Shippo ground out his teeth in frustration. His little brother was now in another clan, he was now a Neko person, and there was nothing that he could really do about it. He hated this, but at the same time, he knew that it had to happen eventually. He sighed heavily as he walked down to the kitchen where his mother and Tobourne were waiting for him. She looked up at her son “Shippo, it is about that time, and we need to have a serious lesson in regard to ninjutsu. You have had your chance to learn it on your own, but you need a more serious education in it. No son of mine is going to be without ninjutsu and is going to be unable to perform the man-beast combo transformation jutsu.” She turned and left the kitchen with Tobourne at her heels.

This made Shippo glance down towards Tsume he barely had to look down any longer as Tsume was now easily big enough for Shippo to ride. He was also very easily a comparable size to Tobourne. The pair gave a single solitary nod to each other and followed after their parents. Soon they found themselves needing to run after their parents as fast as they were able. They had to keep up, both Ashi and her partner Tobourne were moving towards the forest. This was the typical training ground they would go to when they were going to get wild and let loose. They were likely to have a very intense training session, and if it was true that Ashi wanted to give him a lesson in Ninjutsu then it was likely that he needed to be very careful. This lesson was likely to be the most intense one that he had yet, and it was very likely that he was going to end up in the hospital or worse if he wasn’t careful. His mother ever since the boy they knew as Jamie came into their family had started to expect Shippo to pull his own weight. Now that Jamie was gone and had become Akito Miku, Shippo was back to being an only child of sorts, and his place as Ashi’s son, and as one of the proud Inuzka was now far more important. He had to really pull himself up now and he was a Special Jounin which meant that he needed to learn more jutsu, and especially take on the skills of Ninjutsu.

Growling with the effort he and Tsume were putting into the speed they had to use in order to keep pace with both his mother and her partner. They did eventually stop and when they did so Ashi and Tobourne were already standing waiting for them to get there. This annoyed Shippo who landed next to Tsume slowly getting up to his feet alone while his partner crouched lower growling subvocally. Ashi cleared her throat “You are not skilled in Ninjutsu yet, but this just means that we have to work on that. You are Fire and Earth element. I am sure you will be able to work out some plans for jutsu of your own. However, you are to learn and master the combination transformation jutsu that are part of our clan’s pride and joy, not to mention the higher and more advanced Taijutsu.” She cleared her throat and jumped upon Tobourne’s back holding up a hand sign. Under her Tobourne transformed into a clone of Ashi and they were crouching one on top of the other. Ashi continued to speak as she did so “You have somewhat mastered this technique, at least Tsume has. Still, there is a lot more to this technique and all the techniques of ninjutsu in general. You can’t expect to get by with only these jutsu alone. I am not going to allow it. Now then, tell me before we begin, do you have any plans for jutsu in the future, do you have ideas?”

Shippo nodded his head slowly “I plan on learning the Mud wolves technique. However, I also plan to make one that uses Fire chakra. Then I plan to use ninjutsu to make claws of elemental chakra this will be instrumental in my plan to develop my own Taijutsu techniques. I plan to do all of this and make sure that our clan is both well respected and that people remember just how important our clan is to the Village Hidden in the leaves. I will not allow myself to disgrace our people nor our village.” He said firmly. Tsume barked in agreement at what his partner said as he was going to help him right along with him.

Ashi and Tobourne nodded their heads once in understanding and they were happy with what they heard. The pair of them began to weave their hand signs and when they were done Ashi called out “Man-beast transformation, twin-headed wolf!” in a giant explosion of smoke the pair were consumed. When the smoke cleared all that was left standing there was a giant white and black wolf with two heads. They snarled down at him looking very fierce all things considered. Shippo was a bit uneasy in that fierce lupine gaze, but he withstood his ground. He snarled baring his fangs at the larger wolf with Tsume right next to him doing much the same. This made the twin-headed wolf smirk, but it turned around and began to use the Wolf Fang over Fang. This was the ultimate Taijutsu that could only be used during this transformation. However, it was so powerful that anyone who was less than a Jounin and a powerful user of both Seijutsu, and ninjutsu would be impossible to control it or aim it with any degree of accuracy. His mother, however, was a master of ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Seijutsu, and he was almost positive that she had mastered either Bukijutsu, or medical ninjutsu, but he couldn’t ever claim to have seen those traits. The pair demolished dozens upon dozens of trees. Then they returned in order to stand before Tsume and Shippo spinning rapidly and with no less force than they started with. When they stopped dead, they looked down at the pair only to burst again in a puff of smoke. The two were left standing side by side and they nodded their approval. Neither Shippo nor Tsume had moved an inch, they had been able to read the movement of the twin-headed wolf and had not bothered to move a muscle.

Shippo bent down low holding his hands in a seal while Tsume snarled “Man-beast clone!” with a puff of smoke the two changed forms. When the smoke cleared where Shippo had once been standing was now a replica of Tsume, and where Tsume had been standing a replica of Shippo was now standing. They held it for a long moment and then they changed back instantly with two explosions of smoke. Shippo panted slightly from the effort he was not used to using ninjutsu like this, but he was going to keep going and keep going. He kept transforming into a copy of Tsume and Tsume kept transforming into a copy of him. Over and over again, each time it got a little easier, but it still consumed a fairly large amount of chakra. Finally, they had reached nearly the end of their limits and the pair slowly sank to the ground panting and huffing as they rested.

Ashi looked at Tobourne nodding her head in approval “Go and get us some food. We will be out here for a long while. These two need to restore their chakra so I would highly advise that you go and get them some food. We will be waiting here for your return.” Tobourne nodded his head and darted off deeper into the forest. This left Ashi and her son with his companion. She sat down in front of him nodding her head “Very well. You two seem to be able to transform easier. So, your skill with Ninjutsu is indeed increasing. However, that won’t be the end of it. You must be ready to handle things that are even more grueling than just our own clan ninjutsu. You will be expected to handle a wide variety of ninjutsu. Our clan doesn’t focus on Genjutsu nearly at all, but the rest of your arsenal can be very versatile. Now, when we are done eating then I want you to start to use your chakra and focus it.”

Shippo nodded his head slowly “I understand. I shall be sure to do just that. I do not want to disappoint.” He said rather simply and began to meditate. He crossed his legs under him sitting Indian style and held his hands in his lap in the ‘Inu’ hand seal, but this hand seal was slightly different. The right hand that rested atop his closed left hand was held as if a claw his sharp claws pointing to the ground. Next, to him, Tsume lay down on his stomach his paws under him and ready to launch him straight up into a standing position should the need arise.

Being that this is what Ashi wanted she nodded her head once more and waited for her partner to return. Which he did soon enough and in his mouth was a boar that was nearly twice as large as Tobourne himself was. Still, the boar was dead without anything but one wound, and that was to the throat. Tobourne and Ashi were constantly used to hunt down dangerous targets, animals, and various other things. They were able to kill so effectively, and thus Tobourne was usually able to end the fight with only one deadly strike. Now, the hunt was done, and he dropped the body of the boar at Ashi’s feet. She smiled petting his head “Very well done Tobourne.” She said cheerfully before she went about collecting firewood and making sure that the fire they would make would not be likely to get out of hand. Then, using her own claws she skinned and gutted the boar with the skill of one who had done so countless times, and the skills that could’ve only come from doing it any number of times. With that done she started to prepare the fire and the spit that she would roast the boar on. Then with a sudden thought she smiled looking over at Shippo nodding her head slowly “Well, I think it is about time for you to prove yourself. I want you to focus all the chakra that you can into your hand. Then I want you to change the nature of it into fire. When you do that touch the wood and it’ll catch flame.”

Shippo raised his eye as he was clearly in some doubt, but he gave a shrug and decided that he would focus as much of his chakra into his hand as was possible. He did his best soon enough he could feel the chakra that he had gathered in his hand. Slowly he did his best to focus it on the fire nature that was part of his chakra. Once he could feel the heat in his hand he planted it against the firewood that was in the hastily made Firepit. As he let his hand rest there the wood began to burn and suddenly it came alive with flames dancing along the wood. He smiled as he was clearly able to create some kind of fire it was fairly successful. He looked up at his mother who smiled at him nodding her head in approval “Very good. I am glad to see that you have some capable progress. It is very good to know that you have some kind talent in ninjutsu. After all, without it, you would not be able to use the best jutsu our clan has to offer.”

He nodded his head smiling as he looked at the fire that he was able to make, and he nodded his head in approval “Thank you, mother.” The pair cooked the boar eating it over silence. Finally, he asked “Mother, did we drive Jamie away?”

She sighed as she looked up at the sky the chunk of boar meat on her claws dripping down in front of her “Well, I honestly don’t know my son. We gave him the family that he could want, but it seems like he wasn’t much of a fit in our family. Still, we did the right thing and we gave him a home. You also tried to train him in the way of the Shinobi, and to introduce him to the world as it was. However, you can’t make a cat into a dog, nor can you turn a wolf into a sheep. You can still love Jamie as a brother, however, you must also never forget our duty to the clan, and to the village.”

He nodded his head again this time he looked down sighing because he well knew what his cost would likely be. There was a high chance that the cat clans would turn on their villages at least in the Inuzuka’s opinion so they were ready to attack and destroy them at any time. Of course, they also treated them as allies even if they could try to avoid doing jobs with them. Still, Shippo wasn’t sure if this was just his own family or his clan, but he also had a feeling the dogs vs cats, the thing was as old as time so there was no point in trying to fight it much. This was a bit of a downer subject for Shippo and he shook his head finishing his boar with gusto before he stood up on his feet and prepared himself to start training again. He looked to Tsume smiling “Come on Tsume, we need to get back to work.” His partner ninken stood up and they started to gather their chakra. Shippo made the hand seal and Tsume gave a few barks to show that he was ready. “Man-beast clone!” Shippo changed into Tsume while Tsume transformed into Shippo. They did their best to hold these transformations before Shippo released his to become himself again. The pair started to run and spun in the air “Fang over fang!!” they transformed into tornadoes crisscrossing one another to slice down a tree and then to dig a fairly good-sized tunnel into the ground before emerging a short time later.

When they landed on the ground again Ashi and Tobourne were on their feet and seemed to be ready. She smiled and nodded her head in approval “That’s very, very good. I am glad to see that you two are ready to get going. Now then, I am going to throw these discs.” She pulled up a circular disc from her pack “I want you and Tsume to attack these discs one at a time with your piercing fangs. I’ll start one at a time, then we’ll add more and more. Now, get ready. Set. Go!” she threw the first disc into the air and Shippo was quick to start his piercing fang attack spinning rapidly and through the air, until he hit the disk and ripped it to shreds. That was when he noticed it was a mostly paper disc with a soft wooden frame. No sooner had he destroyed his than he heard Tsume attacking his own which was thrown in a different direction.

When he came out of the spin he looked to his mother who launched another disc as soon as he looked at her. Growling he dropped to all fours and took off at a run before swirling around in the piercing fang once more easily slashing through the disc. The pair of them continued to do this over and over again. After five repetitions alone, the pair had to take a rest. It was tiring work to say the least and when the pair stopped they collapsed in a heap next to each other. They were panting and trying to get themselves together laying down in such an exhausted fashion. Ashi giggled softly as she gestured to the small stream that was nearby “You and Tsume go get a drink and soak your heads. It’ll do you both some good.” The pair slowly got up and did just that they both drank deeply from the steam before they each splashed their faces with the water making sure to really soak themselves with it. After several long moments they pulled their heads up and moved themselves back towards Ashi and Tobourne. When they arrived Ashi held up two discs and smirked “Now, you will be attacking as a team. I will throw both discs, you will break both discs, and I will keep adding more. Your Fang Passing Fang technique can be used to hit multiple opponents, so it shouldn’t be all that hard for you to handle. Ready? Set. Go!” she threw the discs into the air at the same time as she promised. As she did both Shippo and Tsume began to spin rapidly flying into the air and ripping through the discs with a good amount of skill. However, they weren’t even on the ground again before Ashi threw the next set of discs into the air. The two partners slowly changed their direction to head back around and slash through the paper targets ripping them into shreds. Ashi smiled widely nodding her head “Very good, very good! Now, let’s add two more targets!” she threw four discs into the air this time in order to allow them new targets.

The two gave loud barks of recognition before they quickly surged towards the first set of targets thrown passing over each other in an ‘X’ pattern to reach the targets before they curled around on themselves flying through the air and heading towards the second set of targets spinning through them and ripping them to pieces. They just landed on the ground again when they turned to see Ashi was already throwing up another four targets, this time she staggered them and threw them in different directions, so they would have to get creative with their attacks. Both Shippo and Tsume surged forward spinning as rapidly as they were able to fly into the air and ripping into the paper targets. They crisscrossed in order to reach each pair of targets all of the targets were torn apart and finally, they dropped to the ground after hitting all of their targets. They weren’t as exhausted this time, but it was clear that they were not in the best of shape. They landed on all fours panting softly before they crouched low growling as they were clearly ready for more.

That’s when Ashi noticed something very serious about her son. She looked him in the eyes and saw that his eyes were slits and more feral than anything else, his whole feeling felt more feral than anything. Slowly Ashi lowered her stance and took on a defensive position while Tobourne did the same “Shippo?” she asked calmly. Her son only growled at her before he lunged at her down on all fours and coming for her as if she was an enemy. Tsume also seemed to be caught up in this mindlessness state as he surged forward as well as aiming for Tobourne. They were using the down on all fours technique and were quick snarling like the vicious animals they were. As Shippo closed the distance he surged to his feet aiming a slashing claw attack at his mother’s chest. Ashi frowned as she countered with a block of her own aiming a palm strike at his chest slamming into him as hard as she could. Unlike usual, however, she did not add her claws to the strike in order to make it more effective. He snarled and aimed a low kick at her shin only to have it deflected by a kick from his mother.

Tsume was in no better situation. He tackled into Tobourne, but as they tumbled he quickly found himself on the bottom of the struggle, and Tobourne was pinning him down with most of his weight his powerful and larger jaws wrapped tightly around the younger Ninken’s throat. When he felt this Tsume seemed to come out of it much easier as dogs were like wolves once dominance was established they didn’t bother to fight it. It was against their nature to fight such rudimentary facts of life.

Shippo, on the other hand, was not one to be so calm. He managed to get back on all fours snarling loudly in anger. He surged forward and with his right leg he tried a sweeping kick, his mother was too fast for him and she skipped backward quickly. He didn’t let her go and instead followed after her with a left middle kick, followed by a right. Both kicks were blocked fairly easily, and even as he tried a high horizontal left kick she was moving. She aimed a palm strike behind his knee forcing it to bend before she kicked out his support leg bringing him to his knees. She quickly pinned him to the ground snarling her claws at his throat “Shippo! Get ahold of yourself!” she snapped at him using her own power to make the order sink in.

Shaking his head Shippo seemed to come to himself again and he looked around worriedly “Huh? W-what? What happened?” he asked suddenly himself once more.

Ashi sighed gratefully at this and nodded her approval as she stood up pulling him to his feet with her claws being safely put away “Well, it seems that you have come back to your senses. I do not want you to lose control like that again. You can’t lose yourself to the animal instincts that you have honed for so long. If you lose yourself for too long you have a very high chance of becoming nothing more than a rabid mongrel. If that happened, you would become a danger to the village and to the clan. I would not be able to handle that, nor would I allow you to be a danger to either for long. I would hate to hurt you, but I will put you down if you need putting down.” She moved towards the fire and sat down cutting off more meat from the boar holding it out to him while she took a large chunk for herself.

Shippo slowly made his way towards her sitting down next to her taking the meat for himself. He suddenly looked around and saw that Tsume was only now being let up by his father. Yet, as his son got to his feet Tobourne slapped his head with one mighty paw snarling and growling several severe criticisms to his son before moving to lay down next to Ashi placing his head upon her thigh. Tsume whimpered from the blow, but he did move towards Shippo’s side and placed his head upon his partner’s lap as well trembling slightly from the effort. They all sat there for a long moment before Ashi gave a loud sigh and looked at her son and his partner “I know that couldn’t have been your first time. It felt as if you were able to handle losing yourself like that, or at least you were not as new to the sensation as I thought you must’ve been.” She crossed her arms frowning “Tell me, when did you last lose control like that my son?”

He sighed shaking his head as he slowly pets Tsume’s head and back “It was when I was still a genin. Tsume and I were out hunting in the woods. We got separated when a giant bear attacked us. I became crazy trying to find him, that’s when I came upon a Hyuga. He helped me find Tsume, and then we were attacked by the bear again. We killed it, and yet, I can barely remember even fighting the creature. I know I did, I brought the skin back, but exactly how we fought, and how I killed it is all a blur to me. There is nothing when I try to recall it.”

She seemed to think this over for a long moment before frowning and shaking her head “Well, it seems that you can suffer what I call a ‘Wild Hunt’. It is highly likely that in situations where you or Tsume are seriously threatened and are likely to be killed you will become a rapid animal desperate to fight and kill whatever is threatening you. Learning ninjutsu will help you greatly in this because with using it along with having so many new weapons in your arsenal you will be able to avoid getting into a situation like that easily or on a regular basis. Hopefully, if you are able to master lots of ninjutsu, as well as master your other skills then it would help you even more.” She cleared her throat before taking a huge bite of the boar “Well, that is the basics, but if you get like this when you fight as well then that will prove to be a slightly larger problem. I want you to try harder. It seems that this is a form of battle lust, and you can’t allow yourself to be consumed by any kind of battle lust like this. I do not want to ever hear that you lost your cool. If you do not get yourself together I will have to make sure that you won’t lose your cool ever again. Do I make myself clear?”

Shippo looked down at Tsume nodding his head slowly in agreement “I understand mother. I shall do my best to make sure that I keep a tight leash over my temper and my battle lust. You will not have to worry about making sure that I do not snap and hurt anyone.” He said putting a clawed hand over his heart. Tsume gave a series of soft barks and growls to relay that he himself was also promising such a thing for the future and he would not succumb to the blood lust that had Shippo so riled up. The family finished their meal and stood together all as one.

Ashi pulled Shippo into her arms and kissed the top of his head smiling warmly at her oldest boy “I am so very proud of you Shippo. You have done nothing but show me that you are not just the runt of the litter. You have the potential to be the greatest Inuzuka of our whole clan. I have faith that you will be a spectacular shinobi, and that you will be a Jonin that Genin will love to have as a teacher. Just remember to teach them as you taught Jamie. You shall do them and the village the greatest service that way.” She said before pulling away from him not trying to be mushy or gushy about the whole thing. Instead, she moved away leading the way back to their home “Come along now. Your father is likely worried sick about the two of us.”

Shippo and Tsume both gave a short bark of laughter, but they were quick to follow after their parents. They followed after them heading back to the village and their home, so they could get started now as official Spec. Jonin who were now capable of using proper Ninjutsu.

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4500/4500 used to train Ninjutsu from nothing to C. -1000 Ryo