Chapter 18: Acceptable Results

Keitaro couldn't believe just how much went into picking a ninken, and just how little his dad seemed to have know or prepared them for. Of course it would make sense that he wouldn't know much given that he didn't have a ninken of his own, but the fact that he seemed to just think everything would work itself out somehow was absolutely irresponsible.

'Transferring chakra from one person to another would always result in some of the chakra being lost in transmission. Which means that you'd also need to have a decent amount of chakra in order to even attempt this in the first place. 

That would also explain why all the other kids here are so much older. By the age of ten even if barely, they should all be able to handle this level of chakra manipulation pretty well and have the required amount of chakra. Especially since they've been trained by the clan.

I knew it was weird that we were the youngest children here but I didn't think it was this much of a blunder. 

I bet dad pushed through all the road blocks placed in his path to ensure that Keitaro got to chose his pup from the first litter of moms ninken regardless of how much of a problem it was. He either didn't know, or though that it wouldn't be that big of a problem to simply chose a ninken pup, but this is a really big problem.'

Keitaro's thoughts where jumbled and he was worried that Kentaro might end up harming one of the pups by accident which would not go over very well with elders watching the proceedings. Once more he glanced at the female ninken who he'd been laying against and recalled the words of the bald elder earlier.

'He said that getting in her good graces would be beneficial later on down the line. we still have a good while before Bro needs to choose his ninken and he should be able to see which pups he's compatible with in under five minutes...which means that he could use moms ninken to practice the chakra exchanging part!'

Keitaro's eyes sparkled as he came to that wonderful conclusion. Of course whether his brother would be able to pickup and utilize a technique like that so quickly was unknown, but at least they had a chance.

Still Keitaro squinted his eyes as he looked towards the bald elder who was backing him in the distance.

'Why would he mention anything to me at all. On the surface what he said might not seem like much, but chances are it would have taken me much longer to figure out a way to help out with Kentaro with the selection. 

The biggest red flag of this entire thing is that he's been speaking and leaving the hints for me, the three year old kid who has absolutely no reason to even fully understand what's happening here today, instead of speaking directly with Kentaro. I'll need to be careful of that old man in the future. I guess you really can't drop your guard around any old people when it comes to supernatural worlds whatsoever.'

Keitaro didn't waste anymore time thinking to himself and quickly clued in Kentaro on what he needed to do. 

Now equipped with a plan of action Kentaro quickly went through all the pups and surprisingly only found a single pup that didn't reject his chakra. Whether this was the ideal fit or not, neither of the two boys was sure since they didn't have a second pup to compare with, but it would have to do for now. 

The pup in question seemed to be the largest one of the litter and had a jet black coat that covered him from head to toe. the only speck of colour on it's fur was single white spot on its forehead which only served to elevate its appearance even further.

With pup in hand the boys huddled around their mother's ninken once more. While Kentaro placed his palm on her forehead forehead to get in some practice, Keitaro kept the pup entertained and happy by playing and tickling it. The happier the pup the better the chances of it agreeing to the bond afterall.

While waiting for thee time to up, Keitaro couldn't help but wonder about how things would go when it was finally his turn to chose a ninken.

'I wonder what will happen if mom's ninken doesn't have a litter of pups ready when its my turn to claim a ninken of my own. Will I have to wait until she has another litter? It seems pretty impractical to be honest. I really hope there aren't any problems when its my turn to take a crack at this.'

The boys didn't have to wait long for as an hour passed quickly. The elders son rounded up all the children who each held a pup in their hands as they made preparations to see if the children and their chosen ninken where truly a pair. The rest of the pups where rounded up by and as if they could tell just how serious the upcoming events where, they all quieted down.

Finally once everything was prepared, Elder with a smoking pipe stepped forward. He held his pipe off to the side with one hand so as to blow out a cloud of smoke, while his his other hand was held tightly behind his back.

"Alright everyone. Now that you all have chosen your ninken it's time to see whether they are willing to accept you in return. I'm sure all of you know exactly what is expected of you as members of the Inuzuka clan, so I won't bore you any further with useless details. All of you should be able to handle yourselves, so when you're called out please step to the front of everyone and attempt to bond with your ninken."

All of the children nodded their heads and the elder called out the first child to come to the front. One of the girls stepped forward and she help a pup with a light brown coat with a white under belly. She walked to the clearing made for them and sat in lotus position and placed the pup on the ground in front of her.

She closed her eyes to focus and placed her palm onto the head of the pup who likewise stopped wiggling around. Both she and pup continued to sit there silently while the elders and some of the other adults kept their eyes trained on them in case anything went wrong. 

Keitaro wasn't too impressed as he figured there should have been some glowing hands at the very least but he sat still and watched none the less. Finally after waiting for five minutes the girl smiled and opened her eyes. The pup in front of her also opened its eyes and slowly trotted over and worked its way into her lap before being picked up by the girl. The adults on the sideline all smiled and clapped while shouting their support for her. 

To her credit the girl didn't seem to be to affected by the praise being heaped upon her as she cradled the pup in her hand and slowly made her way back into the group. Yet Keitaro could see the confident smile plastered all over he face once she was backing the elders.

With her as an example the list of children was quickly called out and one by one they all sat and connected with their pups. The amount of time they took varied but none of them took less than five minutes to form a bond. 

Keitaro had been wondering what a failed bond would look like, as none of the children seemed to struggle with making the bond and couldn't help but hope at least one of the kids failed.

He didn't have to wait too long to have his wish granted.

The second too last child was called forward and the boy swaggered up in front of everyone and sat down. He too, like all the others, closed his eyes once he sat down and concentrated as both he and the pup stilled. They sat there for several minutes without much of a change, yet as time continued to tic on, looks of worry could bee seen flashing across the faces of several adults who were watching watching on.

Finally after another minute or two, the pup was the first to move and surprisingly, unlike the other pups that went towards their chosen shinobi, this pup distanced itself from thee boy instead. The boy opened his eyes in confusion and could only watch as the pup kept distancing itself form him. 

Keitaro looked at the adults who had been clapping earlier and sneered at the looks of disappointment that were plastered all across their faces.

'It's just as I thought. In a clan where your ninken is meant to be your lifelong partner failing to form a bond with the first ninken that you've chosen is a pretty big taboo.

Even though they said it would be okay to fail, I have a feeling that even if the poor sap succeeds the second time around, he'll still end up getting the cold shoulder from the other clan members for a while. I can only imagine what happens if you fail the second time as well.'

Keitaro looked over at his brother who had been much more quiet the normal. and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

'If all the other kids had passed, then he wouldn't have been as stressed, but with the kid right ahead of him just having gone and messed up and so miserably at that, he's bound to be feeling even more pressure at the moment. I mean the poor ninken is still trying to get away form the kid even now. 

If he doesn't get a grip of himself right now, Big bro is much more likely to mess up. Time to work my younger brother magic.'

Keitaro tugged on his brothers arm and made sure to put on his most radiant smile.

"I know you can do it big brother. Go show them how its done."

***

Immediately after hearing his brothers words Kentaro's shaking eyes calmed and his paled cheeks regained their colour once more. Even his racing heart clamed itself as he came to grips with himself. 

He thanked his brother in heart and when his name was eventually called out after the child from before was dealt with, he stepped forward with confidence in his step.

He didn't pay attention to the other children who were snickering in the background getting ready to watch a good show, nor did he pay attention to the looks of displeasure on the faces on the adults who were sticking around. He didn't even glance in the direction of his father who was most likely worried sick about him.

The only thing on his mind was the ninken that he held in his hand. 

He sat in the lotus position and held the pup up to eye level. They looked into each others eyes before Kentaro smiled while the pup licked at his fingers. With renewed vigor his whispered to his partner before getting started.

"Lets show them how its done alright boy."

With his preparations completed he closed his eyes and concentrated on the flow of chakra within his body. He hadn't told anyone but he wasn't as lost and hopeless as he should have been.

He wasn't sure why, but ever since the day he and his brother had both been to the hospital, he'd noticed a drastic increase in his chakra control and his chakra volume.

In fact it was to the point that he was afraid of how quickly he was advancing when it came to his chakra, but in the end his teacher at the academy had always said that more chakra was a good thing, so he didn't bother to much about it. He wasn't a sensory ninja so he couldn't really tell how big his reserves truly were compared to others, but he hoped that he had enough to do what he needed to do next.

He pushed the chakra out of his body and into to his palm before guiding it into the body of his ninken. He'd practised with his mother's ninken and even though things were bound to be slightly different it should still be okay.

Yet things quickly took a strange turn when the pup seemed almost like an endless abyss that kept absorbing his chakra without restraint. He hesitated about whether he should increase the amount of chakra he sent to the pup but decided to trust his gut. Slowly he increased the amount of chakra and the pup swallowed it all in turn. 

Time passed quickly and just as the five minute mark was about to pass Kentaro felt the completion of the cycle and the return of chakra from his pup.

He smiled and opened his eyes and met the eyes of his ninken looking back at him. He held out his hand and his ninken quickly wriggled into his lap and sat up licking his hand as he held it dearly to his chest.

He looked up at those around and was surprised when a sparse applause and a few congratulations where thrown his way. He looked towards the only person that really mattered to him, his brother, and saw that he had a bright smile on his face and was giving his double thumbs up.

No matter what anyone else might have to say, he at least thought that today had been a great day.