Chapter 17: Choosing A Ninken

Keitaro was in heaven. Or at least the closest thing to it.

Laying on the ground with puppies crawling all over him as they licked his face and nibbled at his fingers was a truly blissful experience. If only he could lay here all day, then he wouldn't have any complaints what so ever.

Sadly this wasn't to be, as his brother kept poking at him. He tried to ignore it, but he knew that his brother was the type to just keep poking him harder and harder until he got a response. It was annoying, but also very effective in grabbing someone's attention.

Keitaro eventually sat up from the ground and glanced around at the other children who were currently walking around and looking at the various litters of pups, as if they were examining vegetables in a market. He watched on in disbelief as one of the kids actually picked up one of the pups, carefully looking at its claws and legs before actually prying open its mouth so that they could examine its none existent teeth. 

Keitaro couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the absurdity that was accruing around him and decided to quickly get to the meat of the matter so that he wouldn't have to be surrounded by the foolishness any longer than needed. He spoke to his brother while continue to watch the others inspecting the pups.

"So what do you think we're supposed to do when deciding on a ninken partner big bro?"

Kentaro placed his hand on his chin and thought for a while before replying.

"Honestly I'm not sure. I thought I'd watch the other kids as they interacted with the pups and just copied them, but there doesn't seem to be anything unique that they're doing?"

Keitaro nodded sagely at his brothers comment and glanced once more at one of the kids who was now inspecting a pups ears.

"If anything Nii-san, I guess you just see which pup you like the most? From what that lady was saying at the start the pup has to pick you as well, what ever that means. So I guess you just need to get the pups to like you."

'Though even if I say that none of the other kids seem to be trying too hard to be likable. If anything its like what ever they have to do comes after the hour that was given. In which case Big bro is just going to end up embarrassing himself in front of everyone.'

He glanced around once more but this time, instead of looking at the children messing around in the enclosure, he focused on the group of parents who had also entered at some point and time but were staying off to the side. From time to time they would glance in his and his brothers direction and a look of disdain would flash across some of their faces before they looked towards their own children smiling snidely.

Whether his brother had noticed their glances or not, Keitaro wasn't sure; but what he was sure of, was that should his brother mess up at all in the choosing of his ninken, it wouldn't be long until they were both the laughing stock of the clan. 

'Even if our father is on bad terms with the clan they should at the very least have told us about actually claiming a ninken. I've half a mind to go ask one of the elders what Ken's supposed to do. I might be able to get away with it since I'm so young. 

I could fool them into thinking its purely because of my curiosity that I approached them...but the fact that dad told both of us to be careful makes me slightly worried. Worst case scenario Ken doesn't get his ninken and has to wait till he's ten to actually get it. As long as he doesn't accidentally injure any of the dogs, they shouldn't be able to cause to many problems for us.'

Keitaro gently placed the pups that had crawled into his lap unto the ground before heading towards a tree in the corner. He left his brother to play with the pups and instead decided to interact with the one ninken that was of actual interest to him.

He walked over to one of the largest female ninken who was laying against a tree in the shade. She had a grey coat that covered her back and tail, yet her feet and belly where cover in pristine white fur. Her dark brown eyes held a spark of intelligence that couldn't be hidden, yet she seemed content to simply sit back lazily under the shade of the tree and watch the proceedings in silence.

He and his brother seemed to be the only ones interested in interacting with her litter, and he had already confirm with his brother that she had indeed been his mothers ninken.

He walked up to her and stopped once she raised her head and locked eyes with him. They stared at each other until she rose from the ground and circled Keitaro inspecting him from head to toe. Once she was done she licked his face and nudged him toward the tree where she then curled up around him. 

Throughout the entire experience Keitaro didn't say or do anything except follow her lead. For what ever reason he felt a warmth from this ninken that he hadn't felt in years. The warmth of his mother. Whether it was because this ninken was a mother herself or because she had been his own mothers ninken, Keitaro wasn't sure, but either way he smiled as the familiar warmth filled him. 

"Oh? Well that's a surprise. She isn't usually so friendly with other people, especially in the last few years. I wonder if its because you're her companions child or if there's something special about you."

Keitaro turned towards the voice to see one of the three male stooges from earlier, standing not too far away from him. It was the bald guy who was still ridding on his ninken's back like some sort of budah. The only difference, was that his eyes currently were open and were curiously looking over Keitaro and his mothers ninken as they lay under the tree.

Keitaro was surprised that one of the elders had even bothered to pay attention to him, much less actually engage in conversation with him. He glanced around and saw that the other elders were with the other children but would occasionally glance over at the two of them. He wasn't sure what to do so he simply kept quiet, trying to look like a small, confused, and innocent child. He had obviously been caught off guard and wasn't sure if he he should say anything to the old geezer before him.

The female ninken however, didn't seem to have any qualms about him speaking her mind though and she raised her head and growled at the approaching old man who stopped immediately while chuckling to himself. 

"Still so willy even after all these years this one. Still, its good that you're able to get her approval. It'll make it easier for you later on down the line."

Leaving behind that cryptic line the old mans ninken turned around and wadded off towards another group of children. As she watched him leave the female ninken huffed and growled before settling down once more.

"Yeah I think he was being pretty nosy to."

Keitaro shook his head before freezing. He turned towards the female ninken he was resting against in surprise and was met with calm eyes staring back at him.

"I can understand you?" 

His question was met with a huff before the ninken settled down against the tree once more. Keitaro sat there, his mind in chaos at the sudden realization that he could understand the dog. Why could he understand her so clearly? Was this just the norm for Inuzuka clansmen?

'Honestly it would make sense for members of a clan that relies on dogs to be able to communicate with them intrinsically. I guess it's because this is technically the first time I've genuinely interacted with a ninken. It'd make training and working together much easier as well so I guess it makes sense. Aways wondered how Kiba understood Akamaru so clearly in the manga…Either way it shouldn't matter all that much. There's a pretty simple way to check it.'

With his new found ability to communicate he chatted with the ninken for a while before calling his brother over to see if he too could understand the ninken.

Kentaro eyed his brother strangely before replying.

"Of course I can? I did grow up with her before mom passed so it would be weirder if I couldn't. Some ninken are harder to understand than others but I can at least get a general understanding of what they're saying or what they want. It works on regular dogs as well to a certain extent. Did you never notice before?"

"No, of course I didn't. How would I have known? I never really tried too speak with them before and I never had reason to listen either."

Kentaro simply looked his younger brother who seemed frustrated with this revelation and simply shrugged his shoulders.

"That makes sense I guess. Well, we can communicate with just about all canines to some capacity. Of course you're not going to be able to understand the pups since its be the same as trying to talk to a baby, which is why most of the other kids aren't really trying to."

Keitaro nodded his head at his brother conjecture. Yet the more he thought about it all the stranger he felt. Was it really supposed to be this easy to talk with and understand ninken, much less ninken that weren't your partners? He wasn't sure, but something told him it wasn't supposed to be that easy. But since he couldn't exactly just ask around for confirmation, he decided to shelve the topic for now.

He smiled to himself thinking about all the little missing pieces of info that he wasn't privy too because of his situation, all the little things things he wasn't able to understand about his own life. While those thoughts bounced around in his head, he froze when he came to a rather simple yet shocking discovery. 

He turned toward his brother and with a strange tone asked the question that just popped into his mind.

"Well since you can talk to the ninken, why not just ask her what you're supposed to do when picking a ninken? If anyone would be able to tell you what you should do, wouldn't it be a ninken?"

Kentaro who had been tickling one of the pups in his hand froze when he heard his brothers question before his cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. He didn't even look at his brother before turning and asking the ninken for earnest guidance. 

Keitaro could only watch on while trying his best not to laugh at his brother too much. 

It didn't take long for them both to understand the way to decide on a proper ninken and it caused both of their moods to drop drastically.

The way was both quite simple and yet quite complex all at the same time. The shinobi wishing to bond with a ninken would have to share his chakra with the ninken the he had chosen and the resulting feedback would let them know about their compatibility.

 The lower the resistance to the chakra being passed from shinobi to ninken, the better the fit between the two. Of course the ninken would have to agree to being chosen by the shinobi and that would occur when the ninken also exchanging chakra with said shinobi creating rudimentary chakra cycle between the two of them. 

While simple in theory, the difficulty came in the fact that the pups were still quite young, and therefore wouldn't be able to truly utilize their chakra in any capacity. While this may have been a negative connotation normally, in this case it was actually beneficial. 

Due to their lacking awareness of their own chakra, the chakra exchange that would take place would in reality be a subconscious reflex that would only occur when the pup was truly compatible with the shinobi in question.

This explained why they had to chose a ninken when they were still pups instead of when they were older. As pups, they simply couldn't influence the result and would show the most unbiased results possible.

It was also just easier to fill a young ninken's chakra circulatory system with chakra when they were younger, yet even then they had to be careful.

Pump to much chakra into the pup and they wouldn't be able to handle the flow and the chakra would simply be wasted and dissipate from the pups body. Pump to little chakra, and there wouldn't be enough to complete the cycle in the first place. You needed to pump a controlled amount of chakra into the pup in order to spark a bond and if you couldn't, then you wouldn't be able to find your ninken partner.

'Dad really screwed us over! Wouldn't this require some pretty decent chakra manipulation? I highly doubt that Kentaro has practised his chakra control to the required level! He is the youngest one here, with all the other kids being ten years and older. They've had more than enough time to prepare for this, time that Kentaro couldn't possible account for in just a few minutes.'

Keitaro could feel a headache coming on as the ridiculousness of the situation that he and his brother had been shoved into.