“So the girls said the dog emerged from the man’s shadow. Am I understanding this right, Cat?” Sarutobi Hiruzen asked the purple-haired ANBU that relayed the events from last night to him in greater detail.

“Yes sir, the dog can apparently travel through shadows and after the battle it made itself at home in genin Inugami’s one.” Cat proceeded in a clipped tone.

“I see…” Releasing a smoke after a deep drag from his pipe, Hiruzen was staring deeply at the puppy on his table. He had an incredulous look on his gaunt face. He was not the only one, all the people currently in the Hokage office — which comprised of Hiruzen himself, Cat, Tsume, Kuromaru, Inugami, and the Jonin Commander — were goggling at the strange dog, that came from nowhere to assist Inugami in a battle, in amazement. “So what do you think, Shikaku?”

The Nara in question sighed, but answered. “We can’t be sure, but it’s highly probable that the dog is the manifestation of a new bloodline limit that formed in Inugami, because of his ancestry. The boy’s father was a Nara, right?”

“Wait, a second!” Inugami spoke for the first time in this discussion. He looked at his mother and asked her. “My father was a Nara? And with — was — you mean dead? I thought our father was some random shinobi that got sick of you and ditched?”

“Well, that was a story I cooked up for you kids after you asked me about his whereabouts. At the time you were too young to be told the truth, and after that I simply forgot to tell you later on… hehe.” To Tsume’s credit, she was looking extremely embarrassed, her markings starting to blend in with her red cheeks.

“Don’t — hehe — me!” Inugami was appalled after hearing this new information. Did that mean he had the rights to some shadow techniques all this time? Did his father leave some scrolls behind? His heart was weeping over the missed grind opportunities.

“So because of the close relationship between both clans with dogs and shadows, Inugami’s genes mutated, and the result was this puppy?” Hiruzen asked Shikaku, his tone adopting a hint of intrigue.

Shikaku nodded. “Well, that is the most logical conclusion. We don’t really know why bloodline limits form, but the strong connections between Inugami and the abilities and appearance of this dog can’t be denied. I would be surprised if it was something else.”

‘Then you would be mighty surprised Shikaku’ Inugami thought. He, unlike the rest, actually knew what the puppy was, but he wisely kept his mouth shut and let them come to their own conclusions.

The reason for that? The dog was not from this world, just like him. More precisely, he originated from a light novel series that Inugami read in his last life, High School DxD. The god-slaying weapon, which was christened as a Longinus, appeared first in the Slash/Dog prequel.

The name of the weapon was Canis Lykaon, also known as Inugami of the Black Blade. How ironic…

The weapon was created after the Biblical God fused the King of Arcadia, Lycaon — who was turned into a werewolf by the Chief God Zeus, after he pissed him off — and the Ame-no-Ohabari, the strongest sword among the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, which achieved divinity and was later used by the primordial god, Izanagi to slay the Fire God of Shintoism; Kagutsuchi. Once they got sealed together and became Canis Lykaon, the curse of Lycaon caused the sword to lose its divinity, and it became a cursed blade.

And apparently the sacred gear was now tied to Inugami’s soul, despite it making no sense.

But he was not dismayed at this information. In fact, he couldn’t be happier. This was the best thing that happened to him after he died! This was it, his ticket out of this world!

After Inugami recognized the puppy, he was finally convinced of what was going on here. He became the victim of the malicious machination of a bored ROB with foul humor. This was all a big joke!

First he, a known dog-hater, was killed by one after saving it. Following that, he didn’t stay dead and was reborn into a clan that shaped their lives around dogs. And now his special ability turned out to be a dog, a cursed, god-slaying one, but still a dog! This simply couldn’t be a coincidence.

The (in Inugami’s opinion) unfunny ROB, must be laughing his ass off right now, but jokes on him, the last addition was exactly what Inugami needed to break from his shackles. With Canis Lykaon it was possible to eventually murder Nagato, and steal the rinnegan from his cold body. If Inugami remembered correctly, those eyes would give him the ability of dimension traveling.

While he never bothered to watch the cash-grab anime, Boruto, he still heard a few things about it. Apparently, after the world-ending events in Shippuden, the inhabitants of this world will still have to deal with extremely dangerous stuff like invasions of alien gods and stupidly over-powered cyborgs.

Inugami will have none of that, no sir. He will make a quick eyeball change — it was a simple thing to do in this world after all — and yeet himself somewhere else, preferably a place with a really low power level, and retire in peace. Hey, maybe he will be lucky enough to land in one of those romance anime worlds, and get his own fluffy, romantic, happy end.

— Former child soldier attends high school after he left his own world of supernatural ninja’s — Inugami was inwardly chuckling. Now that sounded like a shitty light novel title.

Inugami stared at the small black puppy, who was standing on the Hokage’s desk unmoving, and with a blank look on it. He adopted a complicated look, never having expected, even in his wildest dreams, that a dog would make him so happy. Well, it helped that it neither stank nor acted like a real one. It was calm and useful, just how Inugami liked it. Just looking at it made his ninja path clearer than ever and his will of fire shine brightly!

As if his will of the fire detector went off, Hiruzen looked over to Inugami. He seemed to ponder over something but came quickly to a conclusion. His eyes shone with emotions. “It seems like you can’t stop surprising this old man, Inugami. Konoha was truly blessed with your birth. The future is looking bright.” Though at the word — future — a lecherous look appeared on his weathered face, a look that Inugami was familiar with. But it was gone so fast , that he was the only one that saw it.

Inugami grew highly suspicious. He gave him a look that said — What are you planning, old man? —. And Hiruzen gave him a look back that said — Don’t worry about it, trust your Hokage! —.

Inugami was not satisfied with this answer, but couldn’t say anything, lest he wanted to give himself away. After all, few people knew that Inugami’s relationship with the old Hokage was more intimate than it appeared.

It all started when Inugami came up with the plan to get a jutsu for his lightning affinity from Hiruzen. The lightning affinity was rare in Konoha, and Inugami couldn’t simply ask Kakashi to help him, for obvious reasons, so the only one he knew that could help was Hiruzen. Even though he knew his chances were low, he decided that getting rejected wouldn’t cost him anything. So he went to pay the Hokage a visit. Thankfully, Hiruzen was known for always trying to help his people, no matter who it was, so it was not that hard to get in contact with him. This kindness, coupled with his pacifistic nature, made him known as soft in the elemental nations. And while that softness was loathed by some — cough, Danzo — it also made him one of the most popular Kage in history.

Anyway, when Inugami arrived at the Hokage tower, the assistant lady told him that the Hokage was not present for the time being. Thankfully, thanks to his nose, Inugami knew the Hokage was there. So after the lady was distracted with her work, Inugami sneaked past her, thankfully she was some career genin with no talent in anything besides pushing papers. Standing in front of the Hokage’s door, Inugami planned to play the innocent child after he barged in. When he opened the door and entered the room, all his plans went out of the window.

Hiruzen was sitting in front of his desk, hunched over his crystal ball, a bit of blood trailing down his nose.

Inugami stiffened at the sight, unable to believe what he was seeing. Hiruzen, feeling his blank stare, startled violently and accidentally knocked the crystal ball over. The orb then rolled over to Inugami’s feet, revealing its content. A bunch of women bathing in Konoha’s bathhouse.

For a while there was a pregnant silence between them, but Inugami, knowing how to use an opportunity when he saw one, quickly broke it. He didn’t make the situation weird, but even showed an interest in it. Hiruzen, after realizing that his reputation was not in jeopardy, gladly indulged him. From that day on, a relationship was forged between them akin to the one the old man had with his student Jiraiya.

Of course, their limited time together was not only spend on perverted things. Inugami didn’t forget his goal and took advantage of his friendship with the Hokage. He had a lot of knowledge, after all. The lightning jutsu he used in the fight earlier, advanced chakra theory, taijutsu techniques, some fuinjutsu, a few battle-tactics, how to draw, the summoning jutsu, and the reverse summoning jutsu. Honestly, it was a shame that Hiruzen was so busy; he was a phenomenal teacher.

Inugami was brought out of his musings by a cough. “Now, while it sure would be interesting to talk about this matter further, I know Inugami desperately needs some relaxing before the graduation ceremony tomorrow.” Hiruzen shot him a kind smile. “I will leave the research of this new bloodline limit in your hands genin Inugami!”

“Yes, sir!” Inugami said and saluted. After that, he made his way out of the office, his mother following him. The last thing he heard was Hiruzen asking Shikaku to go over the team formations again.
- - -

“Now then. Next is group seven…” Inugami was currently waiting with the rest of his classmates for his team placement. Thankfully, his puppy was hiding in his shadow. Inugami was not in the mood for extra attention now. He knew he still had to talk to his mother about everything — he missed the opportunity yesterday because he slept through the day, having been strangely tired — but for now he focused on his upcoming team placement. He wondered how many things would change today. “Naruto Uzumaki, Tamaki, and Sasuke Uchiha!” There were a lot of dismayed feminine cries and — one masculine one —, and a loud whoop from Tamaki. Naruto looked like he didn’t care and Sasuke’s face was blank, not showing how he felt. ‘Hmm, this one is pretty similar.’ Inugami mused, a bit bummed out that he would not get Sasuke on his team.

“Next is group eight. Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno.”

“Next group nine. Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Taiko Uchiha.”

‘Oh no…’

“And finally, group ten. Hinata Hyūga, Ino Yamanaka, and Inugami Inuzuka. That’s all for the group division.”

‘What kind of team placement is this old man?! Aren’t the teams supposed to be balanced?’ Inugami was cursing inwardly, but before he could form any complaint, he was interrupted by the classroom door opening. Inugami was astounded when he saw the person who strode in.

“Will team ten follow me outside, please?” A cool voice rang through the now silent room.

‘Wait, this is our teacher?’