Shadows and Fangs

Chapter 29

Kiba breathed heavily, eyes never leaving his target as he kept his guard up and spit out some blood. By habit, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, running his tongue along his teeth to ensure nothing was broken as the metallic taste pervaded his mouth – although since he'd managed to land in a bite, he knew it wasn't necessarily all his. Akamaru was out, this was all on him. The adrenaline was rushing through his every fiber, he was tense but ready – he felt amazing, all things considered.

His opponent's arm moved the slightest bit but it was enough for his eyes to lock onto the weapon as it was raised higher and swung his way with force – but he'd been ready, he evaded it easily although he somewhat pretended not to, using his fake stumble as cover to place another tag under the snow. Just one more, and his layered trap would be complete – and then it would be show time.

The shinobi who were watching from the sidelines made excited comments to each other, and although he only kept a fragment of his attention on them, he could smell the moldy scent of paper notes being exchanged – this had turned into quite the spectacle, visibly.

The kunoichi in front of him didn't waste a moment before mounting another attack, but this time getting hit wasn't entirely faked, and he cursed as his hand got the brunt of it, absorbing his body's weight when he evaded to the side – but it was okay, he'd lived through worse, this was nothing. His fangs were ready.

That attack gave him the opportunity he'd been waiting for to place his last explosive tag and he detonated the sequence as planned, snow flying up in every direction and mixing up with smoke, bringing with it the scent of paper and fire. Without wasting this brief opening, and at the perfect instant, he lunged forward, and he actually felt his attack connect – but then he felt a powerful wind jutsu hit his back, although he was still able to land a safe distance away despite how much it hurt, still appraising his foe.

Temari looked at him through eyes narrowed in pain, chest heaving up as she held her fan spread between them. Her leg had been the target of his last attack, but it was her shoulder she was referring to when she snarled, "You bit me!" accusingly, almost not daring to believe it.

"You sliced me up!" he called back with a frown, feeling the cuts on his back burn and wanting nothing more than to roll in the snow to soothe the pain.

The Sand kunoichi stared him down a moment longer, carefully looking around her. "How many more tags do you have in place?" she asked him seriously.

"Enough," he replied with a smirk – after all, whenever possible he made it a point to put a contingency in place, courtesy of Kurenai's influence. Back when he'd started training under her and she forbade them from attacking without having at least one tangible back-up plan, he'd been annoyed at her – he felt like she cramped his style, which was based on all-out instincts. He'd soon learned the value in her teachings though, even if realistically, in an actual fight, it wasn't always doable.

Temari cursed before turning her eyes to her shoulder, where teeth marks could be seen beneath the torn clothes and the blood. Looking down, she couldn't deny her leg was trembling beyond her control and it further annoyed her. Letting out a deep breath, she closed her fan and straightened up. "Then you get this one," she admitted grudgingly. Her arm was giving way under the strain, and with her leg feeling like cotton, she wouldn't be able to get out another counter-attack that would be strong enough to take him out – and that was without even mentioning avoiding his next attack in the first place.

Kiba blinked in surprise but then grinned widely as he pumped a fist in the air. "Yes! Did you see that Akamaru? Wasn't I awesome?" he asked his nin-dog excitedly.

Akamaru loyally barked back his approval but moved to nuzzle Temari's hand worriedly.

"I'm fine, don't worry – the snow's redder on his side!" she assured him with a tired smile.

Around them, other members of the Allied Division cheered or booed, depending on who they'd placed their bets on as money changed hands.

"Soak it up while you can!" Temari advised them all with a huff. "I'm taking mental note of every single one of you who bet against their commander," she added as she gingerly tried to move her sleeve away so she could assess the damage – smirking in satisfaction at the groans she heard in response.

"Unfair, Commander!"

"It was your idea!"

Temari quite naturally ignored them. "Damn it, I can't believe you got away with such a bite! This hurts like hell!" Not that she was surprised she got bitten at all; she just hadn't expected it to hurt so bad – she hadn't thought he'd be able to bite down so deeply in the middle of combat, truth be told.

Kiba only looked satisfied, naturally. Besides, as the others needlessly reminded her she'd been the one to bring the idea up. He was always looking to train against shinobi who specialized in long-distance combat, and she applied herself training in snowy conditions, the rare times it snowed in Suna – the match-up seemed too perfect to ignore. And actually, when it snowed in the Sand, it did so with the same magnitude that sandstorms usually possessed, forcing a halt to all travels and therefore keeping people stuck in the village – hence their little 'sparring' sessions.

Once he got to her, Sojiro winced for his lover's sake as he carefully helped her clear her wound. "Wow, he bit you even worse than he bit me!" he couldn't help but comment.

"Pff! You got love bites, Sojiro! In battle it's a whole other thing!" Kiba huffed at him as he gave into his urge to fall back down into the snow, nearly moaning in satisfaction as it felt just as good as he'd imagined. Sitting up, he frowned as he felt a pang of pain in his right hand and brought it closer for inspection.

"That looks painful," Yasha commented with a wince as she looked at the oddly-bent knuckles on one of his fingers.

"No shit, this actually hurts more than my back!" he noted before moving said finger into his mouth.

Shocked silence met the sharp crunching sound that echoed after that.

Temari looked down at him with a frown, and by her side Sojiro looked decidedly disturbed. "Kiba, did you just…bite off your finger?" she asked dubiously.

The look he sent her almost made her feel like a child. "Really, Temari? Do I really come across to you as a guy who'd bite off his own finger after a practice fight?" he asked back as he held his hand up, wiggling the finger he'd just set back in place.

"Next time, let the medics handle it instead of shocking everyone, Commander," a shinobi from the medical unit commented as he grabbed his hand to study it just in case – quickly dropping it down in satisfaction before moving on to take care of his back.

Another medic-nin was by Temari's side, pressing a hand cloaked in green chakra to her bite wound.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Kiba asked Temari brightly, one hand absently rubbing Akamaru's head as his back was being treated.

The nin-dog actually hadn't participated in the sparring session because Temari insisted she could never attack Akamaru, even just for practice – naturally, this only got her bonus points with nearly everyone present because the nin-dog was sort of Suna's HQ's unofficial mascot.

"You and I have a different definition of fun," she replied quite matter-of-factly as she resisted the urge to sigh happily as the medic's jutsu was making rapid progress. "But yeah…it was interesting!" He sure knew how to take advantage of the snow, unsurprisingly – it was widespread knowledge that Konoha was entirely white in the winter, and actually in previous wars, they'd used that to their advantage against their neighbors to the south.

"Everyone's got a different definition of fun – it's what makes it fun!" Kiba commented sagely.

Temari elected to ignore that particular piece of wisdom. "Oh, this is gonna bruise so bad, I just know it," she commented instead as she carefully tried to move her shoulder around after the healer stepped back and moved to her leg – the wound had been closed, but the stiffness in her joints would need time for a full recovery.

"Wanna have a contest over who'll have it worst?" Kiba asked her with a raised eyebrow, knowing for a fact he wouldn't be able to sleep on his back for at least a day – Shikamaru would not be amused, he'd never really approved of his tendency to actually go all-out during practice.

Naturally, the medics could also heal them completely, but for the body's sake in the long run it was always best to leave some manner of natural remission. If either of them needed to leave on a mission, then medical ninjutsu would finish the job, but otherwise, they'd just sleep it off.

"Well, at the very least you left your audience very satisfied!" Yasha commented happily – Kiba had no doubts that she'd won some money with the bets, because she was an unnaturally gifted gambler, although he had to admit he felt flattered she'd backed him. "It's a pity Mizu and Darami missed this, they would've loved it!" she then added cheerfully.

Several voices sounded out in agreement and Temari snorted as she looked at her deputy with a raised eyebrow. "Everyone's just glad Kiba didn't end up biting any of them for slacking off," she noted.

"That can always be arranged," was all he said as he clicked his teeth together.

The desired effect was instantly visible as all those present busied themselves to appear occupied.

Temari rolled her eyes in amusement but walked to sit on a wall which Sojiro had previously cleared of snow. She then clapped her hands together, enjoying that they all turned their attention to her – somewhat fearfully. "Well then…who's next?" she asked with a wide grin.

Kiba laughed as he followed Yasha back to her bookmaker spot as several shinobi raised their hands to volunteer. "You're not gonna get dirty?" he asked her easily as he leaned his side against Akamaru.

"Would you bet on me if I did?" she asked back with her usual smile.

"I have faith in those who have faith in me!" Kiba replied in a fake wise tone as Akamaru howled his agreement.

The Akimichi raised an eyebrow but didn't discount the possibility of participating in the next match – until then, she had her notebook at the ready as people came to her to place their bets.

Who ever said being snowed in at work was horrible?

Over at the Kazekage's tower, things were much tamer, as the only battles going on were fought with paperwork – which most would argue was a good thing. That wasn't to say anyone was having a safer day though, since politics and paperwork were known to sap the strength of lesser shinobi, but no blood had been shed – unless you were to count Yaoki's particularly nasty papercut, which had caused quite a few people to wince in sympathy.

Gaara and Kankuro had been in session with the Council for the better part of the morning, so Shikamaru had used that time to catch up on almost a week's worth of paperwork, all the while being weary not to join Yaoki in the ranks of shinobi injured by official reports – inglorious as it sounded. It only slightly reassured him that he wasn't the only one as Korobi had momentarily tried working with gloves on – he'd soon given up once he realized it really wasn't helping, but it had been entertaining to say the least while it lasted.

After the siblings returned, it was time to adjust Gaara's schedule according to that morning's meeting, and after that, there was a review of his upcoming trip to Kiri, since the messenger had just returned with the Mizukage's response. It was Tsuneo who'd done the trip, having personally delivered the Kazekage's message and waited for a reply.

"Thank you," Gaara told him earnestly once his report was finished. "I will be sure to contact you should the need for an additional response arise," he assured him.

"I'll be there!" Tsuneo promised easily before taking his leave with a smile and a nod, being eager to get warmed up and change clothes. As a messenger, he was familiar enough with the village's surroundings that he'd braved the snow instead of waiting it out, but that didn't mean he was impervious to its effects.

Kankuro and Shikamaru followed him out – the puppeteer, just to walk him out, the Nara, because he needed to check in with another department on troublesome follow-ups.

"See? I told you you'd be perfect for the job!" Kankuro said happily as he moved to sling an arm over his shoulder.

Tsuneo sighed as he avoided his arm and raised an eyebrow at him. "My ability to complete the mission was never the issue," he argued before looking down. "It's just that I don't like it when you throw work my way."

"It was Gaara's idea," the puppet master defended himself. "He likes you! As a person! And he trusts you."

On his other side, Shikamaru very politely did his best to tune them out – he was almost at his stop anyway.

"The only reason Gaara even knows I exist is because of us," Tsuneo needlessly reminded him. "I don't want anyone to think I'm just using our relationship to my advantage!"

Kankuro just frowned at this, not seeing his issue. "Who cares what anyone thinks? We know better, right? And you aced that mission!" The outcome should be all that mattered, as far as he was concerned.

The messenger sighed once more, his eyes trailing to Shikamaru for a second. "Look, Kankuro, I'm exhausted – can we do this some other time, at a more appropriate place and with no audience?"

Kankuro followed his look towards the Nara and shrugged. "Hey, if we end up arguing about this, Shikamaru will hear about it anyway, so no need to hold back on his account," he said matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru mentally cringed as he looked at his friend in pure exasperation, and wasn't surprised when Tsuneo groaned and nodded at him before simply leaving.

"What's gotten into him…?" Kankuro muttered as he watched him go before turning to the shadow-nin and frowning at his look. "What?" he asked defensively.

"Remember that time when we had that talk, and you told me you suck at relationships?" he asked him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for confirmation before continuing. "Well ever since, I thought you were just being too hard on yourself – and yet obviously, I was wrong and you were right!" And there weren't many instances in which he'd say something like that, truthfully.

Kankuro's frown deepened as he paused in his steps, clearly going over the last moments in his head and groaning when he saw his point. "Yeah, I…didn't exactly ace that one, did I?" he asked him needlessly as he really hadn't meant to come across as so…dismissive? Arrogant? Stupid?

"No, you think?" Shikamaru asked back sarcastically, barely repressing the urge to roll his eyes so as not to pour salt in the wound.

"Did I blow it?" Kankuro asked him quite seriously.

"Probably not," Shikamaru reassured him. "But neither did you help your case at all," he tempered.

After all, whether it should be considered a good thing or not, Tsuneo was rather used to Kankuro's 'foot in mouth' policy by then – sometimes it made Shikamaru wonder what, exactly, Kankuro had told him to convince him to give him another chance.

"Could you just say those words again – in the same order?" Kankuro asked him with a smirk. "You know, the 'I was wrong and you were right' part – gotta be honest, I loved it!"

"The next time you're heartbroken over a breakup I won't share my food with you!" Shikamaru threw over his shoulder, leaving the puppeteer to ponder on his advice on his own as he moved on in search of Yaoki – hoping that the traumatic memory of his earlier injury would have subsided enough for him to have gathered the information he needed. Only a couple of hours left.

Kiba was sprawled on his stomach on the couch once he got home, only managing a half-hearted greeting by raising his hand. "Hey, how was your day?" he asked, tone more cheerful than his general lack of movement might've indicated.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at his state, smiling at Akamaru as he moved to greet him. "How was yours?" he returned the question, walking to stop next to him.

"We had practice fights at the HQ – I beat Temari, it was fun!" was the happy reply. "I even managed to bite her!" he added proudly.

"Oh, am I going to get those looks again?" the shadow-nin wondered, really hoping that wouldn't be the case because he liked it better when people didn't look at him like he was a regular victim of Kiba's biting tendencies.

"Nah, don't worry!" Kiba replied confidently as he sat up, reaching for him to pull him closer and rest his cheek against his stomach. "After that Yasha flattened Sojiro into the ground – that was fun too!"

Shikamaru chuckled at this because he figured the Akimichi had really literally flattened him. "Well, clearly you had a better day than me!" he was forced to concede.

His day has been just…regular. Nothing special. Well…except for that little disagreement between Kankuro and Tsuneo – a disagreement that would likely evolve into a full-blown argument by the time the puppeteer made it to his lover's home, in his opinion.

Wordlessly, he moved a hand to stroke Kiba's hair, smiling to himself at the satisfied whimper his husband let out at that. "How bad does it hurt?" he asked him knowingly after a moment.

"So bad," Kiba was forced to admit, not bothering to put up a good front with him.

It was practice that allowed Shikamaru not to chuckle at this – he had to sympathize after all, right? – although he did share a look with Akamaru. "Well…let's get you fed. And then you should try to get some sleep."

The tracker didn't say anything, only nodded against him – and took some time and coaxing before letting him go.

So Shikamaru really had to recant his previous thoughts. His day was rather good, in the end.

Back when the villages had first started working on the exchange program, of course at the core of it stood the notion of 'exchanging' knowledge, but there was one area they'd clearly underestimated and that literally exploded once the Allied Division was put into place.

Medical ninjutsu.

Bolstered by their experience during the war, many shinobi had been game for a few years abroad, but none had been so invested in studying and learning from each other as the medic nins, so much so that there was actually an entire side-program devoted to them, with one to two weeks per months spent in the village's hospital. Because this was in such high demand, positions were limited, and so Kiba was very surprised when Darami walked into his office one day with a shinobi folder.

"Please help me get this transfer approved," was all she said.

Kiba raised an eyebrow at her, somewhat startled although really, it was true that the one thing she was passionate about was her work as a medic nin – and Gaara, but that one was still more private, and rarely expressed. "You know the roster's all filled up," he needlessly reminded her. "Besides, it's Temari you should be pleading your case to."

"But he's from the Itoda clan. I figured as a Leaf shinobi you'd understand my enthusiasm better," she insisted, her expression so blank that Kiba wanted to laugh at her use of the word 'enthusiasm' – Akamaru had no such hold-ups and cackled from his spot. "Sakura Haruno recommended him to me on her last visit. She mentioned that his current posting was coming to an end and he'd be available starting next year," she added as though this proved a point.

It did catch his interest so he opened the file – and Akamaru's as well as he trotted over to him. Anyone recommended by Sakura had to be worth their salt after all. "My father was born in the Itoda clan," he found himself saying as he looked over the details.

"Why aren't you a medic nin in that case?" Darami asked with something akin to disbelief.

In Konoha, the Itoda weren't a very big or prestigious clan, but they could boast to being the only clan effectively specialized in medical ninjutsu – in the sense that it was rare for one of them to not have solid medical knowledge and abilities. For this, they were actually more famous in the other villages in a sense, and he could imagine that Darami would view it as a waste, for him to have had access to such a professor but not have taken advantage of it – although he did learn from his father, just not about medical ninjutsu.

"My sister is," he replied with a shrug. "I'm better with my fangs," he added matter-of-factly as he kept perusing the file.

Iori Itoda, 27, Jounin of Konoha; currently finishing a medical exchange program in Kiri's Allied Division HQ. Previous posting: Konoha's Allied Division HQ, as supervisor for the medical exchange program.

"Look, I understand why you'd want him to join the program here, but you know as well as I do it's a matter of funding if there are no vacancies," he said with a sigh as he looked back at her. "There's nothing I can do at my level, you really need to take this up to Temari." Admittedly, he really wasn't sorry that he wasn't more involved in handling matters pertaining to funding.

The captain visibly looked like she wanted to say something but it pained her, and after a couple of minutes had passed, she looked to the side and cleared her throat. "Can you do it on my behalf, Commander?" she asked, before frowning and adding, "Please."

Now this had Kiba raising an eyebrow, because Darami could be called many things, but self-conscious was not one of them. "Darami, are you sweet-talking me? Because I gotta be honest, I don't know how to feel about that!"

She frowned at him and crossed her arms over her chest, back to her usual self. "I don't want anyone to think that I'm using my relationship with the Kazekage to garner preferential treatment from his sister, that's all," she stated unequivocally.

Oh, so they weren't keeping that under wraps anymore, were they?

Akamaru disappeared under his desk so he could do his laughing guffaw unseen and Kiba absently thought that he was a traitor as he worked very hard to keep his grin from splitting his face. "I'll see what I can do," he replied evenly before pointing a finger at her. "But if by some miracle this gets approved, then it's up to you to arrange it, got it?"

"Got it," Darami confirmed, allowing the slightest smile to almost pull at the corners of her lips.

Kiba just shook his head in amusement as he watched her go, nudging his nin-dog with his foot. "Hey, you're supposed to share my pains, not run off on your own, fluffball!" he chided him easily.

"Awroo!" Akamaru replied as he stepped out from under the desk.

"Yeah, yeah…you keep telling yourself that!"

Temari was in very much the same state after he told her everything, and vowed to find a way to get the funding, adding that Suna's hospital could afford to pitch in more than they currently were, since they benefited from their foreign experts just as much as the HQ – if not more, at times.

Two days later, she triumphantly gave her deputy the go-ahead, and he had to admit he was quite pleased to let Darami know – she'd even said 'thank you' twice before heading off.

Kiba tried not to make too big a deal out of it as he supposed stranger things did happen.

While originally, the thought of having (ahem) 'double-dates' with Kankuro and Tsuneo had sounded really weird to Kiba and Shikamaru, eventually as they befriended Tsuneo it became much, much less awkward. The chuunin visibly knew about Kankuro and Kiba's past relationship and had initially been slightly defensive around him, but that had rather quickly subsided.

So when Kankuro wasn't making an idiot of himself (which he did at least once a month, more often than not more), they actually met up quite regularly. And as the couple had made up following that little argument brought by Kankuro's latest blunder which Shikamaru really wished he hadn't witnessed, they kept their scheduled dinner that week, so Kiba was quite happy to share the tale of Darami asking him to play go-between with Temari.

"I bet that explains Gaara's good mood this afternoon," Kankuro mused, shaking his head as he thought about it some more. "Man, I'd have loved to have been there!"

"Hey, be nice to your brother," Tsuneo chided him easily as he pinched his arm, turning back to Kiba before his lover could retaliate. "I've gotta admit I've never heard of the Itoda clan – are they really that good?" he wondered curiously.

Kiba shrugged at this, sharing a look with Akamaru. "At the very least, my father was – when he used to train me, he'd always say, 'don't hold back, go all out, I'll fix you up'!" he recalled. "And he always did." Usually after having beaten him up pretty badly in the first place, but in hindsight he appreciated what he'd learned during those lessons – he really did believe there was no better way to learn than trial by error.

"They're rarely assigned to missions below B-rank actually – nearly all them at least make Tokujou thanks to their healing skills," Shikamaru supplied, leaning his head in his hand. "I've worked with a couple myself; nothing to complain about."

Tsuneo nodded as he thought about it. "Yeah, I guess we don't really have that in Suna – specializations by clans. Focus is placed on individual potential rather than the clan of origin," he reasoned. "Among the Susaya clan, I'm specialized in speed, but my mother was a bodyguard, and my grandfather a genjutsu specialist – there's no underlying link."

"Exactly – just like Gaara, Temari and I have such distinct specialties," Kankuro noted with a shrug. Actually he knew that shinobi from other villages were often puzzled to see siblings with such different ways of fighting, but for them it was normal. "Here it's actually encouraged for siblings to learn different techniques – to increase the clan's potential as a whole."

"That does make sense," Shikamaru agreed, once more being struck by how things were different from one village to the next. "In Konoha it's also encouraged in a sense, but only after the clan's primary techniques are mastered."

Ino had actually been requested to prove her mastery of basic Yamanaka mind-control techniques before being allowed to fully pursue medical ninjutsu training – something that had really seemed stupid to them at the time, although in hindsight he could somewhat understand it slightly better.

"If you think about it, it also limits any one clan's unity and power as a whole – and therefore diminishes any threat it could pose to the village itself," Tsuneo added, crossing his arms over his chest. "Let's say Suna's puppeteers tried to stage a coup—"

"Hey, why us?" Kankuro interrupted with a raised eyebrow, being silenced by a hand on his mouth – and not biting it away because he was nice like that.

"—well it wouldn't be one clan's doing, since most clans have puppeteers nowadays," Tsuneo continued as though he hadn't been interrupted.

Kiba grinned at their antics but looked up as it reminded him of something else. "I've had a similar talk with a kunoichi from Iwa once, and apparently over there it's particularly the case for bloodline limits – the more clans they're spread across, the better!"

"Well, we're not so different in that aspect. You've gotta admit that's one good way of ensuring great power isn't limited to one family alone – politically, too!" Kankuro reasoned, gently pulling his lover's hand away from his mouth and absently twining their fingers. "It's actually why our father was encouraged to have several kids, and why the Council's on our backs nowadays: they want that ability to control sand to be more widely spread across the village, since it almost died out after the Second and Third Shinobi Wars – and actually has a very small activation percentage."

Indeed, while he and Temari could in theory pass it down to their children, at this precise moment Gaara was the only person in the village who actively held that power, so in a sense he understood the council's relentlessness on the matter.

Shikamaru hummed to himself as he figured that this unusual viewpoint was likely why same-gender relationships were never viewed as an issue in Suna: because it had never been expected of people to pass down their skills to their children alone. A clan's strength was not measured by the number of shinobi who mastered a given skill, but rather on the number of skills it had at its disposal as a whole – only the village's overall ability mattered. Put like that, it was hard to deny it sounded really clever.

"Well, I don't know…" Kiba admitted as he reached over to pat Akamaru's head. "Somehow, I get what you mean – no clan would try a coup if they were that well integrated with the other clans. But then I look at my clan, and the Inuzuka are really like a big crazy family! Now obviously I'm all for marrying across clans," he started as he lightly poked Shikamaru's cheek, "but that doesn't mean I'd be okay with someone who's got no Inuzuka relations at all suddenly learning how to fight with a nin-dog – using our techniques!"

A clan's boundaries shouldn't be crossed, he believed that, and that was why he hadn't taught Shikamaru how to understand Akamaru, although effectively, that was something they could've kept a secret.

"Yeah, I suppose that for you guys, it would feel like a violation of your way of life," Tsuneo mused, fascinated with these differences.

"It took about a generation for people to get used to it back when Suna was created, so I guess that's normal," Kankuro tempered, remembering the history lessons he'd been subjected to as a child – where being a pest to Temari had been the only highlight of his day, poor child that he was. "And yet, maybe that's where we're headed, globally speaking – I mean not just within our own villages, but across the entire Alliance," he added seriously.

"You think so?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

The puppeteer shrugged at this, leaning an elbow forward on the table. "Well, I gotta admit Temari and Sojiro get me thinking sometimes, you know?" he said as he absently ran a hand through his hair. "Let's go with the road that won't cause the Council members to have an ulcer: Sojiro marries into our clan, and therefore our village. He still has a bloodline limit – so as we've just established, as far as Suna's concerned, if they have a kid who inherits it, it would be viewed as a good thing, since it would add more variety to the village's strengths. But how would the Satoshi Clan and Kiri view that?"

"Well how would it be handled in Konoha?" Tsuneo asked the other two with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure you've already had cases of shinobi with bloodline limits marrying into other clans…"

Kiba blinked in surprise at the question, having to admit he hadn't thought about it, but yeah… "Naruto and Hinata will face that issue one day, but I'm not sure what could happen exactly…" he commented, turning to Shikamaru inquisitively.

The Nara shrugged, not really sure himself. "Honestly, to my knowledge, that might've been the first time a Hyuuga married into another clan – precisely so that issue wouldn't come up. But that's not counting the secondary branch members who might've been allowed to, since their Byakugan was sealed," he amended.

And it seemed almost certain that with or without Sakura, Sasuke would likely eventually get around to making sure the Sharingan wouldn't die with him – and that implied somehow recreating the Uchiha clan. But that was neither here nor there yet at this moment…

"I'm not sure there's a definite rule…"

"So it's unknown territory for them too!" Kankuro mused with an easy grin.

"I think it's unknown territory for a lot of us, all over the place," Tsuneo commented with a shrug – after all, many aspects of shinobi life, including his own original specialization as a courier weren't needed as much as before, these days.

Akamaru barked something and Kiba chuckled as he ruffled his head. "He says that it's interesting to be living in an era where everything's changing."

The others shared a laugh at this, having to admit the nin-dog wasn't wrong on that one. At the very least, things never got boring, and that was the important part.

TBC

I've always thought it was interesting that in Konoha, every person in a clan seems to have the same techniques (and hairstyle), while the Sand Siblings are as different as can be - and yet, we clearly saw many puppeteers or fan users around, implying it's a school of sorts. This is my take on it. :)
Plus as Kankuro mentioned, Temari and Sojiro will raise the issue, right? ;)
Gaara and Darami wasn't planned at all originally. But then I found out that in canon Gaara eventually had 3 kids, and since I try to stick to canon as much as feasible in a ShikaKiba world, I had to do something because I didn't want to settle for the 'nameless mother of that character's kids' trope that is so popular in shonen manga.