_________ POV Narration _________

Ken's journey towards the Land of Whirlpools went without a hitch.

He stayed off the radar without any issues and was able to easily avoid any patrols from the Land of Hot Water.

The Land of Whirpools was technically situated south of the Land of Hot Water.

However, the Land of Whirlpools is an island, and there were no bridges to connect it to the main continent.

It was secluded and cut off from the rest of the Ninja world. At least geographically speaking. They still held diplomatic ties to a few Lands nearby.

The only way to reach it safely would be to go through a boat service that was situated in the Land of Waves, which was also an island that could only be accessed from a bridge connected to the Land of Fire.

The waters near the Land of Whirlpools were dangerous as could be, and one could only really approach it from any side besides that of the Land of Waves.

Any ship would capsize, and the waves would swallow any human whole with ease.

Even powerful shinobi couldn't resist the force of mother nature. The human body was weak after all...

But Ken was different, he was far from weak, far from human even. And nature itself seemed to understand that.

Nowadays, wild animals didn't even dare to get close to him. He could feel it, their fear as he dashed through their territories.

Some would just freeze and tremble in place as if waiting to be killed. While others would choose to turn around and run away.

It was a change that had occurred a bit after he had gained a bit more mastery over his Scaled Sage Mode.

It was as if he had become a bit more in tune with nature. It was as if the world seemed to understand his nature a bit more.

He was sure that animals in water would also refrain from attacking him. So he didn't have to worry about any Sharks, Whales, or whatever other abominations that could be found in the world.

He also knew that he was strong enough to wade through any whirlpool that tried to pull him underneath the waves.

After all, he could always create a tornado large enough to undo the whirlpool.

So the choice was obvious for Ken.

Instead of taking the detour and going through the Land of Fire and Land of Waves. He decided to simply swim south when reaching the border of the Land of Hot Waters.

He was to do so for many kilometres/miles, but he never did have any problems with stamina.

He did consider making some makeshift boat and trying to sail there, but he wasn't exactly a sailor, and he figured it'd be much faster if he swam than otherwise.

And he waded through the waters for almost 2 days. His energy was constantly replenishing his stamina almost endlessly...

Even in the water, his nature energy allowed him to notice if something came too close to him.

But most of the time it was him passing through the territories of different schools of fish.

They always swam away when sensing his presence.

Ken was quite shocked by that, as he remembered fish to be somewhat unintelligent. Some would even jump into the mouth of a predator without realising it...

'Maybe animals in this world are just more intelligent? That would make sense... Or maybe they all just instinctually avoid me now...'

At some point, Ken decided to go faster, so he blocked the Tenketsu in his arms and legs, as well as some other parts of his torso, which allowed him to swim at twice the speed.

From the distance, he looked like a speed boat dashing through the water, cutting it with frightening ease.

Ken also noticed some strange changes to his body... After a few minutes of swimming, his body seemed to morph a bit.

As he brought his fingers together, he noticed that there was now more matter in between them. He parted them, only to realize that he had grown fins, which allowed him to swim even faster.

His legs were the same, and it wasn't long before he noticed that his neck had morphed as well... Instead of just being covered in scales, it had now grown gills... Which allowed him to breathe underwater.

Well, he wasn't actually breathing, just absorbing oxygen from the water around him through said gills... But it was still bizarre...

'Why is this change happening now?... I trained in water before... Was it because I didn't use my Scaled From as much?'

The Blind Monster was confused as he waded through the waves with ease.

'... Is my body just adapting to whatever place it finds itself in?... It seems like it, but I can't be too sure... Might have to go to a few more environments to test things out... I really need to visit that Toad Sage...'

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The whirlpools couldn't even hope to slow him down at that point, it would only be a matter of hours before he hit the shore.

The first thing Ken did when stepping onto shore was to crawl further and hide in the foliage.

He made sure that his tracks were washed away by the rising tide as he rested in that bush for a few minutes, allowing his body to turn back to its regular form.

The Land of Whirpools was not exactly small, so Ken still had a day left of travelling before he reached Uzushiogakure, the main base of the Uzumaki clan...

Ken rested a bit more after that, allowing himself to catch his breath and even sleep for around 30 minutes as he gave his clothes time to dry up.

It was annoying to sneak around in wet clothing after all. It would be harder for him to hide his tracks.

Thankfully, he could feel no one nearby, at least not at that moment.

The Shinobi of Uzushiogakure were still likely patrolling the area, as the borders of a Land were always the most defended... Unless the Uzumaki relied on their natural defences more than Ken thought they would.

Regardless, it was none of Ken's business. He slowly got up and resumed his journey.

He did encounter patrols a bit further inland, but he was able to go undetected through all of them.

Most of the Shinobi he ran into all had something in common... They all seemed to have a substantial Chakra Reserve. To the point where it was hard for Ken to judge their levels.

No, to be more specific. It was impossible for Ken to tell what their rankings were. He had yet to meet even one Shinbi with Charka reserves lesser than that of a Jonin.

But he highly doubted that the Uzumaki Clan was THAT powerful...

'Saburo did say that the Uzumaki are well-known for their absurd Chakra reserves... I guess this makes my job a bit more difficult...'

Sneaking around was always harder when you weren't able to judge your opponents.

Thankfully, Ken wasn't there on any assassination mission. He was just there for diplomatic reasons... And to steal their shit if they didn't agree to work things out with him.

He did things similarly to the way he had approached the Cloud Village... This time, things would be a bit more difficult though, as he didn't have any valuable information.

At that point, he hoped his reputation and the quality of his services would be enough to gain him an audience with the Clan Leader.

Saburo had informed Ken that he wasn't exactly considered a Kage, as the Uzushiogakure was not exactly a hidden village.

It was just a clan. One of the strongest clans still standing, sure, but still just a clan. The title of Kage was reserved for the leaders of the hidden villages.

This made things a bit confusing since it meant that the Land of Whirlpools didn't actually have a hidden village...

But Ken assumed it was likely just something done to avoid taxation, or something similar to that. He could respect that.

However, the array that surrounded Uzushiogakure was much larger than the one in the Cloud Village.

To the point where Ken was 'spotted' far before he even reached the gates.

'... Wish there was something I could do to hide from Fuinjutsu as well... But I don't know anywhere near enough about seals to avoid such a complex array...'

Much like in the Cloud Village, Ken started walking slowly as he continued heading for the Clan's village.

And in a similar fashion, Shinobi of Uzushiogakure were already surrounding him a few seconds after he stepped into their territory.

They didn't make their presence known though. They seemed to want to observe him first.

The fact that they were still a few good kilometres away from their Clan Base gave them some leeway in the way they could approach such an intruder...

At first, they seemed to be planning some form of attack, and Ken realised that they likely didn't recognize him because of the hat that was still hiding his mask.

He immediately took it off, tying it to his belt as he turned and pretended to look at the people surrounding him.

They reacted immediately as soon as he took off his hat. Dozens of Kunai and Shuriken were thrown at him.

The trained shinobi had attributed his sudden movement to something else and had attacked without a second thought. Thankfully, Ken was expecting that.

Instead of panicking, he took out a small umbrella from the seal on his wrist.

He opened it up and spun it at great speeds. It was made out of a special/flexible metal, a gift from a certain politician in the Land of Iron that wanted to befriend him.

Ken managed to block all of the incoming projectiles, before coming to a stop, closing his umbrella and plunging it slightly into the ground.

"Greetings, people of the Uzumaki Clan... I am here with a business proposition."

The relation of his identity didn't even get to sink in when Ken started speaking.

The ones that had started preparing some Justus immediately stopped themselves.

Ken could feel the shock and fear in the people that surrounded him, but there was also a strange sense of confidence...

'I guess they don't actually think I'm a great danger to their village... Well, I can't blame them. They're sure to have some seals to defend it.'

After a few more seconds, a shinobi stepped out from the cover of the shadows.

Ken could feel that he was a tall middle-aged man with short hair. He had relatively handsome features, and he even seemed to wear a headband.

His clothing was similar to that of Jonin from other villages. But it was also different enough for Ken to not be able to tell his rank easily. Similar to the Cloud Village, in a sense.

"Red Dot, we have heard much about you and your organization... I must apologize for the lacklustre greeting."

The shinobi bowed slightly as more came out of the shadows. Around 20 shinobi were all looking at Ken with calm gazes, prepared to jump in if anything went wrong.

"I dislike lavish greetings, mister...?" Ken was quick to ask for the name of the person he was speaking to.

It didn't feel like he was speaking to just a nobody after all... Even by Uzumaki standards, the man's chakra reserves were absurd. He seemed to be more powerful than any other shinobi he had felt on the island.

"Oh, my name is Uzumaki Yorihhiko... Son of Ashina Uzumaki..." The man's voice sounded a bit surprised. He spoke with a raised eyebrow while looking at Ken and blinking a few times.

Ken tilted his head slightly, as he tried to remember a bit more about the name... It didn't take long for him to realize who Yorihhiko was referring to...

'Son of the former Uzumaki Clan head?... Damn, I wasn't expecting to meet the Clan Leader so soon! Was he just passing by or something?!'

Ken immediately brought his hand together and bowed slightly.

"Apologies for the disrespect, Lord Yorihhiko, I was not expecting to meet you out here..."

The Blind Assassin could only curse his bad luck a bit, as he realised that a good first impression would be a bit more difficult.

At the very least he hadn't attacked any of his men, so things could certainly be much worse.

Yorihhiko just chuckled a bit when sensing Ken's frustration. He did throw the Assassin a few curveballs, especially when he bowed in greeting.

A clan head wouldn't usually behave in such a way to outsiders after all... The men that were with him were also startled by it, but they decided not to question their lord's actions at the end of the day...

Ken calmed down a bit when sensing Yorihhiko's amusement.

"All is well, Red Dot. I assume you came here covertly to avoid the eyes of the other Hidden Villages, correct?" Yorihhiko didn't laugh for long, he reassured the assassin as well, and continued the conversation in a cordial matter.

"Please, just call me Ken... And yes, I didn't wish to raise much attention from the surrounding lands..."

Yorihhiko nodded when hearing Ken's answer and introduction.

"Very well... I did have a job... But I can postpone it for now. Shall we continue this conversation in my office?"

The Clan Leader gestured for the Blind Assassin to follow.

Ken nodded and went along with him.

'He's a lot more agreeable than I thought... Let's just hope negotiation doesn't go wrong.'