Chapter 48: Pep Talk

"You all can go on ahead, I need to have a quick chat with our young troublemaker here." Tsume said as she placed a hand onto Keitaro's shoulder.

She glanced at the elders who had accompanied her and though they didn't seem pleased at being told to buzz off, they didn't raise a fuss and simply continued to walk away. Neji, who had been following behind the group, also went along with the elders since it was clear that Tsume wanted privacy. 

Of course he glared at Keitaro before he left, afterall he was commanded to stick to his side and while he wasn't happy about it, he would follow his orders to the best of his capabilities. 

Once they were alone, Tsume led the two of them to a secluded corner away from prying ears and once she was certain that they wouldn't be disturbed she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. 

"So you managed to get into a fight with a Hyūga brat, and not just any brat but one of the more important ones at that." Tsume tsked as she shook her head. 

"You're lucky that things ended without much fuss, if the Hyūgapressed the matter then things could have gotten dicy back there."

Keitaro raised his eyebrow, confused as to how the fact that he had simply retaliated against someone who was trying to harm him could have been turned into something negative for him. 

"Why would they have pressed the issue? Neji attacked me, and I was just defending myself. Was I supposed to just let him beat me up?"

"No but it still doesn't look good that we got into a confrontation with the Hyūga on such an important day for them. Even if as you say they were in the wrong, it wouldn't be hard for them to twist the facts and paint us as the villains of this story."

Keitaro's forehead furrowed as he listened to Tsume, feeling a little disgruntled in the way that she was chastising him.

"Hinata would have backed me up, she was there and saw everything-"

"And where is Hinata now?" Tsume asked as she cut him off.

"Do you think it was a coincidence that she was shipped off to another room so quickly? While in part it was to make sure she was ready for the evening's proceedings, it was also so she couldn't say anything in your defense if the leaders of the Hyūga clan decided to apply pressure to us."

"That's...Why would they even do that? There's no benefit to them if they do! If anything it would just place them under more scrutiny than before. After all, it's not like we wouldn't call them out on their lies."

The words coming out of Keitaro's mouth practically tumbled over each other as uncertainty began to take root in his mind.

"The patriarch of the Huyga was clearly remorseful for what occurred and even personally apologized for Neji's actions. The actions of a side member at that might I add. I find it hard to believe that they would have tried to brush off responsibility like that given how they reacted."

Tsume kneeled and held both of Keitaro's hands in hers. She sighed but made sure to look him dead in the eye as she continued to speak.

"And that's exactly what makes it all the more obvious to me that they are working up some kind of angle here." Tsume's eyes sharpened as she listed a few inconsistencies that she'd noticed.

"It would have sufficed to make Neji or even his father apologize for the misunderstanding that occurred. In fact I was almost certain that they would have simply stated that since you weren't actually hurt in the end while Neji actually was, that things should have been considered even between both parties, but they didn't." 

"Not only did Hyashi apologize, but he even agreed to several beneficial business agreements and proposals that would benefit the Inuzuka greatly." "I don't know what it is that he wants, but I can assure you that there is a wider game at play that we haven't noticed just yet. Whether it will come to bit us in the ass is the main concern at this point." 

Tsume clicked her tongue in annoyance as she tapped the chin in thought.

"Even so, isn't it better to take advantage of them now that they are offering us an olive branch? If you're afraid of something happening then shouldn't you gain as many benefits as you can?" Keitaro asked 

"Not if the olive branch in question is laced with poison." Tsume said as she scoffed. 

"There is a lot that you aren't going to understand when it comes to the dirty politics of the clans. While it may appear as if the various clans of the village are a monolith, it would be better to view them as unwilling partners all stuck on the same ship who are trying to one up each other at every turn, while fighting for any and every scrap of influence and power that they can get their hands on." 

"The sad part is that the only way to not end up in the cross hairs of the clans would be to be a part of the clans in the first place. It's just one big mess that I'd rather not get involved in if given the choice.

"I don't think that's something a patriarch should be saying. Is it?" muttered Keitaro, though not softly enough given how Tsume was glaring at him.

Tsume rapped Keitaro's head with her knuckles hard enough that he couldn't help but to grunt in pain, before chuckling to herself. 

"You're getting cheekier and cheekier every time I see you. You know, you remind me a lot of your mother."

That caught Keitaro's attention as he perked up immediately. 

"I've been meaning to ask you about that actually. How did you know my mother and what was she like?" asked Keitaro curiously.

Tsume looked off to the side, her face softening ever so slightly as she reminisced of a time long pass.

"I knew her because we went to the academy together. At first I didn't like her to be honest, thought she was too prim and proper. She was always dressed properly, with clothes that didn't have wrinkles in them and with her hair neatly combed and tied up in a neat little bun. I always thought she was trying too hard to fight against the stigma associated with the Inuzuka being savages." 

"Of course that all changed when I saw her fight for the first time." Tsume chuckled as she recalled her academy days. 

"She was just as wild and unrelenting as any Inuzaka I've ever seen, If anything she was even more ferocious. A couple of the other kids had been picking on a friend of hers and she'd just snapped. Ended up putting a few of the bullies in the medical ward with a couple fractures and ended up getting in trouble with the teachers, but when I asked her if she regretted it she told me she didn't."

"In fact she said something that stuck with me till this day. She said that just because I don't show my claws doesn't mean I don't know how to use them. That's when we started getting closer as friends. She was still prim and proper most of the time, but she never shied away from getting down and dirty when the time came for it."

"Huh," Keitaro said, his view of his mother changing ever so slightly, "That's not what my dad told me. He always said she was kind and gentle and caring. The way he described her I would have never thought she was so…wild."

"She was a wild card, that's what she was." Tsume said, smirking smugly all the while.

"Always had a habit of getting herself into trouble at the most ridiculous times, over the most ridiculous things. Though she always somehow managed to wiggle her way out of trouble just as easily as she got herself into it. She had a rebellious fighting spirit about her that I see in you from time to time. Though whether that's a good thing or not is still up for debate."

Keitaro couldn't help but to smile to himself at that. There wasn't much that he knew of his mother other than the picture of her that his father kept. 

He'd asked his father about her before, but no matter how much he asked his father never really talked about her. Whether because he was still grieving or because of something else, Keitaro wasn't sure, but it was nice to hear about his mother for a change. 

"Do you think she would have been proud of me, of us I mean, me and Kentaro?" Keitaro had hesitated, but still asked in the end. 

While his father had assured him time and time again that his mother would have loved them both, there was still a small part of him that he usually kept hidden deep in the recesses of his mind that kept questioning that thought.

"Where is this coming from?" asked Tsume as her eyebrows furrowed. 

"Sometimes," Keitaro stammered, "I wonder if things would have been different if mom was still alive, if I had died instead of her. Dad would have never left the clan and Kentaro would have been receiving more training from the clan from an earlier age. Chances are dad wouldn't have gotten injured back then either and sometimes I just wonder if everyone would have been happier if mom was still here."

Keitaro's rambling was silenced by Tsume gently cupping his face. It was only then that he realized what he had said. Thoughts that would filter around his head from time to time, but thoughts that he hadn't shared with anyone else because of how they clawed at him. 

After all, he was reborn into the body of a baby that from all accounts should have died. If he had been dead then there was a chance that his mother would have survived the birth, but his introduction to the world may have very well spelled her doom. 

Even if that wasn't his intention, how could he not feel guilty about it in the slightest?

"Listen to me and listen to me well. Your mother loved both you and your brother very much, of that I am certain. When she came back from that mission injured and was told that she should consider terminating her pregnancy she never even considered it for a second."

"In fact she almost stabbed the medical-nin that had suggested that she should. Caused one heck of a scene that day at the hospital that's for sure." Tsume chuckled as she rolled her eyes but kept holding onto Keitaro gently. 

"Your mother was willing to fight and deal with all sorts of pain and hardships just for you. She knew that there was a chance that she wouldn't make it and she still kept going anyway. Never think that you were better off dying instead of her. In Fact, if she heard you I'm certain she would have been the first to smack you upside your head to knock some sense into it, understood?"

Keitaro simply nodded, feeling slightly better about his existence as the dark thoughts were bottled up once more.

"Good because you have a competition to win." Tusume took a step back and examined Keitaro to make sure he still looked presentable as she continued to speak.

"I assume you are aware of the knowledge based competition based on herbs correct?" she basked.

"Yes, I heard Kentaro and a couple of the older kids from different clans talking about it. I figured that was the one I was supposed to take part in." Keitaro rolled his eyes as he was once more, reminded of the evening's proceedings."

"You don't sound as excited about it as I thought you would be." Tsume's eyebrow was raised as she looked at Keitaro who looked off to the side.

"It would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to worry about how my performance makes the clan look."

Keitaro was indeed still looking forward to the competition, though he still wasn't sure how he felt about the clan politics that were undoubtedly involved. Especially given how Tsume assumed that the Huyga were up to something. 

By now his paranoia was flaring up and he couldn't help but wonder if the Hyūga would rig the game to make him look like a fool in front of everyone. Maybe get some payback at the Inuzuka for the earlier debacle. 

"I figured as much." Tsume could only sigh as she scratched her cheek. "Is this about your dad not being invited?"

"It's not just that that's getting to me, it's the whole way that everything revolves around the clan. Most of the things that belonged to mom were taken away by the clan, Kentaro only got a ninken and began training in the clans techniques because dad had to fight for him to get them, even now after everything that's happened, I'm just supposed to put it all behind me and do well for the good of the clan?" Keitaro chuckled darkly, "It leaves a real bad taste in my mouth if I'm being honest."

"I understand that you might not have any positive feelings towards the clan and rightfully so, but you are a part of the clan like it or not. That means that everything that you do can have an effect on the clan in some way. The same way that the clan has an affect on your prestige and the way that others view you as well.

You might not realize it but to others you aren't Keitaro, you're an Inuzuka first and that will color their views of you, determine how they will initially interact with you and will factor into what type of people are bound to approach you looking to glean benefits. I know it's a lot, but I also know that you are more than capable of understanding why things are the way they are. If you want that to change then you're going to have to become a hell of a lot more powerful and influential."

"Just because I understand that, doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." Keitaro spat, "Yet it also doesn't help me all that much to keep fighting it. Might as well just try to gain as much benefit as I can ."

"That's the spirit." Tsume said as she patted him on the back, "Now let's get going, things are about to start and I'm actually quite looking forward to them this time around.