________ POV Narration ________

From the moment Ken started following the Anbu at a slower pace, one of the members ran ahead and informed the Raikage of the situation directly.

The Raikage was a rather tall man, standing at 2,05 meters, or 6.73 ft. A dark-skinned man with an extremely muscular and well-defined build, with only one large scar visible on his chest.

He had long white hair that flowed down his back, coupled with a trimmed white beard.

He wore a pair of black sandals dark blue sweatpants, along with a single-strap white shinobi jacket with no other clothing underneath and a black forehead protector that he wore like a bandana.

He didn't really bother diversifying his wardrobe.

A didn't quite know what to expect when hearing that he was receiving a surprise guest with more information regarding the ongoing issue they were facing with disappearing villagers.

The identity of the guest was actually the interesting part for him.

'The Red Dot...'

A had tried to contact him plenty of times, only to be ignored or refused by Ken time and time again.

The Raikage thankfully didn't have anything else important to do, but even if he had, he would've scrapped all plans.

Recruiting Ken was far more important to the Raikage than anything else.

A was even willing to make him, an outsider, the Anbu Captain, even give him a position in the council as long as he was willing to join the Cloud Village.

The Raikage really couldn't care less if others in the council were against that choice, he knew better than anyone how much a powerful shinobi could benefit their village.

'Even if he's here on different matters, I'll try to steer the subject in that direction eventually...'

Just as the Raikage was having these thoughts, the door to his office opened up, and the masked assassin walked in alone, the Anbu that had guided him remaining outside.

"Lord Raikage... A pleasure to finally meet someone of your stature..." Ken spoke as he tilted his head and raised a hand, aiming to shake the Kage's own.

A simply smiled when seeing that gesture. He hadn't expected Ken to be that polite towards him, at least not after recent reports regarding his actions, but it was a welcomed surprise.

"I should be saying that, Red Dot! I've been trying to reach you for quite some time now..." The Raikage accepted the handshake, his large fingers wrapping around Ken's entire hand.

Ken couldn't help but be a bit impressed when feeling the strength of the Raikage's grip, he rarely met people physically stronger than him after all...

"Apologies for being a bit harder to get in contact with. You must understand that I normally refrain from interacting much with any of the hidden villages..." Ken smiled a bit under his mask as he spoke, retracting his hand in the process.

"I did notice that... But what changed now?" A narrowed his eyes a bit as he asked the most important question of their meeting...

'What made the Red Dot, a notoriously neutral figure, get in touch with me?'

"Well, now I have already started an independent organization in the Land of Iron, so I don't just act for myself, but I represent an entity..." Ken simply shrugged as he used his organization as a sort of shield.

The Raikage was immediately surprised to hear that Ken had gone a 'different route'.

He, and all of the other Kage, had been just waiting for the Red Dot to join a village or a Land by himself at that point.

But it seemed his ambitions were a bit larger than they had all expected... A could respect that.

But it wasn't like the organization could be ignored as something insignificant either.

Ken already proved to be able to wipe out a smaller Hidden Village just by himself, any organization that he joined, let alone created, would be put on the map as a significant threat to the authority of the other 5 Hidden Villages...

"An organization huh... That raises quite a few more questions... What are your intentions? Will they clash with the already existing forces in the Elemental Nations?" Even though A could respect a man's ambition, that didn't mean he wouldn't care more about the interests of his village.

The appearance of a 6th power to contend with the 5 great villages was not good news, no matter the angle one looked at it. After all, they only had so many resources to fight over...

"My group will be mainly a brotherhood of assassins and bounty hunters... We don't plan to get involved with the hidden villages needlessly, and we especially don't want to join your wars..."

Ken was quick to lessen A's worries, assuring him that the organization would be acting much like the Blind Assassin when it came to involvement with the Shinobi World.

"... I'll take your word on it for now. Don't make me regret this." A said as he crossed his arms and gave Ken a rather hostile look.

"Don't worry... Today's matters are a bit more concerning, however..." Ken was quick to change the subject slowly walking over to the Raikage's desk and leaning on it.

"Concerning? I guess you can call it that. I did learn quite a bit from this small interaction already..." The Raikage slowly walked over and sat down on his chair.

"What we talked about till now will feel trivial real soon, I assure you of that..." Ken smiled deviously under his mask as he then quickly started retelling the tale of the Cult of Jashin, at least what he was able to find.

A cult of madmen worshipping some strange god that they claimed granted them powers. They seemed to be masterful users of JuJutsu and their experiments had gone so far as to grant a few of them immortality...

He made sure to keep the fact that the Dark Brotherhood was contracted by villagers to hunt them down out of the picture. Making it look like it was less of a priority for Ken and his organization to get rid of the cult.

The Blind Assassin talked about encountering and killing an entire branch of that cult somewhere in the Land of Hot Water while out on a journey. He told him how they had been kidnapping others and using them as sacrifices.

"I killed all of them and burnt their bodies, only keeping their immortal leader alive for interrogation." Ken smiled as he finally finished recounting a part of his tale.

"Well, if he's truly immortal as you claim, then it doesn't sound like you had many choices but to bring him in alive..." The Raikage scowled a bit, as he tried to take in the information Ken was providing him.

"I did find out that their immortality is rather weak against fire, so I should've still been able to kill him..." Ken shrugged as he continued speaking.

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A seemed to appreciate the extra information, slowly things were starting to tie together in his mind as well...

'A cult that kidnaps and uses others as sacrifices... I understand why the Anbu wanted me to meet this man, he really does bring an answer to our 'disappearing civilians' problem...'

A had already guessed that a branch of that Ghoulish Cult was likely hiding within their territory, a bit shameful but it couldn't be helped...

"The leader confirmed that the main base of this Cult is situated in Mt. Shimatama..."

Ken's words did make A quite a bit more frustrated though...

'The main base?! Hiding in MY territory?!'

"Is this information trustworthy? Mt. Shimatama is barren, and even patrolled regularly, like all other areas in the Land of Lightning..."

A was quick to ask for clarification. It did after all feel like a rather concerning crack in their defences if an entire worldwide organization had made their main base in his territory...

"I gathered this information while masquerading as a member of the cult, got the Branch Leader that I captured to mention the location of the base..."

A couldn't help but curse a bit under his breath when hearing that.

Information gathered while in disguise was oftentimes more trustworthy than information gained from torture, so he now needed to really look into the matter.

"I've already sent one of my men to scout it out... But if your people have also patrolled it before then it's likely not going to have a noticeable entrance...

Hidden in plain sight... Or using seals of some sort."

Ken rubbed his chin a bit and sighed in disappointment as he realized that he might have to scout out the place himself in the end...

"... SHIT!" The Raikage punched his desk, his fist slightly crackling as some lighting started coming out of his skin and his hair rose up slightly. His outburst ended up slightly startling the Anbu that were hiding in the room.

A Kage's office was never truly empty after all, the Raikage still had a multitude of Shinobi hiding in the room, in every shadow that they could fit, even sticking to the ceiling.

It was a common practice among Kage, especially when entertaining guests...

Ken obviously knew about them, so he wasn't exactly surprised when he felt them stir in fear.

'... Even his own men are afraid of his power... As expected of the Kage of one of the 5 Great Hidden Villages...'

"No need to lose your cool over this, and it's no reason to be ashamed... This cult likely has some sort of branch or offshoot in the territory of the other Great Hidden Villages as well." Ken tapped the tall man on the shoulder, stretching up a bit to do so.

"Still... It is quite shameful that an outsider had to bring this to my attention... The Cloud Village certainly owes you a favour for this information."

The Raikage was quick to calm down as well, he was also fast in offering Ken his thanks, in the form of a favour, which was worth a lot more than a few words of gratitude.

After all, Ken didn't just tell them information regarding the location of the cult, he also gave them a rather glaring weakness in their techniques, like how their curses all likely relied on blood or how their immortality was susceptible to fire.

It was all vital information that the Cloud Village needed in order to prepare for their upcoming battle... After all, there was no way the Land of Lightning would let such a cult thrive on their territory much longer.

"I appreciate the gratitude, Lord Raikage..." Ken slightly bowed, smiling widely underneath his mask as the first part of his plan was done rather well, he had managed to completely remove himself and his organization from the situation, while also gaining favour from the Cloud Village.

"Oh please, just call me A. You're not a subordinate of mine." A smiled a bit, being quite pleased with Ken'd demeanour.

"Well, in that case, you may also call me by my name, Ken... Though you may already know it." The Blind Swordsman didn't have any qualms about building a relationship with the Raikage, having friends in high places could prove worthwhile after all...

It would also make the next part of their conversation much easier when it came to negotiation.

"I did know it, fine. I'll just call you Ken, makes things feel less impersonal and cold." The Raikage's warm smile made it clear that he truly did have a good impression of Ken, that he did appreciate Ken's efforts in gathering and bringing him so much information on the Cult of Jashin.

"Indeed... Now, I'm guessing you'll be taking care of the Cult soon, right?" Ken ran a hand through his long hair, raising the black strands of hair and stopping them from covering his mask further.

"Yes, we will be taking care of it shortly. The Second Shinobi war just finished, and another one will be starting soon, so we need to do it as soon as possible."

The Raikage didn't seem to be against giving Ken a bit of information regarding the state of the operation, assuming that the Blind Bounty Hunter was curious about how the cult would end up.

"Hmm? Do Shinobi already have plans for another war? Will the people of the Elemental Nations ever know what peace looks like..."

Ken simply sighed in disappointment when hearing that, even though he had already known that another war was going to happen, he was still disheartened to hear of it happening so soon after the last one.

"Heh... Peace isn't in our nature, I'm sure you'd understand given your profession.

And this war has already been planned out before the last one even finished... It's just the nature of these things, unfortunately."

A shook his head and gave Ken a bit of a grim smile as he spoke.

"I see..." Ken also ended up shaking his head and going back on track.

"I was asking about the Cult... As I'd like to offer the services of my organization to the Land of Lightning.

Even though we are still a small organization, we still have around 40 capable men that you can hire... All are Chunin level and above."

A immediately raised an eyebrow when hearing that. It wasn't often that a new organization started off with that many powerful shinobi after all...

"... Normally you'd have to go through the Daimyō if you wanted to get hired by the Land of Lightning... A hidden village normally doesn't hire the services of other organizations for such matters."

The Raikage didn't seem to be all that willing at first, which was what Ken had expected anyway.

"That I understand, your village is full of capable and able-bodied shinobi, you normally wouldn't need to hire outsiders for such a job...

However the situation is a bit different, we know how to fight this cult the best, so hiring us might lead to fewer casualties on your end as well..."

The Blind Swordsman was quick to start attempting to convince A that hiring the Dark Brotherhood was truly his best option.

Unfortunately, the Raikage wasn't looking all that impressed.

"You did already give us plenty of useful information in combating this cult, I doubt our casualties will be that major..." A rubbed his chin a bit looking thoughtful for a second before suddenly smiling as if he had just gotten an idea.

"Say, our village would certainly be willing to hire you... Just you." A's smile seemed to become wider and wider by the second, as excitement gripped at his mind.

'This is a good chance... Get him to see what cooperating with us feels like... Asking him to join us later will come much easier...'

Even if Ken was now the leader of his own organization, that didn't mean he wasn't recruitable anymore in A's eyes.

After all, the organization Ken had created was still new, so it could just as easily be disbanded or swallowed up by the Cloud Village...

"... My direct services don't come cheap. Even if we're on friendly terms." Ken crossed his arms and pretended to sigh in disappointment.

'Such a shame... It seems that my organization will have to not spend any resources to get rid of the Cult after all...'

The Blind Swordsman had been aiming to receive such a proposal since the beginning.

After all, he was well aware that the Raikage would never hire his organization, especially since it had plenty of unknown shinobi.

A simply couldn't trust them, as the Dark Brotherhood didn't have much renown tied to its name.

But Ken felt that simply providing his personal assistance directly was a bit inelegant. It also made it harder to negotiate a good price. Hence, the Blind Assassin steered the conversation in such a way.

Maybe a better diplomat would have seen through Ken's scheme if they had enough knowledge of his character... But A was neither the greatest of diplomats nor did he truly know Ken.

"Hah! I'd be willing to spare no expenses if it means hiring the best in the business! With the two of us there, there's really no need for any other shinobi anyway." The Raikage had taken the bait in his mouth instantly, chewing and swallowing without any hesitation.

"Hmm... Well, if that's the case then I'll go easy on you... 500,000,000 Ryō, and we'll see this through to the end, together."

A's smile seemed to become a bit strained when hearing that. 500 million Ryō... It wasn't a small sum, not by any means.

The regular bounty for an S-rank Shinobi was in the 20-50 million range, depending on their strength and the severity of their crimes.

Ken's entire bounty-hunting trip had barely made him around 200 million Ryō, and he had only stolen around 600 million from the Grass village, which was rather poor in comparison to the Land of Lighting...

'But 500 million is not a small sum, even for the Land of Lightning... He'll likely talk me down a lot from this position, so it's good that I started high...'

However, the world, and the Raikage himself, had different plans.

"Hmmm... Fine! 500 million it is." To Ken's immense shock, A agreed almost instantly after a bit of consideration...

The Raikage even smiled as he extended his hand, hoping to shake Ken's hand and close the deal verbally first.

His logic for this rather sudden decision?

'Well, I wouldn't sell my services for anything less than 500 million!'

Ken was technically a person at the level of a Kage, now A actually had the opportunity to judge his skills personally.

There was also the fact that A wanted to get in Ken's good graces and get him to join the Cloud Village. Entering a heated debate and negotiating prices with him like a shrewd merchant wasn't going to help him reach that goal.

"That's... Well then. I'm glad we could come to an agreement."

Ken instantly shook the Raikage's hand, not wasting any time, fearing that the man would reconsider his decision.

And so the two of them shook hands and sealed the deal, with Ken managing to double the reserves of his organization in a single move.