Ah, I see some reviews. Bless you, beautiful people, I'm gonna fall in love with every one of you. Unfortunately, the dough is still in the fermentation process so you'll have to wait if you want cookies.

Jafilish. A mature writing style? Yes, that is because I am a strapping fifty-three year old dude with a whopping six children. My wife looks exactly like Tsunade-misama and my youngest should be about Hanabi-dono's age. Would you like to see some family photos? :)

xShYgIrLx. Relax, darling, the fences are still far away, don't jump so soon. Everything you wish for shall be answered. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll just need to find a genie.

Naruto does not belong to me; however, I am now in possession of a Hinata-catching trap net. I've tested it out on my grandmother and it works. Stay alert for the results!

And now, the uhhhh ... the fanfic. Right.

--

I was still feeling a little bit down when Momma left to mingle. Meanwhile, I just joined the others as everyone lined up presentably and bowed in fashion at the Hokage's arrival.

Old man's seen better days, I thought as I briefly scanned the convoy of jounin and older chuunin escorts that came with him.

"Good morning, everyone!" said the old man in a surprisingly strong voice. I've heard it before, during some of those inter-clan meetings when my dad would be home to attend and I insisted on tagging along because it was so rare the times I had to spend with him.

It always impressed me that the Sandaime still had it in him to express the exuberance of a young buck when he is supposedly ripe for retirement. That is exactly why he is the dominant male in the Hidden Leaf, our Lord Hokage.

"First of all, let me start by congratulating all of you here for making genin. I am deeply impressed by how far you have grown and progressed in your few short years at the Academy ..."

I tuned out quickly, my all too sensitive instincts leading my attentions elsewhere. I can't help it, sorry. It is genetically-instated and culturally cultivated intuition for an Inuzuka to want to scrutinize people and mentally cut and catalogue them down to the smallest detail.

I casually glanced at the attentive faces of my friends and chuckled softly to see Shikamaru's shoulders tense as he fought to suppress a yawn. That bum. I doubted that even the Nine-Tailed bakemono could daunt him enough to keep him awake. I wished I had an exploding kunai I could throw at him. Something, anything, to make him jump up and scream bloody murder for once.

The faint buzzing sound behind me and to the left had to be coming from Bugboy. I didn't have to turn and look to know he is standing as rigid as beanpole with a countenance no more expressive than the sculptures on Hokage Mountain.

Uchiha Sasuke is on the extreme right and had a perceptibly smug look about him. Well, alright, to be fair, the slight sparkle in his eye said that he is at least tentatively listening to the Sandaime's speech but you would want to smack his face if you saw it the way I did.

It might be hard for you to understand, but we Inuzuka have almost gnawing instincts. It is like our very instincts control us and not the other way round, causing us to lay down our judgment on the emotions, intentions, tendencies, personalities and attitudes of different people whether we really want to or not. And this Sasuke dude – so say my instincts which, by kami,I trust with my very life – is a bastard.

To my left and far behind the crowd of parents sitting on the sidelines I caught a flash of color that I identified as Uzumaki Naruto in an instant. I wanted to laugh. That kid chose to wear a shockingly orange zip-up jumpsuit for some bloody reason and is a sunny blonde to begin with, making him so incredibly bright that anyone would pick him out from miles away. It is definitely not an issue of playing the fool because Naruto is always pertinent about becoming Hokage someday, so that simply means he's a total bonehead.

I lost my smile however as I recalled that just a few minutes ago, Naruto had congratulated me for making it through the finals. That had been immediately after the tangle with Kamika's mother and had been more of an emotional balm to me than anyone knew.

The thing is, Naruto did not pass.

That is why he is over there now getting ushered back into the Academy with the portion of our class that failed by an irate-looking Iruka-sensei – he probably can't wait to give them a lengthy snapping – instead of out here with the rest of us that made the cut.

Combining his undying dream to fill his celebrated father's shoes, his genuine innocence and earnestness, and the pressurizing encouragement he gets from the villagers, he must be terribly distraught.

He had given me a challenging death glare of intense jealousy at first when he saw the Leaf headband – the mark of an official shinobi – I had just received from Iruka-sensei, in my hands. Yet, right before I could take out some of my frustrations on him – frustrations caused by that supercilious, hateful woman – the brat suddenly broke into a feral grin to match mine and smacked me a high-five telling me how cool I was, and that I'd better keep a good lookout because he's going to kick my ass someday.

And my anger just dissipated.

Apart from Momma happily punching my brains out for making genin, that sunshine baka had just given me the most memorable highlight of the day. And now here I am, completely out of tune with the Hokage's speech, unable to quit feeling sorry for him. Call me crazy. I never had anything to do with him and suddenly I felt obligated to go over and talk to him, see how he's holding up.

Or whatever.

I turned my attention back to the venerable old man on the raised podium. "Children, I want you to hold up your headbands. Hold them up and take a good look at it. Do you know the real weight of what it is you are carrying? You are shinobi now. From tomorrow onwards, you are stepping into a world of high expectations and equally high-end responsibilities. From tomorrow, you will be known to everyone as qualified shinobi. You will die as individuals and every thing you do from the moment you wake up will be for the Hidden Leaf Village and its people."

At this point, you could have heard a hair drop.

"Gone are the days when you can be overlooked for making careless mistakes and forgetting your place in line. From tomorrow, properties and finances and even lives will depend on even the most forgettable decisions you make. Yes, even what you eat for breakfast counts. Eat a bad breakfast, get a bad stomachache and you won't complete mission now, will you?"

He had said that last bit with a twinkle in his eye, but the powerful wisdom behind it moved me so intensely I managed to forget about my instincts for awhile.

"Remember, children, I am not saying that shinobi cannot have their own fun, that everything is rigid and serious and that you cannot go for what you like. No. Your identity is yours to mold, so mold it well. Every person in this village should be important to you, and that includes you too. Take care of yourselves and keep yourselves happy, that you may be in paramount condition to act at the time the village needs you most."

I found myself nodding subconsciously. This feeble old man's simple words had some wicked juju. If he told me to jump, I would jump. There is a reason he became the Hokage, not once but twice in his lifetime.

I suddenly realized that I did want to protect Konoha. This is my home. This is my pack. By, kami, I will defend it. I will defend it with all my heart.

--

The door slams. "Hey, Momma, I'm hungry!"

Hana Inuzuka purses her lips and groaned as she set he cup of coffee down. Almost, she thought. Almost made me drop it this time. Her younger brother is so tactful. She'd like to crack his skull open for once and see what is inside. Probably a second stomach.

Leaning back in her chair, she pointedly turned the page of the book she was reading. She had lovely a few hours to kill before the next tactical meeting with her fellow jounin and she was not going to waste them entertaining that loud-talking buffoon. Males. If he wanted anything, he was going to come to her.

Kiba's scruffy-looking head popped into the dining area two seconds later as she expected. He would look in here first anyway. But then again, this seemed to also have become the usual family hangout spot. Big appetites are, unfortunately, an Inuzuka trait.

Hana found herself self-consciously sucking in her gut at the thought and blushed when she suddenly remembered the impressive buffalo steak she had had for lunch that day.

I'm going on a diet. Really.

"Ne, nee-chan, where's Ma?" Kiba drawled, his mouth already starting to salivate at the prospect of a delicious meal by the sound of it.

Hana groaned again and gave him a cursory glance. "She's not here! She got called out on a mission."

"A mission!?" Kiba's eyes are wide. He had only just seen her that morning.

Hana turned another page. "Yes, a mission. Earlier today. Right after you ran out with the breakfast toast in your mouth. An ANBU dropped by with a scroll from the Hokage. She packed immediately after she looked at it and mentioned something about catching you at the Academy before heading out." She paused, and smiled. "Oh, and congratulations on making genin, by the way."

Kiba half-nodded and rubbed the back of his head as he frowned slightly. "Uh-huh. Right. So uhhhh ... why didn't you come to see me?"

Hana put her book down and looked pointedly at him for a few seconds. "Because I got called out on mission." She went back to her book.

Though six years younger, Kiba stood almost a couple of inches taller than both her and their mother. Their father would be even taller. Inuzuka women are quite well-stacked, lacking the velvety-soft feminine features of other women and the men are just huge.

"Oh, yeah? Then how come you got back so soon?"

Hana detected a note of annoyance in there. "Because I'm good," she declared, matching his glare.

For almost two whole minutes, the Inuzuka siblings held up the silent challenge, both bristling and breathing quicker, but neither flinching or even blinking.

Then Hana felt a prickly sensation in her nose and had to turn away to sneeze in her hand, whilst Kiba roared in triumph.

"I'm sorry, Kiba-kun," she said, her head bowed. The serious note in her voice caused him to stop and listen. "I guess I could have gone to give you some support. I was ... tired." She shook her head. "Okay, I don't have a good reason ..."

Hana left her sentence hanging and could not finish. He is hiding it well, but she could detect her brother's loneliness in all those little gestures he made, plus she could smell it.

So what if he is graduating today? It did not change things. It did not change that ... that incident that happened twelve years ago. It did not change the way the villagers looked at him. It did not change that he is generally not a happy camper.

Without even being there with him, Hana could already read everything that happened to Kiba since he left the house that morning. He had his little moments of joy when he got the Leaf headband and mingled with the other graduates. He must have been deeply inspired by the Hokage's speech; Hana remembered her own graduation clearly and how the Sandaime had held her spellbound.

But what happened after that?

Typically, the graduation ceremony would move on to some skills exhibitions by selected chuunin, and someone may be called on to sing an inspirational song. This is then followed by interactive party games for all parents and children, including those that did not graduate. Then comes the big celebratory feast. And still after that when the event is officially over, the new genin traditionally met up again for their own little party.

However, if Hana knew anything of her little brother at all, Kiba had disappeared into the forest in the middle of the exhibitions when everyone else was distracted. She could tell this from the smell of the grime on him, the mud on his shoes and from the sound of his ragged breathing. There is a difference between how you breathe after playing with your friends and after a long hike in lonely defiance.

Now almost nineteen years old, the young jounin had seen all there is to see in the way the village treats the irate young man. They did it surreptitiously and they did it well. The Inuzuka are an established clan, like the insect-handling Aburame in the Western strata and the high-handed Hyuuga that took residence up North. The Hidden Leaf villagers recognized them as mainstay shinobi with recon-worthy and even interrogation-worthy skills and qualities that are too valuable to dismiss.

Yes, the Inuzuka are worthy.

That is why Tsume did what she did during the invasion of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. That is why she, in the absence of her husband, forced herself to make a horribly difficult decision that would save Konohagakure and in return scar her and her entire family for life.

Hana was only six-and-half at the time. Her homeroom chuunin-sensei had guided the rest of the class to safety. She slipped away. Her feral instincts had drawn her to chase after danger. And she saw, with all the intelligence of her sharp but sweet and innocent mind, certain things that caused her to cry and claw herself awake from her own dreams, even up till today.

And Kiba?

Looking at him right now, Hana could imagine how perplexed and how frustrated he must be feeling. The villagers paid homage to the Inuzukas and nodded in approval at their skills so they didn't do too much harm to the boy, but no one bothered to hide their disgust and contempt either.

And he had grown up, super-enhanced five senses and all, getting all these very negative signals from all over the village. He had grown up knowing that he came from a strong clan, but had been unable to find any edification beyond the pack. He never had true friends either because obstacles always fell into place whenever he tried to get closer to anyone.

He once even confided to her that he wished he could hack off his own nose so he won't have to smell all those bad smells anymore, because he would rather not know what people think of him.

Today was probably the best day of his life to date.

It must have been frustrating to scan the crowds and realized that his sister wasn't there and that his mother had vanished. Whilst Hana had none of the family at her graduation either, she didn't need the moral backing like Kiba did. Maybe she really should have gone to see him this morning.

A little woof at Kiba's feet drew both siblings' attention to the floor. A tiny white hairball barked madly as it ran three rounds around the tall boy's leg then stopped right in front of him panting and wagging its tail.

Kiba's usually hard features softened and he bent to pick up the puppy. "Hey, Akamaru, how're doing you ..." He sniffed the air twice. "... you need a bath." The pup barked once in protest as Kiba set him down and turned to look back at his sister.

"Ne, nee-chan, I was wondering ... when am I gonna get my own nin-dog? I thought every member in our clan was supposed to have at least one assigned to them."

Hana took a moment to swallow the bulge in her throat. She saw this coming. It's not the first time Kiba has asked, and it is a valid question.

Typically, nin-dogs are to be introduced to their new masters when both are at a very tender age. The bond between man and beast is key to all the wonderful jutsu in the Inuzuka handbook, and the relationship is best molded from as earliest possible.

With Kiba, however, an exception had to be made. Their father had almost outrightly rejected assigning him one. When nin-pups' noses mature enough to identify foreign chakra, they will instinctively attack. Regardless of how strong the man-beast bond can get, these dogs are not human. They cannot be counted on to make conscious considerations and accept Kiba as one of the pack.

Already, Tsume and Hana had stopped frequent attempts from their younger nin-dogs to kill the boy when he was smaller. And poor Kiba didn't even know. He had not been given the man-beast grounding all Inuzuka are supposed to have. He only had himself. It was the saddest thing Hana could think of. But their father had been adamant in his concern.

"It's your chakra strains. They are not compatible to any of the puppies we've bred so far. Just wait a little longer till we breed more, and then we'll see." That had been the lie father made up to appease his energetic son. After twelve years, it would be silly to keep it up. Three generations of new pups have come and gone, and Kiba is already getting suspicious. His questions about the issue had been growing more and more frequent, especially in the last few weeks leading up to his graduation.

Personally, Hana wanted to train her brother to use the dogs in secret. Actually, Akamaru would have been his ideal partner because it's the youngest pup and didn't yet have a master. But that would be stupid, because there is no way she could hide it from her parents.

Tsume is torn between her motherly sympathy for her boy, her loyalty as the dominant male's mate, and her responsibility as a jounin of the Hidden Leaf. In the end, they had all simply gone along with her father's ploy.

"I'm a genin now," Kiba continued. "I'll be going out on missions soon. I'm afraid I won't have time to cover all the jutsu if I don't start soon. Isn't it time for Yukimaru to breed again?"

Yukimaru is the dominant female.

Hana sipped at her coffee, desperately trying to find the right words. Unfortunately, the infamous Inuzuka shot fuse kicked in and she started snapping at him without really meaning to.

"Just wait, okay!" she said, her tone a little sharper than it needed to be. "We all know otou-sama is the one who decides who the pups go to. Mum and I can't do anything about it, so just quit bugging us already!"

Kiba took a step back as Big Sister caught herself. What had hell had she gone and done? Then he nodded, his face going very bitter.

"Yeah, okay ... I'll wait. That is if that old fuck actually remembers to come home some time."

Hana's chair went flying back as she stood up and slammed an open palm into the table, almost shattering the wood. "Kiba! How dare you! You ... you take that back!"

But he was already shaking his head and turning to leave.

"Hey!"

She reached out to grab his sleeve, but Akamaru's quivering form blocked her path, causing her to retract her steps before she inadvertently kicked it flying.

Gripping the edge of the table hard, she forced herself to clam down. Feral rage did not help in solving family matters. By the time she looked up, Kiba is gone.

Feeling deeply saddened and defeated, the jounin picked up her chair and sat down again. She had to fight the urge to throw her coffee mug into the wall.

Akamaru gave a pitiful little whine of fear and confusion.

"Oh, shuddup!" The puppy wisely trotted out of the room, tail between its legs. Hana instantly felt a pang of regret.

Sitting there, she felt about as useful as rotting bacon. She flipped the pages of her book mindlessly, then closed it and set it aside. Then she gingerly raked her fingernails back and forth across the wooden surface whilst tapping her foot.

"You can come out now," she suddenly said.

The left wall almost seemed to dissolve as a strange shape moved out of it and materialized itself into the form of Tsume's personal companion. Kuromaru, the dominant male and most powerful nin-dog in the pack, stronger than even her husband's, who had chosen to leave the best for his wife.

Apparently, Tsume had not needed the big black Alsation wolf-dog by her side for today's mission.

"You are controlling your rage. That's good." Through the use of a very special jutsu, Kuromaru can converse intelligently in the human tongue. He could even think and make wise decisions, and Tsume sometimes quipped that she trusted him more than her husband.

"I did not control it. Akamaru got in my way."

Kuromaru is patient. "You did not attack him."

"I was going to. Stop trying to dilute my fury!" Then she dropped her head in shame. "What could I have done? What should I do? Isn't there anything that I can ..." Her voice faltered.

She discarded her tough jounin hide then and started crying. The big dog lay down behind her seat and waited her out. In some ways, in the long absence of her father, Kuromaru proved an excellent surrogate. He is also the only beast in the family that consciously knew the struggles Kiba was going through.

"It's late," he said once she had reeled herself back in.

"What do you mean?"

"The young master is too old. It may be already too late to introduce one of the pups to him. Circumstances have matured him quickly. Companionship at equal level is mandatory to our cause. The pack's ultimate technique can only be learnt at a specific age in our lifetimes, and only if both companions are perfectly synchronized in all respects. Otherwise, they will never learn it. It will be a serious blow to our pride as the main branch of the pack. Don't you already know this?"

Hana is almost hugging the table now. "Yes," she whispered. This is not simply a matter of not being able to learn one of the jutsu in the Inuzuka handbook. It will be like one of the Hyuuga's main branch not learning how to activate his Byakugan properly.

"I cannot do anything to help him. I'm so useless."

Kuromaru shifted his position so he could be by her side. She leaned back when she felt his chin resting on her lap and reached down to stroke his nose. Her tears had not dried.

"You are fond of denouncing yourself," he chided. "A wise shinobi knows he can always find a way around things. Mountains can be scaled or tunneled through. We can lose everything but there will always be hope."

He caught her eye and held it for a moment. "I'll talk to Tsume. We may be able to work something out yet. He is our young master after all. The pack needs him."

Hana nodded and removed her hands as the wolf-dog took its great head off her and started making for the exit.

Kuromaru paused by the door. "By the way, you smell wonderful today." Then he left, knowing he made her blush. The best way to flap an Inuzuka female's ego is to tell her just that.

Meanwhile, Hana leaned back and looked up at the ceiling, feeling considerably better. Then she stood up decidedly and went to look for Akamaru.

She hoped the mutt didn't pee in the guest hall.

--

A/N – As you can see, I'll be switching between first and third person perspectives depending on how the gods of fanfiction direct me. But first person view will always be through Kiba's eyes, got it? Aha, you never saw an Akamaru-less Kiba coming, did you? But, hey, I'm not a sadist. They will be together, it's just going to take some time. I doubt Naruto would be heartily ignored and left to rot on the swings after failing this time around. Everyone's probably patting his back, telling him he can do a better job of it next time. Yukimaru is my creation. Yuki means snow, so it's a suitable feminine name. Just imagine a big white wolf-dog with sexy eyes.