As he watched Temari, who alternated between giving him wary glances and looking in worry at Gaara's body on the snout of the ever-so-slowly shrinking Shukaku, Ren's anger slowly diminished.
He couldn't exactly blame her for being worried and risking her life for her brother, now, could he?
This ridiculous woman jumped into a freaking spatial distortion for Gaara. She risked her life for him without a second thought. If nothing else, Ren respected that kind of dedication.
He silently promised that he was going to bash Gaara's head on an iron plate until the boy got into his thick head that he had somebody who cared for him. Maybe it could even make up for the lack of Naruto's Talk no Jutsu?
Ren didn't intend to harm these two. After all, he still needed Gaara to be the Kazekage. But this sealing was necessary. Ren would argue that it was even more important than Orochimaru's demise. His goal here was to prevent Akatsuki from being able to gain Shukaku's chakra. He was not just resealing Shukaku into Gaara. He was remaking the whole seal.
Not only was Gaara going to be able to peacefully sleep during the night, but Shukaku would get something akin to a personal desert-like mini-dimension inside his new sealing space, where he could stretch his legs.
Anything to make the grumpy junior happy, right?
Sure, it was not the same as being free, but Ren believed it was much better than his previous prison. And who knows? Maybe it would even make Shukaku more amiable toward Gaara in the future? Well, Ren didn't intend to stick his nose into that mess. If Gaara managed to befriend Shikaku, then good. If not, eh, it didn't matter to Ren.
But making their existence more comfortable was not the main function of their new seal. No. That was just a side effect. The seal existed as a safeguard from Shukaku ever being extracted.
Technically, he was no longer inside Gaara. He was in a small pocket dimension connected to Gaara. Sure, his chakra still seeped into Gaara's chakra network as if the boy were still a bona fide jinchuuriki. And Gaara could still communicate with Shukaku through the seal.
But this way, if Akatsuki ever tried to extract Shukaku, their extraction technique better be able to reach different spatial dimensions, otherwise the only Shukaku chakra they would be getting would be the pittance inside of Gaara's system. The seal would shut off the access to the sealed dimension the second its mechanisms notice the chakra being extracted from the host.
And Ren highly doubted that Akatsuki's extraction technique could reach through space, considering they needed the jinchuuriki to be brought in front of the Gedo Mazo to extract the bijuu.
This was Ren's way of working smarter, rather than harder.
Shukaku was no doubt going to be one of the first bijuu they would be going after. And if they failed to get him? Their whole plan would come to a freezing halt right there. There was no point for them to go after other bijuu if they can't even get the one tails.
And if Gaara unfortunately died? The connection to Shukaku's new home would become this very stone slab in front of Ren. Akatsuki would first need to find it and realize what it was in order to even have a small chance of getting into the dimension with Shukaku.
Of course, Ren doubted they would figure it out anytime soon, even if they found the stone slab. So, just looking for clues would probably, hopefully, take them several decades since Ren didn't intend to ever tell anyone, apart from maybe Ino and Hinata.
Then the Akatsuki guys would need to figure out a way to actually traverse there and back. And good luck with that. May they enjoy the next ten years of researching spatial techniques.
Kamui might be able to do it. Maybe. But that's a mighty big 'maybe'. Ren's Kamui seal could do it only because he already knew the spatial coordinates. Without them? Hah. No.
Then, if they got to that point, they would need to defeat Shukaku inside a small desert. Then they would need to figure out a way to get past the summoning restrictions to summon Gedo Mazo, because there was simply no way they would be getting out of there with Shukaku, when he would be literally sealed within that dimension.
Maybe some ancient Uzumaki Fuinjutsu Grandmaster could find a way with a few years' worth of research. But those are all conveniently dead at this time.
Sadge.
And then? Then they would need to get past a little nice trap Ren left within that dimension. If they managed to summon Gedo Mazo there and extract Shukaku's chakra into it...
Good luck ever getting the statue out of there. It would pretty much become sealed within that dimension alongside Shukaku's chakra.
Ren pulled all the stops on this. Hell, Zetsu was determined, and for all Ren knew, the plant boy could find a way with a few decades of dedicated effort.
But that was not the point.
The point was that this might buy Ren several decades, if not completely solve the problem and make it impossible to ever unite all the bijuu.
Why should he fight the Akatsuki, Madara, and Obito? Why should he let it get to that stage when he could just prevent them from ever getting Shukaku?
Granted... the Fourth War was most likely going to happen anyway. Somehow. At this point, Ren really didn't trust the butterfly effect.
And granted, there were ways to sidestep his precautions. For example, the first one that instantly came to Ren's mind was this. If they managed to prevent the access to his sealed dimension from being shut off during the extraction, they should theoretically be capable of extracting Shukaku. Slowly. It would take them months, if not years. But it was theoretically possible.
Then again, not even Ren had any idea how to do that just yet. Even if they figured it out somehow, at worst, this was still going to buy him years of time.
And that was enough for Ren. He intended to make more moves like this that would make it difficult for Akatsuki to ever get their hands on the bijuu.
If he had anything to say about it, Ten-Tails would never grace this world ever again with its presence.
... Of course, Ren did want to at least have one conversation with Kaguya. Who wouldn't? He wanted to see if she was indeed deranged. He wanted to see if she was truly beautiful.
And who knows? Maybe he could fix her~?
Chuckling with a wide grin, Ren noticed the weird look Temari was throwing him, and his grin instantly fell.
Ah. He forgot she was still here.
Sighing, Ren released the silencing seal on her, giving her back the ability to speak. Then he partly released the paralysis seal. She was still prevented from moving, but her facial muscles were again fully operational.
And Temari instantly made use of her newfound freedom.
"What are you doing to my brother!?" Temari blurted out, her voice full of fear and indignation, as she put out a face full of false bravado.
Ren found it a bit endearing.
"Don't worry. I am just strengthening his seal." He easily shrugged off the distrustful look Temari gave him. "Besides, you attacked Konoha. You really don't have the right to complain here. We can't have a jinchuuriki rampage throughout the village."
Temari winced when she heard that, and Ren suddenly got a very bad premonition.
"... He didn't destroy too much before I pulled him here, did he?" He was almost afraid to ask.
Temari ducked her head, averting her eyes from Ren. "Er...Just a street." She weakly admitted, making Ren wince. Now that was going to make the future negotiation with Suna a little bit more... not fun.
"Or two." Temari reluctantly added before awkwardly looking around with a narrowed gaze, ignoring Ren's deadpan look. "Or three." She eventually whispered, and Ren let out a groan before letting his back fall onto the grass.
'So, I was totally late, wasn't I?' He dryly thought as he gazed at the clouds in the sky, irritated with himself.