Chapter 40: Celebration at the Hyūga's

The following days followed the same pattern with Keitaro fulfilling his responsibilities at the lab, before spending most of the day with either Kuma or Kazuki practicing his medical ninjutsu. They had all agreed that it would best for him to learn all of the supplemental techniques necessary for any competent medical ninjutsu user before he even attempted the more advanced techniques more commonly associated with medical ninjutsu. 

As such, when he woken up much earlier one morning to find his father having laid out some robes for both he and his brother, he was confused. That was of course until he remembered the damn Hyūga party that he'd pushed to the back of his mind for the longest while. 

Yet It was obvious that his father hadn't, as he'd clearly been making ample preparation for quite sometime. 

"Get up Keitaro, I need to make sure you and your brother look your best. That means its time for a haircut." 

Kuma sat in his wheel chair with a pair of scissors, a comb and a mirror already ready to give them both a haircut. 

"Do we really need hair cuts though? I though the Inuzuka were all about being wild and untamed." Asked a sleepy Kentaro while holding a still sleeping Shiromaru in his hands.

"Wild and untamed doesn't mean you look like a walking disaster that just got out of bed. I'm just going to trim you hair a bit and make sure you look presentable. You boys are going to be mingling with important people and the least I can do is make sure you don't embarrass yourselves out there by looking like you were raised by wolves or something. There's already a stigma about the Inuzuka being savages and I don't intend for you two to give people a reason to attach that idea to you as well."

Regardless of their protest, both Keitaro and Kentaro were soon sitting down and getting their hair trimmed and tidied up by Kumas surprisingly nimble fingers. Who knows, if the breeder job hadn't panned out, then maybe Kuma could have gotten a job at a solon or something. 

In short order both boys where soon showered, dressed and ready for the big celebration that was to happen today. Surprisingly Kuma had even prepared a large breakfast so that they could fill up their stomachs before they even left home.

"What the point of eating all of this food? Aren't we gong to a celebration? Shouldn't there be lots of food there?" Asked Kentaro as he made short work of the plate of food placed before him.

"You'd be surprised. These sorts of celebrations are mostly ceremonial and while there will be food there, you'll notice that not a lot of people will actually be eating a lot. Most of them will stick to drinking and chatting than anything else. That's the way high society works unfortunately."

Kuma thought for a moment before he handed package to Kentaro who was surprised once he opened it to see a pristine shinobi satchel hidden beneath the wrapping paper. It was one that could be easily attached to either the leg or the waist of a shinobi to hold their tools and other such things while out on short missions. It was black and grey with silver accent pieces, and once he opened the satchel he was further surprised to see that it was fully stocked. 

Shuriken, kunai, senbon, all sorts of small ninja weapons were within all neatly arranged in a way that made it easy enough to retrieve them at a moments notice. There were also a few explosive tags and even several different smoke bombs as well, though they were in small supply compared to the other tools.

"Thats a gift that your mom made for you before she passed away. She made one for both you and your brother and they were always meant to be given to you as a graduation present if you decided to become shinobi. I know that's it's a little early to be giving you this, but I'm sure that your going to graduate by the end of the year so I'm certain that your mom wouldn't mind me giving it to you now. I know that I might be a little paranoid, but if you have to fight today I want you to be fully prepared."

Kume then turned to Keitaro and handed him a parcel as well. Unlike Kentaro's his was filled with a small medical kit filled with small vials and such. It was perfect for concocting small amounts of medicine if you where out in the field and it even included a book about common wild herbs and other medicinal plants. 

"You haven't even begun at the academy so I can't give you your mothers gift just yet, but I can give you this. Maybe you can use it to show off your knowledge of medicine, and even if you don't, its still a practical gift that you can use for many years to come."

Kuma hugged both his sons tightly, even haven gotten to his feet to ensure they were as close as could be while doing so. 

"I know this is hard, but know that I believe in you both. Go our there and make me proud."

No sooner had he said so did they hear a soft knock from the front door. They quickly went to see who it was only to be greeted by Tsume. She had swapped out her usually tactical wear for more formal wear, even going so far as to style her hair a bit. She was joined by her eldest daughter Hana and her youngest son Kiba who was currently peaking out from behind her legs.

There where also several ninken standing around them, three who shared a similar fur pattern and color who where new faces to Keitaro with the last one being the ninken of Tsume who had amazed everyone before for being capable of speech. 

"Good morning everyone, good to see that everyone's ready. Do you need anything else before we head off?" Tsume said as she smiled at the sight of the two brothers dressed impeccably before her. 

"no, no. Everything already been prepared. You boys make sure to listen to Tsume when you go out today okay? Be on your best behavior." 

Kuma hugged both boys a final time before gently pushing out of the door and into Tsume waiting grasp. Soon they were all walking down the pathway of the house with Kuma watching them leave form the porch of the house. 

Once they had moved forward enough to the point that Kuma was no longer viable, Tsume turned to Kentaro who had placed a sleeping Shiromaru on his head and spoke.

"I'm happy to see that you and your ninken partner seem to be getting along quite well. He looks healthy and happy."

"Yeah Shiromaru's the best, we're going to keep growing stronger together that's for sure. I can't wait till we can go on missions together."

"That's good to hear," Tsume mused while nodding her head "I heard your going to be graduating this year which is a pretty big thing. I'm going to be expecting great things from you in the future."

While Tsume and Keitaro spoke to each other, Keitaro found himself between Hana and a young Kiba who was currently staring at him. 

"What's wrong little guy?" asked Keitaro as he turned to the inquisitive Kiba.

"You smell like big sis." Kiba turned to Hana, took sniff in her general direction and nodded his head in confirmation. "Yup, you smell like her a lot. Are you a vet as well?"

"I'm not a vet, but I am studying medical ninjutsu. Also its rude to sniff people like that don't you think?" Keitaro raised his eyebrow at how callously Kiba behaved, though given the people he grew up around it wasn't all the surprising.

"Don't worry about him, he'll grow out of it eventually, he knows he's not supposed to do that to people but since your form the same clan he isn't as reserved as he ought to be. I am surprised that someone so young is studying to be a medical shinobi though. There aren't many in the clan who look upon it highly, which is a shame if you ask me." Hana inserted herself into the conversation between the two young children, patting young Kiba on his head and messing up his hair. 

"It has its uses, plus my dad told me he wanted me to study it before I enrolled in the academy." Keitaro said. 

"Well your dad's got a good head on his shoulders. Even if you don't become a medical shinobi the basic knowledge alone might be beneficial for saving yours or someone else life in the field." Hana looked off into the distance for a moment, reminiscing over memories of times past before focusing back onto Keitaro. 

"Either way, since you're studying medical knowledge, you should drop by at my clinic so I can give you a couple books on ninken medical studies, you're going to need it once you get your ninken partner."

"Really? I'd like that a lot." Keitaro politely smiled at Hana, even if he was pretty sure that his general knowledge of medical information when it came to ninken was on par with her own given that Kazuki was his teacher.

The little procession soon made their way out of the clan compound and soon meet up with a larger procession at the gate of the clan. There were several older person present including but not limited to the group of elders that had been present when Kentaro had fist selected his ninken partner. 

Everyone was well dressed in expensive looking robes with the Clans symbol worn of their faces and clothes with pride. Something that Keitaro still wasn't completely sure about was whether the markings on the face were permanent of temporary paint. Only members of the clan that had their own ninken seemed to have the facial markings, but even then it seemed like the markings being permanent would be rather inconvenient for most people. 

"Its good to see that you've gotten here so quickly, I honestly thought we'd have to wait a couple of hours for you to get here Tsume." The strict elder who was even now still smoking from his lite pipe greeted them gruffly, drawing the attention of the other elders to their small group.

"I keep telling you, you need to have more faith in the girl. She's young but she knows what's important for the clan." Croaked the old woman from her wheelchair. A fact that Keitaro noted in his heart though he said or did nothing. 

"If you all keep nitpicking at everything, then we'll still end up getting there late anyway. Lets just be on our way wouldn't you all agree?" The old man who had been sitting on his ninken the last time Keitaro saw him was currently standing next to the old hound, and was still being the voice of reason for the group as they all nodded at his suggestion before making final

Thankfully after a quick once over, they seemed satisfied with the appearance of everyone in the group and without much fuss encouraged everyone to board the several carriages that had been arranged for them to use to head to the Hyūga Clan. It didn't long for the group to be on their way and since the road was quite clear today, they where soon disembarking at the Hyūga Clan's front door.