It wasn't until Kurenai left that Sakura realized Shishou had actually asked on her behalf. She quickly spoke up to thank him.
"Thank you, Shishou."
As a civilian student, she indeed needed to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu the most, as it would significantly improve her ability to handle missions.
"We're teammates, after all." Shishou shrugged nonchalantly and started to walk away.
Seeing Shishou leaving, Kiba quickly called out to him, shouting, "Shishou, you and Sakura should come over to my house for dinner."
Hearing Kiba's invitation, Shishou stopped in his tracks.
He planned to continue his Senjutsu training later and wasn't very keen on having dinner at Kiba's house. But since Kiba had already extended the invitation and they were teammates, it wouldn't be polite to refuse outright.
Sakura, hearing Kiba's invitation, asked, "Is it really okay? Isn't it too sudden?"
Unexpected guests could cause trouble for the host.
Kiba, holding Akamaru in his arms, said, "This is my sister's idea. She said she wants to meet my two teammates."
Inuzuka Hana?
Hearing Kiba's words, Shishou raised an eyebrow.
As a member of a ninja clan and part of Kiba's circle, he had met Inuzuka Hana before, though Sakura had not.
"Let's go, Shishou, Sakura." Kiba called out to the two, leading them towards the village.
"Kiba, you go ahead. I need to go home and change clothes first."
Sakura looked at her dirty clothes and ran off. Since she was visiting a teammate's home, she couldn't go looking dirty.
Watching Sakura run off, Shishou also said, "I should change clothes too."
It was only around two or three in the afternoon, still a while before dinner. Shishou didn't want to spend too much time at Kiba's house.
Kiba, hearing this, rolled his eyes and said angrily, "Shishou, your clothes aren't even dirty. What do you need to change for?"
"Come on, let's go play some video games."
With that, Kiba placed Akamaru on his head and dragged Shishou towards his house.
They soon arrived at the Inuzuka household, where they found Inuzuka Hana preparing ingredients.
"Shishou."
Wearing an apron, Inuzuka Hana came out of the kitchen and greeted Shishou with a smile.
Then she turned to look at the dirty Kiba, her pretty eyebrows furrowing.
As the elder sister who had cared for Kiba since he was young, she was naturally upset to see his clothes dirty again.
However, to save Kiba's face, she didn't say much in front of Shishou.
Instead, she pulled Kiba out of the living room and upstairs, quietly asking, "Kiba, why do you look like this?"
Kiba glanced at his dirty clothes and knew he was in for a scolding.
He said helplessly, "It's from training with Kurenai-sensei. Her clone beat me up. I'm lucky to be back."
Hearing this, Hana frowned and thought of Shishou's clean appearance. She asked, "Then why is Shishou clean? Did Kurenai-sensei only beat you up?"
Kiba sighed, "Sis, Shishou is a genius who could have graduated early. He's amazing. Kurenai-sensei's clone couldn't catch him."
"So, yes, it's all from Kurenai-sensei."
Akamaru barked in agreement.
Hana glared at Akamaru, "Akamaru, be quiet."
Akamaru whimpered and jumped off Kiba's head, running away.
As a dog, it knew who held the highest authority in the house.
It couldn't help in this situation and was already brave to have barked once.
Seeing Akamaru run off, Hana looked at Kiba and said, "You're grown up now. From now on, you wash your own clothes."
"And go clean yourself up right now, understand!"
With that, Hana headed back to the living room.
Passing by, she saw Shishou playing with their ninja dogs in the yard and smiled genuinely.
She liked Shishou, who was known for his genius, maturity, and sensibility.
She was also pleased that he was in the same small team as her brother.
With Shishou looking after him, her reckless brother would be safer during missions.
Thinking this, Hana returned to the kitchen to continue preparing ingredients.
In the Inuzuka family's small yard,
The ninja dogs, seeing Shishou approach, ran off in fear.
As ninja dogs, they could instinctively sense the danger emanating from Shishou.
Especially his right index finger, which they found extremely threatening.
So, while Hana thought Shishou was playing with the ninja dogs,
the dogs felt they were being toyed with by Shishou.
Seeing the ninja dogs' wariness, Shishou was speechless.
Just as he was about to grab a few to play with, he saw Akamaru running out from the living room.
Catching the approaching Akamaru, Shishou playfully waved his right finger in front of its eyes.
He felt that the ninja dogs were particularly wary of his right index finger, as if it was something terrifying.
But Shishou's finger had only been used to enlighten many good-hearted animals. He didn't see why it was so frightening.
Thinking this, Shishou, under the gaze of the ninja dogs, casually enlightened a butterfly with his right finger.
Seeing the butterfly disappear instantly after being touched by Shishou's finger,
the ninja dogs were stunned and became even more terrified.
"Woof, woof, woof! (Don't come any closer!)"
Akamaru barked loudly, scared by Shishou's extended finger.
It had long sensed the danger of Shishou's finger, and seeing the butterfly vanish confirmed its fear.
If it had known it would be caught by Shishou in the yard, Akamaru would never have come.
"You must listen to me from now on, or there will be consequences."
"And don't tell anyone I threatened you, got it!"
Seeing the terrified Akamaru, Shishou's playful nature kicked in, and he teased it with a smile.
"Woof!" Akamaru barked and nodded repeatedly.
Seeing this, Shishou laughed and released it.
As soon as Akamaru was free, it ran away, prepared to stick close to Kiba.
Watching Akamaru leave, Shishou turned to the other ninja dogs, grinning.
Seeing Shishou's devilish smile, the ninja dogs were terrified.
They all submitted to Shishou simultaneously.
They lay on the ground, wagging their tails.
**********
This fanfiction is complete on my P@treon. If you want to read it, you can find it at p@treon.com/Betek. change @ to a