Tsume Inuzuka was, in her own opinion, one badass Kunoichi, and she was damned proud of that fact.
She, the young matriarch of the Inuzuka clan, had plenty to be proud of. After all, the Inuzuka clan was an old and proud one, plenty strong, and a great one — in her own mind, the best one. Even if she had to admit they weren't the strongest.
Uchiha and Hyūga might be stronger, or at least bigger, but compared to those two, she still felt the Inuzuka were better. Warmer. More like one big family. Those other clans… they just couldn't compare when it came to that.
No, her clan was her family, and they were all a good, if chaotic, bunch. The only asshole in the entire clan just so happened to be the man who fathered her daughter, the adorable little Hana.
Today, she was sitting on the roof of her home, legs hanging over the edge, Hana perched in her lap. The small girl was leaning forward, eyes wide and curious as she took in the sight of the bustling compound below — the smell of stew from one house, the sound of a ninken barking in the distance, the thump of paws against dirt from sparring dogs.
Tsume held her a little tighter without thinking. She really did love her daughter — more than she'd thought possible — but she was still figuring it out. Give her a puppy, and she knew exactly what to do. But a child? That was a first, and it scared her. Scared her because there was no redoing it if she messed up.
"See that, pup?" she murmured, pointing to a pair of young clan members wrestling in the yard. "That's your cousin Riku. He'll teach you to throw someone twice your size when you're big enough."
Hana giggled, leaning back against her mother's chest. It was a small, soft sound, but Tsume felt it all the way in her ribs.
Being a mother in wartime was its own mission — one she hadn't signed up for, but couldn't walk away from. Some days, she felt like she was holding the whole clan together while also holding a baby that didn't understand why her mother had to leave for missions. Other days, she wondered if Hana would even remember her if something happened out there.
Once more, she cursed that fool for knocking her up and running away to the frontlines, forcing her to raise Hana on her own. Sure, she had the entire clan to help her, but at times, no amount of help felt enough and she just wanted someone to punch and blame, and the best target was out of reach.
But then again, she didn't blame him too much, because he wasn't suited for being a father, he wasn't, and the frontlines did need every pair of hands they could get. Even her own parents were out there fighting, leaving her behind to keep the clan together.
She wished it wasn't like that, that she too could be out there again, fighting the war on the frontlines, but… with little Hana, she couldn't just leave.
In that regard, she wasn't alone, she knew that plenty of her friends couldn't leave for one reason or another, all forced to remain in the village while their men were off fighting.
Kushina was just like her, wanting to fight, but forced to remain back, as was Mikoto, though her desire to be on the frontlines was to a lesser degree. She was a skilled Jōnin, no less than herself, yet she was far more of the housewife type.
"Can you imagine that?" She asked Hana, "Your Ma as a housewife? All proper like some Uchiha?" Just the idea itself was so absurd she couldn't help but laugh.
Little Hana was still too young to understand what was being said, but she just laughed along all the same.
Tsume grinned at the heartwarming sight; little Hana really had inherited the best from her, both looks and personality.
"Yeah," she murmured, brushing a stray lock of hair from her daughter's forehead, "you're trouble waiting to happen."
She remained there, just watching the clan until little Hana fell asleep in her lap, at which point Tsume finally jumped down and handed the sleeping girl over to the babysitter.
"Ahh, alright Kuromaru, let's go greet our guest." She said as she stretched, and the large ninken appeared by her side.
Tsume had smelled a familiar scent enter the clan compound long ago. Sometimes, it was both a blessing and a curse to have senses as sharp as hers.
The entire clan compound was covered in the thick scent of their canine companions, so much in fact that when the village was first founded, their clan had been given land towards the edge of the village.
Not that they minded, being around forests was a lot better than being around all the civilians, but the smell of the compound had always been a problem.
Despite the general smell, her nose was still able to pick up every individual scent, though at this point, she filtered most of them out unconsciously, which allowed her to easily pick up new and strange scents.
So she noticed when Yuki came around. But she figured Yuki was a big girl and could handle herself, so she didn't pay it any mind at first, but it had been a few hours, and well, she never came by, so she got curious.
Tsume had honestly never expected to get a Hyūga for a friend; that clan was… about as far as one could get from the Inuzuka clan, all prim and proper, all tradition and rules. Colder than even the damned Uchiha clan, and that was saying something.
It wasn't like Tsume had never met people from the clan before; she had worked with them and knew the next clan head, Hiashi, and his twin brother.
But everyone, branch family or main family, just felt so cold. And that whole thing with the branch family just didn't sit well with her; one didn't treat family like that.
So, when she first heard about Yuki and Koji, she was shocked beyond words.
A Hyūga Kunoichi and the best in their entire clan? Hooking up with one of her clan's boys? Now that wasn't something she could just accept.
Yet, the words of it traveled fast, and Kuro confirmed everything, she even went to visit Koji herself as soon as he woke up, just to confirm for herself that it was true.
Even now, after having personally met Yuki, she still couldn't see it. Yuki was beautiful, no doubt about it, and worse yet, the girl was stronger than she was. Which was hard to accept, but records didn't lie.
Back in the old days, she would be at Clan leader level, someone able to lead an entire clan, and even today, Elite Jōnins were few and far between.
And for one of those, a young pretty Kunoichi and one from the Hyūga clan to fall for Koji? Tsume had to admit, Yuki had taste.
Tsume just knew she had to meet the woman, and she did. Thanks to Kushina, she ended up becoming friends with Yuki, and she had to admit, Yuki was very different from the rest of the Hyūga clan.
For one, the girl could laugh — not the polite little chuckle Hyūga gave when they wanted to seem friendly, but an actual laugh. She'd sit cross-legged, drink tea without fussing over perfect form, and didn't act like touching a dog was beneath her.
Sure, she still had that Hyūga clan arrogance; it was deep in her bones, and that type of self-confidence and arrogance was a part of her. The whole, 'yes I'm better than you and I know it' kinda deal, but while the rest of her clan tried to shove that fact down your throat, Yuki didn't.
It was hard to say whether she was more or less arrogant than the rest of her clan, but it just didn't come off as that overbearing, like she wore it better.
"Hey Kira, what's the big deal?" Tsume asked another member of the clan as she walked through the compound, following the scent of Yuki. On the way, she had noticed people acting strangely and finally had to ask.
Kira was older, quite a bit at that, and she was no longer an active shinobi, but she was experienced and trustworthy, and she loved gossip, so Tsume was sure she would answer.
Yet, her response surprised Tsume because she seemed unwilling to answer. "Well… I guess they are just shocked about the clan's new bitch, that one is surprisingly well trained."
Tsume blinked, caught by surprise, because she didn't think any of the ninken was about to give birth, and even if that was the case, then how could a newborn pup be well trained?
She sharpened her senses and sniffed the air, and indeed, didn't find the scent of newborn pups. "What's really going on?"
Kira seemed like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she shook her head. "You will see," was all she said before she went on her way. Leaving Tsume puzzled but curious.
Tsume didn't know what was going on, but given that the only thing she could think of was that Yuki might be the cause, she had an idea of what it might just be, and she couldn't help but smirk as she hurried towards where she smelled Yuki.
She quickly made her way to the back of the clan compound, where the number of people grew thin and trees grew plentiful. Out here, it was more forest than anything else, and it was mostly a place for ninken to play.
As she reached that area, she also picked up a few weak scent markers, the clan's secret method of communicating.
"What this? Someone wanting some private time?" She whispered to Kuromaru as she identified the signals which mostly just consisted of scents telling people to stay away, and claiming scents.
"You sure I should go as well?" Kuromaru asked as they stopped behind a treeline with some stroke scent marks to keep people out, yet plenty of scents from curious clan members and ninken.
Tsume sniffed the air, past the scent marks, to what they were trying to hide. "It's proper, but I am going, no way I'm missing this, only Yuki behind this, so you can go on ahead if you want."
The grin on her face was as wide as it could possibly be as she continued on into a clearing, and saw the sight laid out before her there.
Right bang in the middle, someone had driven a stake down into the ground, and connected to that was a chain, which then in turn connected to the collar around the bitch's neck.
"Well, well, what a sight to see." Tsume proclaimed loudly enough to get the bitch's attention, and the reaction she got only made Tsume all the more pleased with Koji; that guy was one hell of a guy.
Sure, she would kill him if he tried this with her… but well, this wasn't bad at all.
(End chapter)
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