Capítulo 111: Funeral, Send Off and Request
__________ POV Narration __________
Ken's figure attracted quite a few gazes as he made his way towards the funeral.
He trailed behind Mabui without making any sound, but many civilians still seemed curious about him.
No one approached them however, all of them were aware that Ken was likely headed for A's funeral.
They even kept their children away to avoid them asking strange questions and delaying the Red Dot.
Ken found their gazes strange from afar, his body twitched as he also felt something strange in the village...
'A second Tailed Beast?'
He didn't turn his head towards it, but he studied the Jinchuriki with his senses.
He just sighed and shook his head when he realised it was just a plain young girl, even younger than Kushina.
Her tailed beast also felt weaker than B's 8 Tails.
'I guess she's the one that houses the Two-Tailed Beast? I did hear that the Cloud had two of them, I just didn't know what to believe since I never felt it before...'
He didn't dwell on it for too long, however, but he did feel the Jinchuriki's gaze on his back for a few moments, and he also felt her trailing him and Mabui.
He didn't react in any way, as there were already other Anbu trailing him just in case. But he still found it odd. He doubted the Raikage would've asked a child to trail him after all...
'I guess children will be children regardless of orders and indoctrination, huh?...'
Ken shook his head as they approached the large crowd that had gathered to attend A's funeral.
All of the Shinobi parted ways and formed a straight path for Ken and Mabui when they saw them approaching.
The two of them only stopped when they stood in front of the closed casket, the Raikage and B were both there, looking at it with solemn expressions.
They had finally gotten their closure. It wasn't a happy ending by any stretch of the imagination.
No. The Raikage had lost a son and a successor, and B had lost a brother and a close confidant.
Things were never going to get much better in that regard. But, now that they had closure, at least they would be able to heal with time.
The situation was even more tragic in retrospect since they unwittingly invited A's killer to the funeral, and even considered him a friend.
But that was neither here nor there.
They had no way of knowing, even A himself didn't know who really killed him.
Onoki also certainly was the one to pull the trigger, even if Ken was the one to pull him in front of the bullet.
To B and the Raikage, the incident was already solved. They didn't need any more evidence than what they already found.
The fact that A's remaining arm had the mark of a tail on it wasn't exactly too big of a red flag for them either, since he was supposed to be fighting the Grey Fox, who was touted to have a tail too.
The fact that the Grey Fox and Ken came from the same clan did seem a bit suspicious at first, but they had already received Ken's help and found their son's remains.
In their eyes, he had already redeemed himself. Erased any doubt that they had in their minds.
And to Ken, he had already washed his hands of the situation. Successfully breaking any connection that could've been made to link him to the incident.
Ken cracked his neck to the side as Mabui bowed to the Raikage and B before retreating into the crowd.
"Thank you for choosing to come, Ken..." The Raikage was the first to speak out, turning around and facing the assassin with an uncharacteristic warmth in his eyes.
Ken studied him for a bit, he had already healed from his injury, but his arm was still missing. He didn't exactly have any arm to reconnect at the end of the day, so it was truly lost.
"No need to thank me... A was an ally and friend to me too. We had our disagreements, but I hoped to see him grow further as a man."
B sniffled a bit when he heard Ken's answer, and the Raikage sighed as well.
Meanwhile, Mabui in the crowd was completely mortified to hear a 13-year-old boy calling A, who had been in his mid-twenties, immature...
She was having a hard time even believing that he was a child at that point. But his age did match the changes in height that she observed... Both now, and the last time she had seen him in the Cloud Village.
'It's clear enough that he is young... I doubt he lied to me actually, he had nothing to gain from it...
But what kind of life must someone live to reach such a level of maturity as such a young age...?'
It was a frightening question that she currently had no answer to.
It was even more frightening to think that Ken must have been around 9, maybe 10 at most when he started building his reputation as a feared assassin.
Hell, he was likely only around 10 when he saved her life back when they met...
But she didn't rush and tell the Raikage of that. They were in the middle of a funeral, and she knew that it wasn't appropriate.
"He did have a lot of growing left to do... I hoped to be able to see him overcome his temper and become prepared to take my mantle in the next few years... Now?"
The Raikage shook his head as he turned his gaze to the stone coffin.
"Now it's far too late..." The Raikage closed his eyes, his head hanging down as he gritted his teeth.
Ken sighed as he slowly uncovered his body, letting his long coat hang from only one of his shoulders and showing half of his body.
He was wearing black clothing, similar to that of an authentic ninja, but it looked a lot more casual. He also wore a pair of black sandals.
One of his hands then moved upwards, slowly but surely grabbing his mask and taking it off, before taking a few more steps forward and standing right beside the Raikage.
B and the Raikage both looked at Ken with surprise, as the two of them finally caught a glimpse of the Red Dot's face...
And they both winced, it was exactly what they expected to see after hearing that he was blind.
If he was just unable to see, then he likely would've gotten his eyes replaced at some point. But he didn't even have eye holes...
They only got to see his full face for all of three seconds, before bangs of hair fell down and covered the upper part of his face.
"Apologies, it is disrespectful to wear such a thing during a funeral..."
Ken then stuffed his mask within his coat before crossing his arms and tilting his head at the stone coffin.
Standing in front of it, feeling the grief and sadness rolling off of everyone present... He couldn't help but feel even more conflicted.
But despite knowing how fucked up the situation was, and how much kindness the people around him had shown him, the Raikage especially, he still couldn't bring himself to feel bad about what he had done.
'Have I truly fallen so far? No...
The Raikage's son died only as a result of his father's desire to start a War.
Even if I was the one to physically take him out, he became a potential casualty of war the moment his Father acted out.'
Ken steeled his mind as he avoided showing any of his conflicts outward.
But surprisingly, the Raikage, who was already used to his expressionless mask, was able to tell that Ken was conflicted, just from a small twitch of the mouth.
But it was thankfully a common feeling to have during a funeral, especially when someone died young and before their time.
Even if A was technically an adult, he was strong, and he was set to have a long life ahead of him before he ran into misfortune and got caught in the Tsuchikage's devious plot.
He had no way of knowing that Ken was conflicted in a completely different way. And it was better that he didn't know such a thing.
The three of them stood in front of the crowd, the Raikage was the first one to speak up.
"Now that everyone is gathered here... I want to thank you all. To thank you for coming to send off my son. I'm sure he would have been happy to see all of you here."
The Raikage gave the crowd a warm smile, tears were going all around. Many of the Jonin and Shinobi present were people that had worked directly with A, people that knew and valued him.
They had lost many due to the wars, but that didn't mean they liked losing even more.
"I never got to tell him, you know?... I never got to tell him how proud of him I was.
That is one of my greatest regrets." The Raikage patted his son's coffin, his warm smile turning a bit hallow.
But he kept his composure. He was the Raikage, the pillar that held up the Cloud Village. He needed to be strong for his people, even if it involved the death of his son.
"But, at the very least, I know that he can rest easy now. I'll still be able to tell him... In the afterlife."
The Raikage ended his speech on a more positive note, albeit a bit grim.
Then came B's turn to give a speech.
"When I first met big brother I didn't know what to think of him..." His speech was a lot less... Ideal? He spoke as if he was telling another one of his drunken stories.
But he wasn't rapping, his mouth was curled upwards in a warm smile as he remembered the way he and A met. How the Raikage introduced them.
"I thought he was rude, belligerent... He was the one that helped put discipline in my life."
Some people weren't pleased to hear the first part, but no one dared to speak up either. Everyone knew how close B and A were. They were quite literally inseparable.
"For the rest of my life, there won't be a day I won't miss him." That was how he ended his speech, also ending it on a warm note.
That entire time, Ken had stood to the side, giving the two of them the podium to give their speeches.
Thankfully, they didn't expect Ken to give a speech as well. The Assassin hadn't even prepared one.
He didn't expect to stand in front of so many people, he expected to just stand by in the crowd and speak to the Raikage afterwards.
After the two family members gave their speeches, there was time to lower the stone casket to the ground.
The Raikage and B did so without the aid of any jutsu. They just grabbed it by two large ropes and dangled it atop the hole, before gently lowering it inside.
Then they both took a handful of earth and threw it on the coffin.
"May you rest in peace!" They both shouted out at the same time.
Then, they both looked at Ken, who nodded.
He walked forwards, grabbed a handful of dirt as well, and threw it in.
"May you rest in peace..." His voice was a lot more restrained, like a quite whistle of the wind, but there wasn't one person present that couldn't hear it.
The scene then repeated with all of the people present, all of them walking up and grabbing a handful of dirt, and throwing it in.
Until eventually... The hole was completely covered up.
After that, the funeral was over, flowers adorned the newly built tombstone and many had already started walking away.
Mabui walked in the opposite direction, however, staying at the Raikage's side and whispering some things in his ear...
Whatever she said to him, it seemed to completely shock the large man, his eyes widened as his gaze turned towards Ken, whose back was already getting further and further away.
Yep, the Blind Assassin had also decided to not stick around for too long. He had already shown up, there was no need for much else.
Or so he thought.
In a moment, he felt a large figure rushing towards him.
It was none other than the Raikage, who passed him by in a flash of light and appeared in front of him, his entire body radiating lightning chakra.
"K-Ken... Do you mind if we talk a bit before you leave?"
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Hope you liked the chapter!
For ppl that don't read my other ff: I got really sick over the weekend and it's been lasting me throughout the week.
I'm still sick, but I'm feeling a bit better now. I wasn't really feeling all that well the past few days tho, hence the silence.. But all is well now
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