It was neither here nor there regarding whether he cared that people asked him. It was just that no one ever had and it struck him, after all this time, that finally someone did. He thinks, though Hashirama had also never asked, that his elder brother knew. Others, he suspected, because it may have been considered invasive. As Yondu mentioned.

"Let them jump to conclusions," he observes the other for a moment. Adjusts the fur collar around him as the wind picked up for but a moment. Fingers kept their grip there a little while longer before they returned from whence they came: his arms surprisingly not crossed over his chest for once but laying comfortably in his lap. "your actions will speak loudly enough. Besides, people will always talk whether you inform them otherwise or not."

This is how he operates, at least. "But these?" A pinky pointed toward them, "there is ceremony to it. I've thought of making them permanent many times, but." And it would make sense that he would. A pragmatic and dutiful person like him having time to put this on and take it off every single day? "but the ritual gives me time to remember why."

A beat, and a snort. "You really would blend well with the Inuzuka clan but unfortunately its just ink." Ink that holds fast given he's a water user, lmao. "but they are scars of remembrance." He'll point to each one as he speaks, "for my brother Kawarama," one cheek, "and Itama," the other cheek, "and the life I took in recompense," chin.