[Sunagakure] Amakajiba

[Bloodedge]

"... Of course. Ohayou, Haku," the white-haired man replied with a sigh. In the meantime, Machi noted Aiko's apparent correct call on what was soon to happen if they didn't arrive here quickly. "Alright, so who's the lucky wo-" As he spoke, he turned to face Youko. This was stunning. Aside from the three newcomers and Benihime, there were none here, save this male figure. "... Man?" With that said, Machi shifted around Youko numerous times, inspecting his form until taking pause while looking at his hair. "Took a moment, but yeah... definitely a man, right?"

"I... am a man, yes," Youko said through a blatant amount of confusion. Without lingering on this too long, he shifted his gaze toward Aiko. "Would you believe me if I said Madoka made the order?" he asked in response to her opening query. Machi, it seemed, had already moved on to address Benihime. "Beni-chan! Forget all that! You're MARRIED now!? To a man!? WHAT!?"

[Apollymi]

Benihime had been about to start a tirade on how late the man before her was in his return. But, it seemed he was more caught up on who she was married to, more over that it seemed to have taken him completely by surprise. "Yes, I'm married to a man. Katsuhara Youko, blacksmith, Jounin Hancho... Him." she said her head nodding in the blacksmith's direction. Of course, she realized it'd been more than a decade since she'd last seen the Second Kazekage, so he wouldn't know how her tastes had shifted a bit since the last time they'd seen each other. Even so, this amount of attention was a little embarrassing. "I am going to need you to calm down, you're making a really big deal about this." Benihime said a reddish tint coming to her face. Though she expected some friction from her variable life choices, she didn't expect the previous Kazekage to make such a big deal out of it. "Seriously, take your job back, it's so much paperwork. And they keep me locked up in here... I wanna go out... and do stuff. Speaking of going out and doing stuff, where have you been? They made me take your job."

As the Kazekage caught up with the previous one, it seemed that Aiko was being told that the order for the giant sword was from Madoka. She couldn't help but laugh. Actually it was more than a laugh, the girl became nearly hysterical, tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she laughed so hard at the idea of the young man known as Madoka, ordering this sword. "What would he go and do that for? You might as well make it cute, I don't own one of those yet... " she said standing up a bit straighter and wiping the corner of her eye. "Hm, I'll have to pick out a spot for it."

[Bloodedge]

"Aww man," Machi replied while rubbing the back of his head. "And I don't even get an invite. Is there still cake?" he asked. When that was over, he held his right arm akimbo while his left hung at his side to hold the herder's staff he wielded. Of course, Benihime virtually demanded that he return to the position of Kage. Whether this was jest or seriousness, his answer remained the same. "Why would I do that? I wanted you to be Kazekage. Though, it's my understanding that Ookami came back for a bit? Why'd that happen?"

Since his previous idea was obviously being put on hold for an undisclosed amount of time, Youko moved toward the forge and zanbatou he was meant to work on. While Benihime caught up with an apparent former Kazekage, he decided to continue chatting with Aiko, with Hakudoshi seeming content to begin skipping around the area. "He's still using you as a milestone then, huh? I wonder when he'll realize that he'd be better off sticking to one blade and learning how to wield it properly."

[Apollymi]

"You were missing in action, why would you get an invite or a cake. They figured you died somewhere. Besides, the council forced me to get married." She said running a hand through her hair. The truth of the matter was, given hers and Youko's propensity to engage in random sexual activity anywhere they could squeeze it in, it was a moral demand by the council that they at least marry each other to avoid setting a bad precedent. Moving right along, it seemed this man would not be taking his job back, which caused nothing but a pout from the red haired woman. "Ugh, come on, just take it back for a week or two, I got stuff I wanna do. Or just do the paperwork, I'll do all the other stuff. It'll be like old times~" She said pleading lightly, which was by far a more ready compromise than forcing the job back on the man. "Why'd you want me to be Kazekage, you should have known better. Ookami-jii, ended up being Kazekage for a few of years to consolidate power, and back me as a choice. Usui and his lackluster group of old prudes were trying really hard to make Mikunichi the Kazekage. But Mikuni-kun didn't wanna be it, so... that. They gave me a bunch of rules and other dumb stuff over that time period and eventually decided to make me Kazekage, then a couple of days ago Usui and his friends tried to have me killed. So, we executed them. Ookami-jii is fine though, so is Junko-obaa." she said with a curt nod.

Meanwhile Aiko took a seat in the forge further back and continued chatting with Youko while the Kazekage caught up with the former Kazekage. "Yep. But... it's stupid. I told him that last time. It doesn't matter if the sword is big or small, if you don't know what you're doing with it, you'll always lose." said the girl. She seemed to miss the overt comparison which could be drawn between this and something else which might have hurt the other man's feelings, but that wasn't really her problem. "But when he comes to me with that, I'm taking it from him... Later I'll make him a more suitable one for what little skill he has and he'll take the hint."

[Bloodedge]

"I was perfecting a jutsu. I couldn't tell anyone, because I couldn't have anyone near me when I did it." True enough, the entire decade or so this man had spent away, he had taken in absolute solitude for reasons unspecified. But, he was apparently now done with this trial of his own choosing, even though he did not at all wish to return as Kazekage. He did still take issue with how the elders were presently dealing with matters, though. "That's no good. You're the Kazekage. I formed the council starting with Shodaime to help myself and any Kazekage after me, not to run the village themselves with the Kazekage as some sort of representative. They must have taken advantage with Shodaime back in power. And... treason..." There was a brief pause from the man, as if he considered something out of his normal line of thought. In fact, he was doing exactly that. "You should be Kage. The good you have done, and can still do for this village, outshines a washed-up guy like me. My time is over... but I can still help you have a better time in this position."

When Aiko explained the situation with this Madoka individual, Youko failed to restrain a laugh. "I don't think it would matter much if he did know how to wield a weapon. There's too big a difference in ability already, and you don't seem to be slowing down at all."

[Apollymi]

"You've been gone over 11 years, perfecting a jutsu?" the small woman hopped off the table and stood before the former Kazekage eyeing him strangely. His chakra felt interesting, and before this point she'd never actually sensed it before. "Better be one hell of a jutsu." the woman said, figuring she'd get the opportunity to see it one day. Moving right along, the Second Kazekage explained the true purpose of the council, and how the job was supposed to work. This caused the red haired woman to scoff just a little. "I don't think they understood the job. The remaining elders are good though. Fun people... " the young woman said. Then Hiyama mentioned helping out and making her job a bit easier her eyes widened. "Uh, the village hasn't changed that much. You could definitely take back over, and I am sure no one would care. Seriously, what is it you think I've done, Machi?" the woman said, and true enough she didn't think there was anything in her skills list or anything she'd done thus far, which made her any more qualified to be Kazekage than the man standing before her. But, there was another statement which got her attention. "Is that a yes to doing the paper work? 'Cause seriously, it's a drag." Benihime stated without clarifying other things she'd rather being doing, for obvious reasons.

Youko's unrestrained laughter at the statement she'd made, caused Aiko to chuckle a bit. She didn't know what about it was so funny, but it was good to see the man in a better mood than he'd been the last few times she'd come across him. On the matter of her skill though, she shrugged just a bit. "I've been training with a sword, since I was five. It makes sense that I outclass most people but I still practice, so it also makes a bit of sense that I'd be getting better. I don't think I'm unbeatable or anything. He should get over it." she said. She was all for setting the bar really high, after all, Youko was her own bar, but she didn't let that confuse her nor change how she felt about her own sword usage.

[Bloodedge]

"Honestly, have I ever made a jutsu that didn't amaze?" the former Kage asked of his successor. Moving on from his accomplishments, the present Kazekage didn't seem to mark down her own achievements within the village. He had already taken note of several, which he would be sure to list immediately. "Like I said, my time is over. I have nothing else to add to this village as its Kage, but you... You've made a Jinchuriki of Shukaku who's still a perfectly functional member of the village, and a Jounin at that. When I walked through the village, everyone seemed to be living peaceful lives without a care in the world. You also recovered the peace with Kirigakure. Those aren't feats any run-of-the-mill Kage could make happen."

[Apollymi]

"Well, you were 'The man before whom all Ninjutsu are worthless' But... you got some pretty stiff competition now~ You go off to learn just one thing. Better be amazing, is all I am saying," said the red haired young woman. To be fair, Machi had been the one to help her become a proper ninja. Had found her wandering around the edges of the village and set her up after helping her figure out chakra manipulation enough to be able to use jutsu. This man seemed to have been in the village quite a little while, enough to know about Aiko, which meant the young girl probably saw him and mistrusted the amount of power he possessed. Beyond this, he seemed to think a lot of the 'feats' brought about by Benihime's tenure as Kazekage. The young woman shrugged him off. "To be fair, you guys are just bad at seals. The ones you were using for Shukaku-kun, were a bit too weak, that's why he was rampaging all the time. It didn't take much for me to modify it when I sealed him within Aiko. She'd always be a functional member of the village, Aiko-chan is an awesome person~" mentioned the Kazekage about Youko's ward. About the Kirigakure she couldn't really agree, and for a very specific reason. "Also I wouldn't say I 'recovered' peace with the Kirigakure. The current Mizukage, can't decide if she wants me killed or wants to bed me. Seriously, Arella went a bit psycho. Started calling herself Kouchou, and going into these violent fits whenever she saw me. So we've found ourselves in an interesting state to simply leave each other alone. That isn't a ringing endorsement." the Kazekage stated.

[Bloodedge]

"Competition is good, assuming it's all in the village. I left to gain strength because the abilities I had weren't enough to fight against the Akatsuki. I hope I can be of more use the way I am now," said Machi. Prior to his travels, he had an encounter with members of Akatsuki, and found himself lacking the skill to defeat them. "They had a woman I just couldn't fight, no matter what I did. She even got the best of my Kekkei Genkai, and my newest jutsu at the time was incomplete. I tried using it again later, but it had a side-effect, and... well, I haven't aged a day since."

Benihime went on to clarify the alleged peace between the two villages they discussed. Apparently, the Mizukage who followed the one he knew, was more than a bit bipolar, as it were. Perhaps this was the cause of the oddities surrounding that village as of late. "That might explain a lot. Lately, the Mist's borders have all been sealed; no one goes in, no one goes out. Maybe she's gotten stuck as this... Kouchou. But! That doesn't discredit what you've accomplished, nor am I letting you stop being Kazekage for any reason at all. I will, however, take a seat on the council as its head chairman. The village will be yours, as it should be, with the rest of us helping you make the best choices for the village."

[Apollymi]

At the mention of the Akatsuki, Benihime's gaze shifted. She knew the strength of these people, but there was a bit of a silver lining to that, reminding her there was something she needed to do before she did anything else today. It appeared that this man's use of jutsu had ended up with him being made immortally young, which wasn't the most terrible side-effect she'd ever heard of. "Believe me, jutsu going wrong, there are way worse things you could end up with, than eternally young face." She said making light of her own situation. A bit of consideration was given to the man as he stated the Mist Village had been locked up tight for quite a while now, she exerted a bit of chakra and found a seal she'd placed there was still there, so she might be due for a visit to check on things. Lest their supposed ally turn out to be in a bit of trouble. "Well, I have a seal in the Mist Village, still in place, I'd pop over there and have a look. But I got some stuff I can't miss right now." she commented pushing that to the back of her mind for later. As their conversation progressed, he went on to say that he was going to make her keep being the Kazekage despite her own protests and instead take over the council of elders as it's chairperson.

Given the intimate nature of his new job, she decided to give him some major information that he'd likely need. Especially given the strength of the Akatsuki. "Hm, well, I don't know the person you speak of, but the Akatsuki captured me about 9 months ago, so I get what you mean about the power there. Um, their actual leader is sorta dead right now, and I use sorta loosely there. One of it's members is technically hosting the other guy by way of a cursed seal, we have a bit of time before he reemerges but his host is one of my little sisters, who is also holding the Yonbi." She mentioned thinking it best to give this information now. "And this village is currently in possession of 3 Jinchuriki and another tailed beast. So, that is the situation you are coming in on Mr. Chairman~" she said with a bit of a smirk on her face.

"Also, I am probably leaving the village sometime in the next couple of days, and I'm taking the Little One with me as a body guard. Here have this." she said producing from a seal on her wrist one of the Hiraishin Kunai. "In case you need to call me back or something."