After dealing with the prisoners and tying the operation Great Hate Harvest up, Ren hurriedly teleported to a border town in the Land of Rivers, approximately where he would have been by now if he had run from Konoha without much rest at high speed. From there, he didn't dally and made sure he was seen before he quickly crossed the border and continued running toward Sunagakure.
Sigh. The things he did to keep his teleporting secret...
Ninjas were perceptive. He couldn't disappear from Konoha in the morning and appear in Suna the next day. Even an idiot would put two and two together if they had the correct bits of information and realized that even a Jonin would need at least two days of running without rest to reach Suna.
Ren aimed to reach Suna within a day and a half, but he had the excuse of being an S-rank ninja. It was a great excuse! Even the most sceptical and suspicious people would usually fall for it.
Of course, it was bullshit, but nobody could really say with certainty what skills an S-rank ninja might possess. For all they knew, he might have a high-speed technique of some kind that he never revealed. Still, he at least tried to keep it in a line that wasn't too exaggerated because that might drive certain smart people into thinking hard enough to accidentally stumble on a correct idea.
So, with a begrudging disgruntlement tightening his chest, Ren's eyes gazed over the yellow sands that began to endlessly spread in front of him, rising and forming countless dunes. Slowly, he had to start using his chakra to prevent his feet from burrowing into the sand underneath him as he ran. It was irritating and only reaffirmed in his heart that he despised this environment.
'At least stirring up trouble for Kumogakure went without a hitch.' Ren idly thought, letting his mind wander during his run. 'I wonder how effective it would really be.'
Kumogakure's reputation was only going to get worse, and long-term, the other villages will probably steer away from getting diplomatically tangled with them. Ninjas from other villages will probably get more careful when interacting with Kumogakure ninjas, too.
But short-term? Ren wasn't sure if his actions could affect much in the upcoming war. Iwa, for example, was not going to say 'fuck you' to the alliance with Kumo just because of this. He could only hope for the best, while not holding his breath for an amazing result.
It wasn't like his, Ino's, and Hinata's actions in Kumo were going to be some major hit for that village, either. The Raikage and Kumogakure were going to be busy for the next week, screening everyone for subtle genjutsu influences, and probably discovering more than a few ninja-related crimes within their ranks.
Ren had no idea what Ino's little surprise for Kumo entailed before it erupted, and the memories of the clone he left for observation hit him, but he had to admit, it was nasty.
Unfortunately, even this village-wide disturbance was only going to delay their war preparations. Ino and Hinata's strikes killed around three hundred Kumo ninjas. A staggering number for a single mission. But it was just a drop in the bucket for a massive village like Kumogakure that had anywhere between twenty to thirty thousand active ninjas in its employ.
The dragon was barely tickled.
With heavy thoughts, Ren ran in silence for several hours, twice stopping for a ten-minute break at a popular oasis. By the evening, he arrived in Sunagakure, where he could instantly see the heightened security.
He was even stopped at the gate, but fortunately, there was no need for any face-slapping showcase. His documents said everything that needed to be said, and the guards easily let him in just like they were supposed to.
Reaching the Sabaku estate, Ren entered and found Temari and her brothers gathered in the kitchen around the table, all looking worried in their own way. From Temari clutching her head to Kankuro chewing on his lips, or Gaara, impassively staring at the wall.
When Ren walked into the room, three pairs of eyes snapped toward him, and Temari instantly stood up. Ren barely managed to utter a short greeting before the girl rushed toward him and hugged him.
Deflating, Ren put his arms around her and hugged her back, "It's going to be fine."
"Fine? We are nowhere near ready for a war. How is this going to be fine?" Temari despairingly whispered into his shirt, and Ren was stuck without an answer. Honestly, he didn't know what to tell her to comfort her.
Sighing, he gently put his chin on the top of her head and decided to change the topic, "What actually happened? I only managed to get a second-hand record in Konoha."
"That bastard Akito authorized an assassination mission on a high noble. That's what happened." Kankuro scoffed and scowled, his hands on the table clenching.
Ren's eyes slightly narrowed. 'Akito, huh?'
"He swore to everything he could that he didn't do it during his interrogation." Gaara flatly interjected, glancing at Kankuro, who snorted.
"Right. Of course, he didn't. His men spontaneously decided it would be fun to start a war by taking an assassination suicide mission, right?" The catsuit-wearing puppeteer muttered under his nose in displeasure.
Gaara dispassionately shrugged, "It's an important piece of the puzzle. We can't afford to misinterpret something when the matter is as important as this is."
Ren hummed, inwardly surprised. He could see why Gaara could become the Kazekage. He certainly had enough sense to realize that the situation was not as simple as it appeared at first.
But Akito... that Ren did not expect. Signing off on that kind of mission would be suicide. Ren was partial toward believing that the man actually did not realize what he was doing when he sent his men.
It wasn't that ninjas did not assassinate nobles. They just did not assassinate the important ones. From time to time, very rarely, ninjas might be hired to get rid of some small-time noble by another, slightly more important noble. And the highly ranked nobles, the untouchable ones, are fine with that as long as it does not violate their status.
Ren could see Akito accepting such a mission from a certain unpleasant official from the capital city who had recently visited their little village on Daimyo's orders. Making it sound like he just wanted a minor noble punished for something would be easy enough for Shido. And if Akito did not investigate before signing the order and sending his men...
Ren slowly mentally nodded as he started constructing a probable picture of the situation in his mind.
As for Akito's men, ninjas were not there to question their orders. They were supposed to fulfill them. Most ninjas were not very knowledgeable about politics. It was actually normal that they might not have realized what kind of clusterfuck their mission would result in before it was already too late.
From what little he knew from Hinata, this Land of Earth noble was killed in his vacation manor. That was most likely not an accident.
Sighing, Ren rubbed Temari's back, "What about Suna? How is the village reacting?"
"We are strengthening the hidden outposts at the borders. If Iwa ninjas manage to penetrate our borders, they will rush deeper into our territory, and our ninjas in these outposts will engage them from behind, while the puppet and war fan corps will hold the line from the front." Gaara answered, giving both Temari and Kankuro an obviously worried look behind his normally emotionless face.
Kankuro was a part of the puppet corps, and Temari belonged to the war fan corps. This meant these two would definitely be on the frontlines. Ren now realized why the mood in the house was so gloomy when he entered. But he also could not fault Ebizo for this.
It... indeed sounded like a good plan.
Sunagakure was at a disadvantage both numerically and no longer had many S-rank powerhouses. Ambush tactics were a good way to even out the playing field. The Suna higher-ups probably wanted to deal Iwa a major blow right off the bat to discourage their future offensive.
'Hopefully, it will work.' Ren thought, giving Gaara a nod, "I brought an official scroll from Konoha's council with me." He said while his fingers started unconsciously playing with Temari's locks. "I'll need to go and hand it over to Ebizo soon. I just came here first." He looked at the girl in his embrace, "I was worried about you."
It earned him a tighter embrace from her, and he was happy to see that her worries calmed down at least a bit.