Naruto: The Blind Swordsman - Chapter 178: Mad Village, Confusion and Shock

__________ POV Narration__________

The Land of Keys was not a place Ken was completely unaccustomed to.

He had hunted down a band of troublesome criminals at some point on those lands, they were a group really proficient in running away and they had helped Ken hone his tracking skills inadvertently.

There were many moments like those during his bounty-hunting journey as a young pre-teen. Although strong and skilful in the art of assassination, he still had to get used to the new world around him and the many techniques its people employed.

Those were very important formative years for him, both for his understanding of the world and for the start of his ‘Legend’.

Smelling the strange plants in the Land of Keys brought Ken back to those times. Where he felt more like a dog in the rain stalking rats through vast mountainous expanses.

The Land of Keys in itself found itself in a very interesting position, being nestled in the westernmost corner of the large Elemental Nations continent, right in between the Land of Mountains and the Land of Birds, two other small nations.

The biggest players active in those areas were still the Land of Earth, with the Rock Village, and the Land of Wind, with the Sand Village.

There were quite a few smaller nations in between the two, and they had somehow managed to eat up a lot of the more exotic vegetation from the two larger nations.

The Land of Wind was mostly desert, so it was the most unfortunate, but the Land of Keys was rather the opposite.

The only sand to be found on the Land of Keyes was the one present in its vast coastlines, the beach and sea acting like a very nice tourist attraction.

Wealthy merchants did like basking in the sun and splashing in the water with their children. They had their private beaches, and the locals all went to more public ones.

Ken had not managed to enjoy himself on the beach in his time within the Land of Keyes, but he did make a mental note to have a field trip with the Dark Brotherhood at some point.

For now, however, he was there on business.

He felt no attachment to his biological family, but he still hoped to find some answers about himself from them.

Anything really that would explain his somewhat diminishing humanity. At the very least he still had some, even if very little.

‘Without the Brotherhood, I likely would’ve forsaken any humanity by now…’

Of course, it wasn’t just his brotherhood. Even people like the Raikage and Mifune, friends he had made along the way.

They were all acting like an anchor, helping Ken feel the least bit more human than he actually was.

He certainly felt more human than he did in his past life… Even now, when he had changed so much, he still had moments where he relapsed.

Back to feeling nothing in particular, back to waiting for the next ‘rush’ of excitement or dopamine.

Currently, he was experiencing one of those moments as he watched the large and thick wooden walls around the village that housed the Shura Clan.

Rather than housing a clan, it was more fitting to say that they were trapping a clan there.

The Walls were thicker than 4 trees put together, and they stretched all across the village. There was no gate to speak of.

The person who had designed those walls clearly wanted no one to get in… or out.

‘Well, it’s just a wall anyway… It wasn’t enough to keep my ‘parents’ in.’

And it certainly wasn’t enough to keep someone like Ken out, as he simply jumped over the thick wall in a single leap.

‘Still, there were Shinobi around the forests in the area. I guess the Hidden Village of this land is keeping a close eye on the Shura Clan nowadays…’

Ken’s senses washed over the village, something he had refrained from doing up to that point, he wanted to feel everything about the Shura Clan, whilst walking right through the heart of its residence.

Needless to say… It wasn’t all that impressive, and there weren’t all that many clan members in the first place.

There were traces of constant fighting within the village, and the nature energy within was abundant, though it still felt different from Ken’s own. That much was to be expected anyway, Ken was a complete mutant all things considered. A ‘tailed beast’.

The village was large, but it genuinely felt almost abandoned, with many residents seemingly shutting themselves off into their own houses, chaining themselves to walls.

Entire families were chained in different rooms and interacting through the walls, like happy families. They were seemingly accustomed to their way of life and had found a way to make things work.

It felt a bit strange, but Ken already knew about their peculiar bloodline limit. The fact that they entered uncontrolled sage modes was beyond intriguing.

Still, it was clear that someone was feeding those who were chained, and eventually Ken stumbled onto the doorstep of the one house that was different from the rest.

A house where no one was chained, one where a seemingly regular family resided.

“Mooom! Can I at least go out to play with some of my friends?” The voice of a teenager made Ken’s ears prickle for a bit, as he eavesdropped from the other side of the door.

“No Hiroshi! Everyone has already used their time out for the day… Maybe tomorrow.” A middle-aged woman’s voice responded in a rather serious tone.

Her voice sounded familiar to Ken, but he didn’t dwell on that for now. Instead, he raised a rhetorical eyebrow as he finally understood the system that the village used to continue existing.

“But Moomm~” The Teenager was still being a troublesome child, but Ken had stopped listening to him, already caught in his own thoughts.

Supervised time outside of their chains. A limit was placed to minimize the risk of a bloodbath occurring in the middle of the village.

It was rather ingenious. At the very least the village wasn’t just a constant battlefield anymore. Well, it made more sense this way, since they were at least stable enough to be called a village now.

“Hiroshi, stop.” An authoritative voice immediately stopped any tantrum spiral that the young boy could’ve attempted.

“You already know that we must do this for everyone’s safety… You may have gained control over Nature Energy to some extent, but the rest of the village isn’t so lucky.”

Ken’s ears perked up at that once more.

‘Don’t tell me… Is my biological brother similar to me?’

The short answer was no.

Ken was able to tell instantly from smell alone.

And if his bother was even 10% as capable as he was, then he would’ve already been detected brazenly strolling through the village.

‘It seems he just has some inborn talent for Senjutsu… But most regular people can’t control Nature Energy, and it seems the few other residents of the village are all in that category…’

It had been the same for the children of the Dark Brotherhood too, some that had joined the classes in Senjutsu simply couldn’t gain any semblance of control over it, nor could they feel it on their own.

It couldn’t be helped, it took a certain amount of talent to be able to even briefly control Nature Energy. Hell, most sages like Jiraya still barely could.

This only really made talents like Ume and those in the top 10 of the Numbered all the more valuable.

As he settled those thoughts in his mind, the Blind Assassin slowly knocked on the door, three loud creaks from the wooden door made it clear that everyone inside was now alerted to his presence.

‘While I could sneak in, that would be no way to do a family reunion, now would it?’

The chatter inside the house immediately died down as the creaking of the door resounded within the house.

Ken stifled a laugh as he felt the anxiety of the people inside skyrocket.

“Go to your room Hiroshi…” Ken heard the father whisper, while he walked closer and closer to the door.

The Mother of the house also took out a knife and held it behind her back, seemingly preparing for the worst as she walked behind her husband.

The moment the door swung open, the burly father of the house immediately tried to punch Ken, much to the latter’s surprise.

“You Shinobi won’t be swindling us today!” The man spoke, while his fist moved towards Ken almost in slow motion, making the Blind Monster yawn.

Ken just sidestepped the fist and walked into the house leisurely. The mother immediately tried to swipe at his neck with the kitchen knife, but it simply broke against his skin, green scales appearing only for a fraction of a second to block the attack.

It had become something instinctual at that point.

“Tsk… Is that really any way to greet your estranged son?” Ken’s long hair swayed as he tilted his head to the side.

“W-wha-” The father seemed confused, before his gaze finally landed on Ken’s mask, and his entire body froze. The mother seemed to have a similar reaction.

“R-red Dot?!?”

Ken sighed when hearing that.

‘Seems like they’ve really forgotten about me…

Ah well, what can I say, I was nothing more than a very late-term abortion to them…

Let’s see if they at least remember my face.’

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