__________ POV Narration __________

Mifune released a deep sigh as he looked at the bottom of the sake bottle in front of him.

His mind was running in circles as he came to terms with the situation from earlier. He tried his best to wrap his mind around what Yue could've been thinking or feeling.

And through it all, Ken was by his side, mask off and drink in hand.

"You know... I rarely ever see you be this relaxed..." Mifune remarked, his cheeks slightly red due to excessive drinking.

"I rarely get the chance to have downtime like this. I certainly don't drink often, or at all usually..." Ken shook his head as he slowly traced the corners of his glass with his nail.

Mifune didn't really stop to think that he was essentially drinking alcohol with a minor, and the tavern owner who was serving them was certainly not going to refuse Ken's order despite seemingly knowing who he was.

The night was rather quiet at the tavern thanks to Ken and Mifune being there, no one really dared to make a scene. Both the Beheading General and the Red Dot were in one place.

When they entered, the entire tavern stood still. Ken was wearing his mask, and Mifune was not hiding his face in any way.

They were both recognizable, especially since plenty of people knew about the Chunin Exams were taking place in Konoha, and leaders from the Three Corners Alliance were present.

Even one of the two leaders would've been enough to make any two-bit troublemaker piss his pants. So no one really wanted to gain the attention of the two.

Thankfully for them, neither Ken nor Mifune spared any glances at the people around them. Not that Ken could spare any glances to anyone.

"Ken, despite your youth, you have a lot more experience than I do when it comes to raising children it seems... What is your take on this? What could be going through her mind?"

Mifune tapped his palm on the table in front of him, prompting the bartender to bring him another bottle of sake, which he proceeded to pour into his empty porcelain glass.

"I'm sure you've thought of this already... Entitlement befitting of an exceedingly young and spoiled princess...

But it's just a product of her upbringing. In hindsight, I could have done a better job to iron out those behaviours during her earlier years..." Ken just heaved a sigh and took one more sip from his small cup.

He did acknowledge that he took part of the blame in how she had turned out. And he was going to at least try to set her straight with some punitive action.

Of course, he expected a lot of pushback since she was already at the age where being rebellious was popular among puberty-experiencing children.

But Ken was confident that he could deal with any tantrum spiral that she could throw at him.

He had hoped for her to even become a blade one day after all. It was the reason why he allowed her to keep the Nuibari, the Sewing Needle.

But as things stood, Morita and Tatsukio were both shaping up to become sharp blades long before her.

Funnily enough, despite not receiving much 1-on-1 training from Ken, Morita had managed to still rank above Yue by a rather good margin. The gap between the second and third ranks within the 'Numbered' was quite monumental in Ken's lack of eyes.

It just went to show how much Yue slacked off when it came to training. She was infinitely more talented than Mortia, yet she couldn't get even a slight advantage when fighting him, even with the Nuibari.

She was diligent and worked hard compared to some, but when it came down to it, she didn't put in enough work to stand out. Her natural talents were lifting her.

"No... There's no point in tossing blame around anyway.

It's nice that you are willing to take responsibility, but at the end of the day, her upbringing is solely on us. Me and Yuichi both pampered her too much..." Mifune bit his lips slightly as he spoke, likely sobering himself up using a slight tinge of pain.

One of the many methods a man like him could afford to drink with. A man of his stature didn't have the luxury of becoming a drunken mess, lest he brought shame to the entire Land of Iron.

Ken had no such reservations, however. He didn't have to fear shaming the Dark Brotherhood at any rate. But he also didn't have to worry too much about getting drunk.

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His regeneration didn't help with his resistance, but his brain was hardly affected by the alcohol he drank.

He drank bottles upon bottles, piling them up on the bar in front of him. Each time he became even slightly dizzy, his mind recovered.

"I'll handle her... I doubt she's going to act up here again." The Blind Assassin yawned, strangely, drinking did seem to remind him that he was still technically human.

He suddenly felt like going to sleep for a while. Almost as if it was contagious, Mifune yawned as well.

"Well then... I'll trust you with this. I don't think I can face her for now anyway... I'll be going to get some sleep." Mifune shook his head and slowly stood up.

He reached into his clothes and pulled out a moderately sized pouch. He shook it slightly, making it clear that it was filled with Ryo.

"It's on me this time..." The General nodded towards the tavern owner and turned to leave.

"I'll buy the next one then! Have a nice rest..." Ken laughed a bit as he gave the departing samurai one last smile.

Ken sighed as the General left the bar. He turned in his stool and wondered whether or not to continue drinking alone for a while.

The momentary buzz in his mind told him that it was a good idea, but at the same time, he also felt like it was a waste of time.

As he sat and contemplated that, a rather rowdy bunch seemed to be loudly proclaiming their exploits whilst kicking open the door to the bar.

"Hey, watch it!" The Tavern Owner was not quite pleased with the new shoe mark on his wooden door, but the men who had come in were not quite bothered by him.

"Hahah! Can't believe that mission was so easy! God, I love peaceful times!"

It was just a group of young adult shinobi stuck at the Genin Level for now, and they were led by a Chunin, who was even older than them.

"I know right? Just hunting some measly dogs is much easier than going out to war!"

Ken could tell that they weren't particularly skilled just by their constitution. It was clear that they weren't all that keen on training, their hands lacked any callouses and they weren't particularly filled with chakra either.

The dogs they were referring to were also likely actual animals and not humans. Ken could smell the blood of some wolves on them.

With a barely perceptible tilt of his head, Ken signaled to the Tavern Owner and the Anbu trailing him, subtly conveying his disinterest in the newcomers' antics.

The Tavern Owner, catching the cue, promptly brought Ken another bottle of sake, prioritizing his comfort over dealing with the rowdy group.

After all, making sure that nothing perked the Red Dot's ire was a lot more important than tending to some troublemakers.

"Thank you..." Ken muttered as he slowly reached for the next bottle and gripped it loosely.

"Oy, Boss! We want some liquor as well! Bring us a few bottles!" The Chunin leading the team immediately spoke up as he sat down only one chair away from Ken.

His associates sat down on the other side.

"We're out of harder stuff... I'll restock tomorrow, I can provide you with some mead in the meantime." The tavern owner slowly walked over to the counter in front of Ken and started cleaning up the stacked bottles.

"Bah! Who wants that horse piss?" One of the Genin sneered as they now also noticed the man that stood beside them... As well as the pile of bottles in front of him, and the last bottle in his hand.

The Chunin immediately turned his gaze to that as well, and he immediately analyzed Ken to the best of his limited ability.

Without his mask, no one could really link Ken to the Red Dot. There was never any proper description of his face, just like his height seemed to always be different depending on the nation that reported it.

Ken was a strangely public, yet also strangely mysterious man. And his strength wasn't something that could be gouged by a Chunin.

So the Team Leader had little chance. To him, Ken just looked like a creepy traveller dressed in a long coat and wearing some red samurai plates underneath his coat.

And well, he felt like showing off to his team members for a bit. And so, he stood up, continuously looking at Ken with a mischievous grin.

"Seems there is one last bottle left!" The Chunin sneered as he reached over to Ken.

The Tavern Owner immediately froze upon noticing that, and before anyone could even blink, the Chuinin had three swords pointed at him.

The grown man was suspended in place, all the blood and excitement drained from his figure as he was now faced with three anbu silently threatening his life.

"W-what-" One of the Genin behind him muttered before falling asleep, alongside the rest of his squad, as one of the Anbu did a very simple hand sign and placed them under a Genjutsu.

"Now now~ No need to go that far!" Ken chuckled slightly as he shook the full bottle of Sake in his hand.

"I'm sure they were just a tad too excited about finishing their mission... I wasn't going to get mad for that, though your intervention was a nice gesture." Ken appeared behind the two Anbu nearest to him and placed his arms around their shoulders, startling them slightly.

The Blind Assassin's calm demeanour matched the power he was so infamous for, his mere presence commanded respect and fear alike.

The Anbu present could only gulp as they felt completely helpless at Ken's hands. They were tasked with essentially protecting him, but it was really more about making sure no one did anything stupid.

The group that had come in had caught them off guard, but what surprised them even more was how relaxed Ken was about it.

But they couldn't be blamed. Ken's name had been so demonized and bastardized at this point that most people forgot that he used to set up campfires and have dinner with random people while out on missions.

Therefore, the relaxed attitude caught everyone who 'knew' him was off guard. But that didn't make the atmosphere around him any weaker.

Whilst the Anbu were still frozen, Ken turned his head towards the terrified Chunin and gave him a wide toothy grin, his bangs shifting and revealing his scarred face underneath.

"You could've just asked for it nicely. But here ya go~" Ken put the bottle of Sake on the counter and slowly reached into his pocket, taking out his mask and putting it on.

In that instant, the Chunin gulped and his eyes almost bulged out of his head.

In an instant. all of the trembling stopped and he turned into a statue. Petrified completely. He didn't even dare to turn his head and look towards Ken's back as he left the tavern.

A whistle echoed through the quiet tavern as the Dark Brotherhood Leader left the premises without any fuss.

The Anbu followed suit, not bothering to interact with the Chunin and his team any longer, though they were surely going to report the situation to the Hokage.

But at that point, the Chunin really didn't care anymore... He was just happy to be alive.