12 Dog Versus Dolphin (2)

Creases lined up on Tsume's forehead.

Wasn't this girl supposedly learning kenjutsu? Since when was she able to perform such delicate movements? Not to mention, that style was so similar to that particular clan's specialty...

"Girl... is that the Gentle Fist?"

The clan head asked, her tone laced with undisguised suspicion.

"Hmm?"

Hikari rubbed her chin. Gentle Fist? That was a great name, a fitting epithet for the style. Regrettably, it already had a name.

"This is emeiquan, the unarmed martial art style of mount Emei."

Employing low, stable stances that derived itself from the movements of animals living in the sacred mountain, it was a style that emphasizes the usage of qi to strengthen its offense and defense. Even Immortal cultivators wouldn't shy away from using the style due to its versatility.

"E...mei…"

Tsume frowned. The girl was explaining it so fluently, convincing her that it wasn't just some nonsense that she had made on the fly.

Still gibberish, but at the very least, she didn't seem to be related to those Hyuuga...

"Oraah! That one doesn't count!"

Her thoughts were cut short by his son's roar, who had jumped back to his feet after the pain on his chest subsided.

"That counts, you idiot, but you still have one more chance. I'll allow you to use 'that'."

It would be a bit unfair to the girl, but Tsume had a feeling that that one move wasn't the full extent of her strength. Kiba was clearly outmatched in terms of taijutsu, so the only way to even the field was to use the clan's ninjutsu.

"Ouh! Oi, Hikari, I still can't control this well, so do your best not to get hurt, okay?!"

Oh? Interesting. It seemed that he had a trick up his sleeves.

She resumed her previous stable, open stance.

"Show me."

Covered with a thin veil of chakra, Kiba sprung out with his Four Legs Technique, but he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he ran in a circle around her, trying to build up speed.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

"..."

Was his plan to make her confused?

"Heh!"

This time, he took a long detour before turning around toward her, and then jumped up.

" Here I come! <Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique: Passing Fang>!"

The boy spun his body like a drill, producing an ear-splitting noise as he pierced the air like a hot knife through butter.

""?!?""

Both Hikari and Kokuo were flabbergasted.

What was that absurd technique?!

She quickly leaped to the side, dodging the strike at the last moment. The pressure of the rotating wind, as sharp as tempered steel, struck at the edge of her sleeve, cleanly cutting it off.

A deafening explosion soon followed as the Inuzuka boy smashed the hard ground, throwing dust and dirt into the air.

Before she could recover, Kiba had hopped away, creating distance between the two.

"Heh, what do you think? Great, isn't it?" He gloated.

That technique had been crammed into his brain after grueling months of spartan training with his mother. He had to sacrifice blood and tears for it, but in the end, he was extremely satisfied. The jutsu's destructive power was simply off the chart, truly worthy the title of his clan's secret technique!

"...I have so many questions..."

Hikari stared at the resulting crater, not sure how to evaluate that technique. It was strong, sure, but it didn't seem to have much accuracy. Was it really practical?

She then remembered that Kiba was practically a beginner. If Tsume was the one who was performing it instead...

"Enough daydreaming! Here I go!"

<Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique: Passing Fang!

He launched out, sacrificing a portion of his spinning force to heighten activation speed.

"Human, do you need This One to-"

"It's alright, Venerable One. I can handle it."

Right when he was about to hit, she took a step back, once again avoiding the drill by a hair's breadth.

"Not yet!"

Kiba stopped his spin the moment he hit the ground, landing down on all four, ready to follow up with another Passing Fang right at her face!

"Guh-"

She twisted her body sideways, using all the strength that she could muster to avoid the strike by a hair's breadth.

Ignoring the cuts left by the biting wind, she scrambled back to her feet, and then darted toward the edge of the training ground.

Meanwhile, Kiba followed right behind her in hot pursuit.

"I won't let you run away!"

<Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique: Passing Fang>

With a running start, the technique's speed was greatly amplified, creating an even harsher grinding noise.

This time, he was sure that she wouldn't be able to avoid it in time!

Sadly, he was about to get disappointed.

"I'm not running away. I just need to take-"

She reached that place in the nick of time: the spot where they stored the dummy weapons.

"-This."

She snatched a wooden staff the length of her arm.

Exercising her dantian at full force, she mobilized her chakra, gathering them in her legs, her arms, and extending further to cover the tip of the staff.

Her legs separated to form a stance, planted firm on the ground like the roots of a tree. She focused her sight at the incoming Passing Fang, taking in the fine details of the spin.

And then-

"...There!"

<<Emei Sect Hard-Sword Style: Needle-Threading Strike>>

Her right arm shot forward, launching the chakra-infused tip of the staff right at the center of the Passing Fang's rotation.

Tsume's eyes almost popped out of her sockets.

The strong wind generated by the Passing Fang flared off, making a show of final resistance before dying out in an instant.

Kiba's figure was revealed. The tip of the staff was grinding on his head, slowing down the spin until all the momentum was gone.

When gravity finally kicked back in, he plummeted to the ground, eyes blinking rapidly in bewilderment.

Eh?

Did she just... break his clan's secret technique? How did-

"Guhoh!"

While he was still in a daze, she mercilessly smacked him in the head, knocking him senseless.

Watching the entire scene unfolded, Tsume was dumbfounded.

She still couldn't accurately gauge this girl's capabilities.

Granted, Kiba was still far from being capable of unleashing the technique's full potential, but to be able to stop Passing Fang with mere taijutsu...

"Lady Tsume?"

"Ah. Yeah," Tsume snapped out of her trance.

...Nevermind. She would just keep the girl under her watch for now.

Anyway, the result of the spar was already obvious. She raised her hand, ready to announce it.

"The winner is-"

"Actually, I give up this round."

"-is... is..."

Da heck?

Tsume almost bit her lips.

"And, because Kiba is knocked out, that means this round is a draw."

One loss, one win, one draw. So... in the end, a draw.

The two stared at each other in uncomfortable silence before Tsume finally let out a long sigh.

"...Do as you please."

"Thank you."

The girl showed her a cunning smile.

"That means, both of us can have dinner, right?"

"Who says so?"

Sadly, the smile was awfully short-lived.

"You… said that the loser won't have dinner. If we both draw, then there's no loser..."

"That's your reasoning?" Tsume shot her a mean grin. "Let me tell ya, in our Inuzuka clan, getting a draw is the same as losing!"

"..."

Say that from the start!

"Take my son back to the house, 'kay? I gotta run. See you guys tomorrow."

"Lady Tsume, wait-!"

She disappeared with a poof.

"..."

"It seems that your scheme has failed. This One pities you," Kokuo sneered.

"...Nobody will call you mute if you don't speak..." She mumbled in response.

Resigning to her fate, she dragged the unconscious boy inside.

---

Kiba's competitive spirit flared up after his shameful defeat. Even though the winter days were so cold, he would drag her mother to the training ground, urging her to teach him even more powerful techniques.

Tsume was, of course, pleased with her son's sudden enthusiasm. She just wished that he wouldn't be this energetic during a snowstorm...

In the meantime, Hikari continued with her own training. She couldn't do much about the lack of qi, so she focused on familiarizing her new body with Emei sect's techniques.

As one of the Four Great Sword Sect, Emei's swordplay was powerful beyond compare. While she was already proficient with their movements, pulling out their true power was another story. It required muscle memory as well as physical strength, something that could only be gained from constant training.

Thus, Kokuo was forced to watch its Jinchuuriki doing the same absurd dances over and over again...

Winter quietly passed, followed by the warm spring and the scorching summer.

"Time sure flies when it's peaceful. Before This One realized, we've been here for an entire year."

Kokuo was lazing around on the tatami, having materialized into a puppy-sized version of itself, while munching on rice crackers.

As a creature made out of chakra, it had no need for material sustenance, so it never had any intention to try these human foods. However, one day Hikari tossed it an apple out of boredom.

"Immortal cultivators can still taste food normally. Spirit beasts should be able to as well."

So the Tailed Beast gave it a try, just to humor her.

...Lo and behold, she was correct. Maybe it wasn't the exact same sensation felt by humans, but there was definitely something there.

Since then, it would materialize whenever it was sure that nobody else was around, and then demanded whatever snacks she was having at the moment.

The great Tailed Beast had disappointingly turned into a glutton… she started to wonder if the spirit beasts in this world could get fat too.

"It's nice to be peaceful."

Her main goal was to cultivate until she reached the peak. However, even the Foundation Establishment stage seemed like a distant dream with the rate she was going at. The new form of energy of this world, chakra, was simply incompatible with her world's cultivation techniques.

Oh well. How long had it been since she could relish in mortal pleasure like this? Taking it easy once in a while should be fine, right?

While she was making excuses for herself, she noticed quiet footsteps approaching the living room.

"Lord Kokuo, someone's coming."

The Tailed Beast, however, just slightly raised his head before directing his attention back to his crackers.

"Relax, it's just the dog boy."

"Who're you calling dog boy?!"

Kiba barged in with Akamaru perched on his head as usual.

Woof! The puppy barked enthusiastically when he noticed Hikari. He quickly jumped off the boy before landing on Hikari's lap.

Kiba frowned, feeling slightly unhappy that his partner would abandon him so easily.

"Oi, did you feed my partner something weird back then? I still have no idea why he's so attached to you!"

"...Me neither."

She lifted the pup so that they could look at each other in the eyes.

Akamaru's slits were opened slightly, revealing a pair of black pupils. For a moment, she could saw a hint of slyness hidden within those deep, dark pools, as if they were trying to suck her soul in.

Woof!

And then, he barked excitedly, shattering that image in an instant.

...Forget it, he was just a dog, wasn't he?

Truth be told, among the ninja dog in the Inuzuka clan, Akamaru was considered a genius. He was barely a year old, and yet he could already perform intricate jutsu like Beast-Human Clone or Fang Passing Fang with Kiba. He was also highly intelligent, able to absorb everything that Kuromaru and the other senior dogs had taught him in a short amount of time.

"He might even be smarter than you," Tsume once commented to Kiba, causing him to sulk for the entire day.

"Now that you mention it, where's Lady Tsume and big sister?"

Lately, Hikari had been helping Hana with taking care of Inuzuka dogs in her spare time. As such, they had grown closer over the past couple of months. Hana even insisted to be called as 'big sister'. Thus, the nickname stuck.

"Mom's got an emergency mission, so she had to go for a while. Big sis is staying at the clinic tonight. Some idiots fed chocolate to their ninken, now they all have a severe stomachache."

"..."

Chocolate on dogs... how unfortunate.

"I guess I'll make dinner tonight... what do you want?" she turned to Kiba.

"Steak," the boy replied lazily.

"...Tofu it is."

"What- no! That thing is gross!"

"Don't you dare underestimate tofu-! Besides, you had too much meat lately. As a developing cultiv- err, shinobi, you have to balance your nutrition."

"Ugh- But, meat...!"

They kept arguing back and forth until Kokuo got tired of listening and ended up playing with Akamaru instead.

'That girl... she proclaimed herself as a thousands-year-old sage, but she can be more childish than an actual child sometimes...'

The beast shook its head, thinking that it could never fully understand humans.

In the end, the two finally reached a compromise. Szechuan-style mapo tofu for dinner it is!

Kiba had no idea what the heck a 'Szechuan' is, but since it would have beef slices, he finally stopped complaining.

---

"Kuh... I think I put in too much pepper..."

The dish had turned out a bit more spicy than she had expected. She was afraid that her bowel would betray her anytime soon.

"This One likes it. Make more."

It seemed that spicy stuff was the Tailed Beast's thing. It had emptied the rest of the pot after Hikari and Kiba had had enough.

"Understood, Venerable One. Let's just sleep tonight... hmm?"

Someone is coming. This footstep... it was identical to that one in the noon.

Kiba?

The screen door leading to her room slowly slid open. Moonlight poured in, casting the shadow of a boy with wild, spiky hair.

She laid still under the cover, trying to see what the rude intruder wanted to do.

The boy quietly closed the door. He tip-toed over to her sleeping figure, and then crouched down, leaning ever closer to her face...

'Hmm, this familiar scene... this must be...'

"Akamaru, is it?"

She suddenly kicked the boy on the stomach. With an audible poof, the figure immediately vanished, leaving behind a white-furred puppy in its wake.

Akamaru let out a pitiful whimper.

"..."

This dog… what was he trying to do?

"Honestly... if you want to sleep with me, then just come in normally. No need to pull this kind of trick."

She sighed. This puppy had grown too attached to her, hadn't he? She pulled him into a hug, and then brought him under the blanket.

"It's late. Go to sleep."

Just as she was about to close her eyes,

Bark.

The small pup's body jerked slightly.

"...Akamaru?"

Bluish light enveloped the puppy as a tremendous amount of chakra poured out, prompting Hikari to shot up from her bed.

"What's wrong with that thing?!" Kokuo materialized out, feeling alarmed by the sudden surge of energy in the room.

"I don't know, he suddenly-"

She was about to reply when Akamaru opened his eyes. Another poof filled the entire room with a suffocating layer of smoke.

<Transformation Technique>

And then, she was yanked by the wrist.

"H-huh?!"

The world went upside-down as she was forcefully thrown back into the mattress.

Hikari felt an adult human's weight pressing down on her as she was pinned down by two slender hands.

What she saw as she looked up was the face of an exceedingly beautiful woman.

Fair skin as smooth as jade. Amorous red lips akin to a blossoming flower. A pair of gentle phoenix eyes. Long, flowing hair as smooth as silk and as dark as midnight.

It was a beauty that could devastate an empire.

Her gaze trailed down the figure's neck, following the curvaceous form with bountiful twin mountains that had nothing to cover them with.

She gulped. Not because of the temptation, but because she knew who this woman was. In fact, she knew her a bit too well.

The woman's lips parted. And then, a melodious, bell-like voice sang in her ears.

"My beloved Yao Huang, how I've missed you so!"

Those words were spoken in a foreign language. A language that only Hikari could understand.

At least, until now.

Who knew that when she would hear them again, it would be from this fox's mouth?

"So it is you, Daji..."

Yao Huang answered in kind, in the tongue of their now-distant homeland.