"Tsume is there. She is already irritated by all the paperwork, so don't piss her off." Ren was casually told by an Inuzuka who picked him up from the gate to their clan territory and led him to the Inuzuka Matriarch's office with the most uncaring, hands-in-pockets, hunched-up attitude that somehow completely fit the clearly bored Inuzuka man.
Ren's 'guide' was not rude. But it was obvious he'd rather be somewhere else.
Honestly, Ren couldn't even find it in him to be offended for being treated as if he were just some bothersome annoyance by the man. It was oddly fitting for this clan. He'd even say he found it endearing in its own way.
It wasn't malicious. They just didn't care about proper manners or fake appearances.
Before Ren could even open his mouth to respond, the Inuzuka man had already turned around and started walking away, leaving the bemused Ren staring at his back with a raised eyebrow for a moment before he exasperatedly shook his head and turned toward the door to Tsume's office.
Walking forward, he knocked and instantly heard a gruff, "Enter!" from inside. Ren opened the door and walked in, only to chuckle when he saw Tsume Inuzuka, scowling and locked in a legendary battle against paperwork as she tried to set it on fire with her glare.
Because of the mess between Konoha and the Daimyo, the important clan heads were busier than ever, and Tsume was clearly not enjoying the experience.
Hearing Ren's chuckle, Tsume raised her head and bared her teeth at him in irritation.
"You wanted a meeting. Here we are. You have fifteen minutes. As you can see, I am busy." She grunted, her narrowed eyes conveying almost an animalistic sort of aggression.
Ren inwardly sighed as a wry smile appeared on his face. Just his luck. He clearly got to her at a very unfortunate time. She was not in the mood to listen to a sales pitch right about now.
Nodding, Ren walked forward and sat down in a chair in front of her desk without being prompted, making Tsume snort and look back down at the paperwork in front of her.
For a moment, Ren felt awkward at having his presence so blatantly dismissed, but well, it was what it was. At least, Tsume was willing to meet with him despite being busy, unlike some other, cough, Hyuga, cough, clans.
One would think that tutoring Hinata for so long would give him some brownie points as far as the Hyuga clan was concerned, but that was incorrect. Even sparing an hour of their time was apparently too much for the assholes.
Unfortunately, Hiashi was several times busier than Tsume, so it was the Elders who dealt with clan matters right now, and they refused any possibility of even meeting with Ren.
Granted, he didn't think anything of note would come out of that meeting. He pretty much approached the Hyugas out of respect for Hinata. But being turned away practically at the gate still annoyed him immensely.
But now was not the time to reminisce. Ren unsealed a sealing tag from his wrist storage seal and put it on the table.
"Here." Ren said, only getting a casual hum from Tsume, too absorbed in the paper in front of her, so she didn't even look at the sealing tag.
"What is it? Are you trying to sell us exploding seals or something?" She distractedly asked, highly unimpressed.
To be fair, such a thing had probably already happened to her many times. Seal makers did like to approach clans and offer them special deals and the like.
Taking a deep, calming breath, Ren shook his head. "It's a sealing tag small enough that you can stick it inside your forehead protector. You can apply some of your dog's blood on it to pair it with him, and activating it will create a mental connection between you two via the Yin Chakra." Ren said and watched with smug satisfaction as Tsume froze.
"That should allow you to mentally convey orders or even know the general direction where your companion is approximately located." Ren said, and if the bewildered look on Tsume's face was any indication, he already had her.
Before even revealing the thing he thought would be the most important feature for her clan.
Ren quickly continued before Tsume could start speaking. "Plus, the seal is based on Yin Chakra. So, very long periods of time under its effects could promote the mental growth of your dogs, getting them to 'smart enough to speak and think like a human' stage way quicker."
"And it works?" Tsume asked with a narrowed stare and a frown on her lips. After the initial shock came the doubt, and Ren couldn't even fault her for it.
What the seal could do was revolutionary. There was nothing like it in the world. It was only normal that the paranoid kunoichi would not take his word for it.
That's why, "Feel free to try it." Ren shrugged and decided to let her confirm it for herself.
"There are no harmful side effects?" She asked, eyeing the sealing tag in front of her with the corner of her eye, but most of her attention was focused on Ren's face as she tried to find even a slight sign of a lie or hesitation.
But Ren simply smiled in amusement at her. "No. I don't think having my seal hurt your dogs would be very conducive to my continued well-being."
The entire clan would dogpile him, pun very much intended, if the seal harmed their dogs. That was the shortest route to becoming this clan's mortal enemy.
"Heh. Good." Tsume smirked.
"The only downside is that one sealing tag only works for around a day before burning out. It's a consumable item." Ren added, causing the wild-looking woman's smirk to change into a frown.
"Of course, it is." Tsume mumbled under her nose in dissatisfaction before she took the sealing tag into her hands and loudly called out. "Kuromaru, come here!"
In the corner of the room, a big black dog stood up and walked toward Tsume. "Yes?" It spoke, and despite Ren knowing that Tsume's dog could speak, he still blinked in mild surprise.
Talking animals might be a staple of the Narutoverse, but they were still a very rare thing to encounter. It was the Inuzuka clan's end goal to raise their dogs to Kuromaru's level. It's what every Inuzuka strived for.
But only a few truly succeeded.
All Inuzuka dogs were smarter than normal animals. But not many could talk and have the mental capabilities of a human like Kuromaru did. Ren didn't think that the entire Inuzuka clan with their hundreds of dogs had more than... three? Maybe at most five dogs like that?
That's how rare it was. The amount of training and chakra development necessary to reach this stage was nearly impossible. So, Ren's promise that his seal could promote the dogs' mental growth via Yin Chakra sharing?
Tsume was unable to outright dismiss it. Even though it was just a bait, and they both knew it.
Ren was basically promising something unbelievable and extremely sought after by her clan. But it was also something that could be verified only after more than a year of usage of his seals. Which were consumable items, and thus, she would have to buy truckloads of them just to verify that effect.
Ren had to admit it sounded like a scam when it was put into that perspective.
Which was where the primary effect of the seal came in, despite it being a lot less remarkable.
Tsume quickly scratched Kuromaru with her nail, drawing a bit of blood before she smeared it onto the sealing tag, making it glow for a moment as the blood was absorbed into the paper. With a hum, Tsume then put the tag against her forehead and channeled her chakra into it.
Kuromaru suddenly lay on the floor and did two rolls to the right before doing three to the left. He then jumped up before landing on all four and sitting down, and barking four times in quick succession.
Tsume blinked in astonishment. "It works." She whispered as if unable to believe it, and Ren involuntarily smirked while watching her play with his seal, giving mental commands to Kuromaru, who looked partly annoyed and partly resigned as he fulfilled them with a very exasperated energy.
From what Ren knew, Inuzukas either gave their dogs verbal commands or they had some sort of nonverbal communication training where subtle, small movements of their bodies conveyed different commands.
Both of these had massive flaws and inefficiencies in a fight.
The ability to give their dog companions mental commands could save precious seconds on the battlefield. And while that didn't sound impressive, most ninja battles lasted less than five minutes. These precious seconds could be the difference between life and death.
With that in mind, even if the secondary effect was just Ren making things up, the seals were still worth buying for the Inuzuka clan. They did not need them. They were doing just fine without them. But having them could give them an edge.
And Tsume would be a poor clan head if she refused that.
"Any other questions?" Ren asked, pulling Tsume out of her reverie and causing her to give him a complicated look.
For a moment, she stared at him in silence, making him start to feel quite awkward, and for a moment, he worriedly wondered if there was indeed some kind of problem he had overlooked.
But then she tilted her head and asked, "Wanna marry my daughter?"