Back from where Hattori was from, sea snakes were known to be a delicacy. Were good in soup, with noodles and broth. But as fine as a meal some thought them to be, they were undeniably dangerous and could kill a wolf with a single bite. Most knew to avoid snakes, unless they had a good reason to approach, but it had long since been apparent to Hattori that Tate was not most. And that if somewhere in the back of his mind he knew better, then he decided not to listen to that voice of reason.

With a sigh passing his lips, he squinted against the sun as he approached. The threads of his migraine remained, but it was more tolerable now and thus the sunlight didn't vex him as much as it had before. Good thing his fortress was so shady, huh?

"Unless you intend to kill it, leave it be." Hattori warned, just as the sea snake lunged forward, aiming to take a bite at the Potatoe's paws. His potate-toes, if you will.

Tate and reason didn't really get along, at least not right now. Maybe in due time, but well... he was a yearling. The snake caught his eye, and he was going to investigate, is all. Investigate... yeah, that's what he was doing. He'd done a fair bit of investigating, now that he had more freedom. Some of it was for the better, some of it... ahem probably wasn't. Only good trouble, Potato would assure anyone who asked. Only good trouble. The boy could also hope that no one asked. Had he poked the snake? Well... yeah, he'd poked it with a stick, thinking that it bought him enough distance to be clear of the snake's mouth. Apparently not, and the boy sheepishly set the stick down as Hattori approached. Tate clumsily stumbled backwards, tripping a bit over paws he still hadn't grown into, narrowly avoiding the predator's attack. "Ah shit," he grumbled. "If I kill it, can I eat it after?" The snake had tried to bite him, after all.

Hattori would have sighed, if he had a moment to spare. Of course Tate had to go and antagonise it, poke it with a stick as though that was the reasonable thing to do. The fact the sea snake was ashore, even if not far from the water, did not bode well for either of them, At sea it would likely swim away and leave them alone, but here where it was close to stranded, much slower to slither about, it had no choice but to defend itself. Hattori could not blame the reptile, but he couldn't just let it kill his (sort of) nephew either.

Snapping into action, Hattori darted to the side, giving its head the widest of berths as possible. Grabbing a hold of its tail, he felt the snake's muscles coil and twist beneath its skin. It was a powerful reptile, able to brave even sea storms and thus holding on without getting bitten in the process would be far easier said than done.

"By all means.." Hattori rumbled through gritted teeth as he dragged it back with the end of its tail. Anything to give Tate more room to move, to get him further from its venomous fangs.

Tate had started it, and he'd finish it too... or something like that. With a toss of his head, he regained his composure, trying to figure out how best to go about this. In the meantime, his uncle had hauled the thing back, giving him enough clearance to right himself. That was for the best. Potato managed to clear his head in regards to the situation, setting himself up properly to take stock of it all. The head, that was the dangerous end. He couldn't get bitten. Not only did Tate have to worry about that, the clumsy yearling needed to not get wrapped up in the whole rope made of muscle thing, because if it managed to tangle him up that would also be bad. "How do I... do that?" Tate tried to stay nimble, light on his feet. From where he stood, he couldn't even tell where the vital points on the reptile were, and like... how was he even meant to grab them? His brow crunched in frustration at the thought of it. With as much care as he could muster, the yearling darted forward and attempted to put the middle of the snake in his mouth and chomp. The boy should have enough space to not have the reptile round on him with that dangerous-ass head, but... what then? What came after that? Maybe he was in over his head.

It was harder to hold onto the snake than one might think. It twisted and coiled, hissing and spitting as it whipped this way and that, doing everything it could in its power to try and free itself. It was a precarious situation for the both of them, all of Tojo's healers were some distance way, even if they managed to arrive on scene fast it would likely still be too late. And that's on the assumption they would have been able to do anything to help at all. Tate seemed unsure to strike and soon found himself biting around the snake's middle. Not quite a safe bet, as it had enough of its length at its disposal to attempt to slash around and give Tate a solid bite on his muzzle. Seeing this coming and with some degree of muted alarm, Hattori let go of its tail and rushed forward, stomping down on the upper part of its neck to pin its head down.

"See here, if it cannot raise its head it cannot bite. Kill it, quickly."