After returning to Sunagakure, Ren handed the new puppet clone technique to Kankuro, whose jaw dropped when he heard what it could do. Remotely controlling a puppet at large distances was already great, but a mental clone that could take over a puppet was something else entirely, especially when a user could create more than just one clone and imbue each into a different puppet.
Seeing the boy's enthusiasm, Ren almost felt bad. The technique was indubitably groundbreaking. It was going to reshape the entire puppetry arts. But it was not going to help Suna gain dominance that much.
Ino might act silly at times, but she was not stupid. She had ensured there were safeguards against Suna using this in a war against her clan. A counter technique was the first thing she made after finishing with this one. Only then did she give it to Ren to pass it to the Suna puppet corps.
Ren reckoned that if a Suna puppeteer with this technique fought a Yamanaka in the future, he might find his puppets would suddenly betray him.
It was a mental technique, and that was the Yamanaka specialty. According to Ino, overriding the mental clone wouldn't be that hard for them once they knew the proper method.
Ren wryly smiled as he watched Kankuro excitedly rush out of the door, probably heading to show the technique scroll to the others in the puppetry corps. Shaking his head, Ren decided not to ruin his happiness just yet.
He was going to tell him about the failsafe in private at a later date. Kankuro will not like it, but he was a ninja, so Ren had no doubt he would begrudgingly understand.
Depending on his reaction, Ren decided he might even tell him about the fact that the Hyuga clan will have a similar safeguard against the technique soon.
After all, Hinata and Ino might bicker a lot, but they were still best friends. Ren would be really surprised if Ino didn't consider Hinata's position and develop a way for Hyugas to counter her creation.
Ren didn't mind. On the contrary, he encouraged it. It would be sheer hypocrisy to do otherwise. The seals he had given or sold to Suna each had similar safeguards and hidden mechanisms, just in case Suna ever tried to use them against him or his interests.
It was simply the way the ball rolled in this world.
Besides, Ren's goal with this technique wasn't to win a war for Suna. He just wanted them to be able to earn more money in a non-violent way. That should keep the village's finances stable enough that they would not need to do another clown move like their earlier surprise attack on Konoha.
These puppet clones were going to be just marvelous for increasing the work productivity in mines!
With his puppet control seal that could project the controller's chakra into his puppet, the puppeteers should be able to imbue the mental clone into their puppets even at very large distances. So, they could have several puppets stationed at the mining site and could simply imbue mental clones into them each morning to let them work throughout the day while they did whatever they wanted back in the village. At the end of the day, they would just get mental feedback, similar to the shadow clone technique.
Since Ren intended to change the puppet corps into the village's personal mining drones, he at least wanted to do so at peak efficiency!
Wage slavery was never more enjoyable or effortless. Ren even considered learning puppetry himself! It was free money for almost no effort!
But nah, in the end, if he wanted more money, he could have just made more seals and sold them to somebody. He already had his own little clone slav-, ahem, workers doing most of the work for him anyway.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Ren quickly arrived at the Kazekage Tower. Entering, Ren gave a nod to the glaring receptionist, idly noting that today it was the bitch who hated his guts. Not bothering with her, he simply ignored her stare and walked deeper into the building until he reached Temari's office.
Just to be polite, Ren knocked and smiled as he heard a grumpy "Come in!" from behind the door. Entering, the first thing he noticed was how tidy the room was in comparison to the mess of papers haphazardly strewn across the desk behind which Temari sat in her chair, furiously scribbling with a frustrated frown.
"Yeah? What's the matter?" Her disgruntled voice resounded through the room as she didn't bother to even raise her head from her paperwork.
Ren chuckled in amusement, "Hello. Up for lunch?" He asked as he seated himself in the chair in front of her desk, giving a contemptuous glance at the three empty and one half-empty packages of crackers on the right side of the desk.
This girl. He inwardly shook his head in exasperation, doubting she had proper food since their lunch yesterday.
Hearing Ren's voice, Temari's head snapped up in surprise, but when her eyes met his, a smile involuntarily appeared on her face. "Oh, it's you. Hello." Her scrunched expression softened, and even her posture became less tense.
"It's already so late?" She glanced at the clock in the room, realizing that it was indeed already lunchtime, and with a small sigh, she began putting the papers to the side, making a place on the table for the dishes.
Ren couldn't help but watch her in amusement. There was an undeniable hint of tempered excitement in her moves. It was a bit sad that the highlight of her days currently was their lunch together, but considering the piles of paperwork she was clearly buried in, he was not overly surprised.
"How is it going?" He asked, trying to start the small talk.
"It's... going, I guess." Temari snorted without stopping to tidy up the papers on her table. "It's neither good nor bad. Just busy, busy, and even busier." A wistful smile appeared on her face, "But at least I have finally gotten Ebizo to approve the new merit system. It will be implemented in the village soon." She said with self-satisfaction oozing out of her.
"Great. I know you worked hard for it. Here, have a cookie." Ren playfully praised her with a smile as a plate of cookies appeared on the desk with a puff of smoke, getting a small huff in return.
But despite that, she did reach out and happily took one. After all, those were her favorites.
Ren knew her preferences and kept a stock of readily accessible food for all occasions in his storage seal.
The new merit system was a good reform. One of the things that always pissed Ren off was how hard it was for civilian ninjas to learn new techniques. There were systems for it, but they were highly inconvenient.
The village higher-ups loved to spout some nonsense about it preventing spies from stealing the village's techniques, but that was pure nonsense. After all these decades of espionage and counter-espionage, it would be ridiculous if the other villages did not have nearly all the easily accessible techniques up to at least B-rank already stolen from each other.
And besides? Who even cared? It was the A-rank techniques and up, or the clan techniques that truly mattered in the grand scheme of things. And those were restricted either by the circumstances of one's birth or by layers of clearances within the village.
No, making the system cumbersome was just a way to prevent civilian ninjas from rising beyond their stature as cannon fodder. It was one of the reasons why they had a harder time clawing their way to becoming the village's elite. A way to keep those in power in their seats and clans from worrying about new clans easily rising and competing with them.
For Ren, who was a civilian ninja himself, it was utterly stupid. For Ren, who was now a part of the Sabaku clan by marriage, it was understandable.
But nothing changed in the fact that, from the perspective of Sunagakure, this system greatly hindered the village. Manpower was already an issue. The only available path for the village for now was quality over quantity.
And the old system could not sustain that.
So, one nice day, Ren had sat Temari down and explained that to her. He couldn't do anything about it, either in Konoha or Suna. He didn't have the pull. But she did.
And it still took her quite some effort to get her way, even with Ebizo's approval. She worked for weeks for such a small change, stonewalled at every opportunity.
Hearing that it was finalized and was going to be implemented soon was indeed a cause for celebration. It meant she had won, and the civilian ninjas in Suna would have an easier time getting stronger now.
"But Temari, tell me," Ren spoke after watching her blissfully enjoy the cookies for a few minutes. There was one thing that bothered him. "Why do you not use the shadow clones for your paperwork?"
As the words left his mouth and Temari registered them, she suddenly froze mid-bite. For a moment, they wordlessly stared at each other.
But then Temari's face paled before it flushed red, and she erupted in rage at her own stupidity, "Son of a b-!" Due to her sudden outburst, the pieces of half-eaten cookie in her mouth went down her throat and made her choke.
Even having a coughing fit didn't stop Temari from giving the piles of paper on the side of her table a nasty look that held a promise of incineration.
Ren had a hard time stopping himself from laughing. So, he decided not to bother and laughed out loud.
He couldn't even imagine how much paperwork she had filled in during these past few months since Ebizo took her under his wing to teach her the responsibilities and work of a Kage.
Honestly, it never occurred to him to mention this function of shadow clones when he taught her the technique. It was such an obvious thing that he thought she would obviously get it on her own, too.
But clearly, that wasn't the case.
Still snickering despite Temari's unamused glare, Ren took out two dishes from his storage seal and placed them on the table, causing Temari to quietly grumble under her nose. But Ren knew she was appeased the second her expression brightened when she saw the sushi dish full of her favorites.
They were about to dig in when the door suddenly flew open, and a young genin barged in with a proud expression, all flushed from exertion. Ren and Temari turned toward him, causing the kid to wither under Temari's severe, narrowed look.
"I-I-I have an urgent letter!" The kid stammered as he squirmed in discomfort.
"It's polite to knock." Temari dryly said, her chakra slightly spiking in a lightly threatening manner that the kid probably noticed only subconsciously.
"B-But the letter..." His stammer had gotten worse, and his unsure voice grew quieter with every word.
'Geez. These new genin.' Temari and Ren exchanged an exasperated glance.
"Knock." Temari pointed at the door, her tone becoming more insistent while her chakra spiked further, causing the kid to gulp as the threat of impending violence was now palpable in the air, "Now!"
"YES!" He loudly squeaked before scampering out of the room and closing the door behind him.
Ren raised his eyebrow at Temari, whose face became exasperated.
"He is Ebizo's grandson and a right spoiled little shit." Temari clicked her tongue. "He graduated just a few days ago from the academy, so the old man probably sent him here with the letter for a bit of discipline and a reality check." She unhappily muttered as a knock resounded from the door.
After a quick and disgruntled, "Come in!" The kid entered, bowed according to the protocol, and in a quite professional manner handed the letter to the stern-looking Temari with his slightly shaking hands.
Nodding, Temari signed the delivery and dismissed the kid, who was out of the room faster than Naruto chasing ramen. Ren and Temari chuckled.
But their good mood lasted only until Temari opened the letter. Noticing how her face fell after she started reading it, Ren grew curious. He casually took the discarded envelope and read the name of the sender, only for his nose to scrunch.
"The Wind Daimyo? What does that dipshit want now?" He mumbled to himself, acutely aware of the strained relationship between the man and Sunagakure.
"Apparently, I am invited to his court in my capacity as the next Kazekage." Temari dryly answered as she put the letter down, looking upset. "And by 'invited', it was clearly an order." She sulkily added as she pushed the plate of sushi away, no longer in the mood to eat.
'Well, I guess that's our lunch ruined.' Ren sighed. He quietly added it to his growing list of grievances against the Wind Daimyo. It now seemed he would be able to address some of them quite soon.