15 Chapter 15: Into The Dog House

Keitaro kept staring at the jacket that his father had handed to him and couldn't help but wonder if it was really a good idea to put it on after listening to his fathers words.

He had always figured that there was some bad blood between his father and the clan, afterall he'd never seen the man wearing the clan symbol a day in his life, but he hadn't thought that it was this bad. 

'The fact that I never saw moms ninken before could only mean it was taken away as soon as she had passed on. That would definitely explain dad's hostility towards the clan. He would of just lost the love of his life and was grappling with the reality of now being a single father, left to raise two small children in a world where all it takes is a stray shuriken to end someone's life. Yet, wile dealing with that, one of the few things he had to remember his wife by was taken away by the clan under the claims of 'helping' him. I'd be willing to bet my life that they haven't once done anything to 'help' when it came to raising us either.

Though whether that's because they haven't offered or because dad simply refused to take said assistance is up for debate.'

He glanced toward his older brother who seemed lost in thought as well and decided not to say anything. As a bystander, the chances of him having to deal with anything unpleasantness today was slim but not impossible. Yet for his brother it was all but guaranteed that he wasn't going to have that good of a time today at all. 

The three of them quickly made there way through the village and stopped at the entrance to the Inuzuka clans entrance. Surprisingly, a single guards man was laying lazily off to one side of the gate, and to his side was a rather large grey ninken. He opened his eyes when they had approached and they flashed with recognition for a second, before he relaxed and turned away.

"Go ahead, the elders are waiting for you."

He completely ignored the trio after saying his bit and closed his eyes once more.

Without saying anything, Kuma continued on through the gate with his two sons in tow. Yet the scene on the other side of the fence was simply too shocking.

Keitaro's eyes practically fell out of his head when he saw and heard the scene unfolding before him. It was as if they had crossed into a different world as sounds of barking, growling, howling, and the occasional whine were sounding out all around him. He was practically surrounded by dogs of all shapes, colours and sizes. Some were running around chasing other dogs, some were laying around seemingly chatting with each other and others yet were laying around sun bathing on the side of the road.

'My god! I knew it was supposed to be a clan that specialized in ninken but this is a bit ridiculous right?!'

Keitaro simply couldn't comprehend why there were so many dogs running rampant through the place. 

'There has to be some sort of silencing seal or barrier round the clan compound or else no one would be able to handle all this noise in the village. Hell I'm wondering if anyone can manage to sleep at all in this place. I'm a dog person myself but this is a bit much.'

"Welcome to the Inuzuka clan compound boys, also known as the dog house by clan members and non clan members alike."

Kuma smiled at the shocked faces of his two boys before walking ahead once more.

"Before you ask, no this isn't how the rest of the clan is. Believe it or not most of those dogs that you see aren't actually apart of the clan. Most of them aren't even ninken. A lot of them are stray dogs that just ended up here since there're practically guaranteed to find food and shelter here. 

They show up, get food and shelter and then they leave to go roam around the village anytime they want. Of course some of the ninken of the clan do hang out around here as well. Most of them are strays that the clan are more than happy to provide for."

Keitaro could feel the bitterness in his fathers voice but decided not to comment. 

"Anyway the real heart of the clan is actually much deeper into the forest area but today we're going to be heading to the breeding zone. Your moms ninken just gave birth to her first litter of pups, and it's your right as her children to have the first pick of the litter. That's also why your being allowed to have one so soon Kentaro. Regardless you still have time, so if none of the pups click with you then its better to wait till a later date to find the right ninken, than it is to force a bond now."

"Yes dad I understand." Kentaro kept playing with his fingers his nervousness on full display, yet his eyes where blazing in eagerness.

It didn't take them long to find themself in a much quieter area, the number of dogs had decreased greatly but they did start to see a lot more clansmen running around.

Soon they came across the first kennel and Keitaro was surprised at how well kept it looked. In the back of his mind he still expected to see a bunch of small enclosed spaces where the hounds were forced to breed, yet what he saw instead was the exact opposite.

A large wooden structure that might have passed as a small shed was placed in the corner of a large fenced in area. There was a lot of grass and even a small tree next to the kennel under which a moderately sized ninken could be seen feeding her pups. Her partner sat off to the side watching on from a comfortable distance while also keeping an eye on anyone who came too close to the enclosure. 

It was a heart warming scene that brought a smile to all those who were lucky enough to stumble across it and only seemed to embolden the two boys excitement about today. 

They passed a few other kennels as they went deeper into the breeding zone until they came across an enclosure without any kennels inside, but with several pairs of ninken laying around inside of the the enclosure. Each pair had several small pups around them yapping and bitting at each other as they rolled around and played in the grass.

In front of the enclosure, was a group of parents standing to one side. Some of them had ninken with them while others seemed to be watching the ninken in the enclosure with excited looks in their eyes. Right in front of the enclosures gate however, was another smaller group made up of children and had several notable figures amongst them.

There where three older men and two elder women flanked on either side by the group of children, and they all seemed quite significant given that they were all wearing robes that looked quite expensive.

The first older gentlemen stood ramrod straight. His wrinkled face was stern, and his eyes were unforgiving. The scar the reached from his forehead, over his right eyes, and down to his cheek didn't help much with smoothing his haggard features, and only served to make him look even more ruthless.

He had a full head of hair with multiple streaks of grey littered throughout, and held a smoking pipe in his hand that he occasional took a drag from, before blowing out several rings of smoke. 

The guy next to him was a interesting contrast as he had slouched shoulders, a bent back, and was resting against a walking stick. He had a warm grandfatherly smile plastered on his face as he chatted with the kids, yet it didn't seem to quite reach his eyes. They were occasionally glanceing around, and even though he looked like a frail old man if there was one thing that Keitaro knew from anime, never underestimate an old guy with a cane. He wasn't as wrinkled as the first, but was still pretty old with several liver spots displayed on his exposed hands. 

The last man was perched on the back of a wizened ninken while sitting in the lotus position. The ninken under him lay on the ground with the children poking and rubbing at it. He was the only one without any hair on his head and he seemed to be asleep. Yet Keitaro couldn't shake the feeling that he was staring at him, and was very aware of everything that was happening around him.

Of the two women, the older looking of the two was seated in a wooden wheel chair hitched to a ninken currently seated to her side. She had long curved nails and wore large spectacles that obscured most of his face. She seemed to be slightly impatient as she was rhythmically clicking her nails on the arm rest of her chair with a displeased frown on full display.

Finally the last lady was surprisingly young. Out of all the figures present it was as if she who drew in all of your attention whether you wanted to look at her or not. 

She had a wild look about her which was amplified by her current attire. Unlike the others who wore long elegant light blue robes, she was sporting some tight fitted long pants that reach a little while past her knees. The rest of her legs where covered in bandages and she had on a pair of shinobi sandals with exposed toes and heel. She also wore a matching long sleeved top with a ninja vest over it all. Her medium length spiky brown hair looked wild and unkept, yet on her, it seemed to only enhance her wild aura even further.

She was standing slightly to left of the others and was flanked by a vicious looking ninken. He looked more like a wolf than anything else and even had an eye patch over one of his eyes. That and his missing ear was enough to show that he'd been through a good set of battles. 

None of the children seemed inclined to get too near too him, though the ninken in question didn't seem to mind it too much either. 

The one thing that all of them had in common however was the unique markings on their face. Two red fangs running from right under the eye along the check and ending in points on either side of their mouths. A feature that not all clan members seemed to have as some of the adults among the parents didn't have them at all.

It didn't take a genius to know that these people were the elders.

Keitaro his brother and his father soon joined with the group of people and while none of them said anything outright, it was evident that they weren't exactly happy to see them here.

"Glad to see you finally managed to arrive. One would think you would have been early for such an important matter. Especially when you were the one that decided that your son was ready for this. But then again everyone is different."

The old smoker was the first to speak once the three of them had stopped walking, and it seemed the others also had a few choice words for them as well.

"Honestly, you young'uns really do need to learn to respect the time of the elderly. It's not like we have that much of it left to waste you know?!"

"At least the boys are wearing the correct apparel, I half expected them not to even know what their own clan symbol was."

"They may be wearing the right symbol, but whether they know the importance of the symbol they wear, especially since they haven't been here before, is the real question that needs answering."

"Now now, no need to ruin such a wonderful occasion over such minor issues, I'm sure this won't happen in the future, because then it would truly be a form of blatant disrespect."

"Hmm? what's all the ruckus about? Oh you've finally arrived, a pity I was truly enjoying that dream just now. Regardless lets get things underway no?" The elder sitting on his ninken was the last one to speak and he seemed to command the respect of the others as they didn't speak anymore after he'd 'woken' up.

He turned towards the younger female and waved her along.

"If you would, Tsume."

She didn't seem too pleased at being rushed along and treated in such a manner, but stepped forward none the less and spoke all the same.

"Alright listen up kiddies, Today is the day that you all might be meeting your future ninken partners. All of you will be able to move forward on your shinobi paths as proud members of the Inuzuka clan and I hope that all of you will be a source of pride for the clan.

Today there are several litters here and I'm sure your parents have already advised you on what to look for when choosing your partner but I will still remind you all to think long and hard about what type of shinobi you wish to be in the future. Different hounds have different strengths and different weaknesses. So your choice of ninken will play a big part in what type of shinobi you can become in the future."

This news surprised Kentaro and Keitaro who glanced at their father in confusion. 

'What does she mean different ninken give different advantages? I thought all ninken were all pretty much the same. If anything they have varying sizes but they all seem to have wolfish traits. From what I can see the only real difference between the clan ninken would be their fur colour? Does that play a role in their strength? Doubtful since if that was the case then everyone would have the same colour ninken. Why settle for a weaker ninken when you knew there was a stronger one available. 

I bet the other kids know exactly what she's talking about. Dad really might have screwed bro over by not letting us interact with the clan at all until today. I'm not picking a ninken today so I'll have more than enough time to do proper research but big bro doesn't have that luxury. 

Plus with the pitiful small amount of information dad gave us about actually choosing a ninken, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a specific procedure we need to follow that only clan members know. This just keeps getting better and better. '

Keitaro could only keep his complaints in his heart and continue to listen to the woman's speech. She continued on about the history of the clan and a bunch of other unimportant things to the point that Keitaro was afraid that he'd fall asleep where he stood. Thankfully she began to wrap it up once one of the elders cleared his throat in frustration.

"Never the less, regardless of what choice you make today as long as you treat your partner with respect then both of you are bound to grow strong together. Just like me and my partner here. Right boy? "

Tsume turned towards her bored ninken who rose his head and glanced at the kids before opening his mouth.

"Right" 

Shocked gasps ran though the group of kids at the sight of a talking ninken and that included both Kentaro and Keitaro. 

'It's times like this that I wish Fen had been reborn with me. I would do anything to be able to talk with him again.' 

Keitaro felt a pang of guilt at the fact that he'd moved on so easily without Fenrir, but comforted himself with the thoughts that fen wouldn't have wanted him to wallow in self pity when he had a second chance to live a better life.

'Still it would have been nice to have him here.'