14 A Hectic Birthday Party 1

Morning arrived in the Inuzuka household like every other day. The conversation with Daji from last night felt like a dream.

But of course, it was not.

Akamaru was waiting near the dining table, wagging his tail as he saw Hikari walking in.

"...I still can't believe that it's really you, Daji..."

The puppy panted with his tongue jutting out. He took a few steps forward until he was right before the girl, and then rubbed his head on her legs.

"...What is it?"

She crouched down, shielding Akamaru from the others' sight.

Suddenly, a familiar, feminine voice entered her ears.

"It is, indeed, I, my dear Huang'er."

Khuk-

The one who was moving their mouth, was the dog. While it was a bit rough, he was definitely speaking in their native language.

"Y-you can talk?!? Mppphh-"

Before she could make a ruckus, Akamaru lunged toward her face, knocking her down.

"You guys already so noisy in the morning..."

A lethargic Kiba passed by the two as he took a seat beside Hana.

Woof!

As if nothing had happened, Akamaru barked, pretending that he was just a normal ninja dog.

"...What an actress..." Hikari mumbled.

"Mufufu... why are you so surprised? Lord Kuromaru can speak too."

That eyepatch-wearing dog who sounded like a grumpy war veteran?

"It took me a few days to be able to manipulate a canine's vocal cords to this extent. Not bad, right?"

"Uh... but... why a female's voice? It's so similar to your real voice too..."

Are you really a male puppy?

When he saw the girl's questioning gaze, the puppy showed a mischievous grin. He leaped to the ground, rolled over to his back, and then proudly showed his everything.

'Look. I got my Little Marumaru with me. How about you~?"

Kek.

Something snapped in Hikari's mind.

"Are you feeling tired? Let me massage you~"

Lifting her leg, she launched a stomp strong enough to shake the Heaven!

<<Emei Sect Outer-Style Technique: Grape Crushing>>

Unfortunately, the opponent was also a thousands-years-old cultivator who had witnessed all techniques of the mortal realm. He quickly rolled over to dodge the stomp.

"Don't be shy~ come here~"

Woof!

Watching a dog and a young girl running around in a circle, Hana had a warm smile on her face.

"What a great bonding session. How about you play with them too, Kiba?"

"...Guh."

What bonding session? Is his sister blind? In Kiba's eyes, it looked more like a forced castration effort...

Nope, not joining, he still like to have his precious Little Fang attached, thank you!

---

After breakfast, Tsume had Hikari and Hana to stay behind while Kiba was allowed to leave with Akamaru. It seemed that she had something important to tell the two.

Come to think of it, it had been a while since Hikari had last seen Tsume. Lately, she had been away from home due to some important missions that required her tracking skill. Surprisingly, she had showed up in the morning without informing anyone.

"You guys, it's July 7th. You know what it means, right?" Tsume said while looking at the two.

July 7th... 7th day of the 7th month...

Oh! She knew the answer!

"Qixi festival?" Hikari replied.

"..."

...Qi... what?

"No. It's Kiba's birthday," Hana corrected her while still pondering about what ki-shi actually meant.

"Oh..."

So that's why Tsume came home all of the sudden!

"That stupid pup always forget his own birthday every year, so as usual, we'll hold 'im a suprise party!"

Hmm, a birthday party, huh? She hadn't experienced that for thousands of years. It sounds exciting.

"Mom will take care of the food, while I'm in charge of the present," Hana added, giving Hikari a meaningful gaze.

"And me...?"

"You, punk, gotta do the most important part!" Tsume pointed at her. "Starting from now, the house is off-limit for that pup and his partner! You're in charge of keeping it that way!"

Ah, so she just had to keep Kiba busy outside.

Alright, not too hard. In emergency, she could just use that Grape Crushing technique to knock him out-

Eh, wait, wouldn't he would fall unconscious for the whole day, then! That kinda defeat the purpose...

"Okay, enough talking! You get his ass out there or I'll kick yours!"

"Eeeh?!"

She was unceremoniously thrown out of the kitchen.

Sigh...

"Got stuck with babysitting that stupid boy, eh?" Kokuo snickered.

"Not you too, Venerable One..."

Agh, fine, she just had to do it, right? Whatever happens, happens!

---

After wandering around the Inuzuka compound for a while, she finally found Kiba in the training ground sitting in the lotus position. He was diligently circulating his chakra while immersing himself in contemplative meditation.

"Hmm, looking good," she commented, feeling satisfied with what she was seeing.

Her voice caught Kiba's attention, breaking him out of his trance.

"...What? You're disturbing me."

"Just complimenting you. Never thought that you can withstand meditation."

With his rambunctious appearance, one would think that he was more suited with hot-blooded physical exercise. It turned out that he could do this kind of training too if he put his mind to it.

Maybe she should pay more attention to his training as well.

"Akamaru likes doing it, so..."

He pointed at a rock in the distance.

A white-furred puppy was sitting on top of it with bluish light enveloping his small body. He was concentrating even deeper than Kiba, as their conversation didn't seem to bother them in the slightest.

...What kind of dog could do that?

"That... you don't feel anything weird about it?"

"Hm? Why?" Kiba raised an eyebrow. "What's so weird with Akamaru liking to do chakra training? It just shows his talent, doesn't it? As expected of my partner!"

He let out a prideful laugh, while Hikari and Kokuo just sneered by the side.

Aaah... what a refreshingly simple person...

The light surrounding the pup receded in an instant. He lifted his head, turning his attention to Hikari, and then rushed toward her with a single leap.

When she lifted him on her arms, he licked her cheek lovingly.

"Heh, it seems your partner likes me more," she smirked.

"..."

Kiba, who had just finished gloating about how wonderful his partner was, had to taste the bitterness of betrayal for the first time in his life...

"Can it. So? Why did you come here? You usually just do those weird dances by yourself in the backyard."

Those weren't weird dances! Those were the Twelve Movements and Six Specially Mastered Skills!

'No, no, don't forget my mission... focus...'

"I'm bored. Let's play outside?"

Kiba harrumphed.

"And why should I play with you? I'd rather-"

"Pleeease~? Lord Kiba, please accompany this humble one~?"

He flinched, unable to resist that pandering gaze.

In the end, his resistance crumbled to dust.

"Kuh... fine! But just because I'm feeling magnanimous today!"

"Yay~ thank you!"

"Hmph! Make sure to keep up!"

As she followed the boy out of the compound, the puppy on her arms leaned closer to her ears and whispered in a seductive voice,

"Hmm~ I've witnessed the revered Venerable Yao acting cute. I think this life is worth it~"

"Shut up! Erase that from your brain!"

She proceeded to send a finger flick to Akamaru's forehead.

---

The two kids and one dog spent the entire morning walking aimlessly around the village, prompting friendly greetings from the civilians, especially the people in the marketplace who had once fallen victim to Konoha's twin sandstorm back in the days.

Well, of course the two didn't know that they had garnered such an epitaph...

"Where are we going now?" Hikari asked the seemingly distracted Kiba. They had finally circled back to the first place they had visited, the public park.

"Hmm... I can't find them..." He murmured.

"Hmm? Who?"

"Most likely his friends," Akamaru whispered in her ears. And then, he barked loud enough for Kiba to hear.

"Ooh! Good idea, Akamaru! Let's go!"

He quickly sauntered off toward the residential area.

"...I always wonder how those Inuzuka people could understand dog barking..."

"Magical, aren't they?" Akamaru snickered.

Following the boy led them toward a clan compound similar to the one owned by the Inuzuka, albeit encompassing larger piece of land. The clan symbol painted on the gate showed three parallel vertical lines connected with two perpendicular diagonal lines.

"This is...?"

"Choji's house," Kiba responded before she'd finished the question.

One of Kiba's friend, Akimichi Choji... then, this is the Akimichi clan's compound?

According to the history book she'd borrowed from Hana, it was one of the four noble clans in this village. That could be the reason for such grandeur.

Not long after he'd rung the bell, the front gate creaked open, and a... full-bodied woman with black hair and eyes came out.

...Actually, maybe the reason their house was so big, was because smaller ones wouldn't fit...

"Kiba, nice to meet you! Are you here to see Choji? Shikamaru is with him right now in his room."

Hmm? They never played inside before...

"What happened to Choji?"

"Oh, nothing too serious!" The woman waved her hand while chuckling. "He had too much spicy ramen at Ichiraku, you know, that new menu? That was an amazing case of explosive diarrhea. Thankfully he's better now, but he still feel a bit weak, so I'm in the middle of feeding him some chicken soup..."

"..."

Explosive... what?

Actually, nevermind, no need to answer that. It was better to leave it as an unsolved mystery...

"Well, bummer, there goes today's fun," Kiba mumbled as they walked back toward the park.

"Don't you have that other friend?"

From what she'd seen when she was out running errands, Kiba would sometimes play with three other kids. The fat boy, Akimichi Choji, the thin, ponytail boy, Nara Shikamaru, and another one, the boy with spiky yellow hair.

Hmm... what was his name again? Narut-

"Nah. Not that guy. I mean, he's not that bad, but if it's just me and him..." Kiba shook his head. "Not fun, nah. Besides, I don't like his brother."

That cocky loner who thought he was the best, just because he was praised by the teachers every single day? Nah, not cool. He was just as bad as that Uchiha kid.

Hikari had this weird smile on her face.

Aah, youth, filled with rivalries and complicated feelings that adults wouldn't be able to understand...

"Huang'er, you're thinking about something weird again, aren't you?" Akamaru whispered.

"...Erase that grin from your face, it's creepy," Kokuo chimed in.

"..."

Fine, these old coots, they could never understand the romance of youth! Ah, wait, she was actually also one of them...

"Haaah, what a bummer... come on, let's just get back home," Kiba suddenly said.

"Eh?"

"What 'eh'? There's nothing to do, it's better to just train instead."

Young master, why were you suddenly so diligent, ah? It was just the middle of the day, be a little more lazy!

Aah, he was going away. W-wait, wait...

"Let's... let's just go play in the creek, then!"

She forcefully pulled him by the wrist.

"@#%+! Oi, stupid! Let go!"

His protest pitifully went ignored, the poor boy was dragged toward the village's main gate against his better judgement.

---

Back in the Inuzuka household, Tsume was currently absorbed in cutting various types of meat for her special recipe. At the dining table, Hana was helping her with decorating the cake for the evening party.

"Say, mom, is it fine for you to ditch your mission?"

"Heh, it'll be fine. What that Hokage gonna do? Fire me? Let's see if he dare!"

Hana chuckled. Classic Tsume. Well, another Inuzuka shinobi was taking over her duty for today, so perhaps it would be just fine.

"What were you tracking anyway that took weeks to complete?"

Tsume hand stopped for a moment before resuming to slice through the beef.

"I guess I don't have to tell you, but keep this a secret. We've sighted some foreign shinobi wandering around the vicinity of the village. They've been doing their best to hide their tracks, which forced us to work extra hard just to gain insignificant lead. We have suspicion about the culprit behind them, but no concrete proof so far."

"Foreign force..." Hana frowned. "...Who?"

Tsume sighed.

"Iwagakure, those slippery bastards."

Somehow, she had a feeling that that girl they'd been sheltering for the past year had something to do with this mess.