‘Well, this is awkward…’

Currently, the newly formed team ten was sitting together in a teashop. The air between them was filled with a strange tension. The reason for it? Their new teacher, who was sitting in front of them, sipping tea gracefully while looking wholly unbothered.

Long dark brown hair that was tied in a ponytail that reached to her hips. Wintry white eyes, with a hint of lilac in it, resting on a face that looked like it never smiled. Her body, that was slender yet also curvaceous in certain parts, was clad in a yellow kimono blouse, and a traditional red skirt that was being tied by a white obi. Inugami, by now, was used to all the changes in this world, but this one still amazed him. But there was someone even more surprised than him, and that was his new teammate Hinata. And the reason for that was —

“First, let me introduce myself. My name is Hanabi Hyūga. I’m the heiress of the Hyūga clan and a jonin of Konohagakure. To prepare for me taking over the clan, my father suggested I should take on a genin team, and gain some experience in leadership.” Hanabi said all this in an even tone. She studied all of them briefly, though her eyes lingered longer on Hinata, who looked like she wished to be swallowed by the earth and never emerge again. “Now, why don’t you all introduce yourself? Give me a brief description of your likes, dislikes, and ambitions as well.”

“I will be first!” Ino said as she flipped her long, blond hair back with a grin. “Name’s Ino Yamanaka, this generation's most beautiful kunoichi! My likes are flowers, my friends, and of course Sasuke Uchiha. My dislikes are Inugami, rude and negative people, Inugami, people who can’t appreciate having a nice and gorgeous girl be nice to them, and did I mention Inugami already?” At this point, she was glaring hotly at Inugami. “My ambition is to marry Sasuke and start a family together.” Now she was giving Inugami a challenging and smug look.

Inugami was suppressing a groan. The worst thing about his new team was undoubtedly this girl. Ino Yamanaka has been a thorn in his side, ever since an incident between them a few years ago. Like many other girls in his class, the young blond girl had developed a crush on him. Being always a confident girl, she decided one day to confess to him. Inugami, who was, at that time, in his own world of training and worry about the future, was extremely taken aback when Ino approached him with that intent. That day when he saw an eight-year-old child confessing to him with a red chrysanthemum flower so seriously, he couldn’t help it.

He laughed.

You couldn’t blame him, the sight just looked so ridiculous to him. Though in hindsight he really regretted his reaction, because Ino took it really badly. Because from that day on, the girl never missed a chance to annoy Inugami with her unending hostility. I mean, how can you hold on a grudge for so long?

At one point Ino switched her crush to Sasuke, and Inugami thought it would be the end of her nonsense, but he was wrong. Ino opted to always compare them in a childish attempt to make him jealous. She never succeeded, of course. Honestly, it was astounding that until now she never got the memo that Inugami didn’t care about her affection or opinion. Her conceit was simply huge.

You would have expected her to finally stop being a brat, and be at least be a bit thankful after he saved her fucking life, but nothing. I guess he expected too much from a child, huh? Come to think of it, Hinata did also not thank him… ‘Well, whatever’ Inugami didn’t mind it that much, because he was mainly saving his own neck.

“Listen Ino, I know it’s hard to accept a rejection with your gigantic ego, but you need to stop. You are simply not up to my standards. Just accept it and move on.” He said to her with mock patience.

Ino bristled. “Hmph, don’t be ridiculous! I’m long over that childish crush. With time, taste changes,” she looked him in the eyes and sneered, “and improves.”

Inugami, just as usual, not caring about her low-level baiting, replied in a bored tone. “Honestly, I see that as an absolute win. You see, I’m not into bimbos.” He ignored her offended glare that followed his words. “Though calling you a bimbo would be wrong, I’m sorry for that. To be a bimbo, you need to be attractive and stupid. You only got the stupid part right.”

Ino’s eyes bulged, and her face reddened. She clenched and unclenched her hands rapidly, seemingly wanting to strangle him. Satisfied at this result, looked at his teacher, who surprisingly did to not interfere in their quarrel, and simply observed them blankly. Looking at her, Inugami had to admit that she was one of the most beautiful women he ever met.

“My name is Inugami Inuzuka. I dislike dogs and annoying things. I enjoy training and calm places. My ambition is to retire peacefully.” He ignored Ino muttering — lame — and kept going. “Also,” he pointedly looked at his shadow beneath them, and promptly got his desired result, “this is my new… partner. I guess he is a part of this team now as well.” A small red-eyed puppy jumped out of his shadow and up to the table, almost knocking the tea over. Hanabi’s eyes focused sharply on the puppy. Her Byakugan was activated.

Meanwhile Hinata whispered, “Cute.” When everyone looked at her, her face reddened. But soon, she asked Inugami something. “U-Umm, Inugami?”

“Hm?” Inugami looked at her curiously.

“Did you already name the puppy?” She asked timidly, her cheeks still red.

Inugami scratched his cheek. “Name it? No, I did not. Honestly, I was planning to simply call it “dog”. There is no reason for a name.”

“No!” Hinata’s sudden outburst shocked not only Inugami but also Ino. Hanabi, however, was frowning at Hinata.

Hinata, realizing what she has done, panicked and added meekly. “I-I mean, it would be more practical to give it a name, right?”

Regaining his bearings, Inugami decided to humor Hinata. This was the first time he saw her being proactive since he have known her. Such behavior needs to be rewarded.

“Ugh…” The was problem though, Inugami sucked at naming things. Not wanting to waste time on this, he went with the easiest option, ripped straight out of the Slash/Dog light novel. “I will call him Jin from now on.”

“Oh my, how creative you are.” Ino snarked. Though soon she looked at Jin thoughtfully. “But I sure was surprised when Jin appeared. To think that such a little thing killed a jonin so easily… By the way Miss Hanabi, what happened to that bastard Mizuki?” Ino asked with clear disdain in her tone.

Hanabi stopped looking at Hinata and answered Ino. “Former chunin Mizuki has been apprehended. As far as I know, he is still being interrogated.”

“Bah, serves that bastard right.” Ino spat.

At hearing the name Mizuki, Inugami’s face soured. Apparently, in this time-line he was not after the scroll of sealing, instead he helped someone to kidnap Hinata. Now, the obvious primary suspect here is Iwa. The missing-nin originated from there and he believed Hinata was his “ticket back to home”. So in the eyes of many, the perpetrator was obvious. But Inugami did not believe that. In no way was someone from Iwa capable of smuggling someone into Konoha, past the Inuzuka clan members’ noses, the eyes of the Hyūga clan, the Aburame clan’s bugs, and finally the barrier-team that was led by the Yamanaka clan. Inugami did also did not believe that Orochimaru was behind this, for his ambitions the Sharingan was just way more fitting.

But there was someone that would be interested in Hinata. Someone that would know more than one way to sneak into Konoha. Someone that could bypass all the layers of protection in the village. Someone that would also benefit from tensions between Iwa and Konoha…

Suddenly, Hanabi clapped her hands. “Okay, enough chi-chat for now. Let’s get on with the final introduction!”

Hinata couldn’t look into Hanabi’s eyes but still said. “M-My name is Hinata Hyūga. My likes are eating red bean soup and cinnamon rolls, and pressing flowers. My dislikes are crabs and shrimps, and hurting people. M-My ambition is to someday become a strong kunoichi and make my clan proud.”

Hanabi shook her head at that. “Foolishness.”

Inugami frowned as he saw the effects this reaction had on Hinata. The poor girl looked like she was close to tears, her face was red with shame.

Hanabi continued. “If I’m being honest, I did not expect to get a team such like this. But as the future clan head of the Hyūga clan, I promise to turn you into capable ninjas.” Though after saying that, she shot Hinata a look that was filled with disappointment. “Well, at least I will try, but even I cannot change someone’s fate.”

Inugami heard enough.

He slammed the table with his hand loudly, which made everyone look at him. Even the cute gray-haired shop owner, whose name was Shinko, looked over from her counter at them. “Now, wait a second! What the hell is this, some kind of family dispute? You are being really unprofessional right now, teach!”

Hanabi frowned briefly at him, but kept her cool. “This is not a family dispute. I was merely pointing out a fact. Everyone has their path in life, determined by fate. Just like I am fated to lead the clan, Hinata also has her path. Though I can assure you that path is not one of a shinobi.” She said this all with an even voice. It was clear that she was believing in this wholeheartedly, there was no malicious intent behind it, when she said this.

This Hanabi differed greatly from the one he saw in his last life, though it made sense why she was like this. In this time-line, there was no Naruto that beat up Neji and changed Hanabi’s outlook on life. Also, she was now older than in the anime, and the heiress of her clan from the get go. Meaning there was more than enough time to brainwash her with the archaic ways of the Hyūga. This Hanabi was not the cheerful little sister of Hinata. This Hanabi was Hinata’s older sister, that acted like a less angry version of Neji.

‘Damn that old monkey! What was he thinking?’ Inugami was cursing inwardly. Hanabi, being Hinata’s teacher, is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Inugami cannot let this slide. If he likes it or not, Hinata is now his teammate. He is stuck with her. And he cannot let her deteriorate further. He has to build her up. Also, as someone that loved his family deeply in his last life, seeing Hanabi talk to her own sister like this was sickening for Inugami. He cannot bear to watch this unfold further and do nothing about it.

“Bullshit! I’m pretty sure that your eyes lack the feature of seeing someone’s fate, so I don’t know why you are acting like you can.” Inugami said while he was glaring deeply into Hanabi’s eyes.

Hanabi sighed, but explained patiently. “I don’t need my clan’s eyes to see the obvious. It was clear from a young age that Hinata was a failure as a shinobi. She was weak willed and soft. Her skills are abysmal, and in all these years, there was no improvement from her. Tell me, Inugami, can you still deny her fate?”

“With people like you around, no wonder there was no improvement. But you know what? Screw your opinion, I don’t care about it! I believe that Hinata still holds her fate in her own hands. Not you, or your clan, she herself. And since now that I am in her team, I think — no — I know she will achieve her goals. After all, having someone like me around can only affect her positively!”

Ino, who was following the drama with great interest, suddenly groaned. “Ugh, how did you end up making this about yourself? How arrogant can someone be?”

Inugami ignored the pot calling the kettle black and stood up. He looked at Hinata, who was gaping at him wide-eyed, undoubtedly shocked that someone actually believed in her and also dismissed her family’s views so thoroughly at the same time.

“Where are you going?”

“I will not keep wasting my time listening to you impart your stupid philosophy to us. Call me when we are doing something productive.”

Without glancing back, Inugami made his way out to the busy streets of Konoha. Jin was walking beside him stoically.

Well, his first meeting with his new teacher went horribly. But Inugami did not care about his relationship with Hanabi. He did this to make Hinata more useful. If it works, it will be worth it.

Inugami sighed. His team will be quite troublesome, won’t they? He just hoped nothing too exciting will happen until the chunin exams.