_________ POV Narration_________

"Teacher... What was that guy's deal?" The young girl Genin asked as she jumped from tree to tree alongside her Jonin handler Mabui.

Mabui herself was still contemplating that strange meeting. 'It's strange that I've never heard of someone like him before... He's far too strong to not have a reputation... Unless he's just starting...'

"Y-yeah... He looked really creepy." One of the other Genin muttered as he looked ahead with a slightly scared gaze.

"It's unbecoming of a shinobi to be startled by the appearance of another. Especially out in the field, where each second counts and the lives of your teammates are on the line." Mabui said as she stopped in the middle of a clearing, signalling her disciples to stop as well.

"... But I can't deny that his appearance is unusual. His strength was also rather hard to pinpoint, he's likely not an enemy the four of us could have faced." She continued while looking at her students with a sharp gaze.

It was better for them to learn how to discern dangerous people like Ken when out in the world. All it took was showing disrespect to some bloodthirsty bounty hunter, and they'd likely end up dead if they were lucky.

"I don't know about that... He seemed pretty young, I don't think you'd have any issue facing him, teacher!" One of the genin said with utmost confidence, making Mabui simply sigh.

The other Genin also nodded, seemingly agreeing with their teammate's assessment.

"I am disappointed in you. I thought you were told this in the academy already... You can't judge people merely based on appearance. Just from his chakra reserves, he had an advantage over me.

And from the way he left, he also has an advantage when it comes to speed and stealth. It's hard to judge his sword skills, but I doubt they'd be any less." Mabui shook her head at her disciples.

The Genin were a bit shocked, not one of them had managed to truly notice just how big of a threat Ken was.

"W-what about his jutsu?"

"It's unlikely he practises any. He said he was a samurai, not a stray shinobi or missing-nin. While it's not good to take his words at face value, he had no real reason to lie to us." 'Especially since he likely could have killed us.'

The Genin wanted to ask a few more questions.

--- BOOM---

But all of them were interrupted by a huge explosion, the forest and trees around them shook in the wind as all of them covered their faces.

"A fight!?!" Mabui was shocked.

'This was supposed to be just a small patrol mission, we aren't even that far off from the village! Who would dare get this close?!'

"Gonbu! Send a message to the village and follow us after!" "Hikari, Chibaru! Both of you come with me!"

The Genin quickly nodded and followed orders.

One of them quickly summoned a small bird and started writing a message, while the other two followed behind their teacher as they quickly went to check things out.

Mabui and the other two genin advanced without any fear, though the Jonin was feeling quite stressed at that moment.

'This...'

The feeling was only exacerbated when she caught glimpse of a corpse. Or what remained of it. A blackened and charred body.

From the headband's location, she quickly guessed who that person was though. A former colleague of hers, and a Jonin, just like her.

'This is bad...' She quickly stopped in her tracks then, as she saw two other figures struggling against another man.

She immediately went white when seeing who that man was.

'Seza Toyonso!? Shit! So you're telling me three fully-fledged Jonin aren't enough?!'

"The two of you, quickly go back and regroup with Gonbu... Retreat to the village. This isn't a fight where you are able to help." Mabui whispered as she crouched down and prepared to approach the fight silently.

The Genin listened and turned around, fleeing the scene, only sometimes looking back in fear at their teacher's back.

Now, Mabui needed to think of her next move carefully. 'A sneak attack's my only chance to turn things around!'

She was a sensory type, but she was still a Jonin, she would be able to turn the tables if she managed to land a good attack.

And she was going to use her strongest Jutsu in order to do so.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" Mabui muttered under her breath, finishing her hand sings and tapping both of her palms on the ground with a grunt.

The ground underneath Seza, their resident murderer, quickly turned into mud, his feet sinking into it as he was stopped in his tracks by its stickiness.

Seza immediately turned his head towards the one responsible for that. Eyeing Mabui up for a second.

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A somewhat busty woman with darker skin and white hair, wearing a standard black Jonin uniform. The murderer licked his lips when seeing that, making Mabui scowl at him.

The jutsu allowed Mabui to somewhat seal off his mobility, as he sunk a bit deeper into the mud pit.

The other two Jonin immediately took advantage of that, one of them quickly took some distance and started forming some hand signs, while the other slashed at the missing-nin with a lightning-covered sword.

Seza looked at them with a smile for a second, before he immediately exploded into a large mass of lightning, Mabui covered her eyes with a grunt. 'A clone?!'

When she looked at the situation again, she could clearly see that the closest Jonin to that clone was shocked unconscious, while the other managed to completely dodge the attack.

'Shit!' Mabui sensed a presence appear at her side, she only managed to slightly turn her head to the side before she got kicked into a tree.

She could only spit out some blood as she looked at Seza with a hateful glare.

The tall middle-aged shinobi only looked back at her with a cocky smile. Upon taking a closer look at him, Mabui could see a few scars littering his bald head.

He was also wearing a Jonin uniform, although his was bloody, presumably stolen off of some corpse.

'He purposefully didn't kill me... Shit!'

She was mad, but at least now she had another chance to take him down.

The other Jonin was also still alive, so she still had some hope left in her.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" The Jonin in question finished his hangings, shooting 6 smaller fire dragons towards Seza, who scoffed a bit.

"Jonin are always a pain in the ass!" Seza's hands moved far faster than that of his enemy, becoming a blur as he finished his jutsu by pressing his hands on the ground.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" A gigantic wall of dirt rose from the ground in front of him, and the fire dragons blasted it apart quite quickly, but it still gave Seza more than enough time to do something.

Hiding behind a piece of the wall, his hands turned into a blur once more.

"Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Technique!"

The shadow clone was a technique he had stolen off one of his Jonin victims at some point. With his lightning release, it formed a clone made completely out of lighting.

That technique was the whole reason why he was able to become as powerful as he had become.

Although taxing, the technique was extremely powerful, and the murderer was already completely used to the drain it had on him, as well as the many uses it could have.

Seza quickly ran out of hiding and started throwing kunai and paper bombs towards the Jonin.

'Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique' The clone silently dove into the ground as Seza distracted the Jonin.

Mabui took notice of that, although injured, she wasn't about to let that type of thing go.

She quickly started doing her hand signs. "Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!"

Just as she was about to tap her palm on the ground when she noticed that a paper bomb was already in front of her.

Mabui only got to cover her face before she was blown away, and Seza scowled a bit. 'I don't like how many resources I am using in this fight... Better end it quickly.'

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Wall!" The Jonin shouted as a ring of flames rose around him, capturing Seza inside.

"Oh no... What am I to do?" Seza said smugly as he threw another kunai towards the Jonin, who simply scoffed and tilted his body to the side.

That very second, the earth to the side he had dodged into shifted, a tanto stabbing through his torso in that very instant, charged with lightning as it fried some of his organs.

"SHIT!" The Jonin forced his body to move, kicking the clone, which only caused it to explode and take him out of the fight for good.

"Hah. Good riddance." Seza patted his shoulders as he started walking over to the only enemy he really cared about.

'Time to have some fun!' He licked his lips once more when seeing the Kunoichi getting up from the ground, her hands hanging limply by her sides, as she had just used them to block an explosion.

'Shit... This isn't good... I hope my students got to call reinforcements in time.

If I can hold this monster here for long enough, maybe there is at least hope for him to pay for what he's done!'

She had mostly given up hope of winning the fight. She would normally simply kill herself, as she was trained to do in case of capture, but this time there was still hope for reinforcements to come.

So she decided to try and hold him there for longer.

"Seza Toyonso!... You despicable scum!" That didn't mean she'd have to pretend to like her situation though.

"Heh! It'll be great to hear your squeals" The S-rank missing-nin rubbed his hands together as he spoke, a creepy expression rising on his face.

'To think I'd end up like this...' Mabui was ashamed, that was for sure. Not much could be done about it though... At least that was what she thought at first.

Her eyes widened though when she saw a very familiar masked man creeping behind Seza.

A brooding figure covered in a black coat, only a small part of his chest was visible through it, showcasing a bloodred samurai armour.

She couldn't see his hands, but his long hair flowed in the wind, and his mask was just as recognisable as before. 'It's him...'

Still, her reaction did give his position away, as Seza turned instantly and jumped backwards, dodging a Senbo which was aimed at his neck.

The Senbo landed right above Mabui, who simply sweated a bit as she realised her mistake. A critical one at that. 'To think I am lacking to this extent...'

There was also another thought in her mind. 'Will Ken even be able to win here?! Seza is a lot stronger than reported... I need to warn him at least!'

She opened her mouth to speak, but Ken's own words interrupted her.

"... It would be nice if you could just die quietly..."

But Ken didn't seem bothered in the least. Not that one could tell by looking at him. His tone did give it away though. He sounded bored, almost disinterested.

It was so disconnected from the situation that Mabui was flabbergasted for one second.

"AS IF!" Seza quickly jumped backwards once more and started making hand signs, his speed was impressive to Mabui.

'Shit... I spent too much time here. This guy is likely a big shot Anbu. I need to create some diversion and escape!'

At that point, he didn't bother himself with Mabui anymore, not about to lay his life down for a piece of ass.

His plan was simple, use a large-range jutsu, forcing the Anbu to try and rescue the injured Jonin nearby and allowing him to escape.

He was extremely confident in his speed, to him, there was no Jonin faster than him when it came to hand signs. Many had tried to take him on, and just as many had died.

At the end of the day, that was his greatest talent, his dexterity.

But when he got to the third hand sign of his jutsu, he simply stopped, as his eyes widened.

Mabui was confused for a split second, and then blood squirted out of Seza's shoulder, and one of his hands fell off.

Ken was right in front of him, his two fingers coming out of his large coat, exuding a large blade of chakra from them.

"You aren't really worth using a blade..."

Ken said as he pointed his fingers at his target. Seza was completely white at that point, realizing that he had bitten far more than he could chew.

"W-wai-" Seza opened his mouth once more, about to plead for his life most likely, but Ken simply swiped his hand, and his head flew off swiftly, not one more syllable coming out of his mouth.

Mabui was simply petrified at that scene. A shinobi that she had seen three fully-fledged Jonin lose against was taken down in a split second.

She could only gulp, as the speed he had showcased far surpassed anything she had seen before... Well, all but one person.

'Only Lord Raikage can surpass his speed...'

Ken simply took out a scroll and grabbed Seza's head, not even letting it fall on the ground as he stored it inside the scroll.

'First bounty acquired...'