Vivid nightmares haunted his sleep on this cold morning. The sun has not rose yet, as a result the temperature was rather chilly. Zetsume sat up in his bed to pet his puppy Repede. The small pup had a bone in it's mouth chewing softly in his sleep. The puppy woke up when Zetsume's hand touched it. It did seem to have a great natural awareness. He did not want to lose the puppy, and knew he would have to train it to be stronger. Maybe he could even take him on missions. Zetsume was scratching behind it's ear and softly spoke, "Do not worry, I will protect you." The small dog replied with a bark and a smile on it's face. It seemed to understand what he said but had no way to respond.

Zetsume did not get out of his bed until the sun was fully risen. If he was going to train, it seemed better to do it when the day was at least a little warmer. Both Repede and Zetsume ate a healthy meal in the morning. The meal mostly consisted of small steak strips with noodles. When it was time to go Zetsume patted his leg which he responded quickly by going to his side. This time both of them walked out of the door, instead of just Zetsume.

He had a good place in mind to train at that would not be harmful towards Repede. It was just on the outskirts of the gate. Only about a mile away from the village. Here these two could train without any worry of hurting anyone else. Zetsume made sure to also stay close enough in case an emergency happened. Zetsume took the bow from his back and drew an arrow.

"Okay, I want you to try and dodge the arrows." He shouted at the dog, which once again replied with a small barking noise. Zetsume knew he could not actually aim at the dog for he would easily smite it down. He would have to purposely miss to make it easier. Zetsume let the arrow out, and the puppy followed it with his eyes. The dog at first ducked kind of, but then noticed it was not going to hit him and did not move. Zetsume let more arrows out each slightly off target, and the dog would dodge the ones that Zetsume actually aimed at. It seemed to evaluate the trajectory of the arrow with the size of his body. Zetsume seemed to have found his way to train for right now.

The two of them trained for hours and hours. The small dog seemed to be able to keep up with the arrows better. His ability to dodge was increasing as his awareness was also. Zetsume smiled at the dog as he soon realized how much of an asset the dog could be. Zetsume called the dog to his side to scratch behind his ears. The dog seemed to like when it happened. He would wag his tail furiously in the snow from the excitement. The dog was far ways away from being at the capacity that Zetsume would feel comfortable with. Though with each attempt, Zetsume could see the dog getting better. This soothed his troubled heart.

The air cooled down when the sun left their gaze. The warmth that it brought was sweet, and missed. Zetsume looked at the small puppy in the moonlight who was awaiting for his master to try and strike again. It was getting late and Zetsume was tired, Yet it looked like the puppy could go on for hours. Zetsume decided it was time to eat. With a quick call to the dog who came running up immediately, he left back towards the village. They were not far outside, only a couple of miles. It did take half an hour as Zetsume was trying to teach the dog how to speak. He remembered seeing a dog once that could speak, he wondered if this dog could produce it also. After many many tries he finally gave up with a sigh when they reached back to the village. It was night time now, and he knew that the both of them were starving. The puppy tried to act tough and act like he was not hungry. Zetsume knew however, by the way the dog would drool at the smell of cooking meat. They made their way towards a local steak house. Both of them loved steak, Zetsume liked his medium rare while the puppy would like his rare. He would often get odd looks when he brought the puppy inside and acted like it was a human. People would stare at him and make rude comments, saying that a dog should not be allowed in there. Zetsume ignored all of these and simply ordered with a smile. No one would dare question him for bringing this dog inside. He was a respected ninja, in which if you make mad, he could snap. Zetsume let out a big laugh at that thought. Oh how killing seemed to take the edge off sometimes. Zetsume shook out all of those ideas when he saw the waitress bringing his food. He instantly gained the same look that his dog had of, BRING IT TO ME NOW.

It was not long until they finished their meal and decided to take it home. Both of them ate their entire meal, and ordered seconds for later. It was not often that they treated themselves to such delicious items. Yet every now and then they had to, just to make life that much more enjoyable.

On the way home he could not help but to hear screams off in the distance. As soon as they could be heard both Repede and Zetsume looked into the direction it came and without a word set off to find out what could be all of the commotion. The dog was keeping up well with him, his small legs moving as fast as they could on the ground. Zetsume was fast yet this dog seemed to be almost the same speed. Who knows, maybe when he gets older he will be faster than he is. Zetsume let out a small laugh and only ran faster to see if the pup could keep up, which he did. Upon arrival to the noise, there were three men robbing a woman. It also seemed that they were trying to take advantage of her. Zetsume yelled, "Hold it right there!"

One of the men let go of the woman to face Zetsume. The man's fighting skills were poor as Zetsume easily dodged his punched which were followed by throwing the man several feet into a wall. Another man who watched his friend get slapped around decided it was his time to help. Only difference is that he came equipped with a kunai. He let out horrible swings at Zetsume. Even a genin could have taken these guys with their illogical swings. Zetsume grabbed the kunai and disarmed the man. Giving two quick swings to his skull, the man soon passed out due to the blunt force trauma to the head. The last man seemed to notice that he was no match for him. He was slightly more intelligent than the rest. Holding a kunai to the woman's throat he looked at Zetsume with a murderous intent. Zetsume held up his hands because he did not want to see the woman hurt. If she died because of him he could never forgive himself. Zetsume kept his hands up and spoke in a low tone to the man, "Look, I do not know why you are doing this but please I beg you to stop. She is not worth dying for. Do not think she is holding me back from killing you. I could do it right now yet I am choosing the higher road. Please be the better man and give up"

"FUCK YOU!", he shouted as he looked like he was about to slit her throat. It was not the best interrogation talk he has had but what was a guy to do. Though it was too late, his puppy managed to get onto a nearby roof and jumped down, taking a bite into the man's who soon dropped the Kunai from the pain. The woman ran off into the distance screaming as Zetsume picked up the man and started to beat his face into the ground. People like him disgusted him, it made him want to vomit for what they have done. With each hit he felt better as his blood spewed from his nose. It was clearly not needed but Zetsume had to make sure that this man knows what he has done. He would make sure this man would remember that he gave him a chance to redeem himself and he only spat his kindness back into his face.

After the man's face looked distorted and bloodied up. Zetsume called the proper officals to take care of the mess. Two of the males ended up in jail while the last man was in intensive care treatment. Zetsume got a little scolding for his unusual behavior but soon dismissed it and left to his home. He was not about to sit around and be bashed on by his peers for helping a poor woman. Not in this lifetime at least. The two of them made it back to the house with their food. After eating their left overs from earlier they decided it was time to sleep. Zetsume patted the small puppy's head and smiled. The dog was just getting stronger. With that he rested soundly on this night.