Tsume Inuzuka

is a tokubetsu jōnin of Konohagakure, and a member of the Inuzuka clan. Her canine companion is Kuromaru.

Background
At some point, she apparently scared off her lover and was left to raise her children alone. When her son Kiba was a little boy, she gave him Akamaru as his canine companion.

Personality
Tsume is a very tough woman often seen scolding Kiba for his actions, such as not taking his training seriously when he was younger as well as telling him not to underestimate the enemy when they faced Pain. Though strict by nature, Tsume clearly cares deeply for her family and the village. According to Kiba, she was responsible for scaring away his father. She is also described as being wild and impatient — traits her son also inherited. Despite this, Tsume is quite level-headed in battle. This was seen during her fight with the Preta Path where she told her son that they would not allow the enemy to escape. She also has a somewhat "odd" sense of humour displayed when she was poking fun at the Preta Path when it fled, stating that the enemy was afraid of her.

Appearance
Tsume has an animalistic look similar to that of her son Kiba. She has long, spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails. She also has the clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick. She wears the standard outfit of a Konoha shinobi consisting of flak jacket and a black suit underneath with the sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs.

Abilities
As a member of the Inuzuka clan, Tsume employs the use of collaborative attacks alongside her beloved companion, Kuromaru. She is able to use the clan's Four Legs Technique, which allows her manoeuvre with canine-like characteristics. She can also perform the Fang Passing Fang technique alongside Kuromaru, which was powerful enough to send a target crashing into a wall while dealing them extensive damage. She also employs the use of flash bombs in order to add a surprise to her attacks. The blinding light allows her and Kuromaru to make use of their heightened sense of smell to locate and attack their targets.

Konoha Crush
Tsume has her début during the Konoha Crush, fighting alongside her daughter, Hana, and their respective ninken to repel the invading enemy ninja. She can later be seen at the Third Hokage's funeral with other Konoha shinobi.

Akamaru Monitoring Mission
During this anime episode, Tsume was seen in a flashback scolding Kiba for not training enough with Akamaru. While in the kitchen, Tsume lectured her son about the fact that he and Akamaru needed to train more in order to become strong.

Pain's Assault
During Pain's assault on Konoha, Tsume and Kuromaru drop a flash bomb and then attacked Pain's Preta Path with Fang Passing Fang, but the Preta Path managed to stop the attack by using the corpse of the former Animal Path as a shield. She was later joined by Kiba and Akamaru as backup, however, the Preta Path fled from them. In the anime, Akamaru uses Dynamic Marking to help track the body's movements. Tsume and Kiba chased after it and just as she and Kuromaru were about to catch it, the Preta Path was summoned away by the Animal Path, so that Pain could use his full-powered Shinra Tensei to level the village. She was later seen with Kiba following the destruction of Konoha along with their hounds. In the anime, she was also later seen celebrating Naruto Uzumaki's victory over Pain.

Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison
During Naruto's flashback to the members of the village when he was gathering natural energy to enter Sage Mode, Tsume can been seen amongst the villagers.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Tsume, along with the rest of the family members of the Konoha 11, congratulated Kiba on his victory.

Trivia

 * "Tsume" (爪) means "claw" or "talon".
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Her favourite food is filet mignon.

Quotes

 * (To Kiba when receiving Akamaru) "His name is Akamaru. And from now on, you'll be lookin' after him."
 * (To Kiba) "Listen Kiba, it's not just you. You and Akamaru have to grow strong together."
 * (To Kiba about the Preta Path) "He was so scared of me that he ran away!"
 * (To Kiba about the war) "Fool, you really are a fool!! Don't take war so lightly!"