Aella had had her fun with the ship that Kinzoku had created and the castle that Emiko had created. It made her wish she was capable of doing awesome stuff like that with sand; she would make life size castles everywhere for people to play in. For now Aella was laying on one of the nearby park benches, staring up at the birds above her in the tree. Their chirping had drawn her over to them, and laying on the bench and watching them just seemed like a good idea.

Lil' Bai had exited himself from her and the small panda was currently being used as a pillow as he sat with Aella's head in his lap. The panda was currently attempting to remove a leaf from Aella's wild mass of hair and growling at the wind each time it made Lil' Bai's task more difficult by causing her hair to move.

Aella simply giggled at her bijuu and continued to watch the birds: all through the white, paint splattered mask, that she wore on her face that stood out against the black turtle neck she had on.

Dez was out of her lab for once. She had gone to see Hikari, and had even helped to draw up some blueprints for the future Makkura hospital. She had even compiled a list of machinery she could think of that they would need. All she had left to do was get with Holeman and Emiko and see if they wanted to make any sort of changes, or had anything else to offer to it all before the process officially started.

Now, though, she was zeroed in on Aella. A line of worry had crossed her face when she saw her lying on the bench, but as she got nearer she could easily pick up on the giggling. She quickly realized that nothing was exactly wrong, the child was just staring at the birds and takign a break. Or, she assumed that's what she was doing since her face was covered with a mask.

Dez stopped nearby and reached out to scratch lightly at Lil' Bai's ears, hoping to calm the frustrated sounding panda. "You know... with that mask on you look like an ANBU.", Dez said thoughtfully.

Lil' Bai made the bear equivalent of a purring noise when Dez scratched the top of his head gently; it calmed him and caused him to stop being so frustrated over the leaf that was in Aella's hair. As if pulling the bamboo out of nowhere he made a stick appear between his paws and he began to gnaw at it while looking between the two females.

Aella, using her chakra radar, turned her focus from the birds that were above her and onto Dez. A smile spread across her face, though it was hidden by the mask she wore. "Do I really? That's my dream, what I want to be when I'm strong enough!", she said excitedly. It's the whole reason she had wanted to grow stronger, and so quickly too. It's something she had been interested in for as long as she could remember.

"ANBU are so awesome!", she said excitedly.

Alec sat in the recliner in his bedroom, in front of the global radar that let him track chakra signatures all over this world. He held his Blind Fury stick with his left hand, moving it between his fingers, occasionally dragging it across the polished floor. A grim expression was on his face while he sat there, deep in thought. Everything that had gone on the past few days weighed heavily on his mind...

Kids had left their villages and came here, to the home of the “villains,” because the leaders in their villages didn't seem to notice their developments and accomplishments, or care. He was told that “if receiving even the smallest amount of recognition means become a villain, that they would rather be branded villains than remain somewhere where they would be ignored.” Alec often thought of once again returning to his Chaos Squad mentality and exterminating the leaders of these villages one by one.

What kind of an example would that be setting, though? When someone wrongs you or your loved ones, kill them. Furthermore, what good would it do? He would just be bringing more hatred upon himself. As much as he wanted to stab Hiroyuki for what he'd done to Aella, sending some goon with a message instead of coming here himself, and condoning clones; as much as he wanted to decapitate this Kenta person for calling his family weak and a joke, and threatening his village, Alec knew that he wouldn't. Mutt dogs often barked loud and flashed teeth to incite fear. Once they got that fear is when they became their most vicious. Kane feared no man or dog. Leveling Kori proved this, and those in Niwa had to know that the same could very easily happen to them.

As far as Holeman and Mitsukai went, Strafe wasn't even worth killing. As easy as it was to take one of his legs, Alec knew that taking his head would be just as simple. In the end, that wouldn't solve anything either. Alec still expected someone from the desert to come here looking for the kids; to find out what happened and why. Those were his 3 top Shinobi, and he would have to be a fool not to come looking for them.

Alec also expected someone to come showing up here from Hinowa. Action wouldn't be taken against them when they showed up unless it was necessary. Alec noticed that both Holeman's clan and the Yanagi Twin's families had recently migrated here, and with the recent renovations and building projects going on, there was more than enough room for them all. So, instead of asserting their dominance as the strongest of the countries and invading others to senselessly slaughter their occupants and assassinate their Kage, Alec decided to play this cool. Just because he had a lot of power now didn't mean he would abuse it, or unzip his pants and get cocky. Most everyone looked to him as he leader; he had an example to set.

With his own chakra eyes, Alec had himself a look around the growing village of Makkura. It had become much more active than it had been in... ever. He tuned into a conversation taking place between Destiny and Aella on a park bench not far away. Aella said it was her dream to be part of ANBU. Alec could remember it somewhat from his memories passed to him from Spook. They were a special Black Ops unit of Shinobi that took orders from the Kage, who often performed assassinations and torture. ANBU agents wore masks – something like Aella – to conceal their identities.

Alec once found a secret room with weird masks and strange uniforms. Perhaps this secret room once belonged to the ANBU unit from long ago, before Hana turned Makkura into a dump. He began to think that Makkura could possibly due with a secret covert unit such as this. Aella would be immediately recruited of course, but there would have to be others... Kinzoku? Possibly Hikari of the Yanagi Twins? First he'd call a meeting.

”Aella, Kinzoku, Hikari. Could you all come to the front room of the Tower? I'm starting up a new project and there's something i'd like to discuss...”

Aella blinked as she heard her grandfather's voice; she still had the wireless communicator that Dezzy had given her in her ear even though she was healthy again: it just felt right to keep it there. So, hearing her grandfather speak all of a sudden and call specifically to several people, including her, caused her to sit up in her curiousity. "Come on, Lil' Bai. Grandad wants to see us."

Lil' Bai shoved the last little bit of bamboo into his mouth and then, as he so often did, he walked right into Aella's leg after hopping off of the bench. Instead of colliding with her he walked straight through and into her.

Once Lil' Bai had returned to being sealed in her she waved goodbye to Dezzy and ran quickly through the park and towards the tower. She bobbed and weaved easily around anyone and anything in her way, her small size and quickness on her feet coming in handy. She reached the tower within seconds, and was across the bridge just as quickly. She stopped in front of the entrance and opened the door, walking inside and into the front room curiously.

"Grandad?"

She came to a stop and looked around, wondering if she was the first one to arrive or not, all while keeping her mask on which hit her smile, though she giggled plenty due to her bubbling happiness. As she stood there she noticed Dezzy come in after her and head down into her lab - likely to go feed the zombie pet of hers that was making an awful racket and shaking its cage because it was hungry.

Hikari had recently bought a wireless communicator, and was rather lucky of that fact too as she suddenly heard herself being called to the tower with a few other people as well. Curiosity drove her as she got up off of her couch where she had been sitting and going over different ideas and plans for the future Makkura hospital. Not wanting to waste any time, or show up late, she headed out of her house without wait and after closing the door behind herself took off across the village.

She moved quickly to the tower, noticing Aella up ahead of her as well as Dezzy. She entered into the tower after the two younger female's and stood in the front room. She interlocked her fingers in front of her and waited, wondering what exactly Mr. Kane needed with her. Of course, she was more than willing to help with whatever the task was, it was the least she could do with the fact that he had given her and her brother their own homes, plus the fact that her parents were now safe in the village as well.

She looked around as she waited to see what was going on and what she was needed for, noticing the images on the ceiling which she stared at curiously, head tilted back as if she were looking at them with useless, covered eyes.

Kinzoku had remained in the park, watching kids play around the huge sand castle that Emiko built. He built a “guard rail” of sorts from minerals in the dirt surrounding the moat that was filled with Liquid Metal, so that none of them fell into it by mistake. Kinzoku liked it here, since none of the kids judged him or looked down at him because of his dirty past; instead the kids here thought he was cool and amazing. He'd never seen so many smiles before today.

He heard Alec's voice on the comms and stood up, letting the kids know he'd be back as a chorus of “aww's” began. The Iron Sand spread out through the area gathered itself and made it's way back into the glowing gourd while Kinzoku began walking toward the tower. Had he done something wrong? He wondered why the boss man would be calling him to the Tower like this.

After walking across the drawbridge and opening the door, Kinzoku stepped into the front room. Aella and Hikari, one of the twins from Hinowa, were already in attendance. ”Sir?”

Alec was already in the room too. He stood with his Blind Fury stick in front of him, both hands propped atop the polished stick like a cane, as usual. With all 3 of them here now, he could discuss with them his new plans. He motioned for the 3 of them to follow him and he ascended 1 flight of stairs onto the second floor.

”None of you are in trouble or anything. In fact, i'd say this is exactly the opposite. I don't know if I say thank you enough to my people, but thank you. All of you... for whatever it is that you do to make Makkura a better place. I'm proud of all of you, I mean that...”

Alec pulled the handle of a lamp holder mid way down the 2nd floor hallway, revealing a door that was just perfectly hidden. The door slid to the left side, spilling dust and making Alec cough several times while fanning the air in front of his face. He reached into the room and flipped a switch, turning on the lights in the very old room. They would be able to see that the room was actually several rooms; it seemed like a small secret HQ for a covert unit. Masks, weapons and uniforms, old and dusty but still intact, were still stacked neatly in their proper areas throughout the place.

”Makkura has become very populated as of late. I'm starting to think that, just like many other villages, we might need ourselves a secret unit of elite individuals who undertake dirty jobs and hush-hush stuff. ANBU, it's called. Aella here might know more about how it works than I do, so she was my first choice, because of that, and also because she's a Jinchuuriki, meaning she's the muscle. Kinzoku, I chose you because of your Sensory abilities and your Iron Sand. You'd be the eyes and the defense. Hikari, I chose you because of your Medical Expertise, and because you'd also be able to defend yourself if it came to that. You'd have the most important role as the health of the team. You'd start out small, but i'm sure more members will join as time passes. I found this room a few weeks ago, and after hearing Aella talk about dreams I realized what this room was once used for. We might as well put all of this equipment in here to good use, right? This something you all would be interested in?”

Aella waved to Hikari and then to Kinzoku as they arrived right after her before she turned her attention to her grandfather when he motioned for them to follow him. She couldn't help but beam happily when he said that he was proud of all of them: it was something a child loved to hear, a lot. She continued to follow her grandfather up to the second floor and then down the hallway, watching with a slightly tilted head as he caused a secret room to open up which obviously hadn't been opened for a while due to all of the dust that open the door caused.

Covering her mouth and nose with her hand as to not inhale any of the dust and start coughing like her grandfather was, or sneezing like crazy due to her sensitive nose, she followed her grandfather into the room. She walked into the middle and then came a stop. Slowly her hand moved away from her face and her arm then dropped down to her side. Her mouth opened wide in awe, something that would quickly become noticable as she slowly reached up with her left hand and removed her mask.

The masks, the weapons, and the armor all told her one thing: Makkura a very long time ago had ANBU... and this was where that secret was kept. "Wow...", she whispered softly as if anything louder might cause something to break. She listened to her grandfather speak as he went about to explain that Aella, Kinzoku, and Hikari had been chosen to be the first ANBU members due to their strength, skills, and abilities. It was this that caused her attention to finally shift from the equipment to her grandfather. This had been her biggest dream, the one she had told Dezzy about just minutes ago... and it was coming true? "Really?! Really really?!", she asked excitedly.

She then ran over to her grandfather and hugged him, tightly. "YAY!"

Hikari listened to Alec as he explained that none of them were in trouble, and that Alec just wanted to thank them and tell him how proud he was of them. This caused a smile to form on Hikari's face: it was always good to hear that one was appreciated, even if they were new to the village. She followed after him as he motioned for them to do so and led the way up to the second floor where he then opened a secret door. The amount of dust told her it likely had been a while since it had been opened, and she held her breath as she followed him inside so that she didn't inhale any of the dust and start coughing next.

Once inside she glanced around, noticing the masks, weapons, and wardrobe that the room held. While she had never really been a long-term resident of any particular village she had come across mention of ANBU in more than one book, and had learned enough to realize that this room must have been some sort of old headquarters that likely hadn't been used since back before Alec and his family had come and fixed the village up.

She was shocked to hear, as she focused her attention back onto Alec, that he had chosen the three of them specifically to act as the first members. She was... honored, to put it lightly. She gave a respectful bow of her head as she watched Aella go running over to hug her grandfather. "It would be my honor.", she said in response. She had never thought of ever being offered such a opportunity before, and she was not going to allow a chance like this pass her by, nor would she let Alec down. There would be no task put before her that she wouldn't be willing to accomplish.

He went with Alec and the girls up to the second floor. Alec said they weren't in trouble, and that was good because he couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong. He said he was thankful, and that he was proud of them. He nodded with a slight grin. Leaving the desert and coming to live here had to be one of the best things he'd done in his life. People and children who liked him, and leaders who thanked him and told him they were proud of him. ”Thanks, sir,” he said.

Alec opened a secret door he didn't think was there. The dust didn't bother him much, probably from working in a mine for years. The room beyond looked to be a long lost secret, which Alec said this Tower had many of. He began to explain about ANBU, something he himself once dreamed he could be a part of when he lived in Yokuchi, but he knew he'd never make it there. Alec said Makkura was going to have his own ANBU, and that he'd picked the 3 of them because of specific skill sets; Kinzoku's being his Sensory and his Iron Sand.

A secret agent that did behind-the-scenes tasks that everyone couldn't know about? It sounded right up Kinzoku's alley. Piercing yellow eyes glance about the room, looking at the old uniforms and masks. The villagers would know exactly who he was because of the glowing gourd, but he could get used to the idea of wearing a mask. ”Yeah, i'm interested. Sign me up, i'd be happy to help,” was Kinzoku's response, grinning again when Aella gave Alec a hug.

Alec rubbed Aella's back when she hugged him. He didn't remember her ever being this happy back in Niwa. If a 'bad guy' could put a smile on a child's face, perhaps that 'bad guy' wasn't as bad as some people made him out to be. This was all because of you, remember that. This was your idea. I just brought it to life for you is all...

”Well, alright then! Makkura has it's first ANBU team. Like I said, Aella should know more about this whole thing than I would, so if you have any questions be sure to ask her. If there's anything I can do to help out, i'm just a comm request away, alright? I'll leave you all to it...”

After tickling the back of Aella's neck, Alec walked back out into the hall and headed back up toward his bedroom....

/Exit/

Aella was shocked, this sudden sprouting up of the ANBU was because of her? She figured her grandfather had somehow overheard her conversation with Dezzy, and had used that as the spark to start all of this. She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as she released her hug on her grandfather and step back. She was practically bouncing in place as she gave the room a once over again. When she was tickled she giggled and squirmed away with a "Nooo tickling the panda~"

She watched her grandfather leave and pulled her own mask back down over her face. "I like my mask... it came from my friend Gemma." Yup, if she could keep her own mask then that's what she was going to do. It wasn't like the villagers wouldn't likely guess who was beneath it: Aella had been wearing a mask on and off since she had gotten better. It was just something she liked doing. Of course, she doubted that would matter much, it wasn't like people in Makkura associated with the outside world anyway - not with all of the threats of violence and war going on. They were happy in their own little village, she doubted they'd risk ruining that.

She went over to the weapons that were on the wall and thought back to the present that Ashi had given her, one she had hidden in a scroll. She reached into her pocket, pulled out the scroll, and opened it. Out popped what her Grandmother called "The Violence Hammer" which was a gift to her from Kenta. She picked it up and rested the huge thing on her shoulder. "I think I'll stick with this... swords aren't my style, and this thing works even when I'm using my clan moves... it just makes things more pointy."

Violence Hammer:

Hikari had read enough about ANBU not to have any questions right now, so she simply went about looking at the various equipment on the wall. She figured she could get used to wearing a mask pretty quickly and picked one of them out for herself; it was simply in design, which is why she liked it so much, and mostly white like the cloth she wore across her eyes. She had always worn a cloth of some kind to keep her useless eyes covered, so she figured that a mask wouldn't be too hard to adjust to.

She looked over to Aella as the girl pulled something that looked very home-made and yet very dangerous out of a storage scroll. She was surprised to see the girl had such a weapon, but noticed the way she carried it and held it and could easily tell that she knew how to use it. If that weapon worked well with her clan abilities then she wasn't going to judge. Hikari had no interest in a weapon, she was too skilled using her hands and feet to fight, and taking a weapon would only slow her down greatly.

As she looked at some of the outfits she wondered what exactly their first task was going to be. Would Junior or Alec send them to assassinate someone? Would they have to sneak in somewhere and gather information? Or would they had to deliver some sort of important something or other to a village? "I wonder what our first task will be?"

Kinzoku picked up a mask that resembled a bird of some sort. There was a tan colored cloak with it, and after putting the mask on, he then took off his gourd to put on the cloak, situating it and pulling up the hood. It smelled old, but it wasn't as if that couldn't change. He could still see pretty well, but it wasn't as if he needed the actual use of his eyes.

Appearance:

”Nice,” he said, putting his gourd back on. Kinzoku came across some sort of contraption that had a needle at one end, next to several bottles of black fluid. Several papers were between some of the bottles. Kinzoku grabbed them and gave them a look over, seeing the ANBU symbol drawn on them. He'd figured out that the contraption was actually a Tattoo gun, and the fluid in the bottles were ink.

”Hmm, I think this is where everyone got their ANBU symbols. I have some experience with tattoos from when I did time in prison. I could give us all ink, if no one else wants to volunteer...?” The Tattoo gun still looked in good condition. Kinzoku tested all the joints and contraptions. He found napkins and sanitary supplies. The top layers were old and unusable, and after throwing those away the bottom layers were still relatively new. Kinzoku also found other needles to be used. He attached a fresh one to the Tattoo gun and oiled the contraption up for use.

Aella picked up a black cloak; smaller than the rest which was thankful since she was so small compared to everyone else. She put her violence hammer off to the side and then she put the cloak on and looked at her reflection on some metal in the room; it looked almost like she was wearing a shirt up until she pulled the hood up, and given her black clothing beneath it matched very well. Figuring this cloak would work, and help her blend in with the darkness easier she kept the thing on.

She looked over to Kinzoku, tilting her head in his direction even though she was using her chakra radar to see. She saw the contraption she had and the ink. She knew ANBU members to have tattoos, but hadn't thought about it until now. She figured no one would yell at her about a tattoo since it was an ANBU thing, so she giggled and walked over. "I'll go first!", she said excitedly; not even commenting about his admittance to being in prison - she wasn't a nosy child, if he wanted to share the information he would, otherwise it was his secret to keep. She went over to one of the nearby stools and climbed up on it. She rolled up her sleeve the whole way after pushing her black cloak off to the side and out of the way. She then held her arm out to Kinzoku.

She wasn't afraid of the pain of the tattoo itself: she had recieved her fair share of bumps and bruises while training and was no stranger to pain. Besides, she figured it likely hurt less than people made it seem like it would, and she was a tough kid, she could handle it. "Don't worry, I won't cry. I'm sure I've hurt myself worse in training than getting a tattoo will hurt." She forced herself to sit still as she waited; knowing not to move because it would mess the whole thing up.

Hikari picked out a cloak as well, light tan like Kinzoku's. She ignored the smell that stated it had been in a locked up room for a long time, and slipped it on. She slipped the mask on her face afterward and pulled the hood up before looking at her reflection. If she had to guess she wouldn't think she was under there: of course, those who knew her well enough by scent or sensory would know it was her, but she figured she didn't have to worry about any of that.

She glanced over when Kinzoku mentioned a tattoo and was about to volenteer to be the first when Aella went over and hopped up on the stool. She was surprised to see that the child was so eager, and even more surprised when she realized the child knew it was likely going to hurt: but then again, Alec had hand picked them, and must've known Aella was up for the task if he had done so. She leaned against a nearby table, having not missed Kinzoku's comment about jail. But, given the village he had come from... well, it wasn't a surprise. She had heard some bad stories about Yokuchi floating around, including the way the village treated its own, so it was no surprise that one of their own had been locked up for one thing or another.

Hikari grinned slightly. "You should probably do mine too... I never was much for artwork since I was blind almost my whole life." She had no problem admitting it since it was the truth: lying would not gain her trust among her new team, and besides, everyone had weaknesses, it was better to know them then hide them.

While she waited for her own turn she went ahead and continued looking around the room. She even picked up a few books and notes and flipped through them curiously, some mentioning special jutsu known only to ANBU members: those she paid extra special attention to as she knew they would likely come in handy in the near future.

Kinzoku looked skeptical about giving a small child a tattoo. Add that to the fact that this child was Alec's Grand daughter. (He was still trying to figure that out, Alec looked barely out of his teens!) Yet, she was a Jinchuuriki, so that had to mean she was tough, probably tougher than he was. The look on her face and the way she'd hugged Alec before he left told him that she'd probably been looking forward to this for a long time.

”Alright... i'll go easy,” he said. There were pieces of charcoal on the table that had been shaven down to resemble a pencil. Kinzoku used one of them to draw the outline of the symbol on her arm first, then he went to work. The process took longer than usual because he didn't want to hurt the girl.

Kinzoku inked in the last of the symbol and wiped off the excess. He wiped Aella's arm in a protective grease that would remain for a day or two so that nothing happened to his work, and so her arm didn't get infected. ”All done... how's it look? Not bad?”

Next would be Hikari's turn. When she would sit where Aella was sitting, he'd again draw the outline with the charcoal pencil, then go to work with the Tattoo gun. ”...So it's you and your twin brother who moved into those other new houses near me? It'll be good to have neighbors... I don't mean to sound like some sort of putz or anything, but it was... sort of lonely living over in the new area alone.”

Hikari would probably be more tolerant to pain since she was older, so her Tattoo went a little faster. When finished, he wiped off the excess ink and covered the area in the same protective grease he'd given Aella. As for himself, he had all the time in the world to do his own, and would take care of that probably at home that evening...

Aella sat still the whole way through the ANBU tattoo. She could feel the pain from it, but like she had originally thought, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as she had heard some people speak about. Of course, that could have been due to the fact that she was sure Kinzoku was taking it easy on her, but she wasn't going to complain. When he finished she looked at her arm with a grin and nodded. "It's awesome! Thanks a bunch!"

She hopped off of the stool so that Hikari could take her place. She went over to the books and notes that Hikari had been looking at and began to look through the same thing, noticing the few jutsu she could find. They all looked easy enough, and she made quick work with memorizing them: who knew when she was going to end up needing them - especially the Genjutsu one that would have anyone spilling their guts that she used it on.

She looked back over to HIkari and Kinzoku, seeing that Kinzoku was working on hers much faster. She smiled and simply watched curiously, leaning against one of the nearby tables and keeping enough distance as to not be in the way.

Hikari watched Aella's tattoo being completed after she had finished reading the jutsu that were listed. As Aella hopped off of the stool she put the book down for the others to look at when they wanted and then wandered over. She got up on the stool and moved her own cloak out of the way; her sleeveless shirt apparently a good choice for the day. She watched as Kinzoku got to work on her ANBU tattoo, not even flinching at the pain she could feel since it was easy enough to ignore when she focused on other things.

"Yup, that's Kurai and I. I was wondering who lived near us." She nodded a bit. "I see the place filling up pretty quick though; especially with that psychopath I keep hearing about running loose around there somewhere. I have a feeling we're going to see a rise in civilians - even more than the village already has. Everyone's going to be too scared to stay anywhere else." She watched as Kinzoku finished up her tattoo and then rubbed the same grease like substance on her arm as he had done on Aella. With him finished she jumped off of the stool and then nodded towards the books she had been looking at, and which Aella now was.

"Might want to take a look at those books when Aella's done... there's quite a few jutsu in there, secret jutsu only taught to ANBU members. They look like they could come in handy."

He put a piece of paper with the symbol drawn onto it into his pocket. He looked over the books Hikari mentioned. The jutsu listed inside were mostly for interrogating, restraining and torturing a potential victim; all of which Kinzoku had no need for. He closed the book and put it back where it was.

”...Those seem like nice techniques and all. But I have my own ways of milking someone for information...” he said, and as if the glowing gourd could understand what was being said, probably because it could, it began to move and wiggle upon his back all by itself. A fine black powder could be seen circling his form. ”Restraining a person and applying pressure inch by inch, pound by pound, to all parts of their body at once... It makes even the most secretive person reveal everything you never thought they'd tell you... I know...”

Kinzoku scratched his head when he realized how he'd began to sound. ”...But uh, sorry. I don't mean to sound creepy or anything... rough childhood.” He cleaned up the tattoo area and put the utensils back where he'd found them. ”I'm going to get back on my post on the village wall. Maybe we'll get to do some assignments somewhere in the future, huh? I look forward to it...”

Kinzoku left the ANBU room after waving to the girls and headed downstairs, then back outside...

[Exit]