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"Xing-shu was born as your average tenth son of a Daimyo, so far down the line that he never really worried about it as a young child. Neither did his father, who was too busy with his responsibilities as a lord and with the children who would one day inherit the nation to spend any time or affection on him. Occasionally he would catch the attention of his father, but only because as a child he displayed the sign of the Land of Noodles rare bloodline limit which made him potentially a valuable asset to the nation.

The peace of his youth was short-lived, though. By the time he was nine, his many half-siblings began to die in mysterious or conspicuous ways, slowly but surely clearing out the path to inheriting the country in front of him and sometimes even behind him. During this time, tutors were quietly assigned to fill up his day with teaching him politics and his father fell ill from a sudden disease. At fourteen, his father finally died of what had weakened him over the past few years, and in rapid succession his other half-brothers and sisters died in various accidents. Fourteen year old Xing-Shu inherited the throne, and the wife of the lord became Lady-reagent of the Land of Noodles.

For a short time, his mother ruled in his name, and the young Xing-shu remained trapped in the Land of Noodle's palace as an easily accessible figurehead. His Lady Mother had ideas for the country, plans to make it a great nation, and for that reason she began gathering a mercenary army of shinobi to change the Land of Noodles to a military nation (and therefore grant herself far more power than she currently possessed). Unfortunately for her, this plan never had the chance to bloom. While riding out to negotiate with other small countries she hoped to rally behind herself, her caravan was waylaid by bandits, and in the attack she was killed, leaving Xing-Shu alone to rule the shocked nation. His short encounter with the nukenin in the palace (who were quietly dismissed by the other politicians surrounding him) reignited the fascination he'd had with shinobi as a child. His position made the previous plan his mother had for him impossible, as he could never be the Land of Noodle's greatest soldier if he was also the only surviving member of its leadership, but for him it was an escape from the total loneliness and sudden, crushing responsibility dropped on him.

Xing-Shu dreamed of being a shinobi, of learning to activate his bloodline limit and becoming a hero who had adventures like the ones he'd heard of from tales of other shinobi and of the nukenin he'd briefly met. He dreamed also of meeting the one special person who would allow him to fully awaken his abilities, and who would necessarily become his permanent and close companion. The freedom, companionship, and perhaps even love, promised from his kekkai genkai and the life of a shinobi helped him cope with the quiet and lonely life of a daimyo, and with the loss of his large family in such a short period of time and at such a young age.

Between his lessons in politics, the determined young man demanded to be taught by the shinobi that passed through the lands. There was no way to dedicate the leader of the Land of Noodles to an actual training program for ninja, and even should he have found the time the risk associated with even the easiest program was too great a danger. Instead, he had to take individual lessons from the shinobi willing to share knowledge for the pay that the Land of Noodles could afford. The training was incomplete and inefficient, but it allowed him to hold on to his dreams of becoming a shinobi and therefore allowed him to focus on his other responsibilities, rather than give in to despair or run away.

Unfortunately for those who hoped indulging him would allow him to move on from his childish dream, at sixteen one of the shinobi teaching him mentioned that some shinobi came to be known by certain aliases rather than their own name, and Xing-Shu decided to change his name (the Great and Deadly and Mysterious) Hotohori. His advisers and those around him quickly learned to call him that during any time which wasn't an official meeting with another daimyo. Although vexing, they considered it a small price to pay for a leader.

Despite his eccentricity, Hotohori proved to be a good leader for the Land of Noodles, establishing more noodle routes than before and improving relationships with many of the smaller countries that had been ignored by his parents. Both his attractive, young face and his unusually sunny and bright personality (and his tendency to spend as much time with his people rather than in the palace as he could) made him very popular with the citizens of the Land of Noodles, too. His age, eccentricities, and unyielding nature when it came to decisions he made about his nation made other daimyo disdain and dislike him, but his cleverness prevented the Land of Noodles from suffering because of it.

Like his mother, Hotohori shows an interest in forming a shinobi village of some sort for the Land of Noodles as well, but only for purposes of dealing with domestic threats and as an alternate income source (and so that he might be more closely involved with shinobi matters), but he's yet to find enough people with acceptable ability, resources, and motivation to establish one. For the moment, he considers himself the Land of Noodles' primary shinobi, and usually takes jobs usually given to shinobi when it comes from his village. Should the mission be too dangerous or difficult for himself alone his country will then hire out other shinobi from different nations to support his efforts...but it's extremely rare to have a mission he's not involved with.

Of note, his mother originally intended to teach him to knead chakra so that he could access his ability, but she intended to secure a position of power and finish his other training before doing that, as she feared his bloodline limit would make him an easy target for assassins if it were revealed to the public before he was ready. She never explained to him that the first part of his ability requires the ability to knead chakra, so he has focused on building himself up physically instead of learning to control chakra."