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Chapter 89 Meat, Mockery, and Motivation
🕑 Added 2025-07-24 14:04:20 +0000 UTCThe sun had shifted in the sky, casting longer shadows across the hospital floor when the door slammed open without a knock.
“Oi! Smells like failure and medicine in here—guess this is Koji’s room.”
Koji groaned before he even turned his head. “Tsume…”
Standing in the doorway was none other than Tsume Inuzuka, barely a year older than Koji but already carrying herself like a seasoned wolf in a pack of pups. Her wild, dark hair was pulled back in a high, messy tail, her canines sharp and glinting in her grin.
Beside her followed an alert ninken, one that made even his Kuro seem small in comparison. He knew his name, Kuromaru. A fine name, though not as short as his own Kuro.
“Did you have to announce yourself like you were storming a battlefield?” Koji muttered, wincing as he tried to shift upright.
“Yes,” Tsume said, casually walking in with a large paper-wrapped bundle under one arm. “You’ve been holed up in here for days. We were starting to wonder if that Hyūga bitch had ended you in secret.”
“Don’t call her that,” he growled defensively, though given how he was covered in bandages and unable to move, it wasn’t all that frightening.
“What’s wrong? Should I call her your bitch instead?” Tsume said with a big grin on her face as she walked in, closing the door behind Kuromaru.
She dropped the bundle in his lap—carefully enough not to kill him, but not exactly gently. The scent hit him like a jutsu to the face: grilled meat, spicy dipping sauce, rice steamed in garlic broth. His stomach let out an undignified growl loud enough to have Tsume laugh.
“Guess that Hyūga girl still needs to learn a few things about keeping her partner well fed eh?” She teased.
Koji wanted to argue, but really, the food smelled incredible, and he was already practically drooling.
“I brought the good stuff,” Tsume continued, sitting at the edge of the bed without waiting for permission. “Bought it from Akimichi's place at the corner of Ninth Street. The one with the good bones.”
Koji knew the place, who didn’t? It was a street stall run by the Akimichi clan, and they sold excellent stuff at even better prices. Beyond that, they had become a favorite of the Inuzuka clan because they gave away bones for free to the ninken companions.
No Inuzuka could walk past the place without buying something.
“I’m surprised you didn’t eat it yourself.” He said, licking his lips greedily as he eyed the bundle.
“I thought about it,” Tsume admitted, reaching into the bag to unwrap the top layer. “But then I figured you were lightly starving.”
“Hey, don’t forget about me, Koji hasn’t fed me for days!” Kuro quickly called out, eager for a snack for himself.
“Koji! How could you!” Tsume said in mock shock, “What poor behavior, getting some pussy, and forgetting about your partner? If you weren’t halfway towards the grave, I would beat you up myself.”
Koji groaned and slapped a hand over his face. “Please don’t say that while I’m trying to eat.”
Tsume laughed, loud and unashamed. “What? Don’t pretend like it’s not true. Half the clan’s been talking about how you went feral on a noblewoman. You know how rare that is? You’re basically a folk hero now.”
“I’m going to have to leave the village, aren’t I?” he muttered.
Kuro snorted. “Oh? Could you do that? Leave your beloved Yuki behind? Doubt it.”
Tsume reached back into the bundle and tossed a large marrow-filled bone across the room. Kuro quickly jumped to catch it, only for Kuromaru to catch it first.
“Hey!” Kuro complained, buffing himself up.
“Play nice,” Tsume said, throwing Kuro his own bone.
“There. Can’t say I don’t take care of both my boys,” Tsume said smugly.
Koji raised a brow. “Since when did I become one of your boys?”
She shrugged. “Since you became the clan’s most notorious alpha-in-training. At this point, you’re everyone's problem.”
Koji let out a tired chuckle. “Glad to know I have your support.”
“Oh, you do,” she said, grinning again—fangs flashing. “I’ve already picked out the name for your first pup. If it’s a girl, I’m voting for Aiko.”
Koji choked on his food. “We’re not even—! There’s not going to be—! Tsume!”
“You don’t know that,” she sang. “And besides, if you knocked her up, the Hyūga elders will likely kill you, or give Pops a hell of a job trying to please them. I’m just glad I’m not clan head yet, don’t want to deal with that.” She shuddered.
“Both sound terrible.”
“Exactly. Welcome to adulthood.”
Koji gave her a dry look. “Now, are we eating that, or did you bring it just to torment me?”
Tsume snorted. “Tempting as that might be, I’m starving myself after walking around with that under my arm.” She said, as she opened the bundle, revealing meat skewer after meat skewer, all with perfectly marbled beef, pork, and chicken.
The scent of smoke and seasoning filled the room, making it feel less like a sterile ward and more like a forgotten corner of the Inuzuka compound during a festival.
Koji reached for a pork skewer and took a slow bite, groaning with satisfaction as the juice hit his tongue. “Gods, this is heaven.”
Tsume nodded through a mouthful of beef. “Right? Akimichi really outdid themselves today. They even wrapped the rice balls in roasted seaweed and added roasted onions in the garlic broth.”
Koji devoured two skewers before forcing himself to slow down. “So… what’s been going on while I’ve been stuck halfway to the afterlife? Anyone else land in the hospital for something stupid?”
“Not really,” Tsume said, leaning back against the chair with her legs up on the bed frame. “The village is tense, but quiet. Patrol rotations have been cut in half—too many pulled to the front. I’ve mostly been doing local sweeps. One around the Nara forest, another down by the old Senju ruins. Nothing interesting.”
“No border runs?” Koji asked.
She scoffed. “Pops won’t allow it. Says if I lose a limb or get my throat slit, he’ll be short a clan heir and a successor. Apparently, I’m too important to bleed.”
Koji snorted. “Meanwhile I’ve been dodging kunai, sand traps, puppets, and half the freaks in the Land of Rivers for months.”
Tsume tilted her head, watching him. “Yeah… word is your team’s been taking some rough missions. You’ve been deeper in enemy territory than any other squad.”
Koji stared down at the food, suddenly not quite as hungry. “We’ve had our share of close calls.”
“Better close calls than final ones, been plenty of casualties all around, clan lost its fair share as well, not too many, but while you are the only one who got sent to the hospital for something stupid, plenty others did spend time here for serious stuff.” Tsume said, her tone a bit more serious.
Koji nodded slowly, chewing with a little less enthusiasm now. “I figured as much. We saw firsthand how things got more serious… and given how many we killed, it would be shocking if we didn’t take hits as well.”
Tsume exhaled through her nose. “Yeah. Council’s tightening everything. Civilian curfew’s back in place. Genin are being sent out without Jōnin supervision, a Chuunin is as much as they can spare.”
Koji raised an eyebrow. “Are we even sending out Genin now?”
She scoffed. “Mostly to bring supplies to bases and stuff, they aren’t going to the frontlines… not to fight at least, not yet.”
Koji leaned his head back against the pillow, eyes half-lidded. “Still. Sending Genin into active zones, even as runners? Feels too close to the edge.”
“Everything’s close to the edge now,” Tsume muttered, finishing off another skewer. “Pressure is mounting, real chance we could lose some fronts, if that happens.” She didn’t continue, didn’t have to.
Koji could well understand what would happen if they lost even one front, the other villages would smell weakness, and they would all turn their entire focus on Konoha, making a bad situation even worse.
“What fronts are we fighting at now?” Koji asked, he had been out of the loop for a while, knowing nothing about the wider war.
“All four,” Tsume said grimly, licking sauce from her fingers. “Kiri’s hitting us from the southeast, mostly sea-based skirmishes. Kumo is poking around the northeastern border with scouts and pressure feints. Iwa’s holding back, they are fighting Suna, so while Suna is pushing for River, they don’t have much to spare right now, but we keep them busy still.”
Koji frowned. “All four? I had hoped it wouldn’t be a repeat of the last war.”
“Fat chance, everyone wants to keep Konoha down, we are just lucky they don’t work together, or it would be way worse.”
Koji nodded slowly. “True enough, while we might be the strongest, taking the full might of all four, we would be troubled.”
Tsume’s jaw tightened slightly. “That’s why they are sending Genin out, everyone gotta work or we just can’t keep up with the number we are facing, and that’s without taking into account all the politics.
Koji's expression darkened. He didn’t like politics, but he understood it had its place, and he also understood that that place wasn’t in a war. “What's happening?”
Tsume flicked an empty skewer into the nearby trash bag. “Strange deployments, like sending the Uchiha clan against Kiri, stuff like that.”
Koji raised a brow. “Uchiha against Kiri? That’s not even a good matchup. Water drowns fire.”
“Exactly,” Tsume said, voice lowering. “But the elders say it’s about ‘balance of representation.’ Each major clan pulling their weight on every front.”
“That’s idiotic,” Koji muttered.
She nodded. “They never liked the Uchiha, I get it, they are arrogant assholes, but still, sending them against Kiri is just stupid, they would be way better anywhere else.”
“Fucking politics” Koji spat.
Tsume grinned at him. “Better get used to it, if you do manage to get your girl, you will likely be in charge of the clan’s relationship with the Hyūga, and that will likely need a lot of soothing over. They won’t be pleased with a mutt like you stealing their princess.”
Koji didn’t answer right away. He stared at his half-eaten skewer, appetite dulled by the weight of her words.
Stealing their princess.
He hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t planned any of it. But now here he was, laid up in a hospital bed, clan gossip spiraling out of control, and a storm of expectations forming on every side.
“I don’t know if she’d even want that,” he said eventually.
Tsume tilted her head. “Want what?”
“A future. With me.”
“You’re thinking too far ahead, mutt,” she said, leaning forward to jab him lightly in the chest. “Right now, just focus on standing upright without breaking anything else. Then maybe—maybe—start figuring out what to say when she comes back.”
Koji gave a weak smile. “What if she never does?”
Tsume looked at him for a long moment. Then she stood, brushing her hands off and slinging the empty paper bag over one shoulder.
“You are an Inuzuka,” She said. “We don’t give up, so if she is angry? Just go after her, be a good mutt, wag your tail, do some puppy eyes, or push her down and breed her, I heard she might like that.”
She reached down and scratched behind Kuro’s ears. “Heal fast, idiot. The war’s not slowing down, and neither is life.”
With that, she whistled for Kuromaru and turned for the door. As she opened it, the light from the hallway framed her like a silhouette.
“Next time, I’m bringing booze,” she added without looking back. “And a collar. Just in case the princess wants help keeping her mutt on a leash.”
The door clicked shut behind her, leaving Koji alone in the dim room.
He lay there for a long moment, watching dust dance in the golden light.
“…A future with her, huh?” he muttered.
Kuro’s tail thumped once from the corner.
“Don’t screw it up this time,” the ninken said sleepily. “Or you’ll never live it down. Not with her. Not with the clan. Not with me.”
Koji chuckled softly and closed his eyes.
