Tsume quirked a smile at him, vaguely amused as his scent fluttered between excited and uncertain. Very young, she decided. And rather alone in the ANBU headquarters. He'd as much as said his father was dead. Nothing about his mother. She wondered if that was why he was in HQ--if he couldn't afford to live on his own.

She turned and smiled at him, shoulders relaxing under the thick cloth of her oversized hoodie. "Hey, I asked. Always good to learn about another fighting style." Her smile tipped. "I don't know much about weapons beyond him." She hooked a thumb toward Kuromaru.

He stopped pulling an okonomiyaki from the box to twist, looking at Hayate from his good eye. "I'm plenty weapon. Probably better than swords, even."

Tsume snorted and reached out with one foot, rubbing it through the thick fur on his shoulder. "You're a great weapon. Kinda hard to pick you up and twirl you around, though."

Kuromaru smiled at her, ear flopping slightly. He was already getting tired; she could see it. He turned back to his food.

She thought, trying to remember who else was in ANBU. "I think there's a weapons guy... a traps guy... no one doing swords, that I know of. Poisons, general muscle, disgusting reeking rot jutsu... the genius..." She grinned, quick and bright. "Me. Seems like we have a lot of unique people."

"Kakashi's not so unique," Kuromaru grumbled. "Everything he does is copied. Someone else did it first."

Tsume glanced toward her canine, amused. "I think that is his uniqueness, pup."

Kuromaru snorted. "I could copy things."

"Of course you could. Maybe you should copy Hayate's kenjutsu. Be interesting to see a canine with a sword."

"Very funny. Maybe you should learn. You don't have teeth."

"Maybe I should." She turned, smiling at the teenager. "What do you think, Hayate? Could you teach your kenjutsu?" If she didn't have chakra, she might as well have an oversized blade.