Hideaki turned and finally spotted the newcomer among his guests, offering a smile. 'hello there, whose parent are you?' he asked, snapping the black haired and black eyed woman out of an apparent trance.

'I'm Akemi's mother, Azumi.' The woman looked a bit haunted but concealed it after a moment, putting on a smile and standing. 'I wanted to come and apologize for my mistaken assumptions about you. Please, forgive me.'

'ah, there's no trouble. You are, of course, completely right about my abilities- just not, perhaps, about my intentions and personality.' She offered a small bow and Hideaki waved the gesture away with a small smile. 'no need for that. We'll start at the beginning. I am Hideaki, Tamotsu's father. I believe you've met Hitomi, my wife, as well as my son.'

'pleased to finally meet you. I believe you've already met my daughter, Akemi.' Hideaki's grin got a little wider and he looked a bit abashed.

'that was her idea, I assure you. She said she didn't think your reasons were good enough that she and Tamotsu could not be friends.'

Azumi let out a deep, mournful sigh. 'I know they were not. After I lost my husband I became even more protective of her than I had been before. You and your family could have turned out to be the greatest threat to her and one I could not hope to protect her from- as a villager, I mean.'

The last part of that sentence didn't seem necessary to Hideaki, but he decided to ignore it. 'may I ask you something?'

'certainly.'

'how is it you know about my kekkei genkai? Very few people here in the Hidden Sand village know of my abilities.'

The question caught Azumi off guard and she thought fast, trying to think of a logical reason. 'well…I must have read a book about it at some point, I suppose.'

Hideaki frowned at this. 'I didn't know there were any books written about us available to villagers. I had thought perhaps Daisuke told you, since I was his teammate.'

'oh! You're right, I remember now. He was reading a report and I asked about his teammates and he talked about you and your special eyes.' She hoped her quick cover-up would be accepted. The man let out a small grunt and decided to drop the matter, though he was still quite suspicious.

'have you heard the news? Masaaki was just telling me that the Uchiha clan of the Hidden Leaf has been massacred, with only one confirmed survivor.'

'oh, yes, I heard you talking,' she said flatly, looking away from Hideaki's silver-white eyes toward the floor. 'how tragic that such a thing could happen.'

Her flat reaction surprised the man even more, but before he could ask another question he was interrupted by several sets of small, running feet. 'father, it's 6:30 now,' Tamotsu announced, standing eagerly at the front of a small pack of 5 children.

'is it that time already? Very well, go back outside, and we'll follow behind you.'

The children happily scampered out again and Hideaki and the other adults followed them out, with Azumi bringing up the rear. She was preoccupied again and jumped slightly as Akemi came over to her, taking her hand, as Tamotsu and his father stepped out into the small courtyard in the middle of the house.

'in my family we inherit special abilities from generation to generation. This can easily be seen in our eyes. Now that my son is 6 years old, I will begin teaching him in the use of these inborn abilities. I ask you to witness as he uses the Byakugan for the first time.' Hideaki turned to Tamotsu for a moment and murmured something to him, and the boy nodded, closing his silver-white eyes for a moment and making a handsign for better focus.

Suddenly he snapped his eyes open again and veins bulged across his temples and the tops of his cheeks. One of the children there squeaked in fright. He stood stock-still for a moment, taking everything in. 'wow,' he breathed after a moment. 'I can see everything. There really are pathways of chakra inside people-' he held up a hand to look closer- 'and inside me too!'

While tamotsu was marvelling over his newfound visual prowess, his father walked around behind him. Once he was completely behind his son where everyone knew he would be completely unable to see, he lunged with a knife hand toward the top of Tamotsu's head. Before anyone watching was able to let out a gasp or cry of warning, Tamotsu had already blocked the attack as if he could see it easily.

'three-hundred sixty degrees in a fifty-meter radius,' he said to those watching, lifting his hand and letting the boy relax, his eyes returning to normal. 'we'll work more later, when everyone else has gone,' he told his son. The children cheered and ran over to congratulate Tamotsu and led him off in a little mob to dinner.