_________ POV Narration _________

Zetsu, a being spawned out of a mix of impure Nature Energy drained from the Gedo Statue, the husk of the old Ten-Tails, and Hashirama's Cells.

An entity that couldn't possibly be described as human, but had a humanoid shape. Its pale white skin also stood out, moss-like green hair making him even more recognizable...

But Zetsu wasn't just one entity. No, the Zetsu were already in the hundreds, creations of the Great Madara Uchiha from when he was still playing around with his Rinnegan and his dead friend's DNA.

Now, the Rinnegan, the eye of the Sage of Six Paths was no longer in his possession. His plan was already in motion.

The Eye of the Moon Plan. The one way to truly achieve world peace in the eyes of the Uchiha Ancestor.

'But why didn't the stone tablets ever mention anything about someone like Ken?'

The Uchiha Stone tablets were what guided Madara's vision, even as his eyes were growing dim with age, and the light in his eyes slowly faded away, he still could see them clearly, burned into his memory.

The truth of the Uchiha, the Rinnegan, the power he needed in order to achieve his ultimate goal of World Peace.

The tablets spoke of a prophecy, a prophecy that he was going to be the one to fulfill. A way to permanently break the cycle of hatred and give the world what it so badly needed... Peace.

But that was still a long way off. Madara was still slowly putting all of the pieces on the table when Ken appeared.

The Red Dot.

A person who could only be described as overwhelmingly powerful, and due to his age, ultimately a danger to Madara's plans.

It was impossible to fully convey the frustration that Madara felt when he saw how the destruction of the Uzumaki had failed.

It was a rather important part of his plan, as the Uzumaki were always a pesky adversary with their sealing techniques, more specifically their bloodline limit was what made Madara want them gone.

The Adamantite Sealing Chains, a technique so powerful that it allowed even a weak member of the Uzumaki to hold down even the most powerful Tailed Beast, the 9 Tails.

Of course, it was thankfully not as common as the Sharingan was for the Uchiha, otherwise, the Uzumaki likely would have already taken over the world...

As a technique, it was simply absurd, which was why Madara wanted them gone for assurance that his plan had no chance of failing.

Of course, his involvement in that matter was rather minimal, as the Shinobi Villages had their own reasons for wanting the Uzumaki dead.

But now it had all gone down the drain. And Madara knew, even if he had no actual proof, that it was all the work of Ken.

Too many coincidences aligned perfectly for it to be anyone else. Of course, Madara knew that even if he was to try and pin it on Ken, to attempt to make more villages go after him, he wouldn't succeed.

The only villages left that were not part of the War Room were a few smaller ones, the Cloud and the Mist Village.

The smaller villages couldn't matter less in Madara's eyes. They were nothing but cannon fodder in front of someone like the Red Dot.

The Mizukage was genuinely terrified by Ken. To the point where he simply preferred not to get involved in the matter at all.

Ken had also seemingly burrowed into the mind of the Raikage, to the point where Madara couldn't even come close to making him see the light.

No matter how many anonymous messages he sent, the Raikage didn't take any one of them seriously.

To him, the matter of his son's death was already over. They had found the culprits, and they had also found actual physical evidence of the crime.

At that point, any attempt to link Ken to that crime would be seen as a ploy in the Raikage's eyes.

At that point, Madara couldn't help but marvel at the mind that had thought out that plan. He was unsure if the Red Dot had acted alone, or if there was someone within the Brotherhood that was influencing their moves.

But whoever had thought up that plan was surely going to prove troublesome in the future. So, it was decided.

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'We need to get rid of the entirety of the Dark Brotherhood... Just to make sure no one will stand in our way.'

Madara already ordered one of the Zetsu to spy on the Brotherhood. They were very difficult to detect, after all, no sensor could find them at all as they didn't even have a chakra network.

Unfortunately for Madara, his intel was not quite as exact as he would've liked it. He had no idea that Ken was not only a Sage but also technically always in Sage Mode.

The second the White Zetsu reared its head out of the ground a few kilometres away from the Brotherhood, Ken's face immediately turned in its direction and he tilted his head.

'That's strange... Doesn't 'Feel' human, no smell, no chakra... Feel's more like me actually, but even weirder.'

For a second, the Blind Assassin pondered on whether or not to take action against the 'intruder'.

But after observing him/it for the better part of an hour, Ken realized that it was more than likely a spy.

Tosho, at some point, also realised that his master's attention was pointed somewhere.

The First Blade was, as of late, almost always by Ken's side inside that small office. He could easily tell when Ken got distracted.

He had noticed Ken's behaviour from the beginning as it had come while they were looking through some paperwork... Well, Tosho was looking, and Ken was just nodding to the reports.

It didn't take long for the First Blade to become curious.

"Did something happen, Master? Or, do we have any visitors that I am unaware of?"

Ken smiled a bit as he shook his head slightly.

"I'd say more in line with the second... An unannounced visitor seems to be a spy more specifically."

Tosho immediately perked up, he tried to sense if anyone was nearby, but he found himself unable to.

"Don't bother. He seems to be impossible to spot with normal means. You may be able to do it in the future after you master Sage Mode." Ken shook his head once more as his head turned in that direction once more.

"Should I go out and apprehend the spy sir?"

Tosho's tone sounded as serious as could be. After all, the spy had managed to sneak past everything, every seal they had placed for protection and detection. It was certainly a matter of concern.

"Don't bother, he doesn't seem to be particularly strong. It doesn't even appear that our intruder has any chakra, which is likely how he snuck in."

At that point, Tosho just scratched his head in confusion.

In his mind, there was no such thing as a human, or being for that matter, without a chakra network. It just felt wrong.

"S-still, wouldn't it be better to catch him so we can study him in that case?"

The million dollar question, there was no doubt in Tosho's mind that Saburo would love to get his grubby hands on such a fine specimen.

"Bah, we'll get the chance to capture him or it. But it's not worth announcing the ones that sent him of our awareness...

It would seem that a group, probably a quite powerful one at that, is planning something that's related to our little organisation."

At that point, Tosho's grip tightened on the papers he was holding, slightly crumpling them as his anger boiled.

They had done their best to avoid offending as many people as possible during their work.

Even when Ken handled personal matters, he always made sure to keep outside relations mostly positive with very few exceptions, like the Grass and the Rock villages.

But it seemed that no matter how much effort they put into building their own piece of heaven, the outside world was bound to want to crush it into the ground.

"Don't get too discouraged. I am 70% sure that this is related to me at the end of the day.

But it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Whether it's now or in two years, it's all the same to me."

Ken shook his head and pondered upon a few things.

On one hand, it could be argued that revealing his age was what might've brought even more attention to the brotherhood.

But at the same time, he had already proven that he was a threat by breaking the Mizukage and killing the Jinchuriki of the Waterfall.

It was only a matter of time before someone deemed him too much of a threat to keep around.

The Blind Assassin didn't really have any idea of the forces on the other side. Whatever informants the Brotherhood had failed to notice anything off as of late.

In the end, they were being dragged into a war. And they were being dragged into a war while blind.

Tosho must've also realised that, as Ken could feel his emotions growing more sombre every second.

But at the same time, there was something both Ken and Tosho realized. Something that put the First Blade's worries at bay at least momentarily.

'... The Dark Brotherhood can fight without sight... Our opponents, whoever they may be, better be prepared...'

"Tosho, if you will, can you call the other Blades here as well?" Ken scratched his chin as he waved his First Blade off.

Tosho slowly nodded before getting up, then he seemed to tilt his head slightly as a sigh of frustration left his lips.

"... I just remembered something. Saburo mentioned that he had to go out for a bit...

He moved his main body to somewhere a bit further away to keep contact with the clones, so he won't be able to personally make it here."

The First Blade sounded a bit frustrated, both by the situation and the Second Blade's absence.

"Well, his clones are still around the Compound, so he can still attend even if he isn't here physically... But why was he going out again?"

Ken shrugged off the first part but immediately became curious at the second.

"He didn't go into details. He just said he'd go out to meet with an old associate..."

That answer immediately felt off to the Blind Assassin.

'An old associate, huh?'

At that same time...

In the middle of a forest within the confines of the Land of Fang, the dim daylight couldn't even cut through the leaves as a masked human wearing a long cloak slid down into a small cave and walked forward.

The masked human walked in a borderline mechanical manner, akin to a puppet on a string, but otherwise completely normal to the untrained eye.

It walked through that cave without ever bothering with seeking a source of light.

3 minutes passed before it reached a wall, and that wall only opened when the masked man made a few hand signs and bit his finger, placing it on the rock in front of him.

A hidden door slid open, revealing a dimly lit room, with a low table in the middle.

Crouched down at that table was a noble-looking man, clothed in the finest of silk, also wearing a fox-like facemask.

"I am glad that you received my message... Strawman Saburo..."

The Fox-masked man spoke out, addressing the Strawman's clone in front of him.

"Oh my, if it isn't 'Lord' Yuu... It's certainly been a minute."

The clone also addressed the man before casually sitting down in front of him.

And so, a meeting between two former allies started.