Knitting Fate

Second installment in Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren series

Twelfth Thread

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This chapter has been beta'd for you by hestia8639. Thanks a lot!

Official beta'd version posted 04.08.2017

"I'm surrounded by idiots!"
― Scar, The Lion King

0

Days turn to weeks, which turn to months, and Ren spend it all learning and thanking whoever would listen (Jashin, Sage, hell, even Kaguya would do) that 'learning' in the Naruto World doesn't exactly equal 'studying'. So, instead of hitting the books, she hit the training grounds. She is bound to do well on theory anyway – she could fake the 'Will of Fire' indoctrination well, and she has thirty-two years of knowledge.

So, she spends her time training – or, as she liked to put it, 'learning her body', which is actually true. She technically knows what Ren is capable of, she sees it in her dream-memories, but she, of course, has to try it all out herself. All the fancy taijutsu katas, the explosive techniques she uses to burn the trees with, much to the kids' glee and Kakashi and Tenzo's dread.

Speaking of kids – she has apparently gained her own row of ducklings, and she doesn't even know just when the hell that happened. Every member of the future Rookie Nine except Ino, with Torune instead, keeps following her whenever they have any seconds to spare. She understands that she and Hana have that older sister vibe to them, and as they are most often found together it doubles, if not triples, but this? Nine first-years keep following them, watching them train and, eventually, demanding to be trained, too.

(Not that Ren minds all the gleeful shrieks and giggles when she burns yet another dummy with an only slightly too big fireball.)

But then, she is happy with things as they are, she figures. Sasuke smiles more and more as time passes, Naruto finally has actual friends – and many of them, neither of whom have been discouraged by their overly-dramatic parents. Kiba is becoming more… well, Kiba-y, exuberant and loud. Shikamaru and Choji are pretty much the same, but Ren watches with amusement at the cautious friendship blooming between them and the Aburame.

Sakura, free of her parent's idiotic ideas (they actually thank Ren later on), is dead set on becoming a medic-nin, which may or may not have been the direct purpose of Ren and Hana's plotting. Hana herself admits that she does, indeed, see talent in the pinkette. Hinata has taken to following Sakura around, and eventually gets wrapped up in their spars, wishing to mimic their older friends. It actually helps – Hinata is gradually getting better at taijutsu with patience and corrections, instead of withering under her father's stern gaze. And Sakura… well, she is already making small cracks at the boulder she decided to be her punching dummy.

That may or may not have frightened boys. A lot. Ren just smiles at them, and encourages Sakura more. The boys apparently take it as a sign that Ren is grooming Sakura to be her successor once the older Uchiha graduates – which may or may not have been true – and already regard her more than one another. Sakura apparently likes this sort of attention, because she takes to leading the boys – and Hinata – with more and more confidence, especially since Hana manages to convince Ren that pure firepower is not everything and physically drags her away to hit the books the good, old-fashioned way.

Ren is uncertain of leaving the kids to their own devices – of course, having Hinata around results in having Neji around as well, with his permanent scowl and 'I'm better than you' aura, even at this age. He does not join the others in training and having fun – he just watches, as if they are all below him. That makes Ren want to rip him apart in frustration and anger – and, honestly, the fear of upsetting Hinata is the only thing actually in her way.

So, she sneers right back at him whenever she has a chance, and she knows that he is, indeed, quite responsible. Or appears so.

(Ren wouldn't even have him care for a rat, honestly. His glare could make milk sour, and definitely does that to her mood.

But then, Ren has always disliked those pretty boys with a posh aura around them. She usually ends up wondering how to make them less pretty in the end – and has a few various sophisticated plans laid for when she could actually scratch Itachi. Especially to make sure he is not going to be happy about their… 'family reunion'.)

Still, even if he acts better than anyone in the Village, he is bound to care for Hinata, and Hinata is too nice to ever leave any of her new friends. Especially with the newly-found determination to keep those friends close, as she never had any chance to have them before.

In fact, her father would've never let her attend Sakura's party if the invitation wasn't passed by the two only remaining Uchiha, of that Ren is certain.

Then, there are interruptions in the forms of, in order, Hana's and then Chōji's birthday. Ren has to admit that she is, actually, quite intimidated by the current Inuzuka Clan Head, Tsume, and even her own aggressive nature pales in comparison to the woman. Still, they growl at one another a bit, and then Tsume promptly decides she likes her, much to Sasuke's relief – the boy seems sure that his cousin-turned-sister actions would lead to having her head chewed off. Ren doesn't mind some shows of Inuzuka-adequate temper, effectively getting herself rid of the 'up-tight, emotionless Uchiha' stigma. And she never runs out of excuses to spend time with Hana.

(Sasuke, thank Jashin, is slowly getting used to this whole 'friendship' thing. With Naruto and Kiba to introduce him to it he is bound to do so anyway.)

Then comes Chōji's birthday, which is abasically just one huge feast. Akimichi people have to, after all, keep a proper figure – nearly all their clan techniques are all about heavy mass and enough fat to not run out of it while in the middle of a fight. Ren promptly decides that Akimichi might have suited her better than Uchiha, in fact. Eating with no restrictions and beating people with it? Count her in. In the end, she joins forces with Naruto and they both dare Chōji and his father, Chōza, to an eating competition, or something like that. No one really remembers how it started, but how it ended – with the Akimichi only barely managing to out-eat the Uzumaki-Uchiha combo, which absolutely shocks everyone.

And then, before she manages to notice, May arrives.

Ren isn't happy upon learning that her life somehow managed to just… well, slip through her fingers at good fun and learning hard. She is pretty shocked to learn that May started a week ago, but that does not stop her from passing all her tests with flying colors. The written test? Flawless, because those are pre-High school tests and she has an university degree.

Physical tests? She hasn't been drilling herself so hard she usually collapses from exhaustion every evening to do anything less than the best. Clones? She makes quite a nasty habit of using them when they play tag with the kids – it is a short-lived one, though, as said kids are very united over her unfair ninja-cheats, much to her and Hana's amusement. She passes those, too.

Hana herself is pretty good, too. Top ten in the class, though not quite in the top five, but it still is pretty high, considering that the class includes thirty people total – thirty, three of which (was this on purposeful?) fail the tests. One of those people, Ren noted with satisfaction, is the civilian girl who tried to smash Awai with her book a few months ago. The spider himself seems quite happy with the fact as well – he apparently remembers the girl and acts with nothing but hostility towards her.

And so, today, Ren stands before the academy, tying her forehead protector to her blue, sleeveless coat, and straightening her dull-purple pants. She looks… ordinary, save maybe for the Uchiha Crest sewn onto the right sleeve of her black, turtleneck T-shirt. She also has her custom-made boots– she absolutely detests having the standard open toed shoes, and was not going to suffer just because Kishimoto likes drawing toes.

Her hair has gotten pretty long, too, reaching past her shoulder-blades and woven into a tight braid. As Renee she enjoyed her hair long, but now she is Ren, and long hair is not going to be very useful when rearranging people's faces. She makes a mental note to cut them as soon as she remembers to.

"Okay," the teacher says, upon seeing that all twenty-seven of the graduated students have made their way to the classroom, all sporting Konoha forehead protectors. The man smiles to himself – only about one third will prove themselves worthy of keeping it. "Now I'll announce your teams!"

The chatter dies down, but soon erupts into frantic whispers instead. The teacher makes sure to read louder, though. Cut the kids a little slack before hell begins – sound reasoning, according to him.

"Damn, I'm going to be teamed with our favorite Hyūga, I tell you," Hana hisses to Ren, nudging her. "He's our class' dead last, and I'm not sure how I'll cope," she whines miserably.

"Don't worry," Ren pats her shoulder. "I'm mentally supporting you."

Hana answer, if there was one, is cut off by the teacher:

"Team Four: Inuzuka Hana, Hyūga Hibiki," she just sighs in defeat, "and Uchiha Ren."

The class goes eerily silent for a moment – they know that Hyūga and Uchiha are Konoha's resident powerhouses, even if there isn't much hope for Hibiki, but for Ren to still be placed on a team with him? Not to mention that she'll most likely cause a 'tragic accident' for him in the future.

Then Hana squeals in pure delight and shows no shame whatsoever, almost mauling her friend, as she gives the Uchiha a bone-crushing hug. Ren is still too shocked to answer, but then the realization hits her hard.

"We don't have an Aburame in our class, do we," she states more than asks, and Hana nods in confirmation.

"Nope!" Inuzuka cheers. "I didn't expect them to fill in the gap with an Uchiha, but I'm so not complaining," she smiles, showing off her pearly-white canines, and Ren finds it difficult to not to return at least a portion of the smile.

Today isn't that bad, really. She is still with her friend, now perhaps even more so, and they would work very hard to either make a proper human out of Hibiki, or make his existence a hell on earth – that much is certain.

Future Team Seven visits them briefly to see how it's going before they leave, and are greeted by a very smug Ren and Hana, and a sour-faced Hibiki, who looks like the world is ending today because of his two new teammates – which, for his world at least, isn't exactly too far from the truth. Then, the three (or six, if Hana's ninken are taken into account) just wait for their new teacher. He, thankfully, does not take long.

And, just like that, the world gives Ren yet another shock.

She has absolutely no idea what to do and how to greet Aburame Shibi standing before them, looking at the three of them with a thoughtful look. But then, if this is how the village chooses to compensate for the lack of a genin Aburame, well, she isn't one to argue about something like that, really.

"You don't appear hopeless, thankfully," Shibi says finally in a deceptively monotonous voice. Hibiki just beams at him, and both girls roll their eyes. "Except for the Hyūga," Shibi corrects himself, and Hibiki's smile drops instantly. Then, the Aburame Clan Head turns towards the two girls with a slightly saddened expression – or whatever that is they can read from behind the high collar and shades.

"Something wrong, sensei?" Hana asks.

"Yes and no," he shrugs. "You two will have to work hard to balance out your teammate's incompetence. I'm Aburame Shibi, and I'm stuck with you until you make chūnin, and perhaps even after that, if you prove worthy of creating a positive and lasting relationship with me," he says, and eyes Ren a bit longer. The Uchiha currently has Awai crawling over the left side of her face, so the smile she offers him is quite creepy and unsettling.

But then, Shino and Torune both claim that she is 'okay', so if his son said it is fine, he is willing to give her a chance.

"Do we get to introduce ourselves or whatever?" Ren asks finally. She doesn't quite want to copy Team Seven, but she really feels the need to do something similar now. Not to mention she knows nothing of Hibiki (it's hard for the boot to care for the ant it steps on) and even less of Shibi, whom she is meeting for the first time in her life.

The Aburame sighs at that, and just motions for her to go first with whatever.

"Oh. Well, I'm Uchiha Ren. I have a younger cousin-turned-brother, Sasuke and a small army of Academy first-year minions. I like dango, but I'm a carnivore, so I prefer meat over anything. I also like cats, spiders, and Hana. I hate dresses, buffoons, and blind, homophobic hypocrites, aka civilians. This is my pet, Awai, and my current plan of action is to be above chūnin by the time Sasuke graduates. I'm aiming for tokujō for now," she says as she counts the facts on her fingers. Renee had long since stopped playing in dreams – she just set long-term goals she strove to complete, one at a time. Six years to get two promotions seems like a decent amount of time.

"Quite interesting," Shibi nods, and then motions at Hana.

"Well, I'm Inuzuka Hana and I have a younger brother, Kiba. Ren and I share a lot, and I'm really happy to be in a team with her, even if I have to endure Hibiki for that. I'm a carnivore like her, but I also like fruit-flavored tea. I like dogs," she motions to her three ninken with a snort. "These are the Haimatu brothers, Shinku, Sora, and Shiro, my ninken. I hate liars, plotters, and Hibiki," she huffs, and Ren manages to slip a small 'me too' to her monologue. "I want to make chūnin at first try, it's like a dream of mine. Then I'm going to give it a go at a medic-nin apprenticeship," Hana finishes, and that has Shibi nodding. Finally, he nods at Hibiki.

"I'm Hyūga Hibiki and I have no siblings. I don't have any friends either – I don't need them," he said, and, perhaps involuntarily, started emanating that 'I'm better than you' aura. "I don't like animals, they're all dumb, especially dogs," well, that isn't going to gain him any love from the Inuzukas, "and I like unagi. I don't have pets. I hate the posh Uchihas and my cousin, kiss-my-boots-Neji. I'm going to show him who's the best!"

"Strong words for the dead-last," Hana snorts, rolling her eyes. Ren chuckles, too – Neji was at the top of his class and made Jōnin before Naruto returned from his training, likely around the age of fifteen/sixteen. She really wants to see Hibiki go and try to beat that little monstrosity.

"Sensei, and you?" she asks instead, and Shibi sighs.

"Aburame Shibi, I'm your teacher. I have a son, Shino, and a nephew, Torune. They're both in their first year at the Academy. My clan tends for many various bugs we're known for. I like calm evenings with a good book, and dislike people who disrupt the peace. I'm making up my goals as I go," he says off-handedly. "Meet me tomorrow morning at eight by the school gates. I'm going to see if you're really fit to be ninjas."

Ren just smiles. Now, the fun begins.