Chapter 99: Kidnapping, Tracking and Flawed Justice

Chapter 99: Kidnapping, Tracking and Flawed Justice

__________ POV Narration __________

The Blind assassin yawned as he did a few more handstand pushups to pass the time.

A long sword leaned on the wall by the side of his relatively large room.

He was given privacy within the confines of that home, but every exit and entrance to the house was closely monitored.

'They really aren't taking any chances, huh?'

He didn't feel all that bad about their lack of trust. A hidden village would normally be that guarded. It was mostly the same while he was at the Cloud Village for a while.

It did irritate him that the Village elders weren't quite appreciative of his efforts.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

Danzo even had the gall to imply that Konoha didn't have any obligation to hold its part of the deal.

The Assassin was half a mind to kill him then and there. There was no point in trying to build friendly relations with a nation that didn't show him any respect or goodwill.

But it seemed that the Hokage had already talked with Danzo beforehand. And Hiruzen was adamant about keeping his part of the deal.

At least that was the vibe that Ken had gotten from that meeting.

Only the Hokage and some of the Clan Heads were friendly and seemed to wish to form some sort of alliance. Maybe they were a bit forward, but at least they were respectful.

It would've been nice if the others were a bit more tactful...

Unlike the Uchiha Clan Head, who essentially 'ordered' Ken to take off his mask.

Now, the Blind Monster didn't care about people seeing his face. He had no reason to care about it. But it was simply a lack of respect at the end of the day.

One wouldn't ask a foreign Anbu to take off their mask if they were making a deal with a different Land, it didn't matter if they were in the presence of the whole war council or not.

Ken was not some random Bounty Hunter off the street, he was a legend of the Shinobi World at that point, leading an organization that was the equivalent of a hidden village in the land of Samurai.

He didn't need his ego to be inflated by some useless village executives, but some respect could've still gone a long way.

'Whatever, shinobi will always be shinobi... My presence does warrant a certain degree of caution.'

The real problem was the Hokage's right-hand man. And his shady demeanour.

'That Danzo... He isn't even an elder from what I remember, just Hiruzen's attendant...

There isn't much information about him out there, all I know is that he used to be in the same team as the Third Hokage...'

Ken pondered about it for a few minutes, but he couldn't do anything besides sigh in the end.

Then he felt something strange. His senses flared, he felt as if a blanket had been taken off of his head.

'The barrier's fallen...?'

The Fuinjutsu that made infiltrating Konoha undetected fell for exactly one minute, it was almost unnoticeable to a regular shinobi, it came and went fast, but the outage was noticed by Ken's enhanced senses.

The more powerful people within the city were bound to have noticed it as well.

It was clear what had happened.

'Someone infiltrated the village...'

Ken had no way of knowing why exactly, he wasn't paying full attention to the entire village, too much information to process, his mind was still human after all...

But the Leaf was sure to start investigating instantly, and they certainly jumped into action quickly.

Ken could feel a few of the people stationed at his house running off. Leaving it with less supervision.

'I'll take this chance... Might as well find a place to hide that scroll, and investigate whatever is happening in the hidden village... I can use that as an excuse as well if I get found out.'

Ken's curiosity ended up taking the better of him, and he immediately turned into a blur.

The first thing he did was use the distraction of his watchers to create a Lighting Clone, to which he bestowed most of his chakra. He left it in the bedroom, before turning into a blur.

He escaped from his extremely small window, his body twisting and bending unnaturally at great speeds as he ran off into the distance.

The Shinobi observing his house weren't able to observe his departure due to the mess that came with reorganizing their surveillance to work with fewer people.

Ken couldn't really feel them blink because most of them wore masks, but he trusted his speed to slip by unnoticed.

The Blind Assassin took off his mask and tied his hair in a pony spiky ponytail, leaving a long tuff of hair to obscure most of his face beside his mouth.

He also took off his armour and put on the most unassuming clothes he had. He looked just like a civilian, he blended into the village with ease, walking on the streets with a wide smile on his face.

He also managed to find a nice place to leave a reverse summoning scroll, right underneath a large dumpster without wheels.

'It's gonna be unpleasant to get reverse summoned into trash... But hopefully, they won't find it...'

The disguised assassin then put his hands behind his head and whistled as he walked off.

The defensive barrier in the city was unlikely to spot him as a difference since he hadn't even left himself enough chakra to be classified as a Genin, so he was free to wander for now.

Ken wasn't stupid however, he realised that some more skilled shinobi will be sent to his home to check on him. If they were skilled enough, they would also notice that he had left a clone there.

'But only someone like the White Fang or the Hokage personally might be able to tell the difference...'

So he wasn't particularly worried about getting found out. Even if he was to be found out, it wasn't like he was doing anything bad.

Ken could feel the young man's head angle towards Kushina, and give her a warm smile.

The calm smile on Ken's mouth receded a bit when he felt that. His lips turned downward in a slight scowl.

But he wasn't scowling at the Minato rescuing Kushina. He wasn't scowling at his bravery. But rather, at himself.

'... A child so kind ended up as a Shinobi? This world really is unfair...'

But then again... Could Ken really claim that the boy was an exception to the norm?

The assassin couldn't help but think back to the shinobi he had killed in the past.

How many of them had the potential to give someone such a warm smile? How many of them had the potential to live a fulfilling life?

The truth was that Ken had no way of answering that question.

He couldn't possibly know. He had never bothered to look at shinobi in such a way.

To him, they were barely even human, not deserving of a second look as their corpses dried out in a field.

He had forged alliances with some, but he had kept them at arm's length. He hadn't ever cared about actually befriending Shinobi.

But it was the smile of that child that reminded him that Shinobi were people as well. Not the screams of pain and agony of the thousands he had killed in cold blood.

For a second, that realization dwelled on the Assassin's shoulders, before he heaved a sigh and shook his head.

'Innocent or guilty... Why did I think it would be a good idea to take it upon myself to judge that...'

He remembered his promise for a second. To plunge a blade into his own stomach if he took the life of an innocent.

He had no way to prove that he had done so yet. But now he also realized that he was too conceited.

'Who am I to judge them anyway...'

He was nothing more than a maniac fulfilling whatever fantasy of justice he had in his mind. Nothing more than a hypocrite.

'Well... Better that I realized this now than never...'

The two unmarked shinobi seemed to have approached Minato and Kushina.

The young man was preparing to roll backwards with Kushina still in his hands, he hadn't even managed to untie her yet, but he had cut away some of the rope already.

The two shinobi seemed to be fast though, at least faster than him while he was carrying Kushina.

But they didn't get to reach Minato and Kushina...

They both stopped dead in their tracks, their muscles standing rigid at the sight in front of them.

Out of nowhere, a figure appeared behind their targets... A figure they could only describe as frightful.

He was tall, filled with muscle, his face was mostly covered by hair, and he wore regular civilian clothing, but there was just something unnerving about the way he appeared in front of them...

Neither Shinobi could even feel his presence there, they both gulped as they thanked god for having their sights intact to even be able to see their opponent.

But they soon realized that seeing their opponent didn't matter at all...

A chilling murderous intent exuded out of the man in the very next second, their hair stood straight as their spines trembled in fear.

No amount of training could have ever prepared them for that feeling of dread that set in alongside that man's presence.

They weren't prepared... They weren't prepared at all... Nature itself didn't seem to be prepared for his rage.

The grass around them all started bending away from the people they were trying to approach, the trees around them seemed to be bending away from them as well.

Both Minato and Kushina noticed that change, their eyes widening in shock.

They couldn't feel the murderous intent, it wasn't directed at them at all. But they still got a feeling of dread just from seeing the way nature reacted.

They slowly looked behind, only to see a tall man tower over them.

His face was mostly covered by hair, but they could only see his mouth, noticing a cold scowl on it.

"Seems I've run into something interesting..." The man's cold voice sent shivers down the spines of all of the people present.

'... I hope we can get out of this alive...' Was the only thing Minato could think of at the time.

__________________________________________

Hope you liked the chapter!

Yep, Minato still gets the redhead!

Not like the mc would ever be interested in a kid tho, so no loss there. If there's any romance, it won't be anytime soon.

Also, ye, the mc might start questioning his 'justice' and the way he treats all shinobi due to meeting a few good eggs.

This doesn't change his feelings on war and all shinobi tho, but he gradually might refrain from killing child soldiers

Story Shoutout! : The Last Observer

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