Naruto: Ren the Sealmaster

"I would usually go with this kind of offer to Miss Kurenai." Ebisu ruefully sighed, "Alas, she recently became a jonin and signed up for a duty as a jonin instructor." His cheeks reddened and it was obvious to Ren that Ebisu was genuinely sad that he could not curry favor with the woman.

Ren was only half listening to Ebisu, though. He was trying to put things together in his head. He wondered if this was how Kurenai received her spot as Hinata's caretaker in the canon during Hinata's later academy years.

Or was that even a canon thing? He couldn't remember. It was seventeen years since his reincarnation and while he tried to remember all the important points, the details were kinda spotty by now. It was not as if he had something like Occlumency, after all.

With all the fanfiction he read, he wouldn't be surprised if some of the details he took as facts were plain wrong. For example, Naruto. The kid was not physically abused at all! No mobs. No beatings. Nothing of the sort.

Ren mentally shook his head, calming his straying thoughts and refocusing on the important issue at hand.

Being Hinata's 'tutor' was going to be a long-term mission with a heavy time investment. If Kurenai was still a chunin on the verge of becoming jonin, the connection to the Hyuga clan could really help her get the promotion.

Nepotism was a real thing in this world too and there were many elite chunin who had the necessary skill to be jonin but never managed to get the rank up.

Especially the specialists who heavily focused on one ninja art like Kurenai had it rough. The requirements were harsh. Jonins had to be good in all the primary ninja arts. You either had the skill... or you had just enough to be passable plus some political backing.

In canon where Hinata was still a kid and wasn't deemed a complete failure, where there was still a slight hope that she would be a late bloomer and maybe even become the clan head later on? This would have been a god-sent opportunity.

Ren could see why Ebisu would offer it to Kurenai if he tried to get a date out of her.

But in this reality? Kurenai already had a team and she was a jonin. She didn't have time or need for this. And Hinata? The girl was fourteen now. Still meek as a lamb. Still losing to her younger sister. Still showing exactly zero aptitude for the kunoichi life and the position of the clan head. Still a stuttering mess. Even more now, to be honest.

If this were before the Uchiha massacre, the girl would have been a kunoichi for an entire year by now. And that probably made all the difference to her clan.

Hinata was no longer the heiress. She was set to be sealed upon her seventeenth birthday and Hanabi was now officially the new clan heiress.

There were even some rumors outside of the Hyuga clan about Hinata being a failure as a kunoichi nowadays. And if Ren had to bet, he would say the Hyuga clan elders spread those in order to put pressure on Hiashi and get the girl sealed as soon as possible. But he didn't have any inside information and this was just his guess based on what he knew of canon.

The fact that Hinata still had until her seventeenth birthday before she was sealed showed how much Hiashi cared. The man probably couldn't put it off any longer.

Hinata's standing in the clan was much lower now than in canon as she was no longer the heiress. She was just another future branch Hyuga member. And with that, the benefits of being her tutor tanked too.

There would be no 'favors' for her tutor. It now made complete sense why Ebisu was trying to push this 'opportunity' onto Ren. He probably couldn't refuse it without getting a massive hit to his reputation and some heat from the Hyuga clan.

But he could throw this hot potato to some other idiot. After all, this was basically a babysitting duty! The Hyuga clan wasn't expecting Hinata's tutor to turn her into a badass kunoichi. They just wanted her to become competent in the field as a genin by the time she graduated.

Meaning, they just wanted somebody to help her with her academy work. Enough to make her pass with grades that won't tarnish the Hyuga reputation. Honestly, fresh chunin like Ren should be overqualified for that. Not to mention a jonin renowned for his abilities as a personal tutor like Ebisu.

This whole assignment sounded like a massive pain in the ass. The only upside was the pay... which was irrelevant for Ren since the Hyuga clan might reluctantly accept him as Ebisu's substitute with the man's recommendation but they will definitely not pay him the same money despite the heavy time investment still being the same. 

Hell, some clan elders who dislike Hinata might prefer Ren over Ebisu. It would be much cheaper for the clan and the chance of Hinata becoming competent enough to win her clan headship back from Hanabi would be lower.

"I am giving you an opportunity here." Ebisu said in a kind tone, "With this, you might be able to form connections with the noble Hyuga clan and get to learn the technique you seek." He smiled, "I would have done this assignment myself but I am too busy nowadays. So, I decided to use it to help my fellow Konoha comrade, and when I saw your mission? It just clicked. Maybe in the future, you will be able to repay this favor I am giving you, Mr. Ren." He spoke as if Ren owed him for this.

But Ren just sat there, smiling, as he listened to Ebisu. Cool as a cucumber. He just kept smiling. When Ebisu was done, Ren amicably nodded, "I see. Ebisu-senpai is truly caring. I can see now how you could become well-known as the best personal tutor in the village."

Inwardly though, 'This bastard totally thinks I am stupid.' Ren deadpanned as Ebisu preened under the praise.

Ebisu's plan wasn't bad. Ren could put the pieces together and see the whole picture only because he focused on gathering any information he could get his hands on to try and puzzle out how future events would be affected. He also had his foreknowledge and while most of it was flushed down the toilet by Sarutobi's great decision-making skills, a lot of general information was still usable.

A run-of-the-mill fresh chunin wouldn't have any way of knowing these things. He would probably believe this was a great opportunity and would be grateful to Ebisu for years to come.

Ren's status as a recently promoted chunin was probably also a part of the reason why Ebisu decided to approach him. He thought him to be still mostly clueless about political factions within Konoha and how things worked.

Most fresh chunin would not realize that this golden opportunity was not useful to them. They would see the 'make a connection to the influential noble Hyuga clan' and tunnel vision on it.

Ren could easily see most freshly promoted chunin fall for this bullshit.

But... "I gratefully accept this opportunity, senpai." Ren calmly said with a peaceful smile, "You truly helped me out with this." He opened his mouth to follow up with, 'I hope I will also be able to return the favor one day.' but then his mind registered what he was about to say and he stopped.

He meant it in the 'I hope I will also be able to screw you over one day' way. But Ebisu would misunderstand him and if Ren one day became strong, he might pester him. Saying that sentence would make it more troublesome for Ren to politely tell Ebisu 'fuck you' in the future so he refrained.

"Can I ask you to take care of the process and inform the Hyuga clan, Mr. Ebisu? I have no idea where to even start with that kind of stuff." Ren asked in a sheepish tone, rubbing the back of his head.

If the man wanted to throw him into a shit situation, the least he could do was to properly put the work into setting it up and persuading all the concerned parties. No way was Ren going to bother with that. He could already see how utterly bothersome it would be to make Hiashi Hyuga accept the change. Ren was happy to sit that conversation out and leave everything to Ebisu.

Ebisu eagerly nodded, "Leave it to me. I can do that much. Just sign the mission scroll and the assignment from the Hyuga clan, please. Once I have your signature, I will do my utmost best to persuade the Hyuga clan!"

Ren had to wonder if Ebisu wasn't going to throw him under the bus by saying something like, 'He begged me for this opportunity, and as the best and kind private tutor Konoha has to offer, I just had to reluctantly help out my kouhai!'

That would definitely not help Ren to make a good first impression on Hiashi Hyuga and Ren could totally see Ebisu doing something like that.

Alas, it didn't really matter. Screw Hiashi and his impressions.

Ren signed the scrolls and pocketed the scroll on Shadow Clones after checking it. Then, Ebisu quickly excused himself and happily legged it out of the restaurant, maybe a bit too quickly but Ren was just a fresh chunin so he totally wouldn't notice... right?

Ren just rolled his eyes at him as he pulled out his fuinjutsu notebook and started fiddling with some ideas while eating the dishes on the table.

The joke was on Ebisu. Dealing with Hinata would be no doubt troublesome beyond the wildest Nara dreams. But the girl had Byakugan. And Ren was a reincarnated individual.

Who knows? Maybe she could even help him with some of his ideas.

Ren's lips involuntarily stretched into an excited smile, 'I wonder if some of the fanfiction theories about Byakugan and how it could be useful to a ninja will work. Maybe it could help with ninjutsu? After all, it can see chakra. So surely...' He distractedly chewed on Yakiniku while feeling like a kid about to enter a candy store.

One thing was certain. He was so going to make Hinata learn medical ninjutsu at some point. The girl was going to become a damn good medic ninja even if he would need to drag her to that point kicking and screaming.

Ebisu and the Hyuga clan will only expect Ren to make Hinata capable of passing her graduation exam in two years with a good score. But he wasn't going to allow his student to be the same kind of a waste of space as the other Hyugas.

She wasn't going to be wasting her utterly broken bloodline that could freaking see chakra on funny chakra pokes and call it a day. He was going to make her into a competent kunoichi and experiment with Byakugan's capabilities to his heart's content even if it gave all Hyuga elders a heart stroke.

… Believe it.