[Sunagakure] Amakajiba

"It's probably only because you never get out much. The people in the village have known you since childhood. I bet if you went anywhere else, you'd have to fight 'em off with Tessaiga," Youko joked with the young lass.

Hakudoshi accepted the sword given to him by his father, immediately taking issue with its size relative to his body. With his telekinesis, he targeted the obi worn by Aiko, choosing to unravel it and use it as a strap to bind the sword to his back. Once the blade no longer occupied both of his hands, he received a box from his mother, containing all the things he needed to be considered an official shinobi of Sunagakure. With a wide grin, he immediately pulled the forehead protector, only to frown when he saw it. He could already tell this was something he did not want upon his head, so he chose instead to wear it as a belt. "Tokubetsu... Jounin," he said, familiarizing himself with a title he'd never heard of before this moment.

There was one additional thing Hakudoshi was to receive this day. The next gift was a package from Aiko, which included ninja tools and jutsu scrolls. He took special note of the kunai, pulling one from the parcel to inspect it. The boy found its size to be... not quite what he'd ever seen. "These fit my hand..."

"Oh, don't say that, I get out plenty." she said seemingly cross with the man. But it seemed that though he'd accepted all of his presents Hakudoshi took issue with the sizing of his sword. Having no available way to carry it he decided the best course of action would be to untie Aiko's obi and take it to use to wrap up his weapon. As such the girl's kimono came open and her sword fell. Though she caught the latter, her kimono opened, and her eyes widened. "Haku-chan, I would have gotten you one if you wanted. You didn't have to take my obi." the girl said. Benihime giggled just a little then disappeared in a flash. Within a second or two she returned with another obi for the white haired girl which matched the one the boy had just taken. The speed of this was so quick the girl's brow raised. "Onee-chan, do you have a seal in my room?" she asked. "Iie, I just felt like moving a bit faster, I went to the laundry room." the woman said chuckling as Aiko took from her that which she needed to fix her clothes. "You really don't like being naked huh?" she asked the girl, who had bandages over her chest and a skirt on underneath her kimono, and shorts under the skirt. It made Benihime sweat just thinking about it. "Arigatou Gozaimasu, Onee-sama." the white haired young woman said as she turned placing her sword on a workbench and starting to retie her obi. All of this done while not acknowledging what the woman said about her layers of clothing.

When the boy spoke on his rank, Benihime nodded. "Hai, it classes you as a special Jounin. Until you've gotten enough experience to go out on your own, you'll have to take higher level missions with other people. But anything that requires an interrogator, you can handle on your own." she said with a smile. The explanation was likely unnecessary but she wasn't sure if the child was presently reading her mind or not. Moving right along, Hakudoshi had a look over his tools and seemed to note that his own kunai were smaller than the ones he normally saw, Aiko was still tying her obi with her sword resting on a work bench even so she explained. "Hai, they fit your hand. I made them that way, they'll be more effective than they would be if you had to figure out how compensate for wielding ones too big for you right now." She stated finishing tying her obi and placing her sword back where it belonged.

"That would have taken too long. I needed my hands," Hakudoshi said while looking at the kunai in his hand with a furrowed brow. It was explained to him that these were made smaller, apparently by Aiko herself, due to the size of his hands and the greater ease of use they would have. "Sou ka... you made these." Without further ado, Hakudoshi slid the necessary items into an included tools pouch. It seemed he even accepted the usefulness of the scrolls provided to him, and in fact, Hakudoshi enjoyed the idea of training to learn techniques instead of simply taking them from the minds of others. It afforded him a certain sense of accomplishment he didn't normally get. "Arigatou," he said, showing gratitude - for some reason - only toward this particular package.

"Well, that's not fair at all! I spent months on that sword, and I get no thanks," Youko said, seeming genuinely surprised by this occurrence. "You always make swords," Hakudoshi replied. After this, Youko was left standing back, scratching the side of his head with his forefinger. "Uhh... well..."

The small boy's explanation for why he needed her obi was at the very least logical. She let it slide because it was his birthday. Beyond this, Hakudoshi seemed to take from what she said, that she'd created his kunai and then went about fitting all necessary things into his pouch. Soon after thanks were issued, but only directed at Aiko. A smirk came to Benihime's face as her husband seemed to be in awe of the fact that he wasn't thanked. And Aiko seemed to be just as surprised, given thanks from this particular young man was rather rare. "Oh, but when I was upset, I was just over-reacting. Hush up, and feel my pain." the redhead said to her husband as her son added insult to injury by having a very logical reason for not offering him thanks. Aiko for all her composure, simply smiled at young man. "You're welcome, Haku-chan. Let me know if you end up needing more." she said appreciating the small boy's thanks. "Oh or if you want sword practice." Aiko offered the young boy. She figured given her general line of thought he at least knew the basics, eventually she wouldn't mind helping him reach a good level of proficiency. Now that the boy at least had his presents Aiko would take this as an excuse to go out into the village. "See you guys later, I'm hungry." she said heading off into the village in search of something good for her breakfast.

"That's a completely different situation, and you know it," was Youko's retort for the redhead. As these words were spoken by the man, Hakudoshi nodded toward Aiko, taking up his sword thereafter. "Mm! I'm gonna go use this to help out my friend from the mirror now," he said. Of course, Hakudoshi knew exactly the purpose of this new sword, and in remembering his mother's words from prior days, he chose to take her advice about helping others. Without further hesitation or explanation of his actions, the boy teleported away from the forge. This left Youko to sigh. "Ja, Aiko," he said. Once both of the young ones were gone, he leaned his head back and shared a few more words with the remaining Benihime. "Well, there goes the birthday party."

"Nope." the redhead said sticking her tongue out at the man from where she sat. Soon enough, the young woman who'd made the boy his tools and care package was excusing herself from the group to go off in search of breakfast. Benihime waved at the girl as she exited and then her son mentioned going to talk to his friend in the mirror again. It was such an odd thing, she really didn't expect her son to retain the sort of active imagination that was necessary to have a friend that didn't actually exist. But before she could question him properly he disappeared. "Hm, it really astounds me he can even do that. Maybe he's more normal than I give him credit for." she said of her son as he disappeared. Soon enough, Youko was commenting about the missing birthday party at large. "Um, so it is." A sly smirk came over the redhead's face mere seconds thereafter. "How about a private party, just the two of us?" She said motioning the man towards herself.

"I don't know if I'd call it normal to have an imaginary friend who's stuck in a mirror, but... it's almost there," Youko asserted. Either way, he supposed it was a healthy thing for the lad. More importantly, Youko had cleared all orders for the day, for the sake of the child's birthday celebration. Since this was essentially canceled for the time being, he had nothing to do as far as work was concerned. As such, he began moving toward Benihime. "Private parties tend to be more up my alley. I'm in."

Benihime shrugged about the normalcy potential of their son. Of course, she wouldn't know about imaginary friends herself. For the most part of her young life, she had her twin to keep her company. She supposed she always wondered if her son was a bit lonely, perhaps she'd ask him later. But for now, she was still trying to make up for lost time, and given that her husbands approach would have her reaching out for him. She'd aim to kiss him and if she succeeded in this she'd pull away quickly and explain. "We should totally go somewhere they won't look for us." she said her plan was semi-devious but would at least give the run around to most people. "We'll stop by my office, lock the door from the inside, and then just go to our bedroom. No one will look for us there, because they already saw us leave~" she commented as she pecked his lips again. "And then, we'll have the whole morning~" she murmured against the side of his face.

Once within reach, Youko grabbed his wife by the midsection. After only a brief kiss between the two, the latter pulled away to suggest that they choose a different location before moving on. Her plan seemed quite solid, if he were to say so himself. It just so happened, though, that his hakama were already seconds from being removed from his waist. "Ugh, you mean I have to wait several seconds? Fine. Let's go."

"Seconds for an uninterrupted morning." she scoffed kissing the side of his neck. "I offer you gold, the least you can do is be patient." she said a wicked smirk on her face. As she leaned forward once again. "Plus I got new ideas~" she said, in a voice which was delightfully wicked. A second later, she was disappearing, likely with her husband in a flash of crimson light, headed for her Mansion.

Not long after a return from the Land of the Moon, Youko appeared at the forge's side in a flash of white light. It was late, but a conversation with the girl named Aiko let him know she was on her way here a few minutes prior. Assuming she was, he would immediately scan for her to deliver a bit of missing information about her upcoming mission/trial.

Aiko would soon enough approach the forge, she wasn't wearing her normal kimono and instead simply walked around in a pair of over-sized hakama and a pair of socks with bandages wrapped around her chest. Such was normal for her when she was going to be in the forge for a while. She was a bit shocked of course, to find Youko there as well, her brows came together in abject confusion. "Onii-sama?" she questioned only to have her face break into a smile. "You forgot something... didn't ya'?" she asked as she began moving around the forge collecting the materials for the creation of two blades which she had in mind.

"Konbanwa," he said upon confirming Aiko's approach, and being on the receiving end of her confusion. It seemed she knew exactly why he had appeared here after a moment of thought. "No. Well... yes," he said while producing a single scroll for her use. "You'll need this for sealing your prey's pelt. Also, don't use any jutsu you've picked up from being a ninja. This is a test of your hunting ability, and nothing else. No nature transformation, no Rasengan, no Shukaku... you know the stuff. You'll have to figure out a way to take down the Kouga with your abilities as a Hunter."

Having found the pieces of metal she wanted to use, she began heating them. Soon enough, Youko was handing her a scroll which was very odd to her she gave it a glance over and then tucked it into her obi. "Hai hai," she said the further explanation of what she was, or rather wasn't allowed to do in completing this task made her look up from the fires at the man across from her. "So, I can't do jinchuuriki stuff, and I can't do ninja stuff..." she thought about it, and though it would be a bit of a pain she supposed she could get away with just a weapon and skill alone. "Onii-sama, that sounds unnecessarily difficult. I mean, I'm still gonna do it, but it's a lot." she said as she started hammering away on a short warm piece of metal. One would notice this was considerably shorter than what would be used for a standard katana, but that was her intention. "Any thing else? I am expecting you to tell me I have to blind myself and not wear clothes next. In which case, I am going to protest heavily," she joked as she busied her hands with her new work.

"Right, and right," he confirmed. "I did say the trials were no easy task. Don't worry; the Kouga clan isn't full of ninjas or anything. You'll do just fine." Youko spared a glance or two at the tool being created by Aiko as he spoke. By the first look, he knew what she was going for; the rest were simply to enjoy watching the craft. He thought hard to confirm whether there was anything else for Aiko to know, but he could come up with nothing. "I think that's about it. Have fun." With that said, Youko vanished as quickly as he'd initially appeared.

Aiko spared a glance in this man's direction. "I'm not worried. I figure it will be fine, though I thank you for the vote of confidence~" she mentioned soon enough she'd reached the proper thickness and shape for the weapon she was creating and as such its shape needed to be set. She quenched it in a nearby bit of oil and left it to set while she started on the next one. It seemed that Youko was intent to at least gaze at her craft a bit, he always was but soon enough he was gone as well. "Hai hai, ja ne, Onii-sama," she said to the man and after a while she was alone with her thoughts while she worked on the proper katana of her set. It would be while she was in the middle of this that she would have a very interesting thought. Which was, she hadn't been gone for more than a few days, since the birth of the village leaders child. She fully acknowledged that she likely spent more time with the young boy than any other than his parents. This thought led her to the idea that she should probably make sure to say good bye to him before she left.

A couple of hours after she had this set of thoughts she was fitting two sharpened blades into their casings and putting the finishing touches on them. In addition she'd also created another few sets of minor kunai which she would present to the young boy when explaining why she'd be gone. A smile came to her face a she finally finished her set of works which were a standard katana much like the sealed form of her given tool Tessaiga. And a much smaller wakizashi which was made more like a shirasaya which was something like the secondary sword she used to carry. She slid both of these weapons into their sheaths and activated the full moon state of her Kekkei Genkai to have a look and figure out if the small boy was awake yet. Knowing if he was, he'd likely come to her given he'd know she was looking for him.

Mere moments after the activation of Aiko's Kekkei Genkai, the young lad Hakudoshi appeared in front of her, making eye contact from the instant of his arrival. He had indeed been awake at this hour, but he had nothing to do, so he was quick to react when he sensed Aiko seeking him out. "Training?" he asked, taking note of the tools Aiko had created, and assuming they were for a quick sparring match.

"Hmm, that was much quicker than I imagined it being," she said with Hakudoshi's rather sudden appearance in front of her. He'd made eye contact upon doing so, but that had only served to make the older white haired girl smile. His question though made her realize exactly how much time she spent with this young man. "Not this time Haku-chan," she said she then reached for the two swords and set them into her obi, behind her back so she'd be able to draw both of them if she needed to. "I am about to leave for a while, I am actually not sure how long," she said offering the young man a pat on the head with her left hand she used her right to grab a couple of scrolls and offer them to him as well. "I made you some more kunai, since I don't know how long I'll be gone for," she mentioned. Ever thoughtful, among the things done while she created her swords were making more weapons for the boy she'd spent all her spare time with. Even so, this didn't change what she needed to do or why, and given his own abilities to read minds she figured he'd understand the reason for her extended absence.

"I was bored," the boy replied to the mention of his quickness. He was then given the answer to his query, which was not what he had hoped for upon receiving this summons of sorts. Still, a peek into the girl's mind gave him some insight to the situation. Since he had his answers, he accepted the items handed to him, and spoke on the matter. "Hai. I'll just play with Kanna in our head place while you're gone."

"Sou ka..." she said, finding his boredom to be reason enough for him to come with such quickness. Moving right along, it seemed the young man easily accepted the reason for his summoning as well as the gift provided by the white haired lass. She was quite glad he'd have something to do, to stave off unending boredom while she was absent but the idea of the head place was something new. "That's new, so you two have a head place. And you can play together," she repeated this because it was odd. But knowing his imaginary friend, wasn't quite as imaginary as they'd previously thought, she it assumed it to be some sort of twin connection, which remained along with the girl's consciousness. "That's a relief, you have Kanna-chan to keep you company. I was worried you'd be really bored while I was gone," she said offering the boy another smile she stood a bit straighter. "Alright then, I'll be back as soon as I can. Ja, Haku-chan~" the girl said walking off. She had to get proper clothes for her journey but after she would indeed be leaving the village for the start of what would be a rather arduous journey.

For days, Youko the Jounin blacksmith had been in and out of his forge. He could presently be found in this very location, standing shirtless - as per usual in the forge - above the fires. He continuously hammered away at a large slab of heated iron, shaping one of many large shuriken. Others lay around the floor, but the first of these he created had been strapped to his back, and took up his entire torso with its size.

A crimson flash would appear within the forge, bringing the Kazekage, but she would not be alone. As the redhead appeared in the seated position, in her usual spot atop a work bench. Two red haired twins younger than herself by about a decade would appear holding each of her hands as well. One was female and sported a mess of wild hair and a sporty outfit including a headband. She had blue eyes with a singular red ring near her pupils. "Sugoi~ Aneki... this forge is really different from the last one we saw." she said having a look around only to have her eyes stop dead upon the elder redhead's husband. She seemed to go into an immediate fear response stepping back and immediately going on guard, dropping her older sister's hand in the process.

The other twin to appear alongside Benihime was male, wearing his long crimson locks in a ponytail, while sporting a simple kimono and hakama of blue and white respective colors. While Teruko's first observation upon arrival was the forge itself, Akira's eyes widened upon seeing the man who worked said forge. "B-b... but that's..." he said with relative fear in his expression as Youko looked toward these new voices in his forge.

"Okay... didn't expect that, why are you both afraid right now?" Benihime asked of her siblings, she'd seen the changes in their behavior and felt the difference in their bodies. There wasn't any denying that, but her brother acted as if he recognized her husband and it simply shouldn't be possible. "These are my two youngest siblings and they are freaked out for some reason..." she said seemingly fine with this, knowing this probably wouldn't get to far out of hand. "A-aneki, this man... is the one who attacked us in the Forest of Death!" she said seemingly wide eyed. This made Benihime look at the pair and then at her husband and then the familiar feeling of the boy's scar made sense to her. She'd had a lot of contact with the kind of chakra which created the long nails in the hunter clan, because her husband was prone to keeping his that way. "Oh... that makes sense, I thought it felt familiar. But it wasn't him. This is my husband, Youko~" she said. "But.. Aneki!" the girl was pleading, and genuine in her feelings, but there was one thing Benihime knew and it was the comings and goings of her husband, especially in recent weeks.

"Ah, so these are the ones in need of the tools I'm making," Youko said, only to then be confused as one of these twins claimed he'd attacked them. "What the hell is a Forest of Death?" he asked, looking toward his wife. "I've been here at the forge this whole time. Well... most of this time. Well... some." The more he spoke, the quicker Youko came to the conclusion that he should be silent, lest he incriminate himself for his devious behavior. Paying no mind to the blacksmith's words, Akira stared him down. Benihime's claims were ones he wanted to believe, but it took several moments of staring at this man to determine that he wasn't their attacker. "Eto... no, it's not him. He's way smaller, and has all white hair."

"Hai!" Benihime said. It seemed her husband didn't even know what the Forest of Death was considering but that also made quite a bit of sense. "Sou ka, I forget you weren't here when we were holding the occasional combined Chunin Exam with the Konoha so you don't know about that. It's their training ground that they use specifically to test suitability. They usually hold this wide scale capture the flag type of game, it's pretty fun to watch, I proctored one of those. It was nicknamed the Forest of Death because of all the dangerous and poisonous animals and creatures found there, and because it's technically titled training ground Shijuushi you know how superstitious kids can be." she explained rather calmly.

Though her sister seemed to be sure of this, it seemed her brother was quite a bit calmer and had decided that this wasn't the man that attacked them. A smile crossed the woman's face, as she came to a couple of conclusions based on the things her brother said was wrong with this man compared to the one who'd beaten them. Teruko also stared after her brother spoke and she'd had several run ins with that man during their time in the forest and when she thought about it, the other man was quite a bit larger than this one and had red and white hair and not just white hair. "Sou ka... you're right Aki." she said thinking about it more she went on to apologize to Youko. "Sumimasen, that was really scary, and you look a lot like that guy."

"A training ground known as the Forest of Death... Interesting," Youko said. "Now that you mention it, isn't the next Chuunin exam being held in Konoha? I remember some offer coming to the office, around the same time the Gokage Summit was mentioned." When Teruko apologized verbally to the Sand Jounin, Akira gestured with a bow. "Hai. He almost killed us," he said. This prompted Youko to return his attention to the twins while scratching his head. "Don't sweat it. It's not the first time strangers thought I had tried to murder them. Most people in my clan look like me. I'd even guess at it being my brother, if I thought he would do that sort of thing." With that said, Youko stepped toward this group, extending his right hand to whichever of these two would accept it. "Katsuhara Youko desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

"Hai, it's back around to them again... I saw that the other day." she said about the Chunin Exam being hosted in the Konohagakure. "I know we have a couple of teams that may want to participate, I asked their team leaders they submitted some names... it's going through. And if they go I have to go too, anyways soo~ We could make it a trip. It's a bit of a ways off though, they are trying to hold it a bit closer to fall." she said about the Chunin Exam. On the subject of the Gokage Summit the woman simply huffed. "I don't wanna go to that either, ooh I wonder if I can get Machi to go instead of me, then we could take a vacation~" she chimed thinking most deviously of skipping out on the summit as mostly a joke.

The younger twins then went on to apologize in their usual way, seeing such a thing made Benihime smile, though it was quite odd that people were always assuming Youko had done something to them, she couldn't even say it was the first or second time she'd seen such a reaction to the man. "Ah, yeah, Hiei hasn't been around in ages, but he's a nice guy he wouldn't either. Though I thought you got rid of all the others like you except for you three, that one left the mark on Aki's face and it feels like your nails do, I thought that was something only your branch could do." she said seeming to have at least a little knowledge of this thing, probably because she'd questioned it once or twice. In the face of this the man's extended hand would be met by Teruko, who'd go on to introduce herself and her twin. "Yoroshiku! Suzukou Teruko and that's Suzukou Akira~" she said of herself and her twin happy to have put any unsettled feelings aside.

"That should be fun to watch. We've got some interesting prospects in this generation," Youko said about a few select Genin in their village. He assumed he would be going along to the Chuunin Exam as well, whether he was expected to or not. As for the Kage summit, Youko was not at all surprised that Benihime wasn't keen on going. "You can't just send him in your place. At the very least, it should be a short visit that we can leave at a moment's notice when everything's over. It won't be so bad," he said. It seemed Benihime had likened the chakra which caused Akira's wound to his own when using the claws common among Hunters in his clan. "The Blood Cult is dead; there's no doubt about that. There's every possibility that a lone wolf of sorts, or even a splinter group, exists somewhere, though. That is... unless they encountered the Yokujin."

With his handshake accepted by the female twin, Youko locked eyes with the lass and accepted her return greeting. "So, you're here for the tools? I'm not quite done, but I do have a ton of Fuuma Shuriken - both straight-edge and fold-able - as well as some other tools ready. Did you guys need anything specific?"

"Hai, those are always pretty fun. Though to be fair, I'd rather be proctor, better view," the girl said of the Chunin Exam. She could only imagine the set up they'd have for the Kage during such a thing, and that made it even worse. Moreover, it seemed that Youko disagreed with the playful idea of her sending the previous Kazekage in her place to the Five Kage Summit. "But, I really could. Ease of leaving one of those things not withstanding, it never says the current Kazekage has to go, only the Kazekage, technically speaking people are Kages for life, any one could go. I thought about sending Ookami-jii last time, but he stone faced me." she said pouting only lightly, in reference to the cold blooded look the First Kazekage had given her when she'd tried to get him to go the last summit in her place. "But... I was only joking," she said which seemed to catch her sister's attention just a bit. The woman's wording implied she was the Kazekage, which was a very odd thing. She looked at her twin seemingly stunned wondering if he'd heard the same thing she had.

As Youko went on to explain how his clan might have fractured and thus left a few loose ends for the rest of the world at large to deal with, he mentioned a name she'd not heard before. Of course, this left the young woman to look confused because of what the name translated to. "What the fuck is a Yokujin?" she questioned. Before she'd get an answer to this, her sister and brother would be told of other things the blacksmith intended to provide them which were all interesting. Teruko herself never really used weapons so she didn't know of one she wanted. But beyond that she was still stuck on something else. "Wait wait, what? Aneki are you the Kazekage?"

"Proctoring wouldn't be so bad. The responsibility of it would be pretty boring, though. As a spectator, it'd be way easier to sneak out for whatever reason." This was Youko's take on dealing with Chuunin Exams. He had overseen exams from both positions in this village, as well as a couple of others, but he found the freedom of spectating alone to be more satisfying than a closer look as the battles. Moving on, Benihime's trip to the Blue Moon Sage apparently did not involve mention of the latter's antithesis. "There are two ultimate powers in my clan; there always have been. Kinshuzen is the sage you've met, and exists to maintain the balance as dictated by the moon's teachings. But, as every Yin has a Yang, for every Kinshuzen, there is also... a Yokujin. Yokujin is the Hunter beyond Hunters, to whom all things are prey. Were you not told the story of the original pair at the Rozan falls?"

While this conversation progressed, Akira stood on the sidelines in utter disbelief with his twin. That these two would continue a casual discussion like this when the young ones were being battered with such a massive piece of information, was astounding. "Sugei. No wonder her kid's so strong," was all he could say to cope. After speaking these words though, Akira quickly looked in every direction around himself, simply to see if he had accidentally summoned the young lad again. Little did he know, the boy did not care to appear before them again, but currently stood elsewhere in the village, inflating his chest after hearing these thoughts about him.

There was a very devious glance from Benihime to her husband. Of course this was simply because she could think of many things not related to the Chuunin Exam that they could do when they slipped off. That would be for later though, as he went on to explain the existence of this Yokujin person and how it was the opposite of the man she'd met at the Rozan Falls. After his explanation the redhead nodded looking thoughtfully, and when asked if she wasn't given this story when she went she simply shook her head from left to right. "Iie, Getsu-ojii and I talked about different stuff, like life, letting shit go, and finding your happy place." she explained. "The rest of the time, I spent there meditating to ah, fix myself." she said seeming to glance over all details of what that situation entailed. "That's an interesting way to do stuff," she stated, there was more she intended but she noted the activities of the other pair of twins, who seemed so stunned by a recent realization.

To answer her sister's question she simply shrugged running a hand through her hair because being asked such a question at random made her feel a bit awkward. "Ah, yes, Sandaime desu. I thought I mentioned it before." she said seeing her brother's reaction to mentioning her son she simply chuckled. "Don't worry Aki-chan, he probably won't show up just cause you said that." Benihime said, willing to let the twins get over their apparent bit of excitement. "You see that Aki, she just let that fall right out of her face. She's the Kazekage, jinchuriki, has a kid, and got married!"

"Well, that sounds... just a bit useless, honestly. He should have told you an important thing like that, but I guess that gets pushed off to me as well," Youko said with a heavy sigh. Of all the things the sage could have addressed, he figured history would be a top lesson on the agenda. From what Youko understood, this Yokujin was almost as much of a threat to the world as Uchiha Yuichi and the Akatsuki. "Yokujin is a threat to anyone who encounters him, and more of a threat to anyone he deems worth hunting. If he latches on, it's said he'll never truly give up the chase, unless a greater hunt appears."

While Youko went about explaining this Yokujin, Akira stared at Benihime, blinking occasionally before looking toward his twin. "And she strength-checked you. Don't forget about that."

"Well to be fair, you can tell me about this guy, and anything else I don't know but might need to. Besides that, I didn't really ask any questions. I was just sort of too relieved to care, Getsu-ojii has nice chakra~ And the other stuff was more pressing in the moment," Benihime mentioned. It was rather true that the Rozan Sage seemed to be pushing quite a bit off on the young man before her, but if all they had to do was talk, she doubted it would be less of a problem. Actually now that she thought about it, it was likely why he left that part to Youko, because their problem as stated by the redhead was that she didn't know what was going on with him and that they weren't talking. Moving right along though, it seemed that this Yokujin was something worth making sure no one encountered. "So, what you're telling me is, your clan has two people in it, one designated just to help everyone, and one designated just to kill anything it feels like? Yeah, that's cool," the woman said sarcastically. There was something about this story which made Benihime immediately curious. "Wait, wait... so, if he doesn't stop until he finds something else, who saved you two, and are they alright?" she asked of her siblings, randomly including them in the conversation. Benihime had pieced together that this Yokujin was likely what had encountered the pair of twins, because only he would be something what would have frightened Hakudoshi.

The pair of twins were still in awe of their sister and her apparently giant leaps since the last time they'd seen her. After Akira mentioned that she'd also been strength checked by the woman, Teruko let out an exasperated sigh. "And she fucking strength checked me. Wait, I said she was married right?" she then seemed to notice that they'd been asked something but she completely missed it and looked blankly towards her sister and her husband and would find the female crimson locked lass chuckling just a bit. "Ara ara, you're gonna have to let that stuff go, I promise, I got nothing else really shocking on my plate. That question though..." the redhead asked, of course, she seemed to have already forgotten that she also possessed Youko's Kekkei Genkai but that would be fun to explain later.

"Ah, so you found out the secret to the chakra," he replied when it was mentioned that the "Moonman" had nice chakra. For her to be capable of knowing this, she had to have discovered that the Rozan falls were of the sage's creation. "To be more specific, the first Hunter became the Yokujin by going mad with his ability to gain power from killing, much like the future Blood Cult would. Kinshuzen came into existence to offer power to other members of the clan, to create balance against the rising Hunters created by Yokujin. The two brothers eventually became figureheads of the clan."

"Yeah, you did. Jinchuriki too!" was Akira's response to Teruko. Of course, this had previously been stated by the lass, but it was very easy to get caught up in the hype of a moment such as this. Benihime brought her question back up after stating that she had nothing else surprising to share, prompting Akira to retort while nudging Teruko with his elbow. "It was Fon-san from Konoha that saved us. He gave that guy the business for sure!"

"Hai, he seemed surprised by that a little~" she mentioned of her understanding of that man's chakra. Youko went on to explain the real dichotomy between Yokujin and Kinshuzen which was apparently that one was created in the vacuum of power created by the other. Such a thing was about as normal a story as one could ever hear. Actually there were likely stories based upon such a thing. "Uh-huh, so... you got two immortal siblings that are basically the parents of your clan right now?" she asked most rhetorically. "OK." she let it go then, apparently it was her turn to be astonished by the outlandish things she was hearing. She'd accept that very calmly.

Her siblings seemed to have finally settled down enough to converse with and when they did Akira nudged his twin causing the girl to glare at him angrily as he explained which of the Konohagakure's Jounin had saved them. The name was one which Benihime was familiar with and her younger sister's reaction made her smile. "Fon-san?" Benhime was charmed by the feelings coming from her younger siblings chakra so she decided to tease just a bit. "Uh-huh... not judging but he's older than I am~" she said with a casual eye roll, a hint of devious recognizable likely to her husband if no one else. The younger redhead got the most fierce blush Benihime had seen on her face in this moment. "ANEKI!... it isn't like that!" she chimed which caused the elder redhead to burst into giggles. "I am only teasing, geez, though you have tomato face... that's for giving me a complex about being married." she said sticking her tongue out at the other young woman who'd crossed her arms and turned her back with astute pout-yness usually reserved for small children. She soon moved along to her brother's explanation that he'd managed to put a hurting on the Yokujin.

"He better have, he's practically immortal using the Eight Gates, shouldn't be anything he can't at least beat the hell out of, if he does it quick enough." she said, there were limitations to everything and she figured that Fon's was chakra amount though he had the Yin seal to help cover that and another of Benihime's own creation. "Oi, he still got that dragon seal on his chest?" she asked of the twins, Teruko seemed to have gathered herself enough to respond. "Hai, that was a strange seal... I can't say I've ever seen one like it before." she said of the marking which had danced during the man's fight with the being that sought the death of herself and her twin. "I knew you looked," such speech would be followed by a wink from the Kazekage as she chuckled.

"Sounds about right, yeah." With his information shared with the redhead, and with the knowledge that there was nothing to be worried about at this very moment, Youko turned back to his works. He still had a couple of Fuuma Shuriken to hammer out, so he figured he may as well do so while these three conversed.

Akira hazarded several sly grins with an elevated thumb as Benihime spoke to Teruko about this Fon person. It seemed she even knew the man who saved them, and addressed a specific seal the Jounin bore. This was of some apparent significance, but it seemed to primarily serve the purpose of having more material to use against the red-haired teen. "Hah!"

Benihime relaxed back into her seated position, content to watch her husband work while entertaining her younger siblings. After having a thorough go at her youngest sister who seemed to be embarrassed beyond repair the young woman had simply raised her arms in the air. Particularly because she couldn't deny the last thing said by her older sister. "I fucking give up. I'm done... with all of you," she said of her twin, and her elder sister. Such a statement of defeat, caused the elder redhead to extend a fist to her younger brother in a congratulatory way so they could fist bump in celebration. After this she went to pull her left leg up onto the work bench where she sat and tuck it under her right thigh. Her eyes didn't ever leave Youko but as she sat here she remembered that she hadn't actually asked any important questions about when she'd be returning this pair of twins to the island where they lived.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what festival?" she said which caused her younger sister to turn and glare but not speak again. "What? I forget to ask these things, it always seems like other stuff is more important," said the Kazekage as she tossed her hair around. "I mean I already agreed to go, you might as well tell me what I agreed to~" a few seconds after speaking her younger sister frowned deeply. "Ugh, you do this on purpose I swear, you know Aki doesn't pay attention to this stuff, so only I know the important bits," Teruko said before taking a deep breath to begin the explanation of the festival which they needed to make it back.

"Hiyuri Matsumi, you probably don't really know it but it's the Fire Lily Festival. According to the 'adults'..." she said using air quotes around the word to describe their parents. "The festival was celebrated a lot before the Uzushiogakure was almost washed away, it celebrates the blossoming of the Fire Lilies with you know fun activities like food, drink, kittens and ah, firebreathing~. It is also the time that potential mating pairs come in for approval by the Sanjikai, and if there is a big enough group a time for the true adulthood ceremony from the bigger part of the clan. Ya' know, celebrating fertility, drinking tea, playing with all the kittens around. Apparently the Fire Lilies make the cats around all a little weird, but it tastes pretty good in tea and can be used to treat burns and stuff. Also apparently back in the day, the Sanjikai would perform impromptu marriages if ah... someone ah, couldn't wait~" she said finishing the explanation of the festival. "Anyway, it's supposed to be a lot of fun."

Though he had returned to his work at the forge, nothing said went unheard by Youko. As such, when Teruko next spoke, he turned his head toward the group with mock offense upon his visage. "Oi, what did I do?" he said before nonchalantly returning to his work. Benihime sought information regarding the festival she'd been invited to, and though Akira attended regularly, he was not the best at explaining its purpose and the like. Luckily, Teruko was quick to explain. Akira nodded along with the explanation, and when Teruko was done, he chimed in. "Oh, and You-san's invited. I think we forgot that," he added. This, of course, caused the working blacksmith to speak again. "Oh? I'm invited to a festival of catnip flowers?"

It seemed that Youko took offense to being included in Teruko's claim that she was done with all of these people. A sigh came from the youngest red haired female in the room, and as such she turned back towards the man and shrugged skeptically. "Nothing yet, I guess... so not you, but I am definitely with them~" she said of her two siblings. After her explanation, Akira added the fact that the blacksmith was also invited, to attend the festival which he summarized in a very peculiar way. Even so Teruko couldn't really argue with it. "We'll that... yeah... that's pretty much exactly it, but we've both been a lot, and it's pretty fun," Teruko said with a curt nod.

After hearing out what was said about the festival Benihime frowned just a little. The explanation of this festival didn't explain why Hakudoshi wished to attend. A frown came to the elder redhead's face as she realized that this couldn't have been all there was to it. "Who else is on the Sanjikai besides Kouha and Kougyoku? I don't think they are enough reason for Hakudoshi to want to come, and he wants to go so I am missing something important," this would be the woman's final question asked with much seriousness.