Marise's father smiled at her first response, and then nodded as Tashi spoke, "Mibu, eh? And your eyes glow..." He said, his own featureless eyes staring into Tashi's, "Yet you seem perfectly calm... I've read about the Mibu, how they claimed descent from the Sage of Six Paths... and that their 'crimson king' held dominion over half the world. Then they all went mad... and killed each other, until only one branch of that family remained- and of that branch only a single child."<br/><br/>Hiro paused for a moment, and then smiled, "But then again, they say that the Hyuga are descended from a goddess who walked on the surface of the sun. -Or that the moon is actually a demon god that jumped off the earth and curled into a ball..."<br/><br/>"It's good to see you've made friends outside the village, Mari-chan. No doubt Kaname's helped you with that." He smiled at the other kunoichi, and then to Jun, seemingly a little put off by her attire and... wolf. "Forgive me... I did not know that there was a branch of the Inuzuka in Tanigakure." He seemed visibly alarmed by Xexen, "He is... ah, house-trained, yes?"<br/><br/>Before Jun could reply, Marise went on to talk about her experience in the forest. As soon as she mentioned off-handedly mentioned that clan's name... He seemed visibly disturbed, looking at the reflection in the pond by the garden. "Come, then... we must speak somewhere else."<br/><br/>He turned to leave, and then paused, looking over his shoulder, "Them as well. I think it's fate that they're here..."<br/><br/>They continued the conversation inside the Hyuuga estate, in a study full of scrolls and ancient wisdom. Tashi and Jun felt like this was a place not many were welcomed into... even Kaname had not been there often. Hiro Hyuuga did not sit, but closed the door behind him. In secrecy, he spoke, "I know this man... though I feared it was not the same person. Before you were born, he and I fought. We and Kumogakure were allies then, hunting down the second Hokage's killers. Before he died, Tobirama killed the gold and silver brothers himself, along with eleven other traitors from Kumo. We tracked five others down and killed them... and the last two..."<br/><br/>He sighed, "One of them was your man in the forest- his name is Ryoichi. The other was a man we already knew- Kakuzu, equally inhuman. ...Tsunade-hime is right, both of them are members of that clan which I cannot speak of. We never caught them... and we never found out why they killed the second Hokage, or why they tried to kill the first."<br/><br/>After a long pause, Hiro turned to Jun and Tashi, idly he spoke, "I had a dream last night... A red-eyed oni and a she-wolf were fighting with a crow, missing one talon..."<br/><br/>It was too much of a coincidence... between Shiro's dismemberment and summon, Jun and Xexen, and Tashi's eyes and guard mask...