Knitting Fate (Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren Part II)

Fifty-Second Thread

I'd be sorry for the delay, but I'm literally in the middle of my exam month concluding the summer semester. Have a chapter nonetheless.

Beta'd by hestia8693, as always <3

***

"The backbone of surprise is fusing speed with secrecy."
― Carl von Clausewitz

0

If this is some sort of skewed apology from Hiruzen, Ren isn't sure, but she does know for a fact that it doesn't even come close to making up for nine years of neglect and secrets. Although, to be honest, it is kind of nice that he's trying, if only for Naruto's sake. It at least shows that he might have a shred of care for, quite possibly, the village's most powerful weapon and doesn't want him to fully turn away from him.

(Too late, really, if Ren had a say, and she does.)

Still doesn't make Ren like him. Hiruzen might've been a compelling character, but that was from the other side of the screen, back Then. As a person, he leaves a whole lot to be desired. Like, really, a lot. Ren isn't going to beat around the bush in admitting her dislike of the man – not openly, of course, most of the time, but it's kind of an open secret. Also because he's old and not nearly as sneaky as he thinks.

So when she finds Deidara on her doorstep, not even two days after the incident, green vest on his chest and Konoha forehead protector holding his ridiculous bangs up, she can only sigh in exasperation. Who else has the power and reason to push Deidara's evaluations forward, when they should've taken at least a week? They don't even know the results of the DNA tests – or whatever the shinobi equivalent is – and the measly three days sure as hell can't be enough to thoroughly test Deidara's mental and physical capability. Or his knowledge about the village to decide what he would need to catch up on (everything, probably) since he's decided to be a Konoha shinobi now.

And yet, here he is.

"I wonder why they rushed your evaluation," Ren drawls in a way that would make Snape proud, probably. "It's definitely not because of the higher-ups most recent fuck-up and you seem like the most convenient way to start fixing it, is it."

"Whatever do you mean! They did a full, very thorough evaluation of my skills and mental health, nothing was rushed and nothing skipped," Deidara snarks right back at her, and Ren snorts. There is a reason why she likes this kid, and it's neither because he reminds her of Naruto nor because he likes explosions. Well, not fully, but the biggest part is that she loves how snarky and deadpan the brat can be.

"Alright, brat, come in," she huffs, allowing Deidara to enter. "I know you're supposed to be living with Genma, but he left on a mission and probably won't be back before the end of the week, so I'm guessing they want you bunking with us?"

"Obviously," Deidara sniffs. "They didn't even give me a futon, cheap assholes."

"So, they dump you on us and expect us to cover the costs, cool," Ren sighs heavily. While the household never had monetary problems due to the amassed Uchiha fortune as a whole, Ren hardly ever actually uses that, leaving it to ferment in the bank and gain as much investment as possible, while living and providing for herself, Sasuke, and Naruto with only her paycheck and various society funds, for orphans, single 'parents', et cetera, et cetera. And yes, she can host Deidara and it wouldn't make that big difference, but it still irritates the Scrooge-y part of Renee that Ren never really bothered to rid herself of in this life.

"They demoted me to chunin!" Deidara whines then, with all the petulance of a thirteen-year-old, as he steps through the threshold. "They're going to keep me on desk missions for half a year before they even test me for higher rank! That's so unfair! They even assigned me a babysitter. Well, not really, since technically we're partners, but come on, he's younger than me!"