"Heh heh heh heh heh... slurp... heh heh heh heh heh... slurp... slurp..."
A sound unique to canines, expressing their delight, echoed through the depths of a forest not far from Konoha.
"Thud!"
Then, amid that sound, came the noise of feet landing from a height.
"It's really rare for Bull to like someone this much."
This was followed by a long, drawn-out sigh.
"Heh heh heh... slurp slurp... heh heh heh... slurp..."
However, the sigh received no response. Instead, the only reply was an even more delighted canine sound.
"Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!"
At that moment, seven ninja hounds—clearly much "younger" than Kakashi's ninja hounds Chiba had seen in the original story—landed one after another, taking up positions beside Kakashi and once again forming their formation.
"It's really rare for Bull to like a human enough to lose his mind."
After they settled into formation, Pakkun, lying on Kakashi's shoulder with half-lidded eyes, looked at the scene on the ground ahead with the same expression as his master and spoke lazily.
"Slurp... slurp!"
At this point, seemingly realizing that his companions had arrived and that they were about to discuss serious matters, Bull—a huge, pitch-black Bordeaux Mastiff who, though younger-looking than in the original story, was already enormous—repeated the motion he had been unable to resist making just moments ago. Then, with a fierce dog face, he casually got up from the boy he had pounced on and strolled back. Maintaining that vicious expression, he sat down behind and to Kakashi's left with an utterly unreadable dog face. Then, unable to help himself, he licked his lips again. Amid the slight curl of his wrinkled lips, a trace of lingering satisfaction seemed to appear on that fierce, expressionless face.
Meanwhile, the boy who had been knocked flat