Setting foot in a new country [Open]

It was a long boat ride over what seemed to be an endless ocean. The constant bobbing up and down, the constant movement, even when sitting down, or trying to sleep. The being cramped up next to people, the seagulls shrieking and shitting everywhere, the fact that someone else puked from sea sickness every 5 minutes. It was enough to drive someone insane.

But relief finally came days later when land appeared in front of them, and finally being able to get off of that god forsaken boat, it was good to be back on solid ground. Some idiot bumped into him during the journey, causing him to drop all of his money overboard, and it took everything not to decapitate this moron. The blind criminal was setting foot in a new country without a dime to his name, but there would be plenty of opportunities for funds somewhere.

The horizon ahead was orange and hot, letting Alec know that he was in a desert. It reminded him of Yokuchigakure, back home. Signs around the port said Sunagakure, the village hidden in the sand. With a grin, Alec began to make his way into the village, tapping along with his polished Blind Fury stick, which was actually much more than just a walking stick. Sensory and eyes made of chakra told Alec that there were strong ninja about.

Alec was still technically a Missin-Nin. Had words of his exploits reach across seas? That would mean he was still a wanted man. No one back where he'd come from had the courage to try taking him down. Would things still be the same here, in this new country? A sarcastic grin spread across the face of the blind criminal. What sort of chaos would be caused here? He was almost anxious to find out...

A yawn escaped the young female who had woken up only moments earlier: having decided to attempt a last minute nap with all of these people around on the ship. She looked around for a moment and took in a deep breath, the scent of hot sand assaulting her nose while the sheer brightness of the sun caused the pale child to flinch a bit as her eyes adjusted. Not wanting to spend a moment longer on the crowded boat she quickly took off after her father.

"This place is kinda bright...", she commented off handedly. It wasnt a complaint but merely an observation of something she wasnt used to seeing given their home was always comfortably dark. She looked up at the sign that indicated where they were at and saved the name to memory.

"Daddy do these people know who you are here?", she asked suddenly. She knew that back home her father was considered missing and wondered if they would end up running into any trouble: though the idea didnt frighten her but merely intrigued her.

ANBU captain. He'd helped stop a madman from tearing through innocents with a butcher knife, and saved an old man from being buried alive. Ever so slowly the terrible reputation of The Metal Catastrophe was beginning to change for the better. Kinzoku himself didn't care either way what people thought of him, but it was nice not to have so many eyes full of hatred staring in his direction.

He was beginning to wonder what was next. He wanted to go and handle it himself, quickly, before the Kazekage had a chance to get involved. It was admirable that she was coming down into the sandy streets herself to handle matters with her own hands, but as her bodyguard and the captain of Black Ops, her safety was his main concern and priority number one. He'd rather her be in a stuffy office bored than somewhere out here, dead or dying.

Then someone very powerful entered Suna. Someone else was with them, not as powerful, but powerful nonetheless. The plain expression that he wore changed into one of concern; excitement. Maybe this was the assassin he was expecting. Maybe this was the fight he'd been longing for, a chance to truly prove himself. Something like this couldn't be kept quiet from the Kazekage; he decided this as he began to move in the direction of the docks.

"Kazekage... someone with a very high level of chakra just entered Suna," he said into the communicator, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. 'Someone else is with them. I fear an attempt on your life is imminent, so i'm on my way to intercept this individual personally. I wanted you to be informed, just in case this is a plan to lure me away from you for a sneak attack. Please be extra aware of your surroundings..."

Kinzoku was quickly in the area of this high chakra reading. He dropped in from above to land in a crouch nearby this individual, and standing up, he found this person to look very, very familiar... "...Alec...Kane? Is that you?..."

Mitsukai blinked as she listened to Kinzokus voice come across the wireless communicator: a powerful person was entering the village and apparently they had someone with them who while not being as powerful could still likely prove to be a threat. Kinzoku didnt say it but she could guess that he didnt want her getting involved like she had the previous two times something happened.

"Alright. Keep me updated on the situation.", she responded. Mitsukai, who had been at her desk in her office, moved her hand over a nearby seal which activated it. The seal spread out over the floor, walls, windows, doors, and finally the ceiling: a sensory seal that would allow her to know if someone was attempting to enter her office without her knowledge.

She pushed her papers to the side and waited for news of the situation while ignoring the urge to go teleporting herself to Kinzoku to see for herself. Her hand rested on her scythe as she waited for something to happen...

"I don't know kid, but I wouldn't be surprised if word of the things I did years back did happen to come across the ocean over here. You just be sure and remember what I told you. If things start looking bad and I tell you to run, run. I don't know what we'd be up against over here. We're strangers in a whole new land..."

To be honest, he'd have rather come here alone, and left the kid back home with her mother. There was always the chance that someone over here did know who he was, and in a ploy to get him to surrender, they tried something with the kid. That wasn't to say that she was helpless and wouldn't be able to defend herself, because she could. The father in him didn't want her mixed up in his affairs is all.

It was too late to be feeling like that. Someone was headed toward them at a high rate of speed. Someone familiar. Alec stopped tapping along in his blind man ruse and just stood there, propping both his hands atop his polished walking stick as if it were a cane. His sarcastic look was in full effect. The first challenge, it seemed. When they dropped in from above, Alec recognized them to be none other than Kinzoku, his former head of security back in Makkuragakure.

"Well well. Kinzoku... I knew you said you were going off to do some traveling, but I never imagined your journies would bring you this far. Then again... now that I think about it, didn't you say you were from a village called Sunagakure?"

Artemis also took notice of a figure approaching them quickly just as she began to nod her head to indicate she remembered what her father told her. Her white blond ponytail fluttered in the breeze and she just had begun to take off her jacket to her school looking uniform she was wearing because of the heat when Kinzoku dropped in. Hands tightened into fists which caused her Boom Boom gloves to feel warm before she realized who it was and relaxed.

"Hello, Kinzoku.", Artemis said happily as a smile crossed her face. Hearing her fathers question about Kinzoku coming from Sunagakure she giggled. "You came from this bright place? Is anyone else here we know?", she added the last question as she looked around, half expecting someone else to come falling out of the sky, which for the monent they didnt.

Since there seemed to be no threat at the moment she shrugged out of her jacket, leaving her in the buttoned up short sleeve collared shirt beneath. She grabbed the sleeves of her jacket and tied them around her waist so she didnt have to carry it. "Thats better."

Kinzoku, sure the Kazekage would be able to hear everything through the wireless communicator, relaxed his guard to see the leader and his former superior of the criminal organization known as "The Dark" back in the old country, and his daughter Artemis. She'd grown, both in height and in strength. Kinzoku never imagine he'd see them here, on the other side of the ocean. But, Alec was known as a criminal, a terrorist and murderer as well as a missing-nin, and word of his nefarious deeds was sure to have come out this far. Knowing him though, that's exactly how he wanted it.

"That's right, this is my home village," Kinzoku answered to both of them, the glow of his gourd dying out somewhat. "And yes, there is someone else here you know. Mitsukai, your grand daughter, has recently been elected as the new village Kazekage. She appointed me her personal bodyguard and captain of Suna ANBU Black Ops. She's been doing an excellent job so far. I promise to protect her with my life; you don't have to worry about anything happening to her."

Well. Things would surely get interesting now, with Alec on this side of the country. With all of the rukus he caused back in the old country, these individuals had no idea what just got off of the boat. One of the only people in this world that Kinzoku could actually call a friend, Alec never judged him on his past or for what he was. He actually admitted that he thought Kinzoku was a one-of-a-kind individual and "Cool" as he put it. He'd taken him into his village, made him head of village security, and had even given him a large house of his own. Kinzoku planned to help him and Artemis however he could.

"So what do you have planned, Alec? Will you be here long, or do you plan on traveling around? This has to be a whole new world for you. I'll offer any sort of assistance I can; after all, you took me in when I left Yokuchi. Let me know if there's something I can do, anything for you..."

Of all of the people who could have shown up Alec and Artemis were the lasr she had expected, but at least this meant there wasnt any immeditate danger. Laughing to herself she touched the seal on her desk once more and deactivated it which caused the room to return to normal. Mitsuksi stood up and after a glance around debated how she wanted to reach her grandfather. A sudden grin spread across her face as she decided this was as good a time as any to give the Flying Thunder God seal she placed on Kinzokus gourd a try she activated the jutsu and disappeared instantly from her office to reappear right next to Kinzoku and his gourd.

Her smile changed to a grin as she went over to Artemis and picked her up in a hug. "Look at how big youre getting." She gave one last squeeze and then let Artemis vo and went over to her grandfather and hugged him as well. "I didnt expect to see you guys. Gonna cause some mischief in my village grandad?", she asked playfully. She knew her grandad wouldnt cause her village trouble but she couldnt say that for everyone else if that was her grandfathers intentions.

Mitsukai, Kazekage? Alec wasn't surprised. She'd been leadership material for a long time. This meant if things became too rough, there was always somewhere to come hide away, and support if he ever needed back-up. Yes, this was a good thing. To already have a base of operations here in the new world as soon as he set foot off the boat.

"I don't have a solid plan per se, but I did want to do some wandering around. I might be a wanted man here, but, you let me worry about that for now. Some idiot on the boat ride here ran into me as they were on the way to puke, and I dropped all of my Ryo overboard. A few dollars until I can get up on my own two feet would be nice?..."

Then there was the appearance of a large chakra. He didn't recognize the girl at first, but the all too familiar face of Mitsukai became clear in seconds. She was much stronger than she was back in the old country. Sensory told him that there was something sealed inside of her. A chakra beast? A bijuu? Interesting... Alec hugged his grand daughter with his right arm when she hugged him.

"No, no. I'll behave, grand baby. If someone attacks me first though, well... you know how those kinds of confrontations turn out. So, Kazekage huh? Seems like you were born to be a leader. Question though... You're a village leader now, so you'd have to have the inside word and all. Do they know about me over here? My name in the Bingo Books? Not that i'm worried, but it's nice to be informed..."

"How did you appear out of thin air like that?! Can you teach me how to do that?", she asked excitedly. A move like that would definitly be really cool to learn, and it would definitl come in handy.

Artemis giggled as Mitsukai scooped her up and hugged her before putting her down and going to hug her father next. Artemis looked up to her father as he asked if he was known around here and if he was in the bingo book, she looked to Mitsukai and waited to see what she would say. At least they would have a safe place to go in case something bad ended up happening. Had these people heard the whole way over here about what had happened?

As figured, Alec wasn't worried about being labeled a missing-nin or a criminal. The man could handle himself in a fight, even against multiple opponents; Kinzoku had seen this first hand. If the rare chance that Alec did need help came about, Kinzoku wouldn't hesitate. He, his son Jr, his daughter Destiny, as well as Mitsukai, they were just like family; the family he'd never had.

Alec said he'd lost all of his money on the way here. As he'd just got done with a couple of potentially dangerous jobs, Kinzoku had it to spare. He'd probably be doing more work soon, so there would be more to come. Kinzoku didn't mind giving Alec some of his funds at all. After rummaging around in his wallet, Kinzoku handed over a sack that contained roughly 2000 ryo. "Here, that should be enough to get you started... If you need more by any chance, let me know."

Mitsukai appeared via the seal placed upon his gourd, and Kinzoku watched the family be reunited. Mitsukai asked if Alec planned on causing mischief in the village - something Kinzoku himself wondered - to which Alec responded no, unless he was attacked first. Kinzoku thought back to the incident in Yokuchi, in which a Genin was disfigured, and the Kage was left crippled, both by Alec's hands. If not here in Suna, would the same thing happen in some other village? Kinzoku was honestly excited and anxious to find out...

Mitsukai grinned at Artemis’s question able to imagine how cool that had looked to someone of her age. “I’ll tell you what, Artemis, if you get yourself just a little bit stronger I’ll teach you how to do it. How’s that sound?” It took a lot of skill to manage, and while she could sense that Artemis was pretty strong, she wasn’t fully sure that the little girl was capable of that just yet… still, when she reached that point Mitsukai was more than willing to spread the knowledge.

Mitsukai’s attention focused then onto her grandfather as she thought about what he had asked. “I’ve heard whispers about your exploits from time to time, but I’ve only been Kazekage for about a week now. I’m sure you’re on someone’s mind somewhere so you might want to be careful. Of course, you know you’re more than welcome to be here, and to hell with what anyone says. I should warn you though, the Raikage sent me a message and he’s planning on visiting within the next week… I was just about to inform Kinzoku when he told me you all had arrived.”

She then watched as Kinzoku handed over about two grand worth of ryo to her grandfather. Thinking quickly she did the same for Artemis. “Here, now both of you will have some money… it’ll come in handy in case you two get separated for whatever reason.” She grinned suddenly. “Just don’t spent it all on candy and junk food, ‘kay? You’ll rot your teeth…” She had more than enough Ryo left over, so she wasn't worried about handing over so much Ryo at one shot - besides, they were family, she'd give them the shirt off her back if they asked for it.

Alec took the sack Kinzoku handed over and nodded his head with a grin, putting the jingling sack of coins into an inside pocket of his black cloak. He began to realize that the technique Mitsukai just used had to be none other than the infamous Flying Thunder God, an ability he'd only previously heard about. It involved the use of seals, and she must have placed one on Kinzoku somewhere. A handy ability to have, Alec knew it was something he'd never be able to take advantage of, that is, until Artemis was old enough the learn it.

Mitsukai said he's heard whispers in her short time as kazekage of Alec's exploits over seas. So he was known even here in this foreign land. It only made him take his sarcastic look, and wonder when - or even if - someone would get ballsy enough to try him. If not, well... this would make for a nice vacation, and maybe he'd even consider settling here somewhere. She also said the Raikage was planning to visit Suna, and Alec considered sticking around until then to see what this person looked like.

"The Raikage, huh... Maybe i'll stay here until he arrives and introduce myself. Could make for an interesting meeting, eh? ...Ha ha, before you say anything i'll behave, until such time as someone attacks me, that is. I'll try to avoid causing trouble here in your new village."

He sounded more like a rebellious trouble making teen than a grandfather. A shame when the older generation enjoyed fighting a little more than the younger....

Mitsukai said that she would teach her when she was ready and Artemis knew that meant it had to be a very powerful technique since no one bothered ever trying to stop her from getting as powerful as she wanted to be. This all caused a huge grin to cross Artemis’ face and made her want to get started with training right away: she wanted to become as strong as possible so she could learn such an awesome and helpful technique such as that. “Cool! I’ll start training and get really strong so I can learn it!”, she exclaimed happily.

Then Mitsukai was giving her a hefty chunk of Ryo just the same as Kinzoku had given to her father. Her lips parted in a little ‘o’ shape as she took it and tucked it into the pouch at her hips right beneath one of the sleeves of the jacket she still had wrapped around her waist. “Don’t worry, Mittens! I’ll put it to good use, promise!” Oh yes, she already had plans forming in her head of perhaps getting her hands on some nifty weapons to add to her arsenal so she was ready for anything if it ended up coming down to that – though, something told her that her father was going to try and keep it from coming to that.

“Maybe I’ll find other nifty things to learn, too, while we’re here!” She then looked at her father and tilted her head a bit. "I kinda wanna see a fight! It would be a chance to see what a really powerful ninja could do! Then I’d know what I could do if I trained hard enough!”

Kinzoku nodded his head. The Raikage was coming to Suna? He wondered whatever for. Whatever that reason was, he had to make sure was was on his P's and Q's. He'd have to stick by Mitsukai at all times. The fact that Alec and Artemis was here as well, that would take some of the strain off of just him, knowing there would be others that had their back; especially those that they could trust wholeheartedly.

"Dully noted," he said at this new news. "I'll keep my eyes peeled for his arrival... If there's anything you or Artemis needs Alec, i'll be around." Kinzoku nodded his head back to Alec, waving to Artemis, before leaving upwards and moving off into the large sandy city by way of rooftop...

[Exit]

Mitsukai nodded to Kinzoku as he took off and then turned her focus back on her grandfather and Artemis. “You’re both welcome to stay with me if you want? I’ve got more than enough spare bedrooms. The place is big enough to house a family of ten comfortable and it’s just me and Kinzoku there since I wanted him close. I’ve been kind of expecting a bit of trouble, to be underestimated because of my age, so I figured the closer he was the better… plus, until you two arrived, he was the only person I trusted completely.”

She then grinned. “As far as you behaving I know you won’t blow up my village or cause trouble – not without a damn good reason behind it but I don’t see any of my people really messing with you, honestly… and I intend on stepping in if they do. You’re a guest here as far as they need to be concerned and you’ll be treated like one.” No, the last thing she was going to tolerate was her people attacking her grandfather or Artemis, and she had no intentions of allowing it to happen.

"Sure, why not... I wouldn't mind sticking around for a while, at least until this Raikage business is over with. I'd like to explore a bit eventually; see what the other hidden ninja villages are like. I know i'm at risk but, what's life like without a little bit of danger?... And don't worry about me grand baby, if you know anything about me it's that i'm well capable of defending myself. Your grand dad's not over the hill just yet..."

He watched Kinzoku jump off, also feeling that he'd become stronger than he was back in Makkura. He was a good kid, and Alec was glad to have met him. At Atremis saying she wanted to see a fight, Alec just shook his head with a grin. The blood of a Kane ran strong through her veins.

"Careful what you wish for, kid.... So grand baby, want to show us this big place of yours? The boat ride here wasn't exactly a luxurious cruise. I could use a sit down for a while, and maybe something to eat other than fish..."

Assuming Mitsuaki began leading the way to what he guessed would be the Kazekage Residence, Alec resumed his blind man ruse, tapping his polished walking stick behind her...

\Exit\

Artemis giggled and shrugged: she still wanted to see a fight, even if it could be dangerous. She liked to watch and see what other people were capable of and learn from their actions and their mistakes: it worked better than making her own and having to learn from them.

She took followed after Mitsukai assuming she led the way home, glad to be off of the boat and looking forward to a shower since the smell of so many people packed together hadn’t exactly been a pleasant one. She giggled again as she watched her father assume his blind man roll while she walked along beside him.

[Exit]

Mitsukai chuckled and just shook her head as she turned and led the way through Sunagakure and towards the Kazekage Residence. “You’re family, I’m going to worry regardless. But I know you can take care of yourself, I’m sure Artemis can too… she’d likely whoop my butt in a fight.”, she said with a grin. As she walked she pointed out a few minor locations, such as the location of the market district in case they wanted to venture out later, but otherwise she kept the walk short so that they could have a chance to actually get some rest.

She led the way past the guards, instructing them to inform everyone else that Artemis and Alec were allowed to come and go freely, and that if they had any questions they were to be answered. She then offered up the quick tour, allowing them to choose from any room they wanted while pointing out where her and Kinzoku’s rooms were located as well as the kitchen, bathrooms, and the rest.

When she was done she headed back downstairs, off to finish off the last of her paperwork before she too could relax…

[Exit]