Uzushiogakure

[Apollymi]

The girl was congratulated by her father, she found herself feeling a deep swelling of pride she couldn't say she'd ever felt before this moment in her life. It was very strange to her, but she decided she liked the feeling well enough, as she took up a place on the sidelines she lounged about, watching the Agni Kai take place between her mother and her son. It was apparently a test of skill, and surprisingly enough her mother didn't hold any punches against the small boy. Launching into an attack almost immediately though not with the speed which Benihime could use said technique. Not surprising to the younger redhead the older one's jutsu was soon overcome by one of the small boy's. The same one in fact, which used only two hand seals instead of just the one.

Benitsubaki's eyes widened. She found it most interesting he was capable of shutting down her attack with such ease. And surprised by his use of only two hand seals to do it. "You only used two hand seals to make it... that is strange." she said but she couldn't fault the boy's manipulation. It was indeed quite a skillful show, but he'd have to show a bit more before she could consider admitting his capabilities in being her daughter's keeper. The boy's next question was to ask if he could use a technique that Tsubaki had never seen before, it wasn't fire, but it apparently didn't have a chakra nature applied to it at all. She simply shook her head back and forth. "Iie, if a Fire Rat can't use fire then he doesn't deserve the title, nor a place in this battle." she was a stickler for the rules in this way, but she supposed if the young boy could adapt to this situation and stay within the rules it would be worthwhile. A single hand seal was used by the woman in the meantime and she'd exhale several small dragon head like bullets, launching them towards the small boy, either he'd think of something or he'd lose, but there wouldn't be any middle ground for the older woman. If nothing else, she was at least unflinching and this was something Benihime could respect even if she didn't like her mother very much.

[Bloodedge]

Hakudoshi's cheeks inflated when he was told he couldn't use the jutsu he intended to apply for this situation. He looked into his Rasengan with a furrowed brow, though he had an idea for a loophole to be abused. First, he tested his idea on his barrier, focusing his chakra flow into it when it was erected. This successfully created a flaming shield around him, which only grew stronger when struck by the dragon bullets Benitsubaki threw his way. Hakudoshi then banished the barrier, and suddenly, his Rasengan took on the fire element. "There. It's fire now," he said while forming a clone seal and abandoning the new Rasengan technique altogether. With the production of a single Shadow Clone out of the way, he and his clone each raised both hands, creating a gargantuan version of the flaming Rasengan overhead. Its size was great enough to be compared to a meteorite. The pair did not intend to use this Rasengan directly, choosing instead to bounce it high into the air. "Katon: Gouen Rasengan Nezuoppo Muchiuchi!" At his will, numerous holes opened in the Rasengan's shell, creating an opportunity for numerous tongues of fire to emerge and whip about the area. This threatened not only Benitsubaki and the others, but the very land itself. On the positive side, Hakudoshi had the sense to erect barriers around Benihime and her father.

[Apollymi]

Benihime watched her son pout, but figured he would get over it quickly enough. And not much to that woman's surprise, he did, first creating a flame barrier which was strengthened by the flames added by Benitsubaki. His subsequent actions gave fire to his rasengan in a way which previously hadn't been possible for Benihime who'd made the technique herself. This was a novel idea and she figured he'd stop there, but... then he created a shadow clone which made his mother's brow raise. "Oh, that isn't good." she said knowing that the boy only really created shadow clones when he wanted to do something he couldn't do by himself.

Benitsubaki got the pleasure of being on the recieving end of this. She watched as a boy who was merely a child by all acceptable standards, created a flame barrier which had no problem contesting her fire techniques. Beyond this, he went on to move past this and create a technique which used his original idea and added flame to it. This was a very adept technique, and one which the woman could respect, but... then he did something she didn't expect. She watched him create a shadow clone, and when he did, they made the orb grow larger than she could have imagined it being. "Nani!?" she was simply astounded. And stared even more blankly when the child named the technique and bounced it up into the air. Of course, when this happened the name actually made sense and though Benihime and Taro were protected from the coming flame lashings, Benitsubaki had to dodge. So dodge she did. Basically dancing about the battle field to avoid the coming damage. Her reflexes good enough to not take any of the first few lashings but by the time she got to about ten of them, she seemed to be slowing down a bit.

Benihime heard what her son decided to name the technique and face palmed. Though she was exceedingly proud and a tiny bit jealous of the splendor of the technique, she couldn't help but wonder how he'd come to give it such an insane name. "Hakudoshi, that name is way too long. When are you even going to have time to say it during a fight?" she said of his technique. Even if it fit, it would be impractical to say it any time you had to use it. Though looking at its present use it would be a good bit of flexibility training as well as reflex training.

[Bloodedge]

Hakudoshi took the time of Benitsubaki dodging flame tongues to string together the hand seals: Boar → Horse → Tiger. This allowed the boy to gather fire-elemental chakra in his lungs, and in reading Benitsubaki's mind to discover the location of her next dodge, target the location she would be moving to. That was where he aimed himself when unleashing a larger-than-average, perfectly spherical fireball, which traveled at an incredible speed along the ground toward on its intended path. Once this was unleashed, he looked toward Benihime with both innocence and confusion in his expression. "I'll say it when the other guy's burning to death."

[Apollymi]

As Benitsubaki dodged the small boy she faced off against, seemed to be on his way to something even more. Much to her relief, what happened was the creation of a fireball, though it was headed towards, her she didn't seem to bothered about it. Instead she simply had it at its approach, and since it was already expelled from the small boy reached out for it. With this much fire in her possession she turned the fireball upwards pushing adding her own to it and making it spread out like a flower blossoming in the sky as she sent it upwards towards his own attack. This took some rather precise timing, but it was about all she could manage to try, and stop the large attack overhead. If successful the flame attacks would cancel each other out and she'd be left dusting off her hand.

Meanwhile, Benihime was palming her face, and looking at her son. She wanted to argue with her son, but couldn't really bring herself to. He made a very valid point. "If it makes you happy." the young woman said to her son, with a mental note to herself that he wasn't allowed to name any attack she'd be forced to use. As this happened she got to watch her mother do something very interesting with the use of the Kekkei Genkai she possessed. Benitsubaki redirected Hakudoshi's large fireball up into his other attack to cancel the two and creating a large blossoming flower out of the fire. "Sou ka, that's pretty impressive. I didn't know you had it in ya'," she said about her mother, who simply looked at her daughter and rolled her eyes. Knowing full well this was intended as a compliment but not seeing as such, simply given how they usually spoke to each other. Her mother's attention soon diverted to Hakudoshi, who obviously didn't have to be too concentrated on anything. The idea that he could do all of this while still maintaining his ability to do other things, let her know his skills weren't to be questioned. "That is... oddly resourceful. I can't deny your skills. The title of Fire Rat is yours. Congratulations," she said bowing to the young boy. "Do look after your mother, she seems to listen to you at least." And with that Benitsubaki seemed to be done with this fighting deal. She truly was a great deal weaker, but she could at least have more than a fleeting bit of faith in this pair.

[Bloodedge]

The next thing Hakudoshi saw was the collision of his fireball with the Gouen Rasengan he'd been holding overhead. Though the former was sent into the latter by Benitsubaki, the boy knew it would not be enough to destroy it. However, he also knew this to be the end of his trial, and thus, he let the Rasengan fade. Once declared to be the Fire Rat of this clan, the white-haired lad grinned and raised his right fist. "Mm!" he said. Immediately afterwards, he held out both his hands, as if expecting something to come with this title. In fact, he already knew there was something meant for both Benihime and himself.

[Apollymi]

Benitsubaki looked at the boy who went from affirmation to holding his arms out. Such a thing was odd for her to see, and caused her to look at Benihime. "Why is he holding his arms out like that?" This question made Benihime shrug, she'd only seen such a thing once and it had been this morning. "He wants whatever it is he's supposed to get. He knows what it is already, you might as well just give it to him." she said conclusively. This made her mother scoff. "You don't get to surprise him do you?" she asked as she waved a hand up. The waving brought multiple red haired people into the area with multiple boxes and scrolls. And all seemed surprised by the amount of destruction around them but stopped behind Benitsubaki with the boxes and scrolls. "I don't really try to. The only person I know who has even slightly managed it is the other girl in our family, and I forgot to ask how she did it." she said of surprising her son.

Benitsubaki couldn't imagine that parenting with a mind reading child would be very easy. In this way, she felt a bit proud of her daughter for having managed so well. Moving right along, there were the people with all the boxes one of which she took from someone near by and placed into the outstretched arms of the small boy. It contained an outfit and full dress gear for the young man. Of course, it wasn't actually made for him, so he'd have to grow into it. "These things were made in anticipation of Aki and Teri, so they will have to be grown into on your part." she said of the small boy. Her son was at least a decade older than her grandson, so there was much growth to be done. Soon after a box and several sets of scrolls were handed to Benihime. Who took one and opened it looking over the garbs she scoffed just a little. "Ewww, what does Teri have against being able to breathe." she said looking over the gear and knowing the girl intended to be wrapped up tighter and more covered than the older redhead would ever like. Moving along though a few of the accessories looked more than a bit suitable to Benihime's style as such she closed the box and thanked her mother. "Arigatou Gozaimasu," she said as she took those and the scrolls and applied seals to them which would allow her to send them back to her office in the Sunagakure. While she kept a large blue and flame colored scarf with a cat motif, which she had fun wrapping around her neck.

[Bloodedge]

Soon enough, the box Hakudoshi awaited was placed in his hands. He placed it on the ground to open it, and upon looking inside, he was very disturbed by how much larger these robes were than his body. There was only one item he saw that could be worn, and it was a ring with spikes protruding from either side. This ring, however, was a greater size than what any finger he knew would allow, and thus, he was confused by its existence. "What do I do with this?" he asked of anyone willing to answer. It was then that Taro stepped up to Benihime's side, speaking to her while looking at the young lad. "Don't be too surprised, but Aki decided to grow a ponytail about a decade ago."

[Apollymi]

Hakudoshi had a question and Benihime looked at the article in question and while it seemed familiar it didn't look like one she'd seen in any reasonable amount of time. As her father stepped up and told her not to be surprised, that one of her brothers had decided to grow a ponytail the explanation of the article came rather easily. "Aki did? Hmm, didn't take him for that much of a free spirit. Though... he was a pretty interesting kid," she said of her little brother, who had been her favorite as a small child. She couldn't really imagine him with a ponytail but at least she could now tell her son how to use his new thing. "Pull the spikes out, it opens up, you put it around the long part of your hair, and put the spikes back," the woman explained. She'd never been much for ponytails herself, when her hair was a reasonable length but she at least knew how the devices to create them worked. Now that she thought about it, there was an ornate one in the box she had. "Eh, there's one in my box too, huh?" she said, having already found the one article she was attached to, she'd not bothered really looking at it. Though, she wouldn't know that her younger sister had become the exact opposite since becoming a teenager. Teri was a bit more free willed than she'd been originally, wearing her hair free except for a headband.

[Bloodedge]

"... Sou ka." With this information now available to him, Hakudoshi grabbed a tuft of hair at the crown of his head, putting it into a small ponytail to lay over the rest of his hair. He'd seen a hairstyle such as this worn by one of the wealthier individuals in Sunagakure. He couldn't tell what it looked like, and decided he'd glance around at the adults in the area for confirmation of this accessory decision. Taro, believing he shouldn't be one to be giving any fashion tips to a child, spoke instead about another matter. "Since they were being brought up to take on these roles, Akira and Teruko have the additional pieces of the garbs. However, they now venture to the Land of Fire to gather supplies for our village's return."