It was still great. Just not as great as he first thought.

"Yeah. I don't really like the fact that I can't control what I can see. It gives me chills." Ino added with a wry expression after she also cut her connection to the telepathy seal.

It made Hinata pout at them. "Stop complaining. I think it is awesome." She huffed like a child.

"Of course, you would think so." Ino snorted, "You Hyugas are all freaks."

Seeing that Ino was trying to start another argument with Hinata, Ren decided to quickly intervene because he was on a schedule if he wanted to witness the beginning of greatness.

"Now! My Peeper 3000!" He exclaimed, interrupting the girls before they could start with their row.

"Are you really naming it that?" Ino asked exasperatedly, causing Ren to frown at her. 

"What is wrong with it?"

The name was on point. He didn't see the problem.

"Everything." Hinata deadpanned, and Ino really couldn't help herself as she retorted.

"Says the Hyuga."

"We don't peep." Hinata said with a finality in her tone. "We are as respectful to the village's inhabitants as the Hokage. He is our idol in that regard."

Ignoring them, Ren picked up the remote controller and channeled some chakra into it before pressing a button.

Instantly, light bent in front of the trio, and shapes started to form, getting more and more defined by the second until the image of Konoha's bathhouse from a bird's view was in front of them.

The angle was just right to see the bodies of naked, bathing women, and Ren had to admit that somebody put in a lot of effort into finding it.

He was pulled out of his reverie when chills went down his spine as he felt two unamused and narrowed gazes aimed at him. Looking back at his girls, Ren quickly defended himself. "That's not my doing. I am only accessing Konoha's detection barrier with this." He shook the remote controller in his hand. "I am not manipulating it in any way."

"Oh? And what is that, then? And why is the first thing we view the bathhouse, hm?" Ino dryly asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's the default observation point number one for the barrier." Ren said with a shrug, not showing how awkward he felt. "Let's just... forget this happened." He muttered while scratching his cheek as he quickly pressed another button, switching the view.

The image in front of the trio changed. The borders made it clear that they were now looking through a window, straight at a shower. An occupied one, much to Ren's chagrin.

His timing was just impeccable, wasn't it?

"Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked with a strained voice, as the singing woman in the shower they were viewing didn't bother with the shower curtains.

"Asuma-sensei let us go early because of a date he has with her." Ino idly added her fifty cents, her eyes taking in the admittedly gorgeous naked brunette in front of them.

Ren had to admit, he was a bit jealous of Asuma at that moment. He also vaguely remembered that Kurenai and Anko were sharing a flat.

"And that is the default observation point number two." He defended himself before the girls could say anything. Honestly, he was a bit scared to switch to default point number three. He didn't want to have his new toy confiscated.

... Maybe once he is alone, he could satisfy his morbid curiosity and thoroughly research all the work that was put into these observation points.

Purely for scientific purposes, of course.

"Who could have done this? This is absurd!" Hinata started, miffed that somebody was clearly spying on her new instructor.

How was she supposed to inform Kurenai of it? Leaving it would gnaw at her. But what was she supposed to say? Kurenai would instantly ask how she knew, and she couldn't exactly tell the woman, now, could she?

'Oh, we spied on you showering...' Yeah, that would go over really well. Hinata let out a long whine in her mind, resisting the urge to rub her forehead.

Alas, Ren was all too happy to rain on her parade. So, with a small smile, he decided to correct her worldview. "The only person with the main control tool to the barrier is the Hokage." He informed Hinata and Ino with an amused smile, enjoying how their expressions transformed upon hearing that.

Hinata's expression went through various degrees of disbelief and refusal, until it settled to resigned mortification as she realized that she really could not tell Kurenai now, because what would be the point?

Ignorance was pretty much bliss in this case!

The best she could do was to give the woman a hint that she should not forget to use the shower curtains and blame the discovery of a possible peeper on her Hyuganess or something.

But even that had its problems.

Ino's expression, however, ended up with a massive grin as she nudged Hinata, giving her a knowing look.

"The Hokage is your clan's idol, huh~? You said so yourself, didn't you?" She gleefully asked and started cackling when Hinata put her face into her hands with a groan full of suffering.

Laughing alongside Ino, Ren fiddled with the controller until he finally figured out how to switch the point of view from the default settings, and then he hurriedly shifted it toward the academy.

He was just in time and shushed the girls as he noticed Kakashi entering the building and heading toward the classroom where Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were still waiting for their instructor.

Seeing the much different trio than what she remembered from earlier that day in the academy, Ino gasped and looked at Ren with clear awe. "Oh, you didn't." 

Ren smirked. "I totally did."