One man's trash... [P]

What is ruder than drinking in front of someone and not offering a drink? As it turns out the answer was very simple and readily available. It was ruder not to accept a gift. There was some saying about a horse and all that, but the genin could not recall it off the top of his head. Disregarding his poor memory, Lucian found that he was left with a simple decision, accept Youka's drink offer. Normally the boy would outright refuse to drink anything that may contain alcohol of any type. One did not attain enlightenment by poisoning their body and clouding the mind. It simply was not done.

However, despite his beliefs the boy's manners ruled over him. Taking the flask he did not allow himself to smell whatever the substance was. This became his first mistake. Perhaps had he given the concoction a smell he would have been more prepared and maybe even had second thoughts. Though, by the time such thoughts passed through his mind the cool liquid was running down his throat. Well, it was cool for a second and only a second. Then it all changed. The original cool feeling transformed into something else. It felt as if he had accidentally poured lava down his throat. When at last the liquid settled in his stomach it felt as if a living thing were jumpin about in his stomach.

Grimacing slightly, Lucian handed the flask back to Youka. It could have been worse. Actually, it probably would be worse-later anyway. For now he was fairly confident that the drink would stay down. Though he did not much fancy any running or anything of that nature or he would surely get the distinct pleasure of seeing his breakfast for a second time that day. As much as Lucian enjoyed breakfast the first time around he doubted it would be nearly as good the second time. Thankfully Youka saved Lucian from focusing on the storm erupting in his stomach.

Walking around would surely help digest the liquid, maybe? Lucian was not too adept in medical protocol. Not wanting to speak in fear of something other than words coming out, Lucian simply nodded an affirmative to Youka. Not wanting to leave his partly completed puppet so close to the scrap pile he dropped his right hand and attached chakra threads to the metal behemoth. Like a zombie obeying its master's call the puppet rose slowly bringing Lucian's backpack with it. Confident in making the puppet dance to his will he manipulated the puppet to walk a few meters behind him as he followed Youka through his rounds. It would no doubt be an odd sight: a decaying man followed by a genin and a metal man.

Oddly, no one seemed to bat an eye to the strange sight. Rather the inhabitants of Kumogakure were all intent on their tasks. As the odd trio passed through what appeared to be a class of some sort Lucian. He only picked up bits and pieces of the apparent class, but from what he could gather it had something to do with working together. Beyond that he was not sure what the class was about. Though he did suspect that it had something to do with Youka's vision for Kumogakure: one mind and one body. Not dwelling on such things for too long Lucian took his time to take in the sights of Kumogakure. Clearly it had seen better times, but it still had a certain charm to it. In fact, every once in a while Lucian would spot an untouched plot of land or garden that betrayed the fact that an old Kumogakure once stood here.

After a short while Youka spoke up again and Lucian's attention snapped back to him. A monastery, interesting. Along with the aforementioned todbit of information the Nazar learned Youka had not lived a easy life. Then again, who in the shinobi life lived an easy life? Nothing was easy in the shinobi world, nothing. Yet again, Lucian's attention was drawn away to the wall of eyes. A strange sight to be sure.

"I can't say I have ever seen anything like it." As a few eyes Lucian had focused on twitched about a question formed in his mind. Unable to repress his curiosity he asked. "So, uh, how exactly does such a wall work? Surely you did not simply snitch a bunch of eyes together..."

Waiting for a response from Youka his curiosity bound forward. After Youka responded, Lucian spoke up once again with his curiosity readable in his voice.

"You know, it would appear that we have more in common than I first thought. I to am from a monastery of sorts. My clan, the Nazars, are a sect derived from the Fire monks who helped survivors of the great eruption long ago." Allowing this statement to hang in the air Lucian allowed the conversation to drift down a more casual path. "Say in your travels what is the most interesting village you have visited? I ask, because I want to plan out the next year or so of my life and have nothing but time to fill."

Yes, yes, he was asking advice from a madman. There was probably a saying about that as well. However, Lucian did not care. He found himself strangely content. Kumogakure was most definitely a hellhole, but it was not a murderous hellhole like the Volcano village. Whats more he had the a puppet he always dreamed of slowly clinking behind him. He felt different than he had in the Volcano village. He felt...he felt...he felt alive. Yes, alive.

A laugh bellowed from Youka's stomach as Lucian accepted the drink without question and swigged it back taking one rather large gulp of the toxin. Here was a man after Youka's own heart, or hearts rather he should say. Watching closely Youka would determine whether he would need to administer some medical jutsu at any point in time. Luckily however it seemed that the Nazar was holding it down rather well for someone of his size and age, Funkagakure must make very hearty shinobi to not fall prey to the mixture.

The only tell sign that was given that maybe it was having an adverse effect was the slight frown tha came on his face after swallowing, this however was a face many made after drinking alcohol so Youka would simply attribute it to the males first time. Before they began walking Lucian would once again animate his metal frame puppet by attaching the chakra threads to it once more and having it walk behind them for the duration. Puppets had always fascinated Youka to an extent, mainly due to the high level of chakra control one needed to use them to their full potential. However their style was still a little to passive for the male and he never actively sought out how to use them for himself.

"So what made you decide to become a puppet master, it doesn't seem like the type of ninja Funkagakure would create I picture more on the lines of your very silent friend than someone such as yourself. No offense of course, you just seem too...thoughtful, yes, thoughtful is the word."

Reaching the watchful eye Lucian would answer in kind to Youka's question about the wall. His answer was more inquisitive than in awe and wonder to Youka's dismay. However he wouldn't let it get him down, some people just couldn't see the beauty in a wall full of living flesh and eyes.

"Well, it's half my chakra being conducted into various rods through out the wall, and hall electricity being pumped as well to keep the resemblance of electrical signals being sent to the eyes and flesh to keep them active. You don't even want to know how many eyes are on this wall, let's just say a lot...a...lot."

Walking past the wall once more heading for the final district of Kumogakure Youka's left leg would buckle slightly as he noted that his fucking knee cap had started to decay away. It would be a quick recovery however as he healed the portion causing it to stop decaying for the time being. So the Nazar would see it as he simply lost footing and was a clumsy old man. At this point of their journey Lucian would open up a little more about his home and clan and how similar they were to the others story. The male was finally opening up and it was something he would like to hear honestly, however, his head felt like it was on fire and where Naoki had sealed the bijuu was beginning to glow a dark purple as some of the chakra lashed out briefly covering his form once more this time with two tails before dispersing again just as quickly as it had come. Holes would appear all over the males clothes as they had been decayed away, even the skin around him flaked off only to be quickly replaced by his own healing abilities. This was honestly turning more deadly than it should, and Youka was running out of healing techniques to use to hinder the growth of the decay attached to his life now. Tonight he would deal with this thing one way or another.

Taking in a deep breath hoping this wasn't completely freaking the male out to the point of them leaving his village he would answer.

"Your clan sounds very interesting, almost like saviors to the volcano village. I would ver much like to visit one day and maybe sit with one of your elders and yourself and hear stories of your past as a clan. As far as the most interesting place I've visited I would have to say Konoha, it was very active during my time there albeit a little too rainbows and sunshine for my tastes. Their culture and food were good enough and their ninja were quite easy to manipulate and steal."

He would let that sink in as it may and see if any other questions were asked. This would be the time they arrived at the third and final wall made purely from a rolling fog that seeped past them.

(claiming second tail, wc is 3208)

[Denied, Youka is a scrub. I will however approve the bijuu for training two tails of Youka.]

Churning, endless churning was all Lucian felt as he walked. Had he not had two other points of focus the storm that raged in his stomach would surely force him to stop. In an effort to keep his mind from the bile lurching in his stomach he kept his attention on guiding his puppet behind him and following Youka. Up down, up down, up down, clink, clink, clink, clink. The puppet behind him moved in a very artificial manner. Even from afar and ignoring the metallic sheen it was clear that the puppet was not human. Such a fact was disheartening to Lucian as it meant he was not doing his job as a puppeteer correctly. He was still not used to operating such a large puppet. Honestly he was used to much simpler puppets. Yes, back in simpler times.

"No, I suppose I am not exactly the stereotypical Funkagakure shinobi, no one in my clan is really. I prefer a well done steak as opposed to the blood of a man's jugular and I use real ink instead of blood in my writings. As for puppet master? That's my goal, yes, but I am far from any such title as you can see." Emphasizing his point he gave a slight jerk to causing the puppet to skip a step and sort of jump forward before resuming its awkward stride. "Unfortunately I am not too used to a puppet this large yet. I am more accustom to  the smaller ones. Back in Funkagakure I put on shows for my younger brothers and sisters. So, it naturally followed that I would take to puppetry in my shinobi career. Furthermore, I prefer puppetry because it does not necessarily need to be used for violence."

The other distraction besides the puppet, Youka, served to be useful as well. As the man explained the wall of eyes Lucian considered the explanation with a sharp mind. With ones chakra amazing feats were achievable, that much was clear. However, Lucian had never seen such a large scale application of chakra control. It became clear to the Nazar that Youka held considerable power. He was able to make a wall sustained by his chakra and level a village. There was no way Lucian was walking with a normal run of the mill shinobi. What happened next validated the aforementioned theory beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Youka tripped, or it looked like he had tripped. However, the ground the two walked on was surprisingly flat and lacked an obstacles no doubt thanks to Kumogakure's countless 'drones'. Though, once again courtesy restrained Lucian from commenting. It would be rude to comment at this point. Perhaps the man had just lost his footing? Lucian doubted it, but he could not discount it. Then it seemed as if all hell broke use. Moreover it appeared as if Youka were being dropped through hell itself. The man's clothing started to evaporate off of him to a degree. Bits and pieces of what may have been skin also flaked off into the wind. Honestly the Nazar was unsure of what was happening. It got worse.

It got much worse. For a brief moment Youka became wreathed in a shadowy chakra. It was odd, the two prongs of chakra flared briefly from the newly christened Raikage. Youka, on the other hand, seemed to be taking it all rather well as he just continued walking and talking. The man said something about visiting Konoha. It sounded pleasant, sure. However, Lucian was already thrown off. Everyone had a limit. An internal limit of how far they were willing to go. Lucian had reached his limit in more than one way. One his weirdness limit, yes that is a thing, and his politeness. He had to ask, he simply had to.

"Um, pardon me, but are you alright?" Hesitating slightly Lucian was having second thoughts. Alas, he was already halfway in, so he continued. "This is not my place to ask, but, but what was that just now? I mean...what was that chakra?...It looked unnatural..." Lucian trailed off feebly returning his focus to the puppet behind him.

One foot in front of the other. Up down, up down, clink, clink, clink. On the metal marionette march. One step, two steps, three steps, four.....

Youka stopped for a moment at the wall of fog, he had hoped the conversation was going to not branch in this direction causing him to answer certain things. He turned to Lucian slowly, visibly much slower than he had been before. With a thought Carnage would leak from his skin covering his entire body as to no loner draw attention to the raging war that was going on underneath the layer of symbiote.

"It's nothing to worry about I promise just going through a few in house changes. The thing you saw was just a precursor to the full form of this suit coming to cover my body. It is slightly taxing to use this full form as it eats a bit of myself to use. I promise however that this is quite normal."

Youka would nod to himself at his well crafted and totally believable lie. He couldn't exactly say that there was a beast living inside of his body attempting to kill him at every turn by rotting out his insides and forcing it's will to dominate him entirely. That would come off as slightly weird and more than likely lead to more questions he felt awkward answering.

"Now, if you turn your attention to this interesting wall you will notice that it is indeed not material and it doesn't impede your travel forward. It is simply just made from gases and the like to simulate a synthetic fog. Follow me."

Stepping forward he would continue walking through the fog unhindered for about five seconds before reaching the other side. Here is where the pride and joy of Kumogakure was built. Lucian would be greeted with overly tall skyscrapers that all shared the same looks slightly futuristic in looks as they each gleamed a silver touch of color that shone. Here everyone adopted a grey robe of sorts and they each walked with purpose to their destinations however they did so happily even sharing laughs with their comrades. Even no expense was spared as the roads were made of a very specific glass.

"What do you think?"

Falling apart was a normal side effect. Yep, that made total sense. Perhaps if Lucian knew anything about medicine and the human body he would have questioned Youka further. However, for now he could only take what the now masked man had said about the odd chakra and obvious decay. Twas merely a side effect of the strange suit. Only this and nothing more. Lucian could only shrug it off. Later he may pursue his former line of inquiry more aggressively, but for now he could only follow. With puppet in tow, clink, clink, clink, clink.

Fake fog, Kumogakure was indeed an interesting place. Following Youka into the ominous bank of fog Lucian strained his eyes to keep Youka in focus. By itself Lucian's vision was not too good. With the cool  gases swirling around him the Nazar boy felt removed from the world. For a brief moment he felt like he was in a different world. No longer was he in a bloody world. Rather he walked through the ethereal. He was a ghost, a visitor in another world. However, in a matter of moments it was all gone. In place of the fog bank stood tall dagger-like buildings that seemed to pierce into the sky above. The buildings were quite magnificent-nothing like Lucian had ever seen. Kumogakure got stranger and stranger.

"I have never seen anything like it..." Pausing to look all around him. At his back hung the wall of fog, but in front of him expanded a metropolitan skyline. "Are these buildings as impressive inside as they are in?" Pausing again he spoke up more to himself than to Youka, "This must have taken endless workers..."

In a word, Lucian was in awe. Looking at the shell of Kumogakure one would never think what lay at its core. In the shinobi world nothing was as it seemed. That much was clear.

Letting everything that Lucain had saw up to this point sink in Youka was proud of the final look on the males face of pure astonishment. This was the moment he wanted to see from people that visited as they finally got to see the scope of all the work that went into rebuilding the village from the ground up. It was something that even the villagers were proud of as it was their own blood and tears that helped with this project.

That mixed with the final wall being sort of like a gateway sectioning of the good from perfection he knew the amount of awe one would get was truly something to behold. Sure enough the Nazar spoke on it as well commenting that he had never seen anything like it and a swell of pride momentarily made all the pain his body was experiencing subside. The male also had questions which was to be expected after seeing something so grandiose.

"Thank you I appreciate your compliment, and to answer your question, yes, on the inside nothing was wasted on ensuring everyone here lives a peaceful and comfortable life. Whatever your heart desires I personally make it my duty to serve them."

Pausing for a moment he would look up at the skyscrapers around them admiring his own work as well. They were truly great, he could spot couples on their balconies looking down and enjoying their day.

"The people in this district are the ones that while they agreed with my notion of taking the village they also had their own ideals of what a village should be. They have helped mold Kumo to what you see now through not only my vision but the things they felt strongly about as well. Anyone with the ability to stand up to me and speak on their own truly deserves a spot here as I couldn't have made this without them."

So, this was the inner sanctum of Kumogakure. So this was how Youka kept order in the village. Lucian had doubted that the man delegated the entire population to seemingly slave labor. Having such a system would have bred rebellion. Youka, it would appear, had set up a distinct class system as far as Lucian could tell. There were those outside the fog wall and those within. An interesting concept, but not really an ideal one the young boy thought. Being well read he was certain he had read of similar systems ending in disaster. However, for now, Lucian could tell the whole setup was working swimmingly. People still feared their leadership. Maybe they would for a few years, maybe even a couple decades, but slowly such fear would no doubt shift to discontent. History had proven such and would, eventually, repeat itself without fail. Obviously such observations would remain silent as not to insult Youka.

With the ability to stand up to me and speak their own...


For some reason Lucian had a hard time believing this as well. After all, what had those men, women and children done outside the village to find their ways onto the spikes? Surely they had stood up or out in some way. Internally shuddering at the thought of those people in eternal torture outside the village. Thinking of such images left a bad taste in his mouth now that he looked upon the affluent skyscraper sector as opposed to the surrounding war-zone of sorts. It seemed that the apple was rotting from the skin through to the core.

"Seeing such grand buildings reminds me of question that slipped my mind earlier. Where would be the best spot to pitch camp for the night?" Lucian asked. "I just need a place that has some shelter from the wind and rain. Any place will do, cave, forest, wherever really. I do not wish to get in the way of your reconstruction process."

Idly waiting for a response, Lucian balled and unballed his right hand causing the puppet attached to it to make an dull vibrating noise. Metal on metal rang slightly in the air. It was the puppet's joints moving ever so slightly such a action allowed Lucian to practice precise puppet control that he lacked up to this point. He was slowly getting the hang of this thing.

"Ah yes housing, I did forget for a moment. Seeing as you and your friend are my guest I will be giving you one of the more accommodating buildings."

Walking forward briefly they would come to a recently remodeled home about six stories tall of course sharing the same look as it's skyscraper counterparts.

"The doors are chakra reactive, the 1st three signatures it records are the ones allowed entry. You and your friend can stay here for your time in the village. Each floor is dedicated to something different, they were designed to be accommodating to every need, rather training, building, wanting to eat, or simply just lounge. Everything you need should be inside, if it's not speak to your attendant and they will get it for you."

Standing at the start of the steps Youka would look over towards the puppet that was for some reason vibrating, he didn't question it. His gaze would turn to Lucian as well before speaking once more.

"Is there anything else you would like to know or ask? I do have some matters to attend to, so I will be taking my leave shortly, but I will be around if you need me."

"No, there is nothing else. Thank you for your hospitality." Said Lucian with a slight bow, his puppet following suit shortly after. Then, with a flutter of his right hand and a straightening of his back, both puppet and master stood upright. It was time to take his leave of Youka. Glancing back at the wall of fog separating the two worlds, longing filled the boy's eyes as he thought of the natural world in which he would rather be camping. Alas, it would be markedly rude to turn down the lodging Youka provided. Maybe another time and another place he could be one with nature. Yes, yes, he had plenty of time-more than enough time to be sure.

Lucian now turned to the door and with a slight bit of apprehension pushed open the door. Much to his surprise the rooms were exactly as Youka had described. It was easy to see where the wealth of the conquered Kumogakure went. Not finding himself wanting much else, Lucian found a the bedroom and fell into the bed making sure to detach the puppet from the chakra threads to allow it to crumple onto the ground beside him. Not even bothering to pull any covers over his body the boy fell into a deep sleep. Aided by the fatigue of maintaining control of his puppet his mind drifted off into a land of dreams...dreams punctuated by nightmares. Nightmares of people on spikes ruled over by a decaying man. 

{Exit. Word count: 5003; +25 stats and +5003 word towards the completion of Delito.}