One man's trash... [P]

Flesh and steel were the only two stimuli Lucian had experienced for the past four hours. He smelled naught but the pungent iron of blood, which permeated the air around where he worked. Through his hands passed only cold inhuman steel slowly bending to his will. At first glance his work looked to be much like the drones of Kumogakure who drifted by him at regular intervals completing inane tasks. 

However, were one to look closer they would see something strikingly different. As opposed to the seemingly mindless drones around him, Lucian’s work involved thought. More over it required creativity and mental agility. The task he worked towards completing was not one someone could be told how to complete. Rather, it was a task that required one to feel and know. Such is the nature of art. No matter how much instruction one gets if they do not truly have a vision their mind then the art lacks that much needed spark. 

It was a spark which the boy from the far off Volcano village now tried to instill in his work. The nature of his work? A single humanoid frame made from the scrap metal of a leveled village. The steel of a once proud city reformed anew, Lucian found the whole notion fitting. He had been taking the steel he needed from a large scrap heap that steadily grew as he sat in front of it. Workers from all over the village constantly brought more and more scrap leaving the boy with endless material. 

Near the beginning of the construction of his puppet’s frame he had taken an interest in the civilians and even ventured to strike up conversation. However, it appeared they did not hear him or were not interested in conversation, odd. Though as the hours dragged on and he became more engrossed with his work the workers dropped out of his frame of attention entirely as if they were nothing more than a building or some other inanimate object.

Over the course of the last hour or so Lucian had put the finishing touches of the puppet’s structural skeleton. Standing at a height well above Lucian’s own and comparable to his traveling companion, Taios. The puppet itself did not look too intimidating yet without its guts, but that did not worry Lucian in the slightest. It did one no good to rush the creative process. Better to have a puppet he is happy with than one he will constantly find fault in. Pushing himself from the ground where he sat next to the puppet he took a few steps back.

Looking down at the skeleton it felt strange as if it were some alien body. Lucian, trying to to shake off the memory of a body he had pulled out of the scrap metal when searching for a properly sized sheet of steel, rose his right hand towards the prone puppet. If he had created the puppet correctly thus far the skeleton should be moveable via the use of chakra threads. With a short burst of chakra threads shot forth from his hands and down to the frame. Tentatively pulling his hand back he almost jumped back himself as the automaton rose at the beckoning of his hand. 

Standing across from his empty puppet, Lucian’s mind’s eye began to fill out the puppet. He could see it now. Yes, he was moving in the right direction, finally. Allowing the puppet to settle back on the ground he detached the chakra threads and stooped down next to his creation once again. He still needed to define the shoulder a bit more. Yes, that was what needed to be done. Losing himself to his work it would be quite easy to sneak up on the newest guest of Kumogakure. The boy really did have a bad habit of losing situational awareness in the worst of places, but such was the nature of many genin.

Stepping out from the kage building Youka would turn his gaze all around to see just how well the third and final district was being built. He had taken this last construction very seriously as this was the area meant for not only himself but the ones that had something to offer and chose to join him willingly. Out of everything in the village this was the most uniform in it's buildings and paths. Everything looked the same no matter where your gaze turned, it was perfection in its purest form.

During the building process he usually built the walls first and didn't allow the others to see what the other side looked like as they were always sectioned off and would never be allowed to move to a different burrow. This time however he allowed the inside to be built first while the foundation for the last wall was built. He wanted all to know what they had turned down and that there would be no way of them ever reaching the inner sanctum during the course of their natural lives.

It took a lot of manpower and time to finish but once it was done he would be able to speak to the masses and guide their lives to a much better place than where they had previously been growing stagnant. Walking through the village he began scanning every civilian through the walls eyes to ensure each person was pulling their weight. It was a very tiring job but someone had to do it and while it did stress his eyes to channel so much information it would also go a long way to protect his village. Within seconds he had located the one known as Lucian whom had wandered off after speaking towards the scrap pile he had mentioned earlier. Sure enough the male was still there, building something. With a smile on his face Youka would begin whistling as he made his way towards the males location.

It took a decent amount of time to walk from the third sector to the second which caused him to wonder why he had walked in the first place when he could have easily ran skipped or hopped and been there in no time. Turning the corner to where the accumulated metal and things were he would see the male standing simply staring up at whatever it was he was creating from the rubble.

"What ya go there buddy?"

Had Lucian not recognized the voice that called behind him he may have lashed out at the man. He hated being called buddy. However, he did indeed recognize the voice, it was that of Youka, the man he had met earlier in the morning-the leader of Kumogakure. It was indeed lucky he had manners and respect so ingrained in his psyche or he may have just made the mistake of his life. Though, as it was Lucian did not immediately respond to Youka. Rather he finished smoothing out the left shoulder of the puppet, which took a few seconds more than was really polite.

Upon completing the work on the shoulder he stood up and turned around to face Youka in a smooth fluid motion. Yoke's rag doll-like appearance still unsettled him. Yet Lucian was still able to speak, which he did in a matter of fact way like making a puppet was an everyday monotony.

"Oh, I'm just working on creating puppet." Pausing his extended is right hand towards the puppet on the ground and with the application of chakra threads made the puppet jump to life and stand next to him looking something like a six foot three terminator, or it would if terminators were a thing. "As you can see this puppet is rather unique insofar as it is made from steel as opposed to wood. It makes for much stronger frame." 

There was not much else to say. He would leave Youka to conjecture as to how Lucian was able to form the puppet so seamlessly without the tools of a blacksmith. In the shinobi world one did not simple give away valuable personal information. Certain people would no doubt use it to some evil end. And, though Youka allowed them to stay in Kumogakure and use it's resources, Lucian did not know him in the slightest. Thus, he did not trust him in the slightest either.

Youka waited...then he waited some more..then he waited again for what seemed like seconds! Who let their host wait for seconds before answering a question. After Lucian had finished admiring his work he finally turned on a heel and spoke to the gracious host. After the male finished speaking a chuckle full of life and vibrancy escaped his mouth which contrary to his looks, looked like it should have killed him. He did think it weird that he was allowing one he just met, that could possibly be a enemy to use his scraps to fuel a puppets design. While he hadn't seen many puppet master he knew that they were capable of dangerous things.

"Ah, I see...I would ask how you were able to do this without actually you know...using tools to move the metal and like around. There's at least 12 bodies in that pile as well, how have you not ran across flesh and organs?"

It was a honest question as Youka was confused as to how the puppet wasn't dripping blood at this poit. He didn't even want to ask how the males had formed the frame, as they were just growing up in this new relationship, too many questions could seem suspicious. The three orbs he had were now hovering just above his head, rotating in a clockwise manner as if he had a halo. He had three down and only six more to go sadly.

"So tell me more about yourself Lucian, you seem a lot more calm and collected than your friend."

Youka would let the males cryptic answer go unquestioned, he understood secrets were secrets and one couldn't exactly expect the other divulge everything about themselves to strangers. He would simply nod his head as if he understood while listening to Lucian speak on how he was removing the organs and the like and setting them in a separate pile.

"How does Funkagakure actually run if you don't mind me asking as well, you don't seem to have your senses too offended by what you are seeing here which begs the question; is Funka much worse than this?"

Youka would wait for an asnwer before of course continuing conversation. He would look over the puppet some more while the male spoke admiring the craftsmanship that went into metalworking and bending. He would turn his head to the side and laugh once more at how the male explained his traveling partner before aain turning silent and listening to the male explain his heritage and what he was about. It was indeed nice to meet someone who was as calm and collected as the Nazar, it was a nice change of pace from the every day he was used to.

"I completely understand, there's no need to explain anything to me about what you're doing of the like. I freely offered you entry without asking for anything so if you feel as if I'm asking to much ever, just let me know. As far as me, I just recently got here myself not to long ago. Everything you see here is because of me and another associate I had for the time."

He would let the Nazar take that as he may and ask questions on it if he wanted. At this point multiple messengers appeared reporting to Youka that each district had unanimously decreed that Youka would be their new Kage. Well ok, there were some that had said no, but those people were quickly silenced and removed of their duties, and life. With a quick nod to them all they would bow once calling him some weird thing a "Raikage". He didn't really like it but whatever if that's how they were with their customs he wouldn't say no to it.

"Huh, well I guess they finally are ready to begin the road to understanding and being a better village."

It became abundantly clear that Youka knew next to nothing about the volcano village. Perhaps were Lucian more proud of his village he may have taken offense. Rather he simply took it at face value and figured the history of Funkagakure was not very well known. Relaxing his right hand he allowed the puppet to return slowly to the ground before releasing the chakra threads that once animated the metallic husk. Then, and only then, did he respond to Youka's inquiry about the nature of Funkagakure.

"Run...Yeah, it is not exactly run. I suppose we have a kage or something like that. However, I have never personally seen him or her. Truth be told I would not be surprised if our leader hid away in fear of the many denizens of the Volcanoes. I can't be certain either way." Pausing for a second the boy contemplated how to describe Funkagakure to Youka. "And, honestly, from what I have seen Kumogakure is tamed chaos while Funkagkure is chaos itself. People are cut down in the streets and body heaps are a common site along with the cannibals who eat from them. In a nutshell, this village here..." He motioned the surrounding village. "Is a pleasant change. Is it still gruesome to behold? Sure, but it is a few steps better than Funkagakure by my reckoning."

Shrugging mostly to himself, Lucian fell silent. There was little point in trying to sugarcoat the reality of the Volcano village. After all, the first step on the road to enlightenment was being objective. Naturally, the boy would nod along with Youka as he spoke as it was the only respectable thing to do.

Though, as Youka spoke, Lucian began to become a bit more suspicious. Two men? Two men wrought all this destruction? Was such a thing even possible? Surely the man was exaggerating. Yes, that had to be it. No way two men could take down an entire village. Perhaps 200 could if they were organized. Despite his curiosity, the Nazar boy kept such musings to himself as a group of messengers arrived. Why they needed more than one messenger? That was beyond Lucian. However, the message was clear as the messenger themselves spoke rather loudly. Youka was now the leader of what was left of Kumogakure.

"Congratulations, if you do not mind me asking what is the vision for this village? Surely there is something more than rubble and bodies in its future."

Yes, Lucian was grasping at straws. He wanted to see some kind of humanity. He had traveled across the sea and he hoped to find something different. It could be anything, just a hint that there was light in humanity.

Listening to the male describe what Funkagakue was caused his mid to go into over drive with all the possibilities there were there to explore and dissect. It would indeed be a wonderland to behold, something that he wouldn't be able to do with Kumogakure simply because the village was not so far gone that that kind of punishment was needed. He would of course nod his head in turn to what Lucian was saying so it didn't seem he was tuning the male out at all. However he couldn't help but notice his mind was becoming cloudy once more, as if something else was trying to occupy his mind again. It was a different kind of feeling than when the Demon tried to take over his mind. He knew that aspect of his mind was still resting from the exertion of controlling the body for so long. His concentration was interupted by a voice in his head that he had to answer.

"I know a very specific brew of decay to kill you both if you don't let me out of here."

What the fuck was that, Youka had never heard that voice in his head, not saying he was crazy or anything, but he knew all the voices that were normally roaming around his head fighting for control.

"Who the hell are you?"

There was silence again in the void of his mind just in time for him to hear what the Nazar was saying and answer it. It was on what he wanted to do with the village now that it had been claimed as his. His face would light up with a childish glee as he enjoyed explaining these things to people.

"Well, my friend, I intend to have us all work as one mind and body. Sure each one of us have our own meager existence that we want to fulfill, but that gets in the way of the grand picture. So my goal is to have us all work towards one goal, which honestly is to just have this village thrive as one unit all marching to the same tune. I don't want this village to have to ever experience the pains of loss and defeat again. So I will teach them how to stand for themselves and fight for Kumo's goals and aspirations. I know you must think that it's a crazy notion, especially from the one that did all this, but I simply want to get this village back to it's glory days. I just have my own way of going about this, which of course will have some birthing pains."

Again there was that voice scratching at the back of his head. It was calling for him, with a slightly gurgled voice as if it was constantly choking on something. The voice was soft as well however as if it carried life with it, indeed it was strange.

"How dare you speak to me as an equal, your kind has no rights to my power. I was finally free to do as I pleased and once again your pathetic race has sealed me into another weak body. I will rot you from the inside out you miserable filth."

Youka would laugh in the void of his mind at the empty voice and it's threat. It was something his body was used to as the Demon did it constantly to his body all during his time of occupying it. There wasn't a poison that he didn't have a immunity built up to s the challenge of what could be done to him was too high to take.

"Hmm I think I know who you are now, and I accept your challenge then, show me what you can do to this body that hasn't already be done. I'll beat every concoction you make, we'll see what happens."

In the confines of his mind the only thing that he heard was a scoff before silence fell once again in his mind and only one word was echoed back.

"Fine."

In the real world as that word was spoken Youka's left hand would slowly begin to decay from the finger tips slowly eating away at the material till just the tips of his bone fingers was all that was left. Looking down at it, Youka would let out another hearty laugh rubbing his face with his new found power. He laughed only to hide the extreme pain that had just racked his body from the eyes of Lucian. This new road was going to be very painful, he didn't know if he was ready fro this, every second the decay rose up his hand slowly still eating everything away. He had to talk to semi take his mind off of the pain.

"From what I've seen of you so far, you don't seem to fit the theme of Funkagakure. you're easily turned to some of the more grotesque things. It's subtle but I can tell that it's there in you. So why have you stayed in a village like that for so long?"

One mind, one body, one. Where had he heard these things before? Racking his mind he sorted through memory upon memory. His mind hearkened back to his childhood. Yes, that was where he had heard such words. Edna, the old crazy member of the Nazar clan. The old loon spent her time away from meditation and teaching with her bees. She loved those bees. Lucian, on the other hand, hated them. Perhaps hated was not the correct, no, feared was better. As a child he had made the mistake of straying too close to Edna's hives. That night he spent the twilight hours nursing his seemingly endless stings. It was on that day that he learned to fear the bugs. 

Like all fears Lucian's fear of bees needed to be faced. Thus, when it came time for him to help Edna he dreaded the day. It took all his willpower to not openly resist the task. Though, after an afternoon with Edna he found that the Bees were actually quite docile when unprovoked. It was also this day that Edna informed him of the way a bee hive worked. They all followed the queen and worked for her betterment. thousands upon thousands of bees working towards one cause. Indeed, Youka's goal for Kumogakure appeared to be that of a bee hive, hive mind and all. Kumogakure would become a hive and it seemed that Youka planned to be the queen. Or...something like that...

Luckily, Lucian was pulled from his circular thinking by the change of Youka's hand. And, this change was not good. Rather, it was a physical shriveling. The man's hand began to blacken as if bitten by frost. First purplish like a bruise then straight black. It was like watching the decay of a dead animal in fast forward. Though, instead of the pain Lucian would expect, Youka laughed. Oh, yes, Youka was just a bit mad. That much was for sure. Not wanting to be rude the Nazar stood quietly slightly wrinkling his nose as the man's laughing fit went on before he finally spoke again. Another question, another reasonable question. 

"The volcano village is my home. As much as I despise the acts that some of my fellow villagers perform I would not leave. For my entire life it has been my home and I would not betray my fellow clansmen in such a way. After all, me leaving would effect more than myself. Surely you know what it feels like to have a home. Everyone has a home, why did you leave yours?"

In waiting for an answer Lucian allowed his mind to wander back to the steel skeleton on the ground by his side. He had the frame done. Next up would be the chakra jet system. The springs were already installed in each arm and leg giving the limbs a deadly punch. The final touch would be the small metal blades he made back in Funkagakure. The blades currently sat in his travel bags, which lay at the head of the puppet. Stringing the blades would be what made the puppet what it was. It would make the metal puppet into the perfect machine. Oh...the shows he will perform.

Activating one of his many healing jutsu that didn't require hand signs his hand would begin to heal and fight back the decay forming new skin and tissue once more over the bone underneath. Sadly whatever it was that the bijuu had done to him was also eating away at his insides and chakra as well. He could feel his power waning just slightly as it made it's rounds across his entire being. A slight frown would appear on his face just briefly as he thought of all the negative aspects this would have on his daily routine.

Reaching into the pocket on the back of his pants he would pull out a flask of sorts and unscrew the top before knocking it back and taking a quick drink. It was a concoction of his own design, something the Demon had no hand in making. It was a mixture of a varying few snake venoms and small doses of other poisons distilled into a cocktail. It was how he tested various poisons on himself but also kept his immune system kicking and staying strong. Walking closer to the Nazr Youka would offer him the flask with a smile.

He didn't know how old the male was or if he could honestly drink or if he would accept it. However it was rude to drink in front of someone without offering them a drink as well. He would look over his shoulder to the open area behind him and remember it was time for him to start making his rounds as well throughout the village.

"Why don't we take a walk, if you don't mind of course. I have things I must attend to to ensure everything runs smoothly even while I'm not around. We an talk more while I make my rounds."

Turning on his heel and beginning to walk if Lucian would agree they would head out into the second district of Kumogakure. They would pass a group of adults, about thirty or so going through a indoctrination class teaching them the ways to better themselves by thinking as one instead of for themselves, it was one of about nine classes they would have to attend before it all sank in and converted them. There would be a reprieve of silence for a moment as Youka thought about how to answer Lucians question on why he left his home. However, first he would catalog what the male said about staying true to his village even if he didn't understand or respect the things they did in it. That was the mark of a true and loyal ninja, something he hoped his own would aspire to and follow.

"I'm not of any village, I grew up in a monastery of sorts on the borders of various villages. It was burned and my father killed in front of me. After I was taken as a trophy and taught the ways of my captors till eventually one day I could escape which I did. Everything else is sort of water under the bridge as I tend to forget most of what happens as it happens."

He would laugh at his last remark as it was actually very true, he was not one for particulars only action and the here and now. At this point they would be passing the wall of eyes again as each one darted constantly picking up every face and movement that happened inside the village.

"What do ya think?"

Of course he would be talking about the wall as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.