__________ POV Narration__________
The very concept of an entire hidden village surrendering to a bounty hunter was unheard of.
And that was with good reason. Even the Grass Village, one of the weakest ones, had around 350 Shinobi. Around 40 of them were just Saburo's clones.
Even if the majority of them were Genin, they made up a force large enough to make other villages wary of them.
The Grass Village was by no means strong, but they were stable enough, especially since it once had the support of the Leaf Village.
Village politics were still a difficult thing, and a hidden village would never stick its head out for another unless the situation was dire.
So Elder Yuu was well aware that the Red Dot would get away scot-free even after killing so many of their shinobi.
There were only around 270 Shinobi in the village when Ken attacked, the rest were either away on mission or dead.
Now, only around 156 of them were alive and in fighting condition.
And Ken didn't even seem fazed by the fight that had been happening up to that point.
That was why the Elders, with Yuu at the helm, decided that it would be better to call the entire fight off.
'... If I had known he was this powerful I wouldn't have gone after him in the first place...' Yuu was quite annoyed by the situation, but the fact was already consummated, their losses already materialized...
They sent Saburo to speak to him, as the Anbu Captain, he was the most powerful in their village.
They hoped the formation would be able to hold Ken there, but even if he was held there they wouldn't be able to do much to him.
The formation would fall apart when the Shinobi forming it ran out of chakra anyway, so they couldn't hold him there forever.
"How much is your village willing to give exactly?" Yuu could hear Ken's voice from inside the formation, as the masked monster crossed his arms and tilted his head at Saburo.
"Well, at this point, I am sure you'd be able to talk the elders into giving you anything..." Saburo's response was a bit grating for Yuu to hear, but they'd surely get to speak about that later...
"Money. This village is willing to pay you a good sum if you agree to leave without taking any more lives. As a bounty hunter, you surely appreciate wealth." Yuu interjected from the side, knowing that Saburo wasn't going to say anything to benefit their village.
"... I am not interested in your wealth..." 'More like, I've already stolen most of it...' "I want techniques, Jutsu, as many as you can give me, including this formation." The Red Dot spoke out with a grin.
'A bounty hunter doesn't want money!?' Yuu was completely flabbergasted by that fact alone. Ken requesting techniques off of them was even more insulting.
'Our Jutsu and techniques are our bread and butter! We can't afford to give all of our secrets to a bounty hunter! We've not even managed to recover our secret techniques from that stupid thief!'
Yuu was feeling livid at that point, but he couldn't snap at Ken either, as they truly didn't have any leverage over the bounty hunter.
As much as Yuu hated it, Saburo was completely right when saying the Elders would give him anything to just leave them alone.
"Jutsu huh... Sounds manageable, but you obviously won't get all of the ones in this village." Saburo smiled calmly, clearly not bothered by the situation at all.
"Let's make this simple, I want at least 2 S-rank, at least 20 A-rank, and of the rest, I want at least 30-40 each." Ken's words immediately served to give Yuu a brain aneurysm.
"That's outrageous!" "A bounty hunter asking for this many techniques!?" Plenty of voices around seemed shocked and livid at Ken's request.
Many were also confused, but in truth, no one really dared to refuse Ken's requests at that point.
Saburo simply narrowed his eyes.
"... So you're building an organization, huh?" His voice was lower than before, only Kan managing to catch it.
"... You'll find out soon. How does my request sound though?" Ken's long hair danced in the wind along with his burnt and tattered cloak.
"Well, the village can provide you with copies for a few techniques. There aren't that many S-rank techniques in this village, so you won't be able to pick and choose. But I'm guessing you aren't requesting specific techniques..." Saburo stroked his chin, trying to think more about Ken's words.
'I'll find out soon, huh... This does sound promising...' Saburo was already looking to cut ties with the already collapsing Grass Village.
Getting a ticket to join an organization headed by a person on the level or close to the level of the 5 Kages sounded great to the Strawman. It was certainly going to be easier than trying to convince another small hidden village to accept him in their ranks...
"Indeed, as long as they have practicality I don't care what type of technique I get." The Blind Swordsman nodded as his body started transforming back into that of a human.
Saburo raised an eyebrow when noticing that change, and smirked as he noticed that Ken was indeed not injured in any way.
'At least we managed to de-escalate the situation.' Saburo was also quite glad that he didn't have to lose any more of his clones.
The Elders could also finally heave a sigh of relief when seeing him change back into a more human form.
For one second, the thought of trying to kill Ken while his guard was down appeared in Yuu's mind, but he wasn't willing to risk it and anger him again. Their losses were already substantial...
"Is that all, Red Dot?" Saburo said as he smiled at the bounty hunter.
"For now... I will state any further requests after seeing this one fulfilled." Ken crossed his arms as he looked at the barrier surrounding him.
"Might as well take this down, since we're now on negotiating terms. Also, bring me my blade, I left it somewhere near the rubble." The Blind Swordsman tapped his leg on the ground a few times as he wondered how far he could push the village with his requests.
It was clear that if he asked for too much they'd just try to kill him again. At that point, the Shinobi were trying to get rid of him and cut their losses while they could still recover from them.
They thankfully didn't know that he had already visited all of the clan bases and stolen all the money that he could find, otherwise, they would've fought to the death.
Ken watched as the Shinobi scrambled on the orders of the Elders, some going to the library, while others looked for his blade.
They were still unwilling to get close to him, but they did stop the formation. In the end, one Shinboi came and brought Ken his blade. Yet another one of Saburo's clones.
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It only took around 10 minutes for the others to come back with a few dozen scrolls and manuals, it was clear that they were trying to just make Ken leave as quickly as possible.
Saburo watched on as the Grass Village struggled to grant Ken's request. He could only sigh in disappointment at the pathetic state of the village he had been working with.
He figured the village would try something, like placing a chakra tracking seal on some of the scrolls, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't help them in any way.
'Even if they track the Red Dot, he'd still just kill whoever they send after him...'
All in all, Saburo considered the situation quite shocking to witness. But he didn't show any of his emotions outwardly.
After Ken placed all of the scrolls and manuals in a sealing scroll of his own and stored everything in the seal on his wrist, he looked back at Saburo, who just smiled.
'So he won't even look over them, huh?... I guess he doesn't care what techniques he gets from us, a bit irresponsible, but he may have his reasons...'
"So, is there anything else you need, or are you prepared to leave?" Saburo said with that same smile on his face.
Ken could almost hear the teeth of Elder Yuu filing against each other. The Elder was looking pointedly at Saburo, almost wanting to stab him with his gaze.
'Why the hell would you ask if he needs anything else?! Just tell him to leave!'
Alas, it was already too late for him to interject, as Ken started speaking while he was still busy ripping out what little hair he had left.
"One last request... I want you to either join me or give me your technique." Ken smiled widely as he spoke, making Saburo narrow his eyes once more.
The Strawman couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how forward the Bounty hunter was, though he didn't really mind.
'A leader should have at least this much confidence...'
"Unfortunately, my technique requires a specific bloodline limit to work. Only members of my already extinct clan would be able to use it."
The Strawman shrugged a bit, not bothering to lie to the bounty hunter, his technique was something specific to him, and he was neither willing nor able to share it.
"This is not acceptable! Asking for our Anbu captain to join you is overstepping your boundaries!" Yuu from the side immediately protested, not willing to part with the only failsafe their village had left in case they got attacked.
Saburo was far too valuable for them to just part ways with easily. Unfortunately for them, Saburo was far from loyal to their village.
"I am willing to follow you as long as you are able to provide me with the proper resources to continue my studies and rituals..." Saburo surprisingly agreed with Ken's requests without much hesitation.
"Of course, you will have plenty of resources, of that I assure you... Even more so than in this village..." Ken simply nodded, quite pleased with the answer.
The Elders and nearby Shinobi were flabbergasted to hear that. Their morale was already low, now it was just reaching rock bottom.
"Saburo!? What is the meaning of this?!" Yuu asked loudly as his throat turned red, his voice bubbling with rage and frustration.
"A man must know when to cut his losses, Elder Yuu. No reason for someone that isn't the captain or related to him to hang around a sinking ship."
Saburo didn't seem to care about the morale of the village's shinobi at all anymore, Ken couldn't help but chuckle a bit when hearing how cruel he was.
But that cruelty helped the Blind Swordsman assess the Strawman's character a bit better.
'This will be a purely business relationship... This man has no loyalty to give... Alas, I don't need loyalty from him, I just need his services and expertise.'
"... The Grass Village refuses this offer..." The Elder stared hatefully at Ken and Saburo now, his eyes turning bloodshot from rage as his pulse pounded audibly... At least for Ken.
"Hmmm? Well then, I guess I'll just cut ties with the Grass Village directly." Saburo simply shrugged, nonchalantly betraying the village and annoying the Elder further.
"A-Anbu captain!" "Please reconsider!" "After everything the village has done for you?!" Plenty of Shinobi started doing their best to urge the Strawman to remain.
Former 'friends' and acquaintances pleaded with him to remain, to not leave their village in such dire straits.
But Saburo knew of no friendship, to him the Grass Village was just a means to an end. And now that 'mean' was looking like it wouldn't be able to help him achieve his 'end' any more.
Elder Yuu was well aware of that. He wasn't stupid enough to think that someone like Saburo treated the friendship and comradery they instilled into their child soldiers seriously.
"... You aren't allowed to leave. ALL TROOPS, CAPTURE SABURO AND HIS ANBU SQU-" Yuu was quick to try and give an order, but he was immediately surrounded by 4 different masked Shinobi, all of them holding blades to his throat and arms, close enough to cut the skin.
The close proximity prevented him from performing any jutsu, and it also made the other Shinobi present unable to interfere, as they were milliseconds away from killing one of the few elders left in their village.
"One wrong move and you die here." One of the 'Shinobi' spoke in a cold tone, pressing his blade close to the elder's neck without any hesitation.
Yuu simply gulped a bit as he cursed the carelessness of his troops.
Alas, they had no way of knowing that Saburo's squad was just filled with clones. Only a small percentage of shinobi were privy to that knowledge, and most of them were either dead or injured at that point.
Yes, all 4 of the Shinobi were Saburo's clones, the rest of the clones rushed into the centre of the Shinobi encirclement and formed another smaller circle, shielding Saburo and Ken.
To the others, it looked like Saburo's Anbu Squad was also defecting with him.
There seemed to be around 24 of them left, but Ken did notice Saburo sending a few of them away during the fight, so their number was likely a bit bigger than that.
Confusion and outrage spread throughout the Grass Shinobi. And Yuu was sweating heavily, the veins on his forehead had already popped as the clones seemed to be intent on stopping him from acting.
"I will be taking my squad and leaving... I don't want to kill any of my former comrades, so don't follow me..." Saburo narrowed his eyes as he looked at the surrounding shinobi.
The Strawman tugged at the heartstrings of the Grass Shinobi, Ken was a bit impressed by the level of bullshit that Saburo was spewing.
'Comrades? Bah! Didn't know this guy was also a comedian...' Although Ken found it funny, that was just because he had already figured Saburo to be a shrewd and opportunistic sociopath.
The other Shinobi were still coming to terms with his departure, so they were seemingly hesitant.
Saburo didn't look at any of them as he walked past, the Grass Shinobi seemed to just stand there and look at each other with despair in their eyes.
In the end, they could only make way for Ken and Saburo's clones to leave the village.
"You are quite decent at manipulating others..." Ken said in a low tone as he continued to walk, just making conversation with his new member.
"Hmmm... I'll take that as a compliment." Saburo simply nodded, a calm smile on his face as all of his clones followed suit.
"It was a compliment," Ken said as he and the clones stepped out of the front gate of the village.
The 4 clones that were holding the elder hostage also tried to flee after Ken and the rest of the clones managed to depart from the village.
But the Elder wasn't about to just let them leave...
The enraged Elder Yuu immediately trapped them all in overgrown grass and thorny vines, his teeth cracking in anger as he started barking orders again.
"Kill them!" The Elder shouted, taking out his rage on the clones that had almost taken his life.
The shinobi around him seemed to look at each other for a few seconds, before listening to his orders and burning all of the clones alive using a few fireballs.
The clones stood eerily still, not even bothering to protect themselves as they started burning alive. Such a scene managed to further unnerve the people present.
The rest of Saburo's clones didn't even bother to turn around and look at them, as they had already left the village gates.
Yuu, in the end, was just left with 4 burnt corpses that had once been Saburo's clones, an extremely demoralized ragtag group of shinobi, and a few buildings to rebuild.
The angry elder took a few deep breaths to calm down.
He wasn't stupid enough to pursue Saburo outside of the village. Ken was also with him, so it was impossible for their village to attack the Strawman.
"For now, announce to the world that Saburo is a Missing-nin, he is to be branded a criminal..." Yuu spoke in a much calmer voice, he was still confident that the village wouldn't fall, even if they were bound to have to suck up to a higher power...
"S-Sir... The enemy must have brainwashed Sir Saburo! There's no way he'd do something like th-" An injured Jonin to the side tried to plead for Saburo, it seemed that the poor shinobi was likely fooled by the Strawman's act.
There were plenty of people like him, Saburo had spent a good decade in that village, so plenty of people were able to get accustomed to him and 'befriend' him.
Yuu was hearing none of it though.
"Don't kid yourself! Saburo is just a criminal now. I don't want to hear anything else..." The Elder didn't care to explain that they had all been fooled by a sociopath. He only gave them the orders and continued on with his work.
'At least we still have the funds to rebuild... We need to do a quick inventory of everything and recover everything from the collapsed Kage Building.'
Yuu was quick to get to work... Unfortunately for him, their funds had just happened to disappear...
Well, not all of them, a part of their finances was kept in the Kage Building, but the bulk of it was spread out throughout all of the clans in the village.
Yuu ordered everyone to do a quick check on their resources, he now controlled them since all of the clan heads were now dead, and he was to manage their finances until new leaders were appointed.
He received the report that everything was gone rather quickly. Even the funds from his compound were gone, and he had amassed significant wealth there...
The last hair on Yuu's head fell out when he heard that report, he was left completely shell-shocked by it.
But it didn't take long for him to realize where those funds may have disappeared to...
'... Curse that bounty hunter... Not interested in our wealth my ass...'
Yuu looked at the wrecked state of their village with empty eyes, his mind wondering how exactly to avoid total destruction.
But one thought surfaced in his mind.
'... I won't forget this, Red Dot, Saburo! Both of you will pay for this!'