Since there were no other ninja in the Tekka House, there was no one to put the clan's mark on their ninja headband. Keisuke's and mine were still blank. Fumihito, as a head of the side branch of the clan we were in decided to do it. It was a massive honor for any member of the clan. Usually it was your parents. Fumihito ruffled their hair and then continued on his way to his own house. It was then time for the Tekkas to party on their own. We also attended the party. Fuyuhiko got a bit tipsy and looked at his younger brothers. They were stars of the party. He was swaying back and forth happily where he was sitting. "Man. You guys are full ninja now. Maybe I can join the clan too. Who says that a blacksmith can't be a ninja too!?" he exclaimed. Akita and Natsuji looked at him. Fuyuhiko read the room and said "Hey! I can join in if I wanted to do it. Natsuji and Akita are younger than me and they got in. You just had to paint a picture for the clan at Grandfather's house. I can paint a damn picture!" That got us looking at him. He did not know. The blacksmith looked embarrassed. His ears were red.
He looked at his eldest and said "It's not exactly like that. It's not something that I would recommend for a man like you. I actually was a bit upset with Fumihito-san when told me what he had my boys do." Fuyuhiko was too drunk to really grasp the concept that his father was trying to ease him into. "Yeah, but they did it. Ninjas do some underhanded shit sometimes. I bet I could pass the exam and then just make weapons for the clan as a shinobi." Rin looked at him and said "You know that both of your brothers are not shinobi, right. They're both kunoichi." "I guess so...." he trailed off. He then said "So what!? If they're not painting what are they doing? I don't get it." This was when the blacksmith said "This isn't the time or place for this. We are here to celebrate your brothers. I'll tell you later." Natsuji and Akita were both visibly relieved at this. I also could see the tension was rising. It seemed that the civilian members of the Tekka family did not feel proud that their youngest members were kunoichi that were expected to take a dick up their ass on a regular basis. Their sister did not come.
That being said, I looked at Natsuji and Akita. "I'm gathering a squad to represent us in the chunin exams in a month or so. I wanted to offer you 2 spots on the team. Do you want to go?" I asked. They were both excited and said they were in. Fuyumi and Hatsuka were going to take the next 2 spots. I would leave it up to Fumihito to find 2 other suitable grand children to come along. I sent this request via letter to him in the morning. While we were waiting, I was called before the elders. They wanted me to do another assassination. A noisy dissident in the refugee camp was causing problems for the Hinode Clan. They had largely disarmed the refugees on their condition of protection. There was a small group that wanted to join them and become part of the Hinode clan. Membership to the samurai clans were not largely by blood. Anyone who was chosen by a member could learn their clan's techniques. They pestered the patrolling samurai to train them. They did not disarm. There was another very small group that wanted to rise up and have self determination over their camp on ethnic lines.
