Chapter 7: art of war

One year later. My fourth anniversary was drawing closer by the day.

Time is relative. I had a few theories about that in my old life. Our perception of time is formed by the total sum of our life.

Take the last year before I came to the Naruto–verse. Nothing exciting happened. I worked, I played video games, I had fun with my friends, I died. A good year, if you exclude the last part.

So, the saying "time flies when you're having fun" is empirically true because that year and those before were gone in the blink of an eye.

But my current year. This fucking year… It was interesting, right, but I was starting to think that it would never end.

One year when you lived 35 before is nothing but a fraction of your life, compared to one when you have lived only three.

I was sitting with my father in the garden of my house, with my ninken taking a nap on my lap. It was nice, if I wanted to be honest. Our two story home was not grand but still homey and we had a traditional garden where the ninken came to rest and play.

"So this, my son, is how the Inuzuka clan fights! I know it's a lot but I know that, in time, you'll be able to understand the deeper meaning of our way of warfare…"

"Get angry, jump at the first enemy that appears and curb-stomp him with a primal display of teeth, claws and angry fluff-ball in his face. Bonus points if you can piss him so much he starts to overcompensate and spew a few secrets…"

"You are… YOU ARE A GENIUS MY SON! IT TOOK ME THREE YEARS TO HAVE SUCH A DEEP UNDERSTANDING! THREE YEARS AFTER I GRADUATED!"

It took all my willpower to refrain myself from face planting.

That's because you are a moron, daddy dearest.

Moon-moon just continued to sleep.

During that year I slowly began to feel like being a 'genius' in the Inuzuka clan was the equivalent of being the only one eyed-man in a world of blind. And mute. With only one leg and no arms.

"I know dad, but that's just the theory. I understand that much but I can only talk the Talk, I can't walk the Walk yet. Not without proper training! Sure I can 'see' what Moon-Moon hears, I can react to things I shouldn't be able to react to and I'm getting the hang of speaking with him in our mind but that's not fighting! And that's what I want to learn right now!"

I did my best to put on a pouty face for maximum effect. Until now with no success. The Inuzuka ninjutsu was extremely easy to grasp. Think like a wolf, act like a wolf.

But I know that if something sounds stupid but works then it's not stupid.

And the Inuzuka ninjutsu works. Which means it's not stupid. And now I'm depressed.

But I need to learn! Do you know why? Because this year the fucking Kyuubi will appear. Minato and Kushina will die, Naruto will be born and canon will come into motion, unabated.

Not that I can do a fucking thing about it. We're talking about a Bijuu here. I don't think I can hope to fight it for more than 10 seconds.

1 second to look at me in disbelief, 8 to thoroughly eviscerate me and 1 to pee on my corpse for wasting It's time. As I read somewhere, in a world that made much more sense.

I thought about warning the Sandaime, or Hiruzen, who was enjoying a well earned retirement in the council. Where he had to deal with Danzo. And the other two old waste of air.

So not a peaceful retirement, but still. And I'm sure that the fact that the ANBU never came close to me after THAT day was thanks to him more than the threat from my mother.

Hum… Maybe I should send him a thank-you card, someday…

"… And that's why I will not teach you how to fight. I'm sorry pup but we had this discussion already and…"

I came back from my musing while my father was finishing his explanation when I sensed my mother approaching.

"I'll handle it, Tori. Thank you for taking care of him."

"Good day, my fierce. Already back from your mission? You look… tired."

"Yes my love, we came back two hour ago. Sorry to come so late but we had to report. The council was not pleased by our findings… Or our lack of… I swear that fucker who manage to come close to the village is just…".

Kuromaru took the opportunity to leave the scene, probably to get some food.

"Then I will leave you, my fierce." Interrupted my father. "But you must know that Shinji understood."

I saw the fire lit again in my mother's eyes. I concentrated on her smell.

Grass, roots, dirt, sweat. pride, and… Resignation? Again?

"Thank you. I'll go see you when I am finished here. I am in desperate need of a good way to de-stress after today so I hope you will be at the top of your game. "

"I have never failed your expectations and I never will, my Fierce! Young Shinji here is the proof."

WAY! TOO! FUCKING! MUCH! INFORMATION!

I know I'm supposed to be close to four years old. Yes but actually no! I'm actually close to 39 now and those 'innocents' remarks didn't really fly over my head! And the mental image of…. No, don't think about it! Think about something else! Something dark and deadly! Like the Kyuubi attack! Yeah that works! The dreadful, bloody and inevitable Kyuubi attack that will come in… Nine… Months… OH FOR FUCK SAKE!

"Are you okay my pup? You look troubled?"

My mother's voice made me snap out of my dirty thoughts. I need to find something. Quick. Something to distract me of that situation and OH FUCK NO SHE'S BLUSHING AND I KNOW THAT FUCKING SMILE AAAAAAAARGH just breathe... Just breathe... Okay, okay I'm good.

"I was thinking about my father's lessons… They are… I dunno… Weird."

"Oh? What do you think of our nindo?"

"Overpowering your enemies is all well and good. A dead enemy cannot hurt the pack. But what if there are multiple enemies? What if the enemy you see is… I don't know how to explain it… Not the real enemy or not the most dangerous but just the most visible? It's weird. I can follow any scent, but I know that you deliberately set up those for me, so that I follow it. What if an enemy does the same thing?"

"That… is something I knew you would understand the moment Moon-moon chose you. You will have to explain that name one day though. It doesn't really strike fear in the hearts of your enemies you know?"

"But that's the only name that fits him. I knew it the moment I heard him speak to me and he says this name fills him with determination. So it all works out. "

"The ninken name is the first and most important gift our clan can give to our furry friends. The fact that he accepted it immediately despite the fact that you made him wait two years before bestowing it to him is a testament to the bond between you two. But this is not important right now. Since my love told me that you 'understood' I must talk to you about something…"

My interest was immediately raised.

"Is it a technique? A well kept secret about our clan?"

"It is a secret alright, but not really a technique." My mother was laughing while telling me this.

"It's philosophy. An interpretation of the rules of our clan. Our Rules are known by every member, but how you interpret it depends on who you are. So you can say there are as many 'rules' as there are members of our clan. But there exists one interpretation. One set of interpretations that exists only in the mind of the clan leader. So you could say this is the only real 'secret' we managed to keep. I hope you're not too disappointed."

"Meh… Don't worry about it. I'll learn how to hit things later. Now I'm just curious."

"My my, what did I do to be blessed with such an understanding child! Is this what Mikoto-chan was talking about? 'I will soon understand what having a genius child truly means'?"

Mikoto… who the fuck is that… And why does it ring a bell… Wait… another so-called genius? Wait. Mikoto… Mikoto… Mikoto Uchiha? NONONOOOOOO I'M NOT A FLUFFY ITACHI YOU DUMB FUCK, YOU ARE JUST TOO RETARDED FOR COMMON SENSE!

"But I digress. I must ask you, my pup. Do you know the basis of the Inuzuka rules?"

"Well… I guess? No howling at the Moon past 10, bath is mandatory on Monday, no butt sniffing outside the clan compound, flea examination on the first Saturday of each month…"

Tsume interrupted my nonsense with a good natured laugh.

"Oh bitch mother I needed that. But no, I'm not talking about those, we, the Inuzuka clan, have real rules. And I must tell them to you since you not only 'understood' our warfare but also found the flaw in it.

You see, each clan head must know about a particular way of following them, while no one else must know a thing about it. It's tradition. One that I don't really care about but a tradition anyway. And one that your father never cared about so I'm glad I can teach you something that no one else knows."

Okay, now I was completely interested. I looked into my mother's eyes and caught the pride in it.

"First rule: Don't Fuck With The Keeper. For a common member, the keeper is the clan.

For a clan leader, it means never double-cross the Hokage. He sheltered us when our clan was on the verge of extinction. Long ago we were a simple clan of wolves. Mercenaries. Happy as long as we had enemies and prey.

But then the first Hokage came and stopped the war. We weren't needed anymore. We tried to kill him, in order to protect our way of life. Without war we would have just fallen in a ditch somewhere, living on scraps. But he welcomed us.

Taught us that while fighting for your clan was good, fighting for everyone was better."

Wait, I've already heard that phrase… Last year…

"But some inside the clan weren't completely satisfied. Some of us wanted to go back to our nomadic and mercenary lifestyle. Protecting something else than the clan was an insult to them.

So they formed a rebellion.

They were discovered but the First Hokage was… merciful. He only killed the male adults. They never had a chance but they could die according to their beliefs. The women and children were spared but they had to forsake our way of life.

After a while they left because they still yearned for freedom and the Hokage accepted their demand. He also asked us who stayed that, should a child appear with the curiosity of our clan he would be welcomed with open paws.

Soon after they found a loophole in the Hokage punishment and became a village-less clan. One we had no contact since the end of the Shinobi war.

So the clan head of his time interpreted the first rule. No one should ever try to cross the Hokage. Because he showed us mercy when we bit the hand that fed us."

That was… something. My mind went back to the day when Danzo tried to recruit me and I heard the rule.

Minato has my loyalty alright. Still it's good to be reminded of the fact, you know?

"The second rule: Respect the Sire. This is your father mind you. This one is the same for clan members and clan leaders. When a pup is born within the clan, the father automatically gets the title of 'Sire'. That means he strengthened the clan with his blood. A pup must show him respect and the Sire must willingly give his life for him, the pup in turn should never betray this love and never act in any way that could hurt the Sire. Nothing is more important in the eyes of the clan than our children."

I was starting to understand that those 'rules' were the instinct that called to me all this time.

"But why the 'Sire' ? Why never the 'Matriarch'?" I asked in a bewildered tone. Because I knew that my mother was way, WAY stronger than my father.

"Sire meant both, initially, but Inuzuka's women rarely go to the front line. I can understand your confusion but I am actually an exception to the rule. Not the norm.

So, to continue, there's Protect The Protector. For the clan, the Protector is whoever you choose as your shield. Those that will save you when all hope is lost. Be them friends, family or your team.

But for you, that's me and me alone. The Protector is the secret title given to the clan head. I will give my life for every member of the clan if the need should arise. I will never allow a single Inuzuka to die if I can die in it's place. Even if this clan member's death means the survival of many. It's what I have to do. But this will not be your rule, I'll explain later.

So the normal rules means everyone should protect me. But for me the true meaning is to never throw your life away. Always protect yourself because if you don't then I will gladly die to save you. This rule is hard to grasp because there are times when you just can't make it. Death is a part of life. A part that we accepted when we first drew our fangs.

The line between sacrificing oneself to save everyone and dying because you were too shortsighted to think of another way is hard to grasp. Please don't think too much about it, my pup, we live in a time of peace now.``

THAT was a lot. During the kidnapping attempts (because yeah, that was a kidnapping) I heard that last one twice. My mother was ready to attack two elite Shinobi from a black-ops group so that I could live. Because that was her duty.

Will she do it for someone who is not her child? Fuck yeah she would. That's the pressure she lives with day by day when an Inuzuka is sent on any risky mission.

Suddenly I remember a time when my father went back from an S-rank mission. He was badly wounded. But he was smiling. My mother was enraged but she never did anything against to punish him even if his stupid smile was infuriating.

Because "Protect The Protector" means that telling her about the dangers of the mission will put her in danger. And he couldn't do that because she was the Protector he had to Protect. By telling her she would HAVE to take the mission in his place. And if she died then he would have failed the third rule. But she couldn't take the mission and had to be with me because she was the only one with the real knowledge of the clan's rule. If the mission went south they would be lost and I would be left weakened.

So, by keeping mum (heh) about the mission he fulfilled the second rule. The Sire must protect the pup. That should have been a very dangerous mission for him to go to such length…

Bonus point, if he talked about the mission to anyone, even her, he would have failed the very first rule. He would have betrayed the Keeper trust by divulging an S-rank mission to someone that wasn't meant to hear about it, thus putting it in jeopardy. So by doing it the way he did he actually respected all the rules, secret and open one and gave honor to the Inuzuka at the same time.

Wait, that last part felt wrong…

"Did father… knew about all this? When he went to that S-rank mission? Because… it's way too big for a coincidence…"

"He didn't." Mom was now sporting a warm smile on her face. "My love is a freedom loving wolf, free of everything that drags me down and I love him for that. Did you know that when I first met him and even after we started dating he didn't even know that I was the next Protector? That's the kind of person your Sire is. But still, his actions driven by his carelessness drew the best possible outcome. One where everyone survived and lived to laugh about it. I understood it and merely sentenced him to a week of laundry for the whole clan…"

"You're a monster mom…"

That broke the camel back. Tsume Inuzuka, a paragon of strength and savagery, threw her head backwards and laughed. A pure laugh, like all the demons inside her were fleeing away.

"I knew it! I knew for the moment you were kicking my stomach that you would be something, pup. But there is one last rule we must talk about. One that doesn't concern me."

"The alpha protects?"

Her good mood disappeared immediately.

"… How… Do you… Know… That. "

That was the moment that I realized that I fucked up.

"During the ritual, I heard… voices. When I heard it, I thought it was Kuromaru…"

"He doesn't know that rule. Only I do. HOW! DO! YOU! KNOW?"

I was freaking out. My mother, my Protector, was sending killing intent in my direction.

Do you know what killing intent is?

Well it's quite easy to explain. Imagine someone with a gun, standing among the corpses of your friends and family. When you were the only one lucky enough to hide in time. Then you cough. And the killer just looks in your direction and with a shrug says 'well, almost missed one'.

This is killing intent. The feeling that you will die and there is nothing you can do about it.

But this is my mother. My Protector. Why is she like this?

"Those… Those rules… I knew them already. I hear them sometimes… " I was that close to pee myself from the death glare she was sending.

"No one should 'hear' them. No one ever has. But continue, please…"

"The first rule, I heard it when the ANBU came for me. Moon-moon showed me the situation. Then I felt Namikaze-dono speaking… I heard it. Moon-moon heard it too and he said everything will be alright!"

"Second rule ?"

"Same day. Dad was that close to go on all four, you were desperately trying to defuse the situation… Because you would have jumped before he did and fulfilled the second rule…"

The fear I felt when my mother lashed at me was beginning to subside and I slowly started to calm myself.

"Third rule. Now!"

That was a mistake, wasn't it? I shouldn't think like everything is settled.

"When Father carried me to the ritual he was talking about something... He was thinking out loud about something I could not understand and... I felt the instinct to defend you and screamed. But he thought I was hungry and didn't thought much about it…"

"No, he told me that. He was curious why this was the moment when you chose to scream. I gave him a punishment of course. He didn't really complain…"

TOO FUCKING MUCH INFORMATION! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE A 4 YEAR OLD BOY YOU BUNCH OF PHEROMONE DEGENERATES!

"But the last rule, my son."

"I told Friend."

You could hear a pin drop when both my mother and I turned our gaze in the direction of the interrupting voice, the small wolf who was still on my lap with one eye open.

"Felt right, you know ? I just met my bestest Friend in the world and I knew we would… yaaaaaaaaawn we would get all the things so I told him. Now please can I continue to do the sleepy thing? I'm just having this dream with so many things to get and…get…zzzzzzzz"

And just like that, the fucker went back to sleep.

"And there you have it… Damn-it moon-moon…" I said in my most deadpan voice while stroking his head. "Well, I also heard it during the ritual."

The killing instinct was nowhere to be found. My mother was convinced.

"When Moon-moon chose me, everyone screamed at the top of their lungs. I participated. I've already heard the 'rules' but couldn't understand them. That's where I heard it.

The Alpha Protects.

But I don't understand! I'm supposed to be a special clan heir, right? Everyone is under my care, but you are doing the same right now! Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because that rule is the most vague there is."

My mother was back to her loving side. However submitting a 4 year old child to such an amount of killing intent should have been a traumatizing experience but I felt… fine?

A part of me was wondering if I was a sociopath, another was wondering if, deep down, I knew that she was bound to kill herself before she laid a single finger on me.

Can I have a good thought, please?

"Who shall we protect? Who wants to be protected? Who must be protected? Who must be protected from us? Who shouldn't be protected? Who do I want to protect? Do they have to be protected? Should I protect them? What should I protect them from?" My mother said, throwing her arms to encompass everything around us.

"These are the questions I ask myself everyday. The last rule is only taught from clan leader to clan heir for this reason. Because it had no answers, no simple explanation. This rule must only be interpreted by a clan head and I found my answer already. Even then, an Alpha might have a different interpretation which will be followed.

Shinji, My pup, my love, you are an Alpha. You know that. That means I must tell you the story of the only Alpha my clan has any records of. But it's not a happy story. It's a story about love, war, hatred and finally death. I can understand If you choose to rest…"

I felt a tug in me. This was my story. I may be an intruder in this world but during those four years I accepted the inuzuka as 'mine'.

"I want to hear it, mom…"

"Very well. Let me tell you the story of the greatest hero of the Inuzuka clan. And the most misunderstood member that ever shared our name.

Let me tell you the story of Inuzuka Kiba, the Wise."

…

...

...Wat?

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