Chương 23: The Red Dot and Grass Bounty
________ POV Narration________
A, the third Raikage, smiled as he read through the reports on his desk.
His sharp teeth munched on some sweets as he found out more and more about the bounty hunter he had been constantly hearing so much about.
It had already been a few months since the Raikage had first heard of 'The Red Dot' being in his territory. That was his actual first appearance for the Shinobi World in general.
Mabui, one of the Jonin at the scene, did manage to give him quite a few extra details on the assassin, like his basic background and what she managed to observe from his character.
In the Shinobi world, he was known as an elusive figure, but also extremely dangerous, to his targets at least.
When he appeared, it usually meant that someone in the area was going to die. And he had yet to fail even once in collecting the bounty that he was after.
He was someone strong enough to decapitate a Jonin from a hundred meters away with nothing more than a small knife.
The Raikage found that fact quite impressive.
A reliable assassin that worked independently of the villages and hunted down criminals that could also prove to be annoyances for said villages.
The Red Dot was also damn near untraceable, not leaving a single footprint behind as he walked. His gait was said to be swifter than that of a cat and even more silent.
A tad uncharacteristic for one with a samurai's background, but A wasn't one to judge.
Still, despite his skill, running into him was not exactly an uncommon thing. The Bounty Hunter really didn't bother to hide from non-targets, or even from actual targets.
Sometimes even camping and grilling meat openly, confident that nothing could really hurt him.
The Raikage remembered actually laughing out loud when first hearing about that. He could appreciate a man with such confidence.
Of course, the Raikage only appreciated him because he had the strength to back his confidence.
He was not a sheep, he was no innocent peddler or merchant, he was a carnivore, a true predator.
One that had already consumed the lives of dozens high profile criminals in the short span of a few months.
He had no reason to hide, no one to hide from really. He could confidently stand out without any fear and without any worry.
But when he truly hid, no one could sense him, no matter their rank. Sure, no Kage had gone after him, but that didn't make it any less impressive.
Those that did manage to run into him discovered that he was an extremely professional individual, extremely polite as well.
He was basically anything that the Shinobi World wasn't used to. A professional Bounty Hunter that wasn't a sleazy backpacker looking to score some easy money by fighting a few weak bandits.
The Raikage also noticed that the Assassin was smart enough to never go after any ninja related to any of the Hidden Villages, clearly keeping a neutral stance in their war and not caring much for it at all.
It was a strategy that allowed him to freely travel around each territory, and in his profession, it was the smartest thing he could've done.
Now, the Raikage actually knew The Red Dot by another name... Ken, a simple name, short, and quite descriptive.
The Kanji for 'Blade'. Extremely fitting for him.
Now, the Raikage had already tried to recruit Ken once, but his Anbu were unable to make Ken meet with him.
A was truly not offended, it was simply in line with Ken's Modus Operandi(MO). Always extremely careful not to take any sides or associate himself with any Hidden Village.
And while frustrated, A couldn't quite blame the Bounty Hunter for his abstinence when it came to their bloody conflicts and power struggles.
'Still... If he is to bare his fangs at my Village, I won't hesitate to fight him... Hell, it might actually be fun!'
Ken's epithet, or nickname, was now 'The Red Dot'.
He was not known by any other name publically, and the nickname obviously came from the mask that he donned.
The epithet had now earned a meaning of its own. At least going by the authors of the Bingo Book...
'Think of someone's life as a sentence. A sentence always naturally ends whit a black dot at the end of it...
The red dot is more akin to ending a sentence that could have still continued, or putting a stop to a sentence right in the middle of it.'
Now, the Raikage found the nickname and description to be a bit ridiculous. All Shinobi killed, after all, not just Ken.
Still, the Raikage didn't think it was wholly unfitting...
Ken's way of killing was oftentimes a lot more terrifying than the methods they were used to.
As most of the time, his victims would die before they even knew that they were being hunted in the first place.
Sure, that was technically what all of them should've been able to do as shinobi...
But actually pulling that type of thing off against High-Rank Jonin constantly was not something that even the Kage could boast about.
Besides, the description sure was somewhat poetic in a sense, not that A was a great admirer of the literary arts.
The description was likely just the Bingo Book writers trying to find some type of meaning in Ken's appearance or actions.
He was after all an S-rank rouge-nin. The S rank was usually reserved for extremely powerful Shinobi, the major villages mostly gave that rank to Kage-level Shinobi.
There were exceptions though, a few high-level Jonin and Anbu with especially heinous crimes sometimes made it to S-rank, but they were mostly ranked up so they would be hunted down quicker.
In Ken's case, all of the Daimyō of the Elemental Nations saw it fit to give him that rank universally in all of their Bingo Books.
Each village also had its very own version of the Bingo Book.
They were usually made up of high-profile targets of the village. People that put the stability of the village at risk or that harmed its interests.
The Bingo Book that Ken seemed to be using was the one issued by the Land of Iron. His bounties were seemingly being cashed in there as well.
'I wonder if I can convince him to hunt down some criminals that pose a threat to our village... Even if I can't get him to join me, I can at least hire his services...'
And the Raikage wasn't the only one thinking about things of that nature. Every nation took notice of the sudden appearance of a powerful third party, especially since they were in times of war.
The Red Dot was brazen, confident, but most importantly, powerful and reliable.
The assassin had already acted and killed enemies of just about every village. Many had already decided that they needed to either make him join... Or kill him.
It was inevitable that some would think of assassinating him, to eliminate a potential threat in case he joined another village. But killing a Kage Level fighter was easier said than done.
A was much of the same thought. Though he decided not to outright hunt the Bounty Hunter down or make him a wanted criminal.
Doing so seemed counterintuitive to the Raikage.
For once, he felt like taking a methodical, calculated approach, and simply trying to hire Ken. To post a few bounties and catch his attention.
Still, at that point, it became a race against the clock.
'Who can make the Red Dot join them first?'
And, whilst that was happening, Ken wasn't exactly unaware or ignorant of the thoughts and intentions of the hidden villages. He was swiftly preparing for the future conflicts that awaited him.
He was smart enough to understand that the villages would want him, and he was also smart enough to understand that some were bound to want to get rid of him.
'I could have collected bounties silently, sure. But disappearing criminals would've still caught everyone's attention at some point. Especially since I still need to cash in the bounties...
Besides, I've already built up my reputation. When I eventually start my organization people will already know of me and of its authenticity.'
Now that Ken was expecting invites from every village possible, he decided to tone down his public appearances and BBQ parties with random Shinobi.
He could easily reject them constantly, but that would eventually invite the ire of some of them, which would just hasten the inevitable of assassins being sent after him.
'Tosho has been able to find and recruit 10 people already... But they're nowhere near strong enough to actually take on any meaningful quests...'
10 people recruited in the short span of a few months was a relatively good result.
Especially considering the fact that Ken prohibited any and all unconventional recruitment methods(like kidnapping/what he did to Tosho).
Tosho was basically stuck collecting children and beggars on the street. It was a slow process, as not everyone wanted to give up their lives and join a random organization.
Still, a few were willing to join after learning more about the organization itself.
'A bounty-hunting clan. Nameless still, but Tosho is already training the first batch of recruits.
I really lucked out when finding him... Having him be the 'First Blade' in the organization certainly made things much easier for me...'
The Blind Swordsman sighed as he thought about the organization a bit more...
'I really need a proper name for this... Well, I could always just call it 'The Guild'... I'll just think about this after the mission, I guess.'
Ken was currently somewhere in the Land of Earth, on the outskirts of its southern border with the Land of Grass. Where the village of Kusagakure (Village Hidden in the Grass) resided.
The blind assassin slowly finished his preparations. Extremely thin metal wires were strung around trees, almost invisible to the naked eye.
He made a clear path for his target, slowly but surely stalking all the way to the target's campfire.
'Akira, S-rank Criminal and former Chunin. Managed to train himself into a Jonin, pretty talented... But still a wanted man and murderer.
His most recent crime is the noteworthy one though... And the one that placed him on the radar, giving him his rank.
Killing the Kusakage, the leader of Kusagakure. The clans in that little place put up quite a great deal of money for someone to deal with him... They even contacted me specifically...
They also added a special clause. But I'll think about it after I test a few things out a bit, to see if it's even possible to complete the mission properly...'
Ken mused in his thoughts as he silently stalked his victim. Recounting as much information as he could before acting.
Setting up traps was necessary, as he was dealing with someone capable of killing a Kage.
Granted, it was one of a weaker Hidden Village and not one of the great nations, but it was still a noteworthy achievement.
Being careful always paid off in his profession...
Oh, If only Ken had learnt that while he was still an assassin in his past life. Had he learnt it back then, then he would never have been caught and executed in the first place...
Ken studied the criminal, who was merely wearing civilian clothing by what Ken could feel, there was no armour he would commonly feel on regular shinobi.
Akira only had a large backpack for accessories, it seemed that he wasn't much for fashion. The backpack itself was filled with what Ken assumed were pilfered items from other Shinobi.
Akira was entirely unaware of the reality that was his impending demise.
To him, it was a day like any other, eat, sleep, and train. He was going about his business, cooking some meat from a small rabbit that he had hunted.
'For a Kage killer, he sure is careless... Maybe I should wake him up a bit, remind him that he isn't exactly safe tonight...'
Out of nowhere, Akira seemed to gulp, dropping the meat in the fire in front of him as his hands shook. A sensation washed over him, making his spine tremble slightly.
He recognised it, after years as a shinobi there was no way he couldn't have. Yet it still caught him off guard.
'Such an open and concentrated killing intent...'
Akira's head snapped in the direction from which that sensation flooded into his small camp. Looking at the forest, he couldn't spot any glowing eyes in the night.
His sensory ability didn't tell him of anyone being there, the traps and strings that he had placed around the camp were also completely untouched.
But 'it' was still there.
That feeling of being watched. The Killing Intent was also still there, he could still feel it, almost as if small knives were constantly stabbing into his skin.
Then, the clouds above shifted a bit, and moonlight hit the trees around him. Reflecting slightly off of a few falling leaves.
Now, Akira's eyes widened instantly as he spotted the source of his fears. And he was certainly right to be afraid...
A slightly vivid red blood dot, shone slightly in the moonlight right in front of him, not even bothering to hide. Instead, simply 'staring' at him.
Immediately, Akira turned and ran. Not stumbling one bit as he dashed off in the exact opposite direction.
His instincts had been warning him to do so ever since that Killing intent materialized. But only now did he decide to listen to said instincts.
'Why the fuck is the Red Dot after me?!? Was I too catchy when in the last village?! Shit! I knew stealing from the Kage was a bad idea...'
Ken was right behind him, walking at the perfect pace to keep up with the Kage murderer.
One thing was for sure though... 'This guy is certainly fast... Probably the fastest I've met yet...' Ken mused to himself as they slowly approached the traps he had set up.
Akira looked behind him once, hoping to have lost the Red Dot, but he almost collapsed in fear when he realised that the masked man was a few meters behind him.
'How fucking fast is this guy?! I thought there was no one faster than me besides the Raikage...'
Due to that carelessness, he got too close to the trap, and he felt a metal string cutting at his torso, at the speed he was going, he knew that it was impossible to avoid getting injured.
With a quick hand sign, Akira's chest seemed to puff out slightly, he ignored the feeling of that metal string cut through his chest as he shot an air bullet in front of him, killing off his momentum.
He rolled backwards, and immediately his leg was snagged, a rope pulled him up and hung him upside down.
Akira scoffed as he quickly prepared to break himself free, but then electrified wires entangled his body, paralyzing him instantly.
He struggled a bit before passing out, wrapped in what looked like a cocoon of electrified wire.
'Capturing people alive will always be more of a bother than outright killing them... But the reward is double if I deliver him alive to them... Ah, might as well.'
Ken did happen to be in need of money, as his organization was still in its beginning stages, the more they had saved up the better.
Besides... Not like a quick trip to Kusagakure would hurt, right?
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Hope you liked the chapter! Pretty stressful period for me right now, have 2 tests at work and 2 for uni this week ;-;
And yes, the criminal has the same name as the turtle. But the turtle will just be called Donatello, so no confusion will happen(hopefully)
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 4 chapters in advance (or 2 depending on tier)
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