4 ideas
At the Council Rock, Mowgli the man-cub is admitted to the Seeonee wolf pack only after two non-parents speak for him: Baloo the bear vouches as teacher, and Bagheera the panther pays the price of a freshly killed bull. Years later, when young wolves turn against Mowgli and the aging leader Akela misses his kill, Mowgli holds his place only by bringing fire, the 'Red Flower' the animals fear. He then leaves the pack for the village of men.
The Law of the Jungle is a body of specific rules, not a general idea of fairness. Wolves may not kill man, lest men come hunting. Cubs must be shown to the pack before they may be killed by no one. Each rule stores a lesson paid for in blood, so obedience keeps the group alive even when members do not know why the rule exists.
In the pack, authority rests on proven ability, not position. When Akela the Lone Wolf misses his kill, he is called 'the Dead Wolf' and his rule is openly challenged.
Mowgli is too much a man for the wolves and too much a wolf for the villagers. The villagers stone him as a sorcerer. The hybrid outsider has the most options of anyone and belongs nowhere, and every group he enters sees what makes him different before it sees what he offers.