Kuroha looked with resentment as he wiped the tea with a nap. He knew that she did it intentionally, if anything, the wicked grin on her face and the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes was a proof enough.

Still, he groaned inwardly, and decided to stay silent at her question.

“...”

Temari covered her mouth with her hand and let out a little laugh,

“I am sorry if I startled you. It’s just that you’re usually so calm for a kid your age. I couldn’t miss this occasion to mess with you a little. I must say, the result was worth it.”

He simply nodded, he didn’t really understand, but in some situations, the best answer was to simply nod and shut up.

Seemingly satisfied with his answer, Temari stopped laughing and took another sip of her tea.

“Tell me. How long at is been since you two know each other?”

“CLose to eight years now.”

“Eight years...Time is so fleeting. Eight years went past so fast. The once little children became young adults and soon you will leave the nest and make your own family.”

“...”

“Kuroha, I will be honest with you. I didn’t really like you at the start.”

She had a faraway look as she told this,

“A broken child. A mentally unstable child. A dangerous child….A murderous child.”

Kuroha stilled at the murderous part but outwardly didn’t show any reactions. This brought a smile to Temari face,

“You do not need to act, Hayate Kuroha, or should I call you...Crimson Devil.”

Kuroha red eyes glowed with a menacing light as he fixated them on her, he had already begun to prepare for teleportation. Temari meanwhile still had a smile on her face, as if the killing intent coming from him had absolutely no effect on her.

“No need to act like that. Anyway, here, I am the queen.”

The moment she said those words, Kuroha immediately felt like all strength left his body. He couldn’t even feel space fluctuations. This situation only happened once...When he was in the laboratory.

“What did you do?”

“As I said, here, I am the queen. You have a teacher named Aizawa right? You could say that my power is far superior version of his. [VOID ZONE], is the name of my quirk. It allows me to create an absolute territory where all quirk I do not approve cannot be used. I can cover a minimum radius of 500 meters. As for the maximum?... Ufufu it’s a secret.”

Kuroha felt his skin crawl and gulped at how out of the world that quirk was. This quirk was basically a game-changer in large scale battle. Imagine two sides of equal power fighting against each other and someone like her suddenly used her quirk. All her enemies will lose their quirk while her allies would still have theirs. A massacre would follow. In short, in a war, her sole presence would change the tide.

He couldn’t help but see this woman in a new light. Truly, in this era, people should never be judged by how they looked. Weirdly, being in this situation allowed him to calm himself. If she truly wanted to harm him, he would have no way of escaping. As such stressing over it was just a waste of time.

Temari, on the other hand, was rather surprised, lights of praise dancing in her eyes. She knew that Kuroha was rather calm for his age but being able to calm down so fast in such a situation was rather praiseworthy. Her power was so scary that no elders lived in this house. No, she wasn’t even allowed in any official gathering because they were all so scared of her.

‘My little girl really knows how to make her choice.’

“Kuroha, you represent a danger for my family, a danger for my beloved daughter. But, do you want to know why I never made you leave her? Why did I allow you to use your quirk and enter this house as you wish? Because be it as a person, as mother or as the lady of the Yaoyorozu house, you’re basically perfect.”

She paused a little and sighed,

“I do not have information about you before you became Sir Nighteye son. But, the Kuroha I know is someone who grew from being a broken child to someone somewhat complete and who could function in society. Even though you are a murderous kid, your goal is noble and you never attacked someone innocent or out of greed. Just those fact are enough for me to feel an immense amount of respect for you as a person.”

She took a sip and continued,

“As a mother, I saw how your relationship with my little Momo advanced, I was also here when you first rejected her. I was upset, but also grateful. Upset because you made my baby cry, and grateful because your rejection made me understand that you weren’t the kind of man to simply use a girl then throw her away. You take relationships very seriously, and I am sure that as long as Momo stays loyal to you, you’ll never betray her. Of course, there’s your relationship with Himiko Toga. An equally dangerous child. But, you have enough control on her so it’s alright.”

After saying this, she put back her teacup and took a deep breath. The atmosphere around her immediately changed,

“As the first lady of the Yaoyorozu, your qualifications are more than enough. Not only for the obvious reason that the little Suzuka must have given you, but more importantly...because you have the potential to become... a JOKER.”

Kuroha immediately keyed on those words,

“What do you mean? What is a joker?”

Temari hesitated a little before finally giving the answer.