Chapter 87: Questions, Youth and Escort
_________ POV Narration _________
'A mission, huh... From someone that is comparable to one of the 5 Kage no less...'
Sakumo narrowed his eyes at the suggestion but didn't outright reject the notion of it.
Normally, hidden villages only took missions from the Land they resided in, and the ones they happened to be allied with.
It wasn't unusual for a third party like Ken to try and issue a mission to the Leaf Village. It was a rather common occurrence even.
The Leaf always had to properly vet their sources and understand the people that issued missions for them, which was why they normally tended to ignore outside requests.
In times of war, that was especially the case.
But Ken was a bit of a special case...
'I think the Hokage himself will have to decide whether or not to take the mission... I can't make such radical choices myself, even as an Anbu Captain.'
"I can't promise you anything about us accepting a mission from you, but I can promise to relay it to Lord Hokage." Sakumo decided to be upfront about it with Ken.
At the end of the day, he wasn't scared of angering the assassin, and they were still technically not enemies.
"That is truly all I can ask for..." Thankfully, the Red Dot very much understood the White Fang's position and even seemed to appreciate his bluntness.
"So... You said you had a few questions for me?" Ken tilted his head at the Anbu Captain, his long spiky hair swaying in the wind.
Sakumo nodded, remembering his questions.
As he prepared to speak, the squad he had brought with him also made it to the village, all of them appeared behind their captain, warily eyeing up the Assassin in front of them.
"First off... This is more of a personal gripe, really. Why did you have to destroy so much of the forests?" Sakumo scratched the back of his head as he spoke in a kind and patient tone.
Ken could feel the displeasure of the Anbu behind Sakumo, but the White Fang himself seemed to not be that upset about it. It was nowhere near as pronounced at least.
"I admit that I played around with the Swordsmen instead of killing them quickly.
I apologize for the destruction caused in your territory, we are willing to repay you properly for the damages."
Ken bowed his head slightly, showing his sincerity to the now-wide-eyed Anbu Captain.
His apology seemed to have come out of nowhere for the Anbu behind him as well, as they all eyed him with both shock and confusion.
Sakumo ended up just shaking his head and giving the assassin a warm smile.
'He is a lot more reasonable than the rumours paint him...'
Still, one part of it still Ken's statement bothered Sakumo.
'Playing with targets, huh? Some would consider that a bit unprofessional...'
The Anbu Captain didn't outright judge Ken, but the Blind Swordsman still noticed his apprehension.
"I can assure you that this was a personal matter, not representative of the Brotherhood's usual MO." Ken's rough voice broke through Sakumo's thoughts, making the Silver-Haired Shinobi blink a few times as he processed information.
The fact that it was a personal matter had some implications. He hadn't been told about that beforehand, but their Hokage likely knew about it from the Uzumaki.
Hiruzen had to be clued in so he knew not to ask too many questions. He had likely been too busy and had forgotten to share it with Sakumo, who now understood the situation a bit better.
"I understand, apologies for doubting you as well... Compensation will have to be discussed with the Hokage as well, it might be better for you to meet him at this point."
Sakumo smiled once more at the Brotherhood Leader, but he was the only one smiling.
The Anbu behind him all seemed to recoil at the notion.
'Letting a dangerous assassin have a meeting with Lord Hokage in the middle of a War?!?'
They didn't wish to appear disrespectful and outwardly question their captain's decision, but they all still had clear doubts about the situation.
One of them even decided to study the assassin a bit closer... Said Anbu happened to be a member of the Hyuga Clan.
His eyes suddenly shifted as he activated his Dojutsu, the Byakugan. His pupils became larger and turned completely white, veins popped up around his eyes underneath his mask as he looked at the assassin.
The Byakugan itself was a powerful Dojutsu, one that was said to be on par with the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan.
It allowed the user to see everything around them at a 360-degree angle, it allowed them to see kilometres ahead of them and scout areas before even stepping into them.
It also highlighted a person's chakra network and weaknesses. To add to that, it assisted the user in finding ways to exploit them.
It even allowed a user that was skilled enough to split Ninjutsu apart by targeting its weak spots.
It was a frightening bloodline ability to fight against. To the point where even Ken had heard about it in the past.
The Blind Swordsman obviously couldn't 'see' the change in the Hyuga Member. After all, he couldn't feel the wind bending around his features since he was wearing a mask.
But he could feel the change in the man's chakra. He even became wary for a second, although he didn't exactly feel threatened by the group in front of him.
The only one that would be able to face him was Sakumo, who didn't seem that confrontational.
The Byakugan user looked at Ken for all of 2 seconds before he gasped and took a step back.
"W-wha..." He broke his silence, gaining the surprise of both Sakumo and the people around him.
He, however, wasn't thinking about the attention he had just garnered.
Instead, his mind was reeling, trying to understand what exactly he was even looking at.
'This thing isn't even human...'
He could see the mangled Chakra Network of the Beast in front of him. It was nothing to scoff at, his reserves were already impressive enough. But the most shocking thing was the lack of something crucial to all shinobi...
Tenketsu. The only thing enabling shinobi to use the chakra latent within their body and mould it to create different effects.
The Red Dot was already known to be able to use Ninjutsu and Chakra quite easily. His control over it was said to be masterful from what was observed.
So how come he was unable to see any Tenketsu?
In truth, Ken did originally have his Tenketsu intact, he even trained using them... But after a while, he decided to cover them up slightly, to avoid the possibility of them being used as a weakness.
After gaining more mastery over Nature's Energy and his transformations, he managed to alter his body in such ways.
He did need to uncover them whenever he used Jutsu, but that wasn't difficult to do. It just required concentration.
No one but Ken was privy to that knowledge. So there was only one real explanation that the Hyuga Member could come up with on the spot...
The Red Dot wasn't human.
'Can we really afford to bring this thing into our village?!?' The Anbu's back filled with sweat as he tried to look for any weakness in the Red Dot's body... Only to not find anything.
That was even more concerning. No matter how strong someone was, they always had a weakness...
Even Sakumo had a weakness. Exploiting said weakness was the difficult part for people at his level...
But the Red Dot didn't even show any weakness... None that the Anbu member could find.
"What are you...?" That was all that the Hyuga asked after he turned off his Byakugan. His comrades and superior still looking at him quizzically.
Sakumo was confused at first, but then he noticed the fact that the Hyuga had his Byakugan active. So he realized that he must've seen something strange...
"That is very much related to the Mission I have for the Leaf Village..."
The White Fang sighed. "Apologies for the rudeness of my subordinate..." He decided to apologize for the disrespect.
He was also curious as to what the Hyuga Member had observed, but it was better for him to find out later when Ken wasn't present.
"No harm done. It is not that big a deal..."
The Red Dot himself was both not going to go into detail about his situation to them, and not going to dwell too long on whatever disrespect the Hyuga Member had shown him.
"Got it... Thank you for your understanding. Another thing I've been meaning to ask you... Are you perhaps... young?"
Sakumo narrowed his eyes as he looked at Ken, they were now the same height.
But Ken was originally reported to be an extremely short man. A stature fitting for an assassin.
"..." The Blind Swordsman sighed as he shrugged for a moment.
He considered answering that for a moment. He had no real reason to actually hide his age from the world. But at the same time, he had no reason to answer such a personal question in the first place...
"I'll leave that up to your interpretation..." Ken ended up giving one of his patented noncommital answers as he crossed his arms.
Sakumo nodded, his eyes appearing conflicted for a moment as he just shook his head and looked at the ground.
It was already wildly speculated that the leader of the Dark Brotherhood was young. But there was still a more popular theory, that he was able to alter his height as he wished.
It gave him even more of a mystical air, and it very much fit in with his reputation and presence.
Even if the Grass Village had once tried to paint him as a madman, it wasn't all that effective over time.
In the shinobi world, infamy and reputation were one and the same. No one with a large reputation was in any way liked by many, in the first place, being liked was a luxury that couldn't be given in times of war.
Instead, the main currency was fear. Reputation nowadays was only built from infamy, as that was the one to cause the most fear.
The White Fang? Well known for crushing the forces of the Sand Village and executing many of their strong Shinobi. Feared throughout the Elemental Nations.
The Third Hokage and current God of Shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi? Well known for having surpassed his teacher, the Second Hokage, widely considered the Strongest Hokage, or at least on par with the First.
All of his feats inspired fear in his enemies, even if he was more kind-hearted in nature, he was still one of the most fearsome shinobi alive.
The problem was that Ken, who now Sakumo suspected to be a child, had also built a similarly fearsome reputation at a very young age.
He had also essentially built an entire hidden village of his own in the Land of Iron, a place that was famously against Shinobi in general.
'I'll have to report this to Lord Hirzuen as well...' The White Fang sighed a bit as he took another look at the village.
It was in ruin, mangled bodies piled up everywhere.
The Anbu Captain didn't need to ask in order to know who had done it either. Even if the Red Dot had done it, he wouldn't have admitted to it.
But since he even had a mission to give the Leaf, he was not going to cross them in such a way.
'... Too bad the 7 Swordsmen died already... Would've loved to take a stab at them for spitting in our faces in such a way...'
The period of silence lasted for a bit, all parties involved seemed to have plenty of things to think about.
In fact, the conversation died down entirely, the White Fang decided to stop the impromptu interrogation, instead, the Sakumo started leading Ken towards the Leaf, to meet with the Hokage.
Enemies or not, the Leaf was never all that welcoming to outsiders.
'Everything should work out as long as I escort him personally.'
He didn't want some arrogant Genin or Chunin to try and pick a fight with the strongest Bounty Hunter alive.
So he would have to make sure such a thing had no chance of occurring.
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Hope you enjoyed today's chapter!
The swords of the mist blokes will be addressed later on, don't worry about it too much for now.
I've been pretty busy lately, sorry for breaking the daily upload streak :)) I'll be trying to pull it back tho
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