Takeover 2.0 (Open)

Another boat ride. The constant up and down made him sick. The smell of the sea, the gulls shitting everywhere... He was glad this ride wasn't as long as the first; the ride that brought him to this side of the world.

Alec was happy to be off of that boat and on solid ground again. He grinned, being in new, unknown territory. What sort of challenges would he face here? Would there even be any? The first land he set foot in was filled with shit talkers that were all bark and no bite. While the second was more exciting before everyone ran away, there wasn't much of a challenge there either. He was hoping there was something here that could keep his interest.

Off the boat, Alec began to walk along with the flow of foot traffic along one of the main roads, taking in the sights. Alec honestly didn't plan on walking very far; he planned on finding an inn at least for a day or two to rest and let the bobbing feeling wear off before venturing too far inland. He got lost in the scenery that it was a while before he noticed that it was suddenly dark.

Why was it dark in the middle of the day? Alec would also notice that the surroundings began to seem dark and gloomy, with things slithering about in the darkness. Glowing eyes stared at them from random areas. Growling noises could be heard. Still, Alec grinned.

"Hmm.... any of this seem... familiar?..."

… Okay, boats just sucked. Artemis didn't care how excited she had been to get on the boat in the first place, to explore and learn everything there was about boats, the constant bobbing up and down had just sucked. Even Minerva, Artemis' newly acquired friend who was a tarantula sized black-widow spider, hadn't been exactly comfortable with the voyage. As it was Artemis had practically ran off of the boat the moment it had docked; more then happy to be on dry land once again. Perhaps later she would appreciate how awesome it was to travel by boat, but for now she was just trying to get used to how still the land was compared to the water.

She kept silent as she followed her father, concentrating on trying not to throw up as her stomach slowly settled back down. Every so often she would adjust one or both of the straps of her gray backpack with the grin trim and the monkey face on it, or she would play with the zipper of her mostly purple jacket, but outside of that she kept quiet.

At least, until the darkness seemed to suddenly swallow them up. She nodded to her father's words while looking around with reddish-orange colored eyes. Minerva even made a rare appearance, poking her head up from around the thick black collar of Artemis' jacket: she hadn't cared too much for the heat, but the eight legged creature loved the darkness.

”... I kinda like it....”, Artemis commented, grinning. The darkness didn't scare her; even when she was younger she had never been afraid of the monster under the bed. So the glowing eyes, the creepy sounds, nor the growling bothered her any at all. In fact, she felt quite at home and comfortable. Darkness she knew, darkness she was familiar with and grew up in, it's what felt right.

"Just like back home," he responded.

The boat ride didn't much bother him like it did the Kanes. Kuro rarely talked, so Kinzoku figured it didn't bother him much either. It was nice to be off of that boat though; it smelled like bologna and feet.

Now they were in a new continent. There had to be hidden villages here too, yes? Kinzoku wondered what sort of foes were in this land, and if they were brave enough to stand against them. Knowing how things went though, Kinzoku figured it was going to be another boring experience, with weaklings who talked more than they threw fists. Alec hadn't said anything about reviving The Dark or doing anything criminal yet though, so he would wait and see how things played out.

Kinzoku, his glowing legendary gourd upon his back, stepped along with the Kanes, taking in the scenery, and also keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. While wondering what the shinobi were like in the villages throughout this continent, he found that they were entering a dark area. It was the middle of the day still, making a strange look appear on his face.

Then Alec said what he said, and Kinzoku gave a response. Artemis said she liked it. Growing up where she did, he didn't take this as a surprise. "Think there's a hidden village somewhere out here, Alec?"

He rather liked the boat ride. He'd never been on one. Kuro always imagined that he would travel across this ocean to see what was on the other side one day, and now here he was. Every so often he looked up, to see his crow companions either flying, or perched on random areas of the boat.

Then the ride was over, and their group was upon land, walking. Kuro walked in the rear of everyone, his hood up covering the majority of his face, remaining silent. Everything was new, and he took note of the surroundings with curiosity.

Then came the darkness, in which he was completely at home in. The dark and the shadows brought a grin to his face; he was practically invincible in all of this darkness. How glorious it would be if Alec were to decide to set up shop here. Kuro was with them on whatever they decided...

Alec put his radar into play, scanning the lands in all directions from his position. Here and there were small townships and housing complexes, but Alec didn't see anything very interesting... until coming upon the huge village that rivaled a city. it made him raise his brows and rub the bottom of his chin as he looked the place over.

"There's a big village not far from here," he said, unsheathing his Stick Sword to swipe at a snake that jumped out of the dark towards his face. With 4 quick swipes of the sword, the snake was in several dozen pieces. The Stick Sword was sheathed again before the dead animal was on the ground. "Looks like a lively place, but I need to get closer for a better glimpse. Follow me,"

Then he was off, leaving behind a dust cloud from the sheer speed. A black blur ran through the plains and rocky, dreary desert-like surroundings before coming to a cliff that over-looked the village. Alec slid to a stop and began looking over the place with a grin. The village had a Persian/Turkish/Istanbul feel to it. Some of the buildings were made of wood, others of stone. There were churches and temples with towers that went far up. There were big buildings and small buildings, some of which were connected to each other by lines on the roofs. Some of the village looked abandoned, but plans began to work in Alec's head.

"What an interesting place..."

Kinzoku responded that this place was just like home and then asked Alec if he thought there was a hidden village somewhere out here; exactly what Artemis herself had been thinking. Kinzoku walked with them as they traveled while Kuro, who was still remaining quiet as usual, walked behind them.

Her father put his chakra radar to use and was indeed able to spot a village in the distance; though he commented that they would have to get closer for him to get a better look at it. Grinning even more excitedly then she had been before Artemis pulled down the thick black collar of her jacket so that Minerva could climb back inside of her jacket where she would be safe; giggling as the spider did so due to her movements tickling her.

With Minerva secured within her jacket she took off after her father; excited to get a chance to lay her own eyes upon this village hidden within all of this darkness. Would it be like their village back home? Or something entirely new? When they reached the cliff over looking the village Artemis came to a stop as well and walked carefully to the edge for a better look. Even in all of the darkness she could tell that the village was massive: massive and very grand. ”Wow, this place is absolutely amazing... Do you think someone runs this place?“

Alec put those trademark senses of his to use in order to have a look around. It didn't take him long to announce that he'd spotted a big village. Kinzoku could already sense that Alec had something brewing, and Kinzoku himself began to get excited.

He took off running with Alec and Artemis, knowing that Kuro couldn't have been far behind. He jumped over boulders and ran between trees. Alec and Artemis stop in front of a cliff, and Kinzoku slides to a stop himself, looking over the cliff to see a large village.

The 4 of them were enough to take this place; Kinzoku figured this even without using his sensory. Folding his arms, listening to Alec say what an interesting place this was, and Artemis ask if anyone ran this place, he waited for what was next from Alec. Likely it would be a plan to take over.

Kinzoku was just fine with that...

Kuro darted off with the rest, trailing not far behind, bringing up the rear. He wanted to see what this village looked like. Too many people meant too many bad smells, too much noise. Too much light meant manipulating the shadows would be difficult.

However, once they reached the cliff, Kuro was able to see that this large village had plenty of buildings and structures. There were many dark streets and back alleys down there. This place was beginning to seem just like it was back home, where it was always dark. It was perfect. If he knew Alec by now, Kuro knew he was going to take this place.

A chance to practice his shadow skills. A chance to strangle the life from scum that deserved it. A chance to play friends against each other; to see the looks on their faces when one stabbed the other. It was sadistic in the way it sounded, but Kuro had been waiting for the chance to get into a confrontation.

Alec took a detailed look around the village with his advanced radar. A sign near the front gate read Kurayamigakure, the name of the place. It appeared that Kurayamigakure had 4 districts. To the east there was an upper class district, where there were beautiful and custom made stone houses and buildings, parks, beautiful flowers and trees that thrived on darkness, fountains and several temples.

There was a middle class district to the west. The houses weren't as elegant as those in the upper class district, but they weren't run down either. Some houses were made of stone, some were constructed of wood. The middle class district was the home of trade and the marketplace, which looked inactive at the moment. Goods once looked to come in from the waterfront situated at the far west of the village; also one of the village's water sources.

To the south was the lower class district. Houses and buildings were run down and barely standing. There were several mines and rock quarrys in the south, giving hint that perhaps these were once some of the sources of income in this village.

And finally to the north, there looked to be several buildings around a large house, that had several floors above ground. There looked to be rooms below ground as well, but Alec couldn't see much below from here. The house was surrounded by acres of land. It looked to be an Administration Complex that housed those who ran the village.

"Alright... here's the deal," Alec finally said after a while of looking. "There's 4 districts to this village. All of them are filled up with riff raff, lead by a boss. The riff raff are just thugs and street trash; they aren't anything to be worried about, but the bosses look strong. The boss in the north district is stronger than all of them, and judging from some of the traffic i'm seeing, the 3 bosses in the other districts take orders from the one in the north, and they spread the orders out to the riff raff.

"Artemis... I want you to go over in the east side, to the rich man's district. The boss there... He doesn't have any weapons and he's dressed strange. Has a mask on. The vibe i'm getting off of him is that he can use Genjutsu, and... Puppetry. He has 2 life sized dolls in the room with him. Don't play around with him or his guys, deal with them as quick as you can.

"Kuro... I want you in the west side, the middle class suburb district. It's the biggest of the districts, but it's the darkest too. Add that onto how you work the best by yourself and you should have all of that taken care of in no time. The boss there... He's dressed head to toe in full armor. The vibe i'm getting from him is that he excels in Katon and... Kenjutsu, he has 2 large swords. I won't tell you how to work your magic, you'll figure out the best route.

"Kinzoku... you're in the slum district. There's mines and a few rock quarrys down there. I'm sure you can use those to your advantage for your Iron Sand. The boss there... she's a female. From the way she looks, i'm thinking she's simply Taijutsu. She may have a few tricks up her sleeve, so be on guard...

"I'll take the north district myself... One more thing, you all... there are innocent bystanders down there. Try not to make too much of a mess, and try not to drag them in, we'll want them on our side. Once we clean these guys out they'll be quick to join up. It doesn't look like they're too happy about the current arrangement. All of these guys wear red headbands. The bosses all have on headbands with their names written on them... When you finish the bosses off, take their headbands and meet me at the house in the north... I'll leave the door open for you."

Alec took out his Metal Cestus glove and put it on his right hand. His blood boiling, he was anxious to get into the thick of things in this new land. If everything went according to plan, they'd have yet another place to call home. No one was going to miss this "gang" or whatever it was currently running things.

"Ready?" Alec asked, bending into a crouch, preparing to launch himself off the cliff and down into the village below. "Go!"

Alec, a black blur, jumped off the cliff and was down into the dark streets below...

Artemis kept silent as she listened to her father explain that there were four districts in this village; all of which had their fill of thugs and riff raft which was led by a boss. Three of the bosses answered to the biggest of the bosses in the north district. The riff raft looked like nothing more then street trash but the bosses actually looked strong – this didn't worry Artemis in the slightest.

Her father then went on to explain the plan he had formed: her father wanted her to head to the east, to the rich man's district. Her father described that the boss in that location that he was seeing was dressed strange with a mask and didn't look to have any weapons. From the vibe he was getting this boss relied on Genjutsu to fight: it was nothing that Artemis couldn't handle. Her father didn't want her to play around the guys though; and just wanted her to handle business and be done with it. ”Got it.”, Artemis responded.

She then listened as he laid out the plans for Kuro and Kinzoku; each of them were likely going to get an interesting fight too from the information her father was able to get through his chakra radar.

Her father said which boss he would take last, and then gave them the heads up about the innocent bystanders that were nearby. The civilians didn't seem happy about about the thugs that were manning the streets, and there was no point or reason to harm an innocent. Her father stated that when they finished he wanted them to take the headband off of the boss they defeated and take it to the house in the north district: he would keep the door open for them.

She nodded to her father when he asked if they were ready and watched him take off before following a split second later. She headed with swiftness towards the east district, a plan already forming in her mind that would keep her from harming any innocent at all: in fact, she was going to ensure she didn't harm anyone at all physically...

The village was ran by a gang of thugs, from the sounds of things. 4 districts. East was rich. West was middle class. South were the slums. North was the Admin Complex. The districts had foot soldiers that got their orders from a boss, whom got their orders from a big boss in the north.

Artemis was being sent east to deal with a Genjutsu and Pupperty boss. Kuro was being sent west to take care of an armored sword fighter. While Alec would head north to take on the main boss, Kinzoku was to go south, to the slums, where there were mines and rock quarrys. Plenty of material to create more Iron Sand.

Alec said go easy on the property damage and take care not to get any of the innocents involved. The way to tell them apart was the headbands they wore. The boss had one with his name on it. Alec asked that they all bring back the boss's headbands to the house up north. To this Kinzoku would nod, his glowing gourd moving and shaking on his back in anticipation of adding more blood to its collection.

Alec crouched and asked if everyone was ready. This would be the second village that they would take over. He said go, then he and Artemis were off. Kinzoku was in motion as well, headed south...

The grin seemed stuck on his face. The first time he would be involved in taking over a village, from scum unworthy of holding it. He was being given his own district to clean out as well; the biggest, the darkest. It gave him goosebumps. Kuro didn't plan on making a mess. Likely, most of these morons wouldn't know what happened to them. To most, it was going to appear as if everyone had just decided to betray each other. Kuro had more sadistic plans in store as well...

The boss of the middle class district was a man in full armor who could dual wield swords. He had to have exceptional Kenjutsu skills, and he could also manipulate Katon. It was all well and good. This man wouldn't see Kuro until he was exhaling his dying breath.

Alec ducked and said go. He was gone, Artemis was gone, Kinzoku was gone. So was he. Kuro was off the cliff and quickly across the rooftops, headed towards the middle class....

The entire north district had a wall around it. There were metal gates at certain points for entry and exit. Several of the head band goons were walking around outside, and up in some of the towers around the area. Alec quickly ran around the area in a fashion that ordinary eyes were unable to see. The Blind Fury Stick Sword flashed about, slicing easily through flesh and bone. Heads were cut off of their necks. Throats were slit. Before those in the tower could react, the Folding Bow came out to loose arrows that lodged themselves into the heads of the guards in the towers. Two of them fell the splat upon the concrete; they would need to be cleaned up later. The last was lodged to the wall behind him because of the arrow so forcefully traveling through his cranium.

When everyone outside was dead, Alec walked up onto the large front porch that had couches and swinging chairs that looked quite comfortable. He opened the 2 large black wooden front doors, leaving them open just as he said he would. A couple of guys, larger than those outside, approached upon seeing this blind man tapping his way into the front room.

"Hey what the hell are you---" one of them started to say, grabbing Alec's left shoulder, causing the Symbiote to harden up suddenly. Taken by surprise, Alec used the lapse to shove one of his Hidden Blades through the bottom of his chin. The other, shocked, tried to turn and run, causing Alec to spin while going low and unsheathing the Stick Sword. One slice was made, traveling through his waist. Alec stood and made and upward swipe next, which traveled from his groin to the top of his head. Alec sheathed his weapon while walking past him. The goon's body stood there several moments before it fell apart in a grotesque display.

"Great," Alec said. "More mess to be cleaned up."

Alec approached the big staircase with black carpet leading to the upper floors. The big boss was on the third floor, in what looked like an office. Alec encountered 3 more goons on his way there; 3 more goons stabbed in their heads and throats to be left leaking out onto the hallway floor.

Alec opened the door to the office and walked right in, tapping his stick on the floor, doing the blind thing. The boss and a couple of his lieutenants, as well as 4 more goons all looked up towards this white haired man strangely. He wore a cloak and a blindfold. He had a black stick in his hands, and what looked like a glowing sword at his side.

The big boss looked big and menacing. He had muscles like boulders. Not only that; he had massive amounts of chakra. Many weapons hung from the walls around the office. It all was an impressive sight, and Alec gave his sarcastic grin.

"Who the fuck are you, and how did you get up here?" asked the big boss. He and his lieutenants were all smoking something green from elaborate looking pipes. Smoke hovered in the office.

"Greetings!" Alec tapped his way over to a chair as the goons moved around the boss's desk and went to surround Alec. Alec grabbed the chair and tapped his way over in the center of the goons, to put the chair down and sit in it, sighing. "I've come to inform you that your services here in Kurayamigakure are no longer needed. I'm in a good mood, so i'll let you pack your things and clear out of here. Take your time, i'm in no rush."

The boss eventually started laughing, as did his lieutenants and the 4 goons. Alec joined them laughing. When the laughing stopped, Alec took a serious expression. "...But, seriously. I can wait, but I won't wait all day."

So, these thugs and riff raft located within the district she was headed to were controlled by a boss who used Genjutsu. It would mean that they likely had some knowledge of it, had likely seen it used first hand. Yet, they knew nothing of the horrors of Artemis' Genjutsu. No, she took things to a whole new level with her skill and her ability to manipulate her Genjutsu further with Yin Release and Yang Release. As she moved swiftly a plan was already formulating in her mind: she wouldn't lay a single finger upon any of these thugs, instead they would do the damage themselves.

With her grin becoming more wicked she came to land on the ground from the rooftops she had been running upon. Her position of landing had been chosen wisely, despite landing amongst a group of ten thugs. Heads turned in her direction, and a few even jumped in a startled fashion: this only caused Artemis' grin to grow more wicked – though in the back of her mind she could hear her father's voice telling her not to play around with them.

”Well, well, well... what do we have here?”

”Looks like a tasty little morsel.”

”What can we help you with, girly?”

Artemis snickered. ”Well, since you were so kind to ask...”, she would say before pausing, lacing her next words with chakra as she put one of her favorite Genjutsu abilities into play: Miwaku, ”Kill yourselves... slit your throats. End your miserable existences.” Her words would cause several of the civilians in the area to look over, yet they would be completely unharmed by her Genjutsu: only those she had targeted – the thugs to be precise – would become ensnared by her words. In an almost cult-like fashion, as if they were all one body, each thug would reach to their nearest, sharpest weapon, and grasp it. ”Do it... go on now... end it. End your suffering.” As one single unit each thug would lift their sharpened object to their throat and slit it wide open.

With the bodies of the thugs dropping around her she would move on, stepping over and walking past the dead and quickly dying as she headed towards her true target: the Genjutsu using boss. All the while keeping her voice laced with chakra. She knew he wouldn't be all that far away; nor that hard to find, so she ensured she kept herself prepared for this face off.

”What the fuck did you do?! Do you realize how hard it is to break these morons in you little bitch?!”, came an enraged shout by a nearby roof top. Artemis' wicked grin spread back across her face as her eyelids snapped shut: she knew most Genjutsu was triggered by sight, and she wasn't going to give this bastard the chance – though, this hardly left her handicapped.

This was going to be fun.~

Jutsu and Chakra Used:

The slums... they were just that, slums. The smell of garbage and piss was in the air. Hopefully Alec would put in motion some kind of clean up project once they were running things. Kinzoku jumped across rooftops until he came to the rock quarrys and the mines. Long unused, the area still contained plenty of material to be used. The gourd's top came off, and the black substance slithered out, combining with the rocks and rubble of the surrounding areas, breaking them down to create more Iron Sand.

While in the process, several of the "riff raff" that Alec mentioned were coming to investigate. Kinzoku felt there presence through sensory. All armed with Kunai. They originally weren't coming down into this area, but one alerted the others at the sight of the moving black stuff. There were 5 of them. Like Alec said, none of them were anything important. Besides a glance back at them, Kinzoku continued on with his work.

Eventually they were approaching. "Hey, weirdo," one of them said, the leader of the bunch, more muscular than the other 4. "What... the hell are you doing?"

Kinzoku ignored him. "Hey, dumb ass, you hear me talking to you?" He asked, approaching now. Kinzoku continued with his work, until that hand slapped down upon his right shoulder. "Hey you piece of shit, do you understand eng---"

A black hand connected to what looked like a long black snake grabbed the man's ankle. He was snatched airborne, upside down. Another black hand grabbed his other ankle as he dangle there, yelping. "Help you morons, help!!" he yelled to his 4 comrades. The 4 of them threw Kunai at Kinzoku, but a mysterious wall appeared to block them.

The restrained goon's legs were yanked in either direction until he was performing a split. There were snap and crunching sounds, indicating that he wasn't able to execute such a maneuver. He began to scream madly. The hands holding him bend his legs the wrong way at the knees, producing more pop and crunch sounds, and more screams.

As Kinzoku turned to face the 4 who were now horrified at the sight of what was happening to their comrade, they were able to glimpse those piercing yellow eyes staring at them on an emotionless face. 2 of them frowned and ran in towards Kinzoku. One jumped and tried kicking him in the face, one went low and attempted to sweep his feet. Both were blocked.

More hands connected to arms were produced from the mass of blackness glowing behind him, to grab the two. They too were dragged airborne. The hands rammed them against each other repeatedly until blood was raining and they were limp and quiet. One of the remaining 2 tried to run. One of the dead bodies was thrown at him, knocking him down.

The last one tried to suicide seeing no way out. He had a handful of explosive tags. A large hand grabbed and completely covered him as they exploded. The Iron Sand was weak against fire, and melted away after the detonation. The remaining Iron Sand formed a large hammer and raised into the air. The final goon tried to scramble from beneath his dead friend as the hammer came down, but was unable. He was crushed into a red stain. The hammer raised and slammed down once more just to be sure.

With the proper amount of sand created, Kinzoku began to walk through the streets. What resembled a large black creature was following him.

Friends began to turn on each other all of a sudden. A group of guys. One of them suddenly drew a kunai, turned, and stabbed the closest individual in his throat. A surprised look was on his face, and the faces of those around him. "What---what??---What---What am I---"

"The fuck did you do???" another asked.

"I---I don't know! I-I don't have control over my body!--"

"Bullshit! You just--" was all he was able to get out, before he was stabbed next. others around him drew weapon and stabbed him to death. They were trying to figure this out, when another stabbed another in the back. Loud arguing took place. This happened over and over until they all killed each other. The last one alive, his life slipping out of his body, looked up, confused, to see the shadows moving away, and an individual in black stepping from the shadows of the nearby building. From what could be seen of his face, he was grinning.

The Middle Class district was vast. There were buildings, walkways, stairways beside the buildings that lead to the roof of some buildings and other walkways. It was a maze. It made for many shadows as well.

His crows made it easy to locate members of this gang, or whatever they were. None of them ever saw him coming. All they was was a crow land and caw at them, before the madness would begin. The very shadows themselves seemed to come to life, and choke several until their heads turned a purple color, their eyes bloodshot and bulging from the sockets. Others just turned on their friends and began stabbing them. Some committed suicide, screaming no beforehand. Innocents watching were left unharmed, and saw a young man walking away from each incident with a crow landing upon his shoulder.

Screams filled the darkness of the middle class district that night, screams which would soon be replaced with silence.

"...Is this guy serious? A cripple coming in here barking orders, telling you to get out, boss?" said one of the goons, frowning evily towards Alec, who was sitting calmly between them. "What's stopping me from smashing your fucking face in right now, freak? You got some nerve---"

"Quiet," said the big boss. He exhaled smoke and put his pipe down, giving a curious stare toward the blindfolded man. "...You must be feeling pretty confident to just waltz in here by yourself and start tossing orders around. You do know that you're outnumbered, right?"

"Alone? No," Alec responded with another grin. "You have guys in each district. A boss who commands useless morons, like these 4 guys surrounding me." All of them looked surprised. He was blindfolded. How did he know?... "Those guys are being taken care of by my people as we speak. Your guys are dropping like flies. Your sub bosses will be dead soon."

Loud screams could be heard from several directions at once. The 4 surrounding Alec began to look startled, as did the big boss's 2 lieutenants. The big boss didn't look affected, and kept looking in Alec's direction. "Sounds painful," Alec said. "The same thing doesn't have to happen here, you can leave."

"Fuck you!" one of the 4 surrounding Alec said, swinging a knife at his head. The Symbiote instantly formed an armor around his head. The kunai impacted the armor and broke in half. One before him made a swing as well. Alec leaned the chair backwards onto it's back 2 legs, thrusting the left Hidden Blade into the chin of the first goon, and his right foot into the mid-section of the front goon that swung at him. The other in front of him swung next, making Alec lean back forward and slam the chair back down on 4 legs while ducking under the swing. The goon behind him went down bleeding. The goon he kicked leaned forward making an oogh sound. Missing him, the goon in front made another swing, causing Alec to draw the stick sword and make two swipes, cutting the kunai in half, and another swing that he seemingly missed.

The two goons in front of him fell down after their heads fell from their shoulders as Alec re-sheathed his sword. The final goon yelled loudly and made a suicide lunge toward Alec in an attempt to tackle him. Alec shoved his right gloved hand towards his face, the Hidden Blade extending and sinking into the bottom of his chin. He tried to scream, but he was unable to open his mouth. The Hidden Gun exploded next, echoing in the office with a loud BOOM sound. The point blank range blast caused the man to fly off of his blade and execute a back flip.

"I was trying to avoid more of a mess. It's gonna be a bitch to clean up your guys outside and in the hallways downstairs as is," Alec said, getting comfortable in the chair again. There were many screams still heard outside.

The two lieutenants were next to stand up straight. "Seems there's more to you than meets the eye," said the big boss, looking impressed. "Instead of leaving, why don't you join us?... I see many opportunities if we were working together instead. There's enough room for all of us here. You and yours can run my districts instead, if what you're saying about my guys being exterminated right now is true. Sounds like it, anyway... I was looking to have them replaced to be honest. What do you say?... Sound good?"

Alec looked like he was thinking on it. "Sorry, but, no. I never was good at following orders. I'm liking this village, and i'm wanting it for myself. I really don't want to ruin my new office any further, so you're still free to walk out of here. All the rest of your guys are going to die. You don't have to end up the same way."

Artemis couldn't help but grin again as the Genjutsu boss landed on the ground in front of her. Her eyes remained closed, she wasn't taking chances after all. "So what am I going to do with you? You've cost me a lot of money. And now I have to break in some new guys..."

"You're going to die..."

The Genjutsu boss cackled, obviously thinking that she was joking. Artemis just simply chuckled. "You're going to slit your throat just like your buddies did. You owe them your life. Go on. Do it. Kill yourself."

The Genjutsu boss raised a kunai to his throat, attracted to her voice just the same as everyone else. He pressed the blade again his flesh and slit his own throat wide open. His body fell forward and hit the ground hard. Artemis opened her eyes and reached down making quick work to remove his boss headband. She then looked around and headed towards where her father was located, wondering what the others had done to their victims.

Chakra Remaining: 1070 - 25 = 1045

Others attempted to stop Kinzoku as he strolled through the streets of the slums. Innocent bystanders were left unharmed. They watched - some even cheering Kinzoku on - as those with headbands cast weak jutsu and attacked him with kitchen knives and kunai, with none of them doing any damage, and all of them grabbed by the black mass behind him to have their body parts broken, bent the wrong way at the joints, twisted, crunched and crushed to death.

A female came out of a bar ahead, at the edge of the districts to the city, leading west where Kuro was, where some where staring, listening to the screaming sounds that were coming from over there, wondering what was happening. The female was fit and toned with visible chiseled muscles in her arms, legs, and abdomen. Kinzoku could see the headband on her forehead bearing her name. She too wondered why people were in the west district screaming like they were, before hearing screams from just down the street. She looked to see Kinzoku and a black mass of... something following him as he walked toward her with his arms folded. Many dead were behind him, their bodies crushed and broken.

"You must be part of what's going on here," she said, stepping toward him, cracking her knuckles. "After I take care of you i'll deal with whatever that is over west next."

Kinzoku stared at her with an expression that looked sleepy. The bottom half of his face was concealed by his collar, showing only a pair of yellow eyes that were half closed. "I don't like fighting females," he said. "You could just make this easy and hand over your headband, then move on. If not, you're finished."

"Typical male! It seems like you have a few tricks, but they won't save you!"

She was fast. So fast, in fact, that his Metal Shield was barely able to raise and block a kick aimed at his head. Kinzoku's eyes opened slightly more to look at the kick, raising his brows somewhat as well. "Impressive... but useless," he responded, unfolding his arms. "You're finished then. Don't worry. I won't break you like your goons."

Since she touched his Iron Sand, she was now magnetized. Kinzoku thrust an open palm towards her mid-section, but didn't touch her. She was launched backwards at a high rapidity to her surprise. She slammed into a concrete wall, dazing her. Kinzoku next did a pulling motion. The female next came flying back towards him to be enveloped into the blood smelling black mass, still damp with the crimson liquids of her goons. leaving her head exposed, the Iron Sand began to constrict, growing tighter every time she exhaled. She fought her hardest to try breaking out of the stuff, but the harder she struggled, the tighter the substance became. Kinzoku stood before her, watching the life be squeezed from her body.

"Remember, I gave you the chance to walk away," he said, taking the headband from her head. She began to look terrified. She tried to say something, but couldn't draw the breath to say it. The female would eventually expire from suffocation, and the Iron Sand released her. Kinzoku reached down to close her eyes, honoring his promise not to break her.

The remainder of her guys were wisely turning and running. Kinzoku wasn't going to give chase. Innocents were cheering because of her death, telling Kinzoku "Thank you." With a nod, Kinzoku began to head towards the North district.

"Kenji! Something is going on!" yelled a goon, bursting into the room of the armor clad boss of the middle class district. "The guys are all turning on each other and committing suicide! Some say the shadows themselves are coming to life and choking people! it's crazy out there!"

"What nonsense is this?" came the voice of Kenji, muffled by the armor he was wearing. "What do you mean the guys are committing suicide? Turning on each other?"

"I know how it sounds but you have to--"

The goon suddenly drew his own Kunai and lunged at Kenji. "It's not me! I'm--i'm not doing this, something is control--"

Kenji blocked a swing and impaled the goon on his dual swords. He then set the swords ablaze with Katon Chakra and roasted him alive while he screamed the whole time. Soon he grew silent and was reduced to ash.

Other goons entered the building and attempted to attack Kenji. He slashed and burned them all, with all of them saying the same thing: they were being controlled. Goon after goon entered the building and attacked Kenji, and Kenji killed them all one by one. It wasn't long before the room he was in was crowded by dead, and kenji was out of breath, confused, angry, and a bit scared.

"I don't know what's going on," he said, struggling to catch his breath. "...but you won't have me!"

The shadows themselves seemed to come to life. The lights went out in the room. Tendrils shot out from dark corners of the room to take hold of each of Kenji's wrists. Two more tendrils came from the floor to grab his ankles, suspending him several inches from the floor. Another tendril came from behind, wrapping around his neck. Kenji gave a terrified scream, dropping both of his swords.

He was able to see a young man approach from the back of the room, dressed in black, a hood over his head covering most of his face except for his lips, which were grinning. A crow with red glowing eyes sat on his shoulder. "Who... who are you? What the hell is this??... Speak! Talk to me!"

Kuro simply reached up and removed the helmet, and then the headband from his forehead. He said nothing to the man, and just waved at him. Kenji began to blurt out obscenities before more tendrils lifted his swords from the floor. One of them impaled his abdomen, causing a scream to erupt from his mouth. The other dug it's way into his chest.

All of the Tendrils began to pull at the same time while he screamed. He went silent when his arms, legs and head were all forcefully ripped from the torso at the same time. The body and parts dropped leaking to the floor.

Kuro turned to walk out of the building, going north.

One of the lieutenants rushed at Alec. He began to launch a succession of attacks at him, all of which were blocked or dodged while Alec continued sitting in the chair. He began to move faster and faster, yet Alec was able to keep up with him easily, even grinning at him while he began to look more frustrated. It became obvious that this guy's gimmick was speed. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough for Alec.

Alec eventually unsheathed the Blind Fury Stick Sword again, slicing off all of his fingers except for his thumbs. Distracted looking at his hands, Alec made a swing towards his abdomen that was so fast that it looked like he missed. He sheathed the stick sword again, and the lieutenant's stomach fell open, spilling intestine and other innards onto the floor.

The second lieutenant performed hand signs and suddenly turned his body into a steel-like substance, similar to what he saw Kinzoku do several times. The first guy's thing was blinding speed, so this guy's thing had to be defense. An interesting combination.

The first lieutenant dropped to his knees and fell over onto his side, his skin turning pale, his body shaking uncontrollably. When the second lieutenant approached, with Alec still sitting calmly in the chair, Alec went airborne - with the chair - and executed 3 quick kicks; 2 impacting his chest and one impacting his face. None of them did any damage, as noted from the smile that appeared on his face while making a swing towards Alec himself. Alec back flipped, allowing the lieutenant to smash the chair instead.

Alec landed while sliding the Blind Fury Stick into the back of his belt. His left hand taking hold of the scabbard of the Kane Katana, Alec rushed towards him, drawing, and executing several blinding slashes that seemed to have touched nothing. After one final swing, Alec sheathed the sword again, stepping past him calmly to grab another chair.

"You asshole, don't walk away, you think that stupid sword was enough to hurt me? We're not done--" The second lieutenant started to say, until he took a pained expression. While Alec slid the chair over where the previous one was and took a seat in it, the second lieutenant fell to pieces.

"See, this is what I was trying to avoid. More mess," he said to the big boss, grinning and pointing at his two dead lieutenants. "And by the way, that was a pretty good combo, a fast guy and a defense guy. Smart thinking."

The screams continued outside while for the first time, the big boss began to look agitated, or afraid. "It looks like you're the last one left. I really don't like repeating myself, but you're still free to get up and walk out of here. You seem pretty strong and experienced, it would be a waste for all that talent to just vanish in an instant, yeah?"

"...I don't need you talking down at me, cripple," said the big boss, visibly growing more angry as time passed. "I don't know how you're pulling all of this off, either you're getting severely lucky or you're some kind of weird perversion of nature. You won't have that same kind of luck with me!"

Alec took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders, keeping his grin. "If you really wanna go that route, alright, but I offered you 3 times to walk away. Remember that when you're on the floor next, like them, fighting for your life."

As Artemis walked through the streets slowly; not rushing but not dawdling. A lot of the civilians around where whispering to each other, others were grinning or nodding to her, and some even broke out into cheers. They didn't know exactly how she had done what she had but they were thankful for it all of the time. Artemis would simply smile and nod in response without saying a word: her voice was still lined with chakra after all – she was sure there had to be more thugs lurking around.

Sure enough, as she neared the end of the district several thugs jumped down from the buildings around her – they had saw the fight between herself and their boss, and had been waiting to try and catch her off guard. Artemis would simply pause in her walking and take the time to look at each one in turn. ”If you walk away now you won't have to die... but if you try and harm me you'll suffer for it.”, she said clearly: a very fair warning and not one she would give again.

Two of the five looked at each other, shrugged, and took several steps backwards – they were the wise ones of the bunch and had no intentions of suffering the fate of their comrades. Two more of the five laughed; their heads thrown back as if they had just heard a great joke. The last attempted to attack her, and it to him that her attention instantly shifted. ”Stop... The man would stop instantly, startled. His friends, noticing that he had stopped, suddenly stopped laughing and began to look a little nervous.

”Hey.. come on. Stop playing around like that. Kill that girl and be done with it.”

”Yeah man. Don't play like that.”

Artemis simply grinned, wickedly. ”Kill your friends who laughed at me. Make it quick.” The command was no sooner issued before it was followed out. Using feats not otherwise possibly the man who had been about to attack Artemis turned on his buddies: one was gut with a swiftness the man otherwise wouldn't be capable of, and the other staffed straight through one eye socket and then the other. ”Good, now kill yourself. Try not to make a mess of the place while you do it.” Instead of stabbing himself the man put his own hands around his throat and began to choke and suffocate himself, quickly turning purple.

As he gasped his last breath of air his body crumpled to the ground. Artemis turned her attention to the remaining two who both suddenly respectfully bowed and began to apologize for their actions. Artemis stepped past them without a word and continued on, fully leaving the district she had been in and entering the one her father had said to meet him in. She picked up her step, moving to the roof tops so she had a chance to get a good look about the place as she ventured on.

Chakra Remaining: 1,045 – 25 = 1,020

The north district had bodies in random places. All of them had slash wounds, punctures and their heads missing; Alec's trademark work. No one was alive in the north district except for 2 people. One of the chakra signatures he recognized to be Alec's. There was another one in the same room in close proximity to him; a huge chakra that could have proven to be even larger than Alec's.

Kinzoku made his way across the grounds to the large house, confident that Alec could hold his own against the big chakra inside. He walked up the front stairs to see that the front doors were open just as Alec said they'd be. Inside the house were more bodies, with slash and puncture wounds.

He made his way up a couple of flights of stairs and to the office where Alec was sitting in a chair, looking comfortable, among dead bodies which had been cut open, stabbed and sliced to pieces. The smell was horrible, but it was nothing that Kinzoku wasn't already used to. He carried a gourd containing Iron Sand that stank of blood.

Kinzoku came to a stop on Alec's left side. He folded his arms after tossing the headband of the Taijutsu chick in the slum onto the desk of the big chakra man sitting behind it.

No one else was in the west. The remainder of the headband gang, upon seeing most of their comrades and friends turn on each other and kill themselves, ran out of the village and took to the wilds surrounding Kurayamigakure, not looking back. it was a smart move. Kuro was sure that because of the horrors they'd witnessed, they would never return here.

Kuro's Sensory and crows informed him that many were dead in the slum, and the last of life had just seeped out of an exceptionally strong looking woman, likely the boss. there was a similar looking situation in the east, the rich district. Kinzoku and Artemis as well as himself had been victorious in their pursuit, so he began moving toward the north.

Dead bodies. Alec killed them, obviously, since they'd been stabbed and slashed. There was a big house, the front doors open. Kuro walked up onto the porch and inside, seeing more bodies. Sensory told him that 3 big chakra signatures were upstairs on the 3rd floor: Alec, Kinzoku, and most likely the mastermind behind it all.

Kuro walked into this room with his hands in his pockets, a grin on what could be seen of his pale face, a large crow on his shoulder. Seeing the headband from the boss of the slums on the desk in front of the mastermind, Kuro was next to toss the headband of the boss he'd killed upon it next, standing to Alec's right side.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU STAND A CHANCE!?" yelled the boss. "...How do I know this isn't some big sham to out me of power?... How do I know that my guys are really dead?"

Big chakras were headed towards the house. "Allow me to introduce," said Alec while he walked in. "Kinzoku, the Metal Catastrophe, my left hand. Your Taijutsu woman in the slums died by his hand." After that was said, Kinzoku tossed her headband onto the desk.

Kuro was coming soon after that, and soon he was walking in not long after Kinzoku. "Here we have my right hand, Kuro of the Nara," said Alec. "He's called The Crow Sage. Your armored guy with the two flaming swords? Dealt with." Kuro then tossed his headband next.

"And as for the illusion guy you had over in the rich district? Artemis should be wrapping things up over there as we speak. She should be along any second."

The boss was beginning to look furious. Veins could be seen protruding from his forehead and neck while his whole head began to turn red from his building anger. "You asked," said Alec in response to this anger. "You beginning to see how hopeless the situation is for you yet? Or should I show you a glimpse of what I can really do?"