The ensuing fight grew more chaotic as she watched on.

Those mask-wearing ninja kept on moving their hands in rapid succession, followed by ridiculous effects as their chakra flowed out to manipulate their environments.

Fireballs, blade of winds, earth spikes, lightning bolts...

For a moment, she'd thought that she had returned to the immortal realms.

What is this madness with elements getting thrown all over the place? Are they newbie immortals showing off their sect's hidden techniques?! Fight more elegantly, godamnit!

"You alright, pup?"

While she was mentally cursing the ninja, Tsume and Kuromaru had brought the kids to the backline, more interested in keeping them safe rather than joining the frontline.

"Mom, we're fine! Shouldn't you help them?"

"Those Anbu? Nah, don't feel like it," Tsume waved her hand. "Besides, the fight's already decided."

This was Konohagakure, their home turf. The Iwa ninja were outnumbered and were caught in a surprise attack. Whether they liked it or not, they had lost this fight.

Even so, they persisted until the very end, leaving the Konoha ninja little choice but to attack with intention to kill. Either that, or letting the invaders escape, which would be a disgrace.

"Kiba! Hikari!"

Wearing white uniform for medical ninja, Hana had also arrived alongside two similarly-dressed ninja. Her face was a bit pale, but color slightly returned to her cheeks when she saw that the kids were under her mother's protection already.

Showing a bit impatience, she roughly pulled Kiba over to get a better look at him.

"Ow, big sis, careful!"

"What are these wounds? Why are you so bloodied? Who did this?!"

The usually gentle Hana suddenly turned deadly cold, enough to frighten the two colleagues beside her.

"Whoa, whoa, relax sis, it's not my blood! Also, those punks are already dead!"

"Dead-" Her eyes widened. "Did you- did you fight them? Did you won?"

"Well... not really me, it's her..."

Kiba glanced at the girl on his back.

"Ah... are you alright?" Hana gave her a quick look. She didn't seem to be wounded, except for the faint bruise on her neck.

"A bit dizzy..." Hikari murmured.

"Let me check. Relax."

She put her hand over the girl's wrist, and then closed her eyes. Bluish-green aura thinly covered her palm as she activated her medical jutsu to read the girl's flow of chakra.

"Chakra depletion... it's dangerously low. You'll have to take a long rest later."

Her voice grew stern.

"Never overuse your chakra like this ever again! If you run out of chakra, you'll die! It's not a laughing matter!"

"How can she run out of chakra with This One here? You're worrying for nothing, human," Kokuo retorted within Hikari's mind.

But of course, Hana couldn't know. Thus, Hikari just nodded to show that she understood.

"Alright, you guys go patch 'em up, hurry," Tsume clapped loudly, bringing the medical-nin's attention back to the task at hand. They quickly scrambled toward the kids, one medical-nin laying the girl on a mattress while the other used her chakra to heal Kiba's wounds. They were mostly superficial, so increasing his regeneration rate just a bit would be more than enough.

At the same time, the battle was safely concluded as the last assailant was taken down by Konoha's Anbu.

"No village symbol or any distinguishing traits in their attire, huh..." Tsume grunted. Judging from the opponent's proficiency with Earth Release and their stubborn attitude toward their mission, it was easy to single out Iwagakure as the culprit. However, there was no proof.

Forcing them to confess... yeah, that might work if only they didn't fight until the last drop of blood.

While she was deep in thought, she suddenly grew tense as a familiar scent entered her nose.

The troublesome one had arrived...

An old man dressed in red robe, white haori, and a hat scrawled with the character for 'fire' had appeared alongside animal-mask-wearing ninja on each of his side. With a penetrating gaze, he swept over the battlefield, taking in the aftermath before his gaze honed in toward Tsume, and then Kiba, and then the girl who was being tended by a medical-nin.

With a single leap, he crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, appearing right beside the girl.

"T-Third!" The medical-nin almost dropped to the ground from shock.

"Don't mind me, continue what you're doing."

He gave the medical-nin an amiable smile. However, his sight never left the girl on the mattress.

Just as he was about to step closer, Tsume suddenly appeared right in front of him, blocking his view.

"Third. As you can see, my son and that girl had been attacked by those people. I believe that we should tighten our patrol."

"Hmm. I agree."

However, he still hadn't moved his gaze away, as if he could see through Tsume if he tried a little bit harder.

"...That girl, who is she?"

"She's our family member," Tsume replied without any hesitation.

"Strange, I've never seen her before. I thought I already know every Inuzuka in this village!"

"Haha! You're a few years too early to claim that! Let me tell ya, she's the niece of the grandfather of the cousin of the daughter of the brother of my uncle. We usually kept her inside the compound all day, so of course you wouldn't know her!"

"...Huh."

Something... seemed wrong...

He gave one last try to take a peek, but Tsume leaned over as well, deliberately hindering him.

"Third, you said it yourself that the Hokage won't get involved with a clan's inner politics."

"..."

In the end, he let out a tired sigh.

"I'll leave the tracking to you. You guys are the pro, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, just go. Don't burden your old bones any further!"

She could only relax after she was sure that the Third Hokage had really left.

By that time, Hikari had replenished a bit of her chakra with the help of the medical-nin, allowing her to at least stand up by her own.

"I-"

"Not here," Tsume held up her hand. "We'll talk later when we're home. You stay here with Kiba and Hana, I got some work to do."

She promptly disappeared with Kuromaru to search whatever clues they could find about the assailants.

For now, nothing that Kiba and Hikari could do except recuperating. The medical-nin had left as well to assist the front line, leaving only Hana behind to take care of the kids.

---

The crows were already cawing by the time that Tsume had returned. From her expression, it wasn't a bountiful hunt.

"Argh, you know what? Who cares. Let's just go home!"

She was supposed to be off-duty today, godamnit. Those Iwa bastard, she would surely find the proof of their involvement and drag them to hell!

"Hana, you carry Kiba. I'll take this pup."

"Eh?"

Somehow, she had decided to carry the girl home. As for Akamaru, he was perched on Kuromaru's back, drained of energy like his partner.

The journey back was filled with silence. And, Hikari had this suspicion that Tsume had deliberately carried her in order to do something else.

As expected, when they reached the Inuzuka's house, she told Hana to go ahead and bring Kiba to the living room, while she would take Hikari to the back to check on her injury.

"..."

Should she say, it went just as she'd imagined?

"You got something that you haven't told me yet, punk?"

Right as she set her down on the tatami, Tsume immediately asked that question.

The answer was, 'yes'.

She got it right here, within the confine of her soul.

Her mouth gaped open, but then closed back again as she bit on her lips.

Seeing the girl lowering her head, Tsume crouched down to look at her at the same level.

"My son was involved in that dangerous shit. He could've died. And I swear to God if that really happen... I'd have torn you apart."

She let out a threatening growl, causing Hikari to tremble.

"I have the right to know. Spill it out. Now!"

But, even with that threat, the girl remained silent.

Two could play that game. Tsume didn't back down so easily. She maintain the pressure, not leaving her any chance to escape.

Finally, after who knew how much time had passed, the girl murmured,

"Why did you help me...?"

"Huh?"

"That time when the old man was checking on me, you stood there to stop him," she continued. "Why...?"

She could tell that the old man wasn't so simple. If she would take a guess, his authority should eclipse Tsume's by a great deal. And yet, she still decided to shield her from that man's inquisitive gaze.

Why?

"Ah, heck, why indeed..." Tsume scratched her head, just like what Kiba did when he was embarrassed. "...My son already said it, right? You're one of us now, and we Inuzuka don't leave our people behind. Not a chance!"

"..."

Was that sentiment genuine?

That foolish statement, that foolish grin, toward a stranger like her, how could she be so carefree like that? If this was the cutthroat world of cultivators, this kind of naivety would definitely bring her downfall.

Although...

...She didn't particularly dislike it.

She deliberately stopped her dantian from regulating her chakra, causing Kokuo's overflowing chakra to flow into her instead. Five glowing horse-tails immediately flared out from her back, swaying with the evening wind.

Tsume almost screamed upon witnessing that.

She chuckled, thinking that this mother and son pair really resembled each other, even down to their reaction.

"Lady Tsume, please hear me out. This time, I'll tell you the truth."