The Aftermath [Invite Only]

In the office of the Kazekage, a hole would open in mid-air. The space around it twisted and warped, resembling plastic when you folded it. The hole opened wider, and something began to emerge, unraveling itself from the twisting void. It fully formed, revealing itself to be Alec. The hole closed and there he stood, still with his sarcastic grin; the same grin that was upon his face as he murdered the Raikage. If Artemis wasn't here yet, he knew she would be soon.

The blood-soaked cloth that was on his hat bearing the Raikage's symbol was tied to the Kane Katana, strapped to his left side. Alec, after pulling his blindfold back on, put his walking stick in front of him, propping both hands atop of the polished stick as if it were a cane; a usual stance that he took. It had been an interesting set of events in only his first couple of days here in the new country. Already he had a few murders under his belt, including a village leader. There was still the matter of whoever that was lurking around in the background, but if he ever saw that individual again he'd deal with it as it came.

"So, Mits! How are ya. Anything new going on here in the desert? And please tell me you have some sort of air conditioner in this big building of yours somewhere. Loving the heat, but we all have to cool down sometime, ya know?"

Sarcasm. He wondered how she was going to handle the news. It would be an interesting tale to tell....

Flying Thunder God was going to be a technique she had to get used to was what the young female found herself thinking as she moved through the dimensional void that essentially linked her from the spot in Kumogakure she had disappeared in and the spot her father was – apparently Mitsukai’s office as it came into view. Artemis would appear within half a second next to her father, having followed his leaving so quickly from where they had been.

She listened to the words her father spoke to Mitsukai and couldn’t help but giggle: after everything that had just happened the heat should have been the last thing on anyone’s minds… but, then again, this wasn’t exactly her father’s first time with this whole bombing villages, destroying things, and killing people. Which…that thought in itself brought about her own first killing. She still didn’t know how she felt about it. Should she be upset? Should she freak out? She couldn’t bring herself to do either: she felt almost… nothing. It was as if killing was just a part of her and something to be done when the situation deemed it.

So, figuring she would leave her father to explain what all had just happened Artemis plopped herself down on a comfortable nearby couch and stretched out while fidgeting with her fingerless Boom Boom gloves on her hands, all while wondering what Mitsukai’s reaction was going to be to the news about Kumogakure.

Mitsukai looked up from her desk as her grandfather seemed to step out of literally nowhere, followed not even a second later by his daughter Artemis: anyone else would have likely been startled but she had been expecting that exact sort of appearance. She sniffed the air once and rolled her eyes – the smell of blood had suddenly come with them and given that she didn’t see Kinzoku and hadn’t heard any reports of violence within her village she was led to believe that smell came from them. At her grandfather’s remark about air conditioning she chuckled softly while reaching a hand forward and across her desk to one of the many fuuinjutsu seals placed there. A tiny burst of chakra was pushed into said seal, activating it.

The doors to her office closed softly, closing off the room and making it sound proof with the activation of that seal as it spread out across the room, the floor, the walls and the ceiling – the doors would still be able to be opened, however, in case Kinzoku wished to join them. However, Mitsukai wasn’t done as she then repeated the same process with another seal located not more than two inches away further down her desk. This seal activated and it too spread like the other only this one brought with it a comfortable coolness – apparently who ever had this desk before her had thought ahead for those particularly hot days, or perhaps as a way to keep company from roasting alive due to the heat they likely wouldn’t have been used to.

Mitsukai then leaned back into her chair comfortable and looked over first to Artemis sprawled comfortably on a couch and then over to her grandfather. The side of her mouth twitched slightly into a smile though she tried hard to suppress it – she wasn’t happy about the possible deaths of those in Kumogakure, but the way her grandfather was acting did amuse her. “How’s that?”, she remarked simply about the sudden coolness of the room.

“I’m not going to bother to pretend that I don’t know someone died… or at least was injured. I could smell the blood the moment you appeared. So, what happened and whose dead?”, she asked calmly… she was getting good at this calm Kazekage thing.

Alec untied the blood-soaked cloth from the Kane Katana and lie it on the desk before his grand daughter, with the symbol upon it that stood for Raikage. The grin only grew wider as he pulled over a chair and took a seat in it. Alec had been meaning to take some time to devise himself some new editions to his right Hidden Blade and braces, and there was no time like the present. Reaching into his bag, Alec removed a small toolkit that contained many tiny parts and tools. Unzipping the kit and lying it on Mitsukai's desk, Alec began to go to work on what appeared to be a firearm of sorts.

"Well, you know me. I sort of lost myself... What can I say? It's the Kane blood. Though they started with us first... Some of the village goons thought it was a good idea to try tripping the blind guy, so their guts got spilled. Even Art here smashed in a few heads. From there it was the usual, you know... blow up a building here, cut a guy in half there, so fourth so on... Daiko finally showed his face and gave an epic speech about how he was going to 'defeat us' if we didn't leave and 'never come back.' He made the mistake of looking me in the eye. All downhill from that point. I got inside of his head, broke his mind. tried out a sword technique I learned a while back but never got to try on anyone: Dance of the Crescent Moon. He died pretty quickly..."

Alec, his firearm complete, pulled up his right sleeve, attaching this new weapon to the bracer of the Hidden Blade. Testing the blade, it didn't seem to get in the way of the gun, which was good. He next pulled a leather glove from his bag that looked half finished, fitted with metal plates. He slid the glove onto his right hand and continued to fit more metal plates onto it. Being punched with the glove would do someone grave physical damage.

"But, that's not all, grand baby... Someone else was there, lurking around in the shadows. I think they were about to pull a sneak attack. A bitch move... but that's to be expected. And, someone else was there, 3 people. They were tearing the village a new ass. One of them was a Uchiha. He had a form of Sharingan that i've never seen before, and he could cover himself in black fire. There was a little blind girl too, I think she may have been a Holeman.... Last but not least, Ranmaru. The psycho cannibal dude I told you about, when me and Jr leveled Kori. The guy is bad news... and now it looks like he has help. I was going to wander some more, but with maniacs like that out there roaming around, I think i'm going to stick around here, close to you, just in case they decide to come and tear this place up next. I know i'm a bit of a nutjob, but i'm not stupid. I'd be outmatched going up against that kind of power alone..."

Artemis watched as the doors shut seemingly on their own and then felt as the air within the Kazekage’s office began to cool: she grinned slightly and shifted into a more comfortable position so that she could see her father and Mitsukai speak, and watch her father work on either improving his weapon or building a new one. She remained silent, figuring she would just allow her father to explain everything that had happened – he had been the one to kill such an important individual after all, and his ability that allowed him to see, the chakra radar, would have meant he saw things that even she likely didn’t… which became apparent when he mentioned the others who had been in the middle of destroying Kumogakure while they were there…

Mitsukai watched as her Aunt Artemis got comfortable on the couch and as her grandfather sat down and pulled out what looked to be a tool kit after laying the blood soaked cloth bearing the symbol of Kumogakure on her desk.

As he went to work on some sort of hidden blade type deal he began to tell her the story of what happened while the pair of them had been in Kumogakure. She listened as he explained how he sort of lost himself, likely due to the firey Kane blood that was all fighter, when some individuals had attempted to trip what they had likely assumed to be a blind man. She remained calm as he went on to explain how a bloodbath ensued and how even Artemis had had smashed a few heads in – something she assumed was likely the girls first kill or kills, though she currently looked exceptionally calm.

The calm expression remained on Mitsukai’s face even as her grandfather went on to mention about how Daiko, after a great deal of violence had happened, finally showed up and spoke of them leaving and never coming back. Mitsukai shook her head even as her grandfather went on to explain how it was that Daiko’s life had come to an end – she had already assumed as such due to the cloth and he grandfather’s mention of him attempting to talk. She was glad to hear that he died quickly though, there was no point in making someone suffer who hadn’t exactly done something to deserve such a torture.

She watched then as her grandfather seemed to finish with the project he had been working on and turned his attention to another before continuing on with his story. This time the calm expression slipped a little: there were others busy attacking the village at the same time her grandfather and Artemis had been there, likely some powerful individuals as her grandfather mentioned what he saw dealing with them. The fact that her grandfather admitted he wouldn’t want to face off against such individuals without back up had her quickly pressing the button her wireless communicator and alerting Kinzoku to beef up security and keep his eyes peeled for anything suspicious and to come to her office as soon as he was capable for an explanation of what was going on – she didn’t want to risk someone somehow over-hearing what she had to say through the communicator.

“Wow… I can’t say I didn’t see the death coming when you explained what happened.”, she said finally as her gaze flickered over to Artemis who seemed to be acting so cool in the face of it all. “However, I’m rather disturbed to hear about these other three… We’ll all have to make sure we watch our backs.”

Alec took back the Raikage cloth and tied it back around the Kane Katana; a trophy of sorts. He opened and closed his right hand several times once he was done putting together what he called the "Metal Cestus." Perfect for caving in someone's face, or deflecting certain attacks headed his way. Alec zipped up his tool kit and put it away again.

"Seriously didn't know you all had those kinds of looney tunes wandering around over here. Especially that Ranmaru character... That guy; the lights are on, but nobody is home, if you catch my drift. Kumo is probably a big flaming hole in the ground by now... Did manage to snag a whole lot of goodies of that Daiko guy though. Let's see what we got here..."

Alec emptied the contents of the loot bag on Mitsukai's desk and the floor in front of him. There were sets of armors, weapons, ninja tools and many other valuable items. He picked up a ring that fell and hit the floor with a plink sound, looking it over a second before sliding it onto the ring finger of his left ungloved hand. The armors he wouldn't really need because of the still trusty Symbiote, but like the cloth tied to his Katana, they would make excellent trophies.

"Art. See something you want, don't be shy. Take it, you deserve it..."

Kinzoku was moving quickly over the rooftops. He was headed swiftly back toward the Administration Complex after the Kazekage asked him to tighten up security, and to keep their eyes peeled for trouble. She asked him to come to the office as soon as possible, so Kinzoku was left to think that something was up. Pedestrians and villagers could see the kid with the black glowing thing on his back moving as fast as his legs would carry him on the rooftops, occasionally scrambling shingles and roofing of certain houses in his haste.

He was into the building, up several floors and within the Kage's office, to see that Alec and Artemis had returned. Kinzoku immediately smelled blood; fresh, as if someone had just been killed, but neither he or Artemis looked or seemed injured. He saw Alec sitting in front of the Kazekage's desk with a pile of items, armors and ninja tools. Kinzoku put 2 and 2 together and came to the conclusion that Alec must have killed someone - possibly even the Raikage - in Kumo. But the question haunting his brain, what he couldn't figure out had to be: how did they get back here so quickly, beneath his notice? Could Alec still do that strange eye warp ability?

"Kazekage?" he said...

Artemis got up off of the couch at her father’s words and wandered over to the pile of goodies that her father had looted off of the Raikage’s body. She wasn’t quite sure exactly why the Raikage had all of this stuff but she wasn’t going to complain. She picked through a few things before she came across a cloak (Jounin Cloak). She picked it up and looked it over for a moment while thinking at first that it was nothing special. Then, as logic dictated that a Kage of all people wouldn’t be caring around something that was entirely useless, she sent a small bit of chakra into the cloak.

She could feel the cloak react beneath her fingers and fueled further by her curiosity she sent a spark of flames to the cloak which seemed to do no damage at all. Grinning she put it on, noticing it was a bit long on her – but that could be fixed later on. “This is nifty!” With the cloak on she could feel the sturdiness of it, meaning that it would likely protect against a fair bit of attacks if they were to hit it. “I want this, it’s like armor!”

So, it would seem that the letter from the Raikage was pointless at this point since there was no Raikage and no longer even a village. She doubted the others that her grandfather had mentioned had left anything standing at all if they were destroying the place like he had explained. All she could do was shake her head before looking towards Kinzoku as he entered in.

While Artemis picked out what she wanted from the pile of loot her grandfather had collected she focused her attention on him. “Well, it would seem that the Raikage is dead. Someone picked a fight with my grandfather and Artemis and it got bloody. When the Raikage showed up he started talking and then made the mistake of looking my grandfather in the eyes… it was downhill from there. However, that’s not why I called you here. My grandfather told me something else, too, something very disturbing. While they were in Kumogakure he saw another group there, a blind young girl he believes to be part of the Holeman clan, a Uchiha from what he had seen, and another fellow who’s got more than few screws loose. They utterly destroyed Kumogakure, wiped it off of the map. Now, I don’t know exactly who this group is or what they want but there is a chance they might eventually find their way here and try the same thing. I want everyone on their toes.”

She finished speaking and glanced over to Artemis as she watched her put on something that looked to be armor - a nice snag given the situation.

Alec could see someone approaching at a high rate of speed through the radar. With all of that chakra on their back, Alec knew without actually focusing on the person that it was Kinzoku. Artemis looked through the stolen loot of the Raikage and decided on a cloak that was resistant to the elements, to which he nodded his head. Kinzoku entered the office in moments and was given the run-down by Mitsukai.

"The one with the screws loose is Ranmaru, the psycho who was in Kori when me and Jr blew the place? He's here now... seeing as he has help with him, this could be bad news. You should know enough about the Holemans from your time in Makkura, and the Uchiha, he has a pair of Sharingan i've never seen before. I'm willing to bet he also has abilities unheard of as well. Keep your eyes open old friend, you never know. They could come this way next."

Alec gathered the rest of the loot and shoved it all back into the bag. He sat back in the chair and crossed a leg, pulling from the cloak a stylish pipe and a bag full of green herbs. After filling the bowl of the pipe with some of the herbs, he applied a bit of chakra to the tips of the fingers on his left hand, snapping his fingers, producing a spark by way of Katon. A peculiar, pungent aroma could be smelled as Alec too a long drag, exhaling it slowly from his lungs through his mouth and nose...

Alec killing the Raikage came as no surprise, so he didn't really show any reaction to that. To hear that there were 3 powerful terrorists on the loose out there somewhere though, this was what made piercing yellow eyes grow a little wider. A Uchiha with a new kind of Sharingan... as if the regular versions of those blasted eyes weren't bad enough. Ranmaru, a crazy psychopath that ate people and also rumored to be the container of more than one Bijuu.... and a Holeman girl, probably the worst of them; a literal walking radar that would heal the both of them should they take any damage. This was grave news indeed.

Would all of them be enough to take them on should they make the journey to the desert? With the way Alec was talking, it sounded like even he had his doubts, even with all of the amazing abilities and his vast battlefield knowledge. It didn't mean he wouldn't try though. Kinzoku had never really known what fear was, and he planned to keep it that way. Kumogakure was gone, erased from the map. Kinzoku would die before he allowed the same to happen to his beloved Sunagakure, even if most of the villagers hated him.

"...I appreciate the bit of intel, Kazekage, Alec. I'll inform Kuro and the rest of the guard. Well keep eyes in all directions... Alec, if you plan to stay here for a while, Holeman told me back in Makkura how he taught you his chakra eye technique, and knowing you, I know you've trained it to it's maximum potential. Meaning you can see anywhere within this entire country at any given time from this very room. If you happen to notice something or someone funny, would you mind relaying it to us through the wireless comms? Your assistance would be much appreciated, old friend..."

After a slight bow to Alec and the Kazekage, and a wave to Artemis, Kinzoku left the office...

[Exit]

Artemis listened as the story was yet again told of what had happened back in Kumogakure. Each time she heard about Ranmaru it made her wonder again and again how the other two put up with him – if he was so crazy wouldn’t he just kill them because it was fun or something? Or did they have some sort of weird leash on the guy? She didn’t know and could only guess: but she hoped they didn’t show up here next.

Fighting had been fun, exciting, and that adventure to Kumogakure had been an interesting one that she would remember for the rest of her life… but she didn’t want to see Mitsukai’s village destroyed. It made her glad they had left the way they did, a way that no one could have followed them or discovered where they were heading too. Hopefully, that would keep anyone from looking in Sunagakure’s direction for some time to come.

Figuring she was going to have to do some tailoring to the Jounin Cloak so that it fitted her right she returned a wave to Kinzoku as he left before motioning upstairs. “I’ll be upstairs in my room if you need me… gonna go do some sewing.”, she explained before taking off out of the office – she knew better than to go wandering around now, especially with some psychopaths on the loose.

-Exit-

“All we can do for now is hope they turn their sights elsewhere, and prepare in case they don’t.”, Mitsukai said simply. It was the truth; everyone should remain prepared at all times, on their guard so they didn’t end up being sneak attacked.

Mitsukai leaned back in her chair with a sigh, rubbing at her temples for a moment at the thought of everything – it seemed she had taken the leadership position at the wrong moment in time. “Yeah, with you sticking around the village we’ll definitely be able to know if someone’s coming long before they get here, and since you already know what those three look like that’ll be a bonus…”

Mitsukai gave a nod to Kinzoku as he turned and left and then stared at the map on the wall across from her desk which still showed a tiny representation of Kumogakure on it in all of its glory. “Suppose that’ll have to be updated…”, she said offhandedly. “Did you see any survivors? Anyone that might be coming here looking for help?”, she doubted such a thing, but it was still possible – it also brought up her thought of Delcan as she wandered if he had left the village or not and how she was going to break such news about his cousin if he hadn’t…

She then looked over to Artemis as she got up and said she was heading upstairs: she was glad to hear that Artemis didn't want to go wandering around since things were far too dangerous for that now.

Alec nodded his head to Kinzoku; he was already ahead of him on that. Until this matter was cleared up with Ranmaru and his two cronies, he'd keep his eyes in all directions. If it came down to him having to fight, Alec would do just that. He had no idea how he'd fare in a fight against the 3, but that only made the sarcastic grin appear on his face just thinking about the chance. If the desert was going to be his final resting place, well... at least he went down defending his daughter and grand daughter.

"There were plenty of survivors. We only attacked those goons and the village shinobi that tried to stop us. I saw huge crowds of people leaving when the booms started. As far as where they were headed... no clue. I could have watched the directions they traveled, but in the excitement I wasn't really thinking about it. I'm on the look out though, if I see anyone headed in this direction i'll be sure to let you know..."

Alec reached back into his bag while more green tinted smoke trailed away from his blindfolded head, rummaging around a while before he came out again with the small ANBU radio that he swiped from Daiko. He slid the device across the desk towards Mitsukai.

"I looked this over while I was inside of Kamui, on the way back here. It's another version of the Wireless Comm, except you can't hear what's said on this one through the regular Comm. I think Daiko used this to talk to his ANBUs... thought it didn't do him much good in the end, heh... Do you have anything like that here? It could save you the trouble of having to keep calling Kinzoku to the office so you don't accidental spill something best left behind closed doors on the regular party line..."

ANBU radio:

Mitsukai nodded to what her grandfather said: if people wanted to come here they were more than welcome and would be afforded the protection they needed and if not that was fine, too. “That’s alright; I’m sure the majority of them have likely gone to Konoha – those two villages had a long standing friendship for a while now. But, anyone who comes here is more than welcome to, so long as they don’t cause trouble of course.”

She then focused her attention onto the ANBU radio that her grandfather pulled out. She looked it over carefully and shook her head. “No, I don’t have anything like this, but it would certainly come in handy. I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone over-hearing anything, like you said.”

The herbs he was smoking began to make his mind wander. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have a couple more bodies over on this side of the ocean. He also began to think this "taking over a village" idea was a good one after all, thought it wasn't going to happen when it came to Kumo anymore. Perhaps somewhere where there were very few people. It would make a perfect place to go and chill out if the heat got too hot. Whoever it was he sent for would run the place. Jr? No... Jr had too bad of an attitude; too bad of a temper. He made a good Kage in Makkura, but he didn't really want the job, and everyone looked to Alec as the true leader.

"I'm going to send for Kurai, and his sister Hikari... it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a couple more people over here we can trust, just in case. I'm also going to reconsider my other idea of taking another village, and possibly putting Kurai in charge of it. You're more versed with the landscape over here Mits, any ideas?"

Somewhere right in the middle of it all, so that they could stay up on current events, preferably. With his Symbiotic ability to take on other forms, Alec would be able to skate right through it all, unless discovered by a versed tracker... but he'd deal with that when the time came.

Mitsukai tilted her head slightly when Alec brought up having Kurai and Hikari come over as well: they were two very strong individuals, and the sensory that they had would come in handy just as Alec's would. But, where to put them? If Alec wanted to put them in charge of another village without a lot of issue then that would leave... Kusagakure. The same place the letter she had recieved earlier spoke of when it came to the Kage Summit happening. A land of peace; a nuteral location.

"Hm... I recieved a letter not long ago about a Kage Summit in Kusagakure. It's a nuteral location. You could send Kurai and Hikari there: I'm sure Kurai would do an excellent job leading that place, and with the sensory the two have nothing would be able to get the sneak on them. Plus, it'd be some extra allies to have around for when the Kage Summit goes down at the end of the week like it's supposed to."

Yes, that was definitely the best laid plan of action and she looked forward to having some more people around she knew and trusted with her life in case things got hairy. "I'd send for them as soon as you can... I think I need a break for a little while, so if there isn't anything else I think I'll head upstairs and get myself a cup of hot chai tea."

[Exit unless Prevented]