Legacy [ Naruto Reader-Insert ]

Mounds, Scrolls and Shrines.

The fang necklace hanging by Ataru's neck was a clue to the identity of their old teammate and it's something that you want to investigate further. The way he looks at it with a forlorn eyes when he thought that nobody is looking at him. The way he touches it was like the way Naruto craves to be Hokage.

Like the way Sasuke craves for power.

It basically screams attachment. You're surprised that you could even swallow that revelation that clicks in your mind, you've been in his position before. You're still a foot deep in that murky swamp. It just feels like you're looking through a mirror version of yourself and bile just bubbles up from the back of your stomach and throat. Your throat constricts and presses and burns.

You try not to think about it, tucking the memory into a small tight compartment in the back of your mind, filled with equally sized shelves along the imaginary room.

There's only one clan in Konoha who has anything to do at all with canid fangs, as you've inferred from the shape and length of the two fangs strung together in a woven cord and that is where you're headed to now.

____

The Inuzuka district is a usually loud and rowdy one, with merchants haggling loudly by the roadside for their succulent cuts of meats and the finest of leathers with very competitive prices. If you wanted quality leathers for handcrafted armor, the Inuzuka district was the place to go.

Dog kennels took up most of the district, the Inuzuka clan's bread and butter are their ninken. Ninja dogs. Dogs specially selected and bred to have chakra reserves as big as a regular nin's. They did breed normal dogs as well, mostly hunting dogs for the civilians in the clan (and the village) and on rare occasion, pet dogs, for the rich and wealthy. Their main source of income.

They're pretty famous among the Daimyo's inner court for the quality and pedigree for the pet dogs that they breed but their popularity as of now has died down, in favor for cats.

Cats are in and dogs aren't.

It's a sore spot for them at the moment, absolutely do not talk about cats unless you want to get tossed into a kennel full of wolf dogs.

The Inuzuka is also a communal clan, which means they all lived in a really big building in the front of their district. You don't really think all of them live there, some more specialized nin might have dwellings closer to their place of employ. Like the researchers, scientists, basically everyone in other divisions that aren't required for field duty.

You make your way in front of the big, towering building that signals the start of the Inuzuka district. The surrounding air felt different today, normally you'd hear the voices of hunters peddling their goods and the sound of raucous barking of wolf-dogs but there's nothing. Peddler carts lay wayside by the main road and the dog parks around are empty and desolate.

Wind blows past you and you feel the sharp bite of the wind chill in your shoulders and fingers. You clutch at the sides of your arms, rubbing them to regain some feeling, about to step up to ring the doorbell when a cacophonous harmony of howls echo from around you. It's loud and primal, but it sounds so... sad. You've never heard such soulful howling before, on the account that you've never left Konoha's walls before, it just makes you feel like you're smack-dab in the middle of the Wilds.

Your fingers around your arms tighten and you give the doorbell a hard press with your finger, then you take a step back and wait. It rings once. Twice. Thre-

The door slides open and a woman whom you recognize as Inuzuka Tsume is standing before you. Her eyes are slightly red and puffy and her red fang tattoos only draws more attention to her reddening nose. You blink up at her, slightly taken aback by the sight but you quickly stiffen your face in case she takes offense.