11 Dog Versus Dolphin 1 (1/2)
As a Tailed Beast who was stuffed inside a person's soul, Kokuo had a front-row seat to its Jinchuuriki's daily antics.
Honestly, it was just getting more and more absurd...
Hey, you would snap too if you have to watch someone clawing at the sky for hours on end!
”Lord Kokuo, stop jumping around so much, you're distracting me.”
Hikari, who was clawing at the sky as if she was trying to grope the heavens, complained.
”Whose fault do you think it is?!”
The Tailed Beast roared.
Aside from what she'd called Twelve Movements, there was also Six Specially Mastered Skills, as well as the study of thirty-six points in a human's body that could induce the Touch of Death.
Their names were majestic, but in reality, the training process were more akin to dances conducted by drunken monkeys.
To make things worse, those weird movements, they actually... worked? The kid's chakra veins did develop in a faster rate, at least compared to what it had seen so far during its tenure as Iwagakure's hidden weapon.
It didn't want to accept. It definitely didn't want to accept!
Thus, it jumped around some more while making random dolphin noises.
”Lord Kokuo...”
She was about to complain again when she noticed a shadow standing on the edge of the Inuzuka's backyard.
”Eh? Kiba?”
That messy spiky hair, those feline-like eyes, that should be the Inuzuka boy.
Talking about Kiba, lately he had managed to return back from the training ground in a semi-conscious state. At the very least, he didn't immediately lose his soul the moment he stepped back into the house. It seemed that whatever Tsume made him do, he was getting the hang of it.
The boy started walking over to her spot, so she stopped performing 'xuan nan gong' to see what he wanted.
Kiba was harmlessly innocent, like a small puppy, so she usually had her guard down around him. She didn't expect that he would suddenly jumped forward and tackled her to the ground!
”Huh?!”
While her thought process was in shambles, the boy leaned closer until the tip of their noses almost touched each other.
And then...
... he licked her cheek.
”...”
Ah, when she observed more closely, there was a white tail jutting out of his pants...
”Akamaru! What are you doing?!”
Kiba's voice rang above her as the weight pinning her down finally got lifted off.
”What the...”
She couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her stood two Kiba, their appearance mostly identical down to the dust and creases of their clothing.
Well, mostly, since one of the twins got an obvious tail...
With a poof, the Kiba on the left disappeared. On its wake was left the white-furred partner of the real Kiba, Akamaru.
”Hehe, surprised?” Kiba gloated with a smug look. ”This is the prized jutsu of our clan, the Beast-Human Clone!”
”Whoa...”
That technique... to be able to change physical appearance, qi manipulation must be involved, right?
She was genuinely impressed.
Animals capable of using qi was not a rarity in her old world. However, said animals had undergone years of meditative training that changed their composition to something resembling magical beasts, lengthening their natural age as a result.
Akamaru, however, was a normal dog. A ninja dog, perhaps, but still a normal dog. For him to perform that feat was nothing sort of miraculous.
”Why are you so shocked? All the ninja dogs in this house can do it, you know. Kuromaru's really good at it.”
Kuromaru... that dog with an eyepatch?
Hmm, could it be that animals in this world was even more blessed by heavens? Maybe she should raise one too, it could be her disciple...
Ah, wrong, she got distracted.
”So, all the times you disappeared with Lady Boss, it's for this?”
”Not really... somehow mom's really insistent in teaching me Inuzuka hiden jutsu all of the sudden. I have no idea why. Thanks to that, I have to go through hell everyday!”
He was still nine years old, damnit! Wasn't it a few years too early? Aah, he really wished that his mother would go out on a mission instead of dragging him around every single day!
Suddenly, a hand landed on top of his head, and then proceeded to squeeze it. Kiba winced in pain from the sudden attack.
”Hoo, so you think it's hell, huh? I guess I wasn't strict enough. Fine, I'll show you real hell next time.”
”G-guh! M-mom?! I was just kidding! Just kidding! Aaagh!”
”...”
Aah, what a loving family scene... she would never get bored watching it.
If Kiba could hear her inner thoughts, he might had puked out blood. What loving family scene? More like slow torture!
”Girl, I heard from my son that you're the one who taught him that method of circulating chakra.”
”Ah? Y-yeah.”
She didn't know whether admitting it would be a wise move or not, but in the end, she could only nod.
Tsume's pressure... it was too intense, alright? It reminded her of her old master!
”You guys, have your lunch, and then meet me in the training ground.”
She let go of Kiba's head, and then walked back into the house.
”She said 'you guys'... am I included?” Hikari murmured.
”I guess,” the boy shrugged. ”Let's just hurry up. Mom's scary when she's pissed.”
The two quickly finished their portion before scurrying toward the training ground.
---
The Inuzuka clan's training ground was separated into two parts, the smaller outer yard and the bigger inner yard.
The outer yard was open to everyone, including visitors of the clan. The inner yard, however, was reserved only for clan members.
Hikari had only managed to enter this area twice. The first time was when Tsume showed her around the compound, and the second was when she was asked to help cleaning up after a clan event.
On the far end of the training ground were practice targets for shurikenjutsu. There were also racks of dummy weapons made out of woods for each respective bukijutsu. Judging from how worn-out they were, the place was certainly well-utilized, as expected of a clan whose livelihood depended on martial expertise.