12 Dog Versus Dolphin 2

'Taijutsu... and that style...'

Creases were lining up on Tsume's forehead.

Wasn't this girl supposedly learning kenjutsu? Since when was she able to perform such delicate movements? Not to mention, that style was so similar to that particular clan's specialty...

"Girl, tell me the truth. Is that Gentle Fist?"

Hikari rubbed her chin when she heard that question. Gentle? Hmm, that was a good name to describe this style, but not really correct either. After all, it already had a name.

"No? This is emeiquan, the unarmed martial art style of mount Emei."

Employing low, stable stances that derived itself from the movements of animals living in the sacred mountain, it was a style that best utilizes the usage of qi to strengthen its offense and defense. Even immortal-level practitioners favored this style when they had to engage in melee combat.

Tsume had no idea what she had just spouted, but in essence, it seemed that the girl had no relation to the Hyuga.

"Oraah! That one doesn't count!"

Kiba quickly rose back to his feet after the pain on his chest subsided.

"Actually, that counts, but you still have one more chance, pup. I give you permission to show her 'that'."

From that one move, Tsume could tell that the girl had better taijutsu skill than his son. In that case, attacking directly would just put him in a disadvantage.

He'd fared better by finishing it with their clan's jutsu.

"Ouh! Oi, Hikari, I still can't control this well, so do your best not to get hurt, okay?!"

Oh? Interesting. It seemed that he had a trick up his sleeves.

She returned to a stable, open stance, just like before.

"Show me, then. Come."

Kiba jolted out with Four Legs Technique, but he didn't attack immediately. Instead, he ran in a circle around her, trying to build up speed.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

"Are you trying to make me confused?"

"Heh! Don't look down on me! Here I go!"

He took a long detour this time before turning around toward her, and then jumped up.

<Imitation Beast Ninja Art: Four Legs Technique: Passing Fang>

Like a drill, the boy spun in high speed while maintaining his forward momentum. The rotation was so strong that a high-pitched grinding noise rang out as he cut through the air.

"The heck!?"

What was that absurd technique?

There was no way her palm strike could stop that, oi!

Without any option available, she could only leap to the side to avoid the incoming drill. A deafening explosion blasted out as he crashed onto the hard ground, throwing dust and dirt into the air.

As soon as he landed, Kiba quickly jumped away, creating distance between the two.

"Heh, what do you think? Great, isn't it?" The boy gloated. He had finally mastered it after grueling months of spartan training with his mother. When he saw the result, he was extremely satisfied with this jutsu's destructive power!

"...I have so many questions..."

She didn't know whether it was a strong technique or not. Throwing yourself toward your enemy honestly sounds dumb. Then again, that small crater was a proof of how scary it would be if that technique hit you straight on.

She then remembered that Kiba was practically a beginner. What if Tsume was the one who performed it...

"Enough daydreaming! Let's go!"

Kiba crouched once again. The distance this time was enough for him to use Passing Fang immediately, so he did just that. The spinning speed wasn't as strong as the previous one, but the time of activation was greatly reduced. He was confident that she wouldn't be able to dodge this time!

"Human, do you need This One to-"

"It's alright, Venerable One. I can handle it."

Anyway, it was just a spinning motion, right? She had fought against something similar before.

Circulating chakra to strengthen her body, she leaped backward, and then to the right, trying to avoid the Passing Fang.

"I won't let you run away!"

Kiba twisted his body slightly to the side. The drill that was going straight... suddenly changed its trajectory!

"I'm not running away. I just need to take-"

The place she was leaping toward, was the spot where they stored the dummy weapons.

"-This."

She snatched a wooden staff the length of her arm. Moving her dantian at full force, she concentrated her chakra on her legs, her right arm, and extending forward to gather over the tip of the staff that she was aiming at him.

With the Passing Fang coming right up, she separated her legs, planting them firm on the ground. She strained her eyes to take in all the detail of the spin, its direction, the foremost part, and then...

"...There!"

<<Emei Sect Hard-Sword Style: Threading a Needle in One Strike>>

Her right arm shot forward, launching the chakra-infused tip of the staff right at the center of Passing Fang's rotation.

The strong wind generated by the Passing Fang died out in an instant.

""Eh?""

Kiba's figure was finally revealed. The tip of the staff was grinding on his forehead as his spin kept on slowing down until all the momentum was gone.

When gravity finally kicked back in, he fell to the ground, eyes blinking rapidly in bewilderment.

Eh.

Did she just... break the Inuzuka clan's jutsu... with mere taijutsu- no, bojutsu?

Granted, Kiba's version was severely watered down compared to the full-powered Passing Fang, but still...

"Guhoh!"

While he was still in a daze, the staff was swung right onto his head, knocking him senseless.

"Lady Tsume?"

"Ah," Tsume snapped out of her trance. Seeing that Kiba had lost his strongest card, the winner of the fight was already decided. Sighing, she parted her lips. "The winner of the spar is-"

"Actually, I give up for this round."

"-is... is.. da fack?"

She almost bit her lips from the shock. The girl just grinned at her.

"Since Kiba is also taken out, that means this round is a draw... right?"

One loss, one win, one draw. So... in the end, a draw.

"I see... gaah, fine, do whatever you want."

"Hehe~ that means, both of us can have dinner, right?"

"Who says so?"

The smile on Hikari's face disappeared in an instant.

"You... said the loser won't have dinner. If we both draw, then there's no loser..."

"That's your reasoning?" Tsume shot her a mean grin. "Let me tell ya, in our Inuzuka clan, draw is the same as losing!"

...Crap!

Oi, say that from the start!

"Take my son back to the house, kay? I gotta run. See you guys tomorrow."

"Lady Tsume, wait-!"

Unfortunately, she didn't want to. With a poof, she was gone from sight.

"..."

"It seems that your scheme has failed. This One pity you," Kokuo sneered.

"...Nobody will call you mute if you don't speak..." She mumbled in response.

Letting out a long, tired sigh, she carried the unconscious boy back to Tsume's house.

---

After losing to the girl, Kiba's competitive spirit flared up. This time, he was the one who'd dragged his mother to the training ground, regardless of how cold the winter days were.

Tsume was, of course, pleased with her son's sudden interest in the clan's jutsu. She just wished that he wouldn't be that energetic during a snowstorm...

In the meantime, Hikari continued her training according to the manuals in her memory. She couldn't do much about the lack of qi refinement, so she focused on familiarizing her new body with Emei sect's techniques.

As one of the Four Great Sword Sect, Emei's swordplay was powerful beyond compare. While she was confident that she could perform their movements, pulling out their true power was another story. It required muscle memory as well as physical strength, something that could only be gained with constant training.

Thus, Kokuo had to endure watching her doing the same absurd dances over and over again every single day.

Winter quietly passed, followed by the warm spring and the scorching summer.

"A year had passed. Time sure flies when it's this peaceful."

Kokuo was lazing around on the tatami, having materialized into a puppy-sized version of itself, while munching on rice crackers.

As a creature made out of chakra, it had no need for material sustenance, so it never had any intention to try these human foods. However, one day Hikari tossed it an apple out of boredom.

"Immortal-stage cultivators can still taste food normally. Spirit beasts should be able to as well."

So, the Tailed Beast gave it a try, just to humor her.

...Lo and behold, it did could taste food. Maybe it wasn't the exact same sensation felt by humans, but there was definitely something there.

Since then, it would materialize out whenever it was sure that nobody else was around and demanded whatever snacks she was having at the moment. It had turned into a glutton!

She began to wonder whether spirit beasts in this world could get fat too...

"Peaceful is nice, isn't it?"

Her main goal was to cultivate and reach the peak level existence once again. However, she wasn't even sure whether or not she could breakthrough into Foundation Establishment stage. With this new form of energy, chakra, she was still grasping in the dark.

Oh well, it had been a really long while since she could relish in mortal pleasure like this. Taking it easy for now should be fine, right?

Suddenly, she heard quiet footsteps approaching the living room.

"...? Lord Kokuo, someone's coming!"

The Tailed Beast, however, just slightly raised his head before returning to his crackers.

"Relax, it's just the dog boy."

"Who're you calling dog boy?!"

The door slid open, and Kiba walked in with Akamaru on his head.

Woof! The puppy barked enthusiastically. He jumped off the boy and landed on Hikari's lap.

"I still have no idea why he's so attached to you. Oi, did you feed my partner something weird back then?"

"I don't know either!"

She lifted the pup so they could look at each other in the eyes.

Woof!

Uuu... so cute!

As a fellow human being, it was really a crime not to protect this little ball of cuteness!

"Oi, snap out of it, you're being led astray," Kokuo mumbled between its bites.

"No way! You won't do nasty thing like tricking me, will you~?"

She tickled the puppy, which made it whine in delight.

"...It's too late. We've lost her..." the Tailed Beast sighed.

Truth be told, among the ninja dog in the Inuzuka clan, Akamaru was considered a genius. He was barely a year old, and yet he could already perform intricate jutsu like Beast-Human Clone or Fang Passing Fang with Kiba. He was also highly intelligent, as he could absorb everything that Kuromaru and the other senior dogs had taught him in a short amount of time.

"He might even be smarter than you," Tsume commented to Kiba one day, causing him to sulk for the entire day.

"Now that you mention it, where's Lady Boss and big sister?"

Other than her own training, lately she had been helping Hana with taking care of Inuzuka dogs. As such, they had grown closer over the past couple of months. Hana even insisted to be called 'big sister'. Thus, the nickname stuck.

"Mom's got an emergency mission, so she had to go for a while. Big sis is staying at the clinic tonight. Some idiots fed chocolate to their ninken, now they all have severe stomachache."

"..."

Chocolate on dogs... how unfortunate.

"I guess I'll make dinner tonight... what do you want?" she turned to Kiba.

"Steak," the boy replied lazily.

"...Tofu it is."

"What- no! That thing is gross!"

"Eh, don't underestimate tofu! Besides, you had too much meat lately, you should eat other things too!"

"Kuk...! But, meat...!"

They kept arguing back and forth until Kokuo got tired of listening and ended up playing with Akamaru instead.

'That girl... is she really a thousands-years-old soul inside? She can be more childish than an actual child sometimes...'

The beast shook its head, thinking that it could never fully understand humans.

In the end, they finally reached a compromise: Szechuan-style mapo tofu for dinner it is.

Kiba had no idea what the heck a 'Szechuan' is, but since it would have beef slices, he finally stopped complaining.

---

"Kuh... I think I put too much pepper..."

The dish had turned out a bit more spicy than she'd expected. She was afraid that her bowel would betray her at this rate.

"This One likes it. Make more."

It seemed that spicy stuff was the Tailed Beast's thing. It had emptied the rest of the pot after Hikari and Kiba had enough.

"Later. Let's just sleep tonight... hmm?"

Someone is coming. This footsteps... it was identical to that one in the noon.

Kiba?

The screen door leading to here room slowly slid open. Moonlight poured in, casting a shadow of a boy with wild, spiky hair.

She laid still under the cover, trying to see what the intruder wanted to do.

The boy silently closed the door. He tip-toed over to her sleeping figure, and then crouched down, leaning ever closer to her face...

'Hmm, this familiar scene... this must be...'

"Akamaru, is it?"

She suddenly kicked the boy on the stomach. With an audible poof, the figure immediately shrunk down and transformed back into the white-furred puppy.

He let out a pitiful whimper.

"Honestly... if you want to sleep with me, then just come in normally, no need to pull this kind of trick," She sighed. This puppy had grown too attached to her, hadn't he? She pulled him into a hug, and then brought him under the blanket.

"It's late. Go to sleep."

Bark.

The small pup's body slightly jerked.

"...Akamaru?"

Something was wrong.

Bluish light was enveloping the puppy. He was releasing his chakra uncontrollably, as if wanting to drain his chakra reserve to the last drop. The puppy jerked back and forth, looking like he was in pain.

"What's wrong with that thing?!" Kokuo materialized out, feeling alarmed by the sudden surge of chakra in the room.

"Don't tell me, qi deviation?"

She didn't know whether it could happen with chakra-based energy or not, but at the moment it was the only explanation.

"I'll get Kiba, he should be able to stop-"

As she was about to get up, she suddenly felt a hand pulling on her wrist.

The world went upside-down as she was forcefully thrown back into the mattress.

"H-huh?!"

The chakra released by Akamaru had reached the required density. With a poof, the puppy triggered a jutsu.

<Transformation Technique>

She felt an adult human's weight suddenly pressing down on her as she was pinned down by two slender hands.

Long, flowing black hair gently fell down her face. What she saw was a fair skin that was as smooth as jade, an amorous red lips akin to a blossoming flower, and a pair of gentle phoenix eyes. Her gaze trailed down the figure's neck, following the curvaceous form with bountiful twin mountains that were put out for sight with nothing to cover them.

What she was looking at, was an exceedingly beautiful woman that could bring the downfall of thousand dynasties.

She gulped. Not because the temptation was too strong for the heart, but because she knew who this woman was. In fact, she knew her a bit too well.

The lips parted, and a melodious, bell-like voice sang in her ears.

"Oh, my beloved Yao Huang, how I've missed you so!"

Those words, were spoken in the language she'd missed for so long.

Who knew that when she would heard them again, it would be from this fox's mouth?

"So it is indeed, you, Daji..."

The old soul answered in kind, in the tongue of their now-distant homeland.