_________ POV Narration _________
Kazue didn't quite know what to make of the Dark Brotherhood leader during their first meeting.
The Red Dot, or Ken as he preferred to be called, was a quiet and reserved individual. But he also had an air of mystery around him, certainly aided by the fact that he always wore a mask.
No one really knew how he looked from reports. No one had ever seen his 'real' face... At least nothing like that was ever made public.
The first thing that Kazue did was shake the Red Dot's hand... He wanted to test his grip strength.
Kazue himself was also a swordsman, one of the best in the Uzumaki Clan. He wanted to test Ken's grip strength...
Needless to say, Kazue almost had his hand crushed in the process. Thankfully, the nature energy-powered Ken decided to go easy on him.
There were already very few people in the world that could even dream to match up to Ken in pure strength. And he was only growing stronger as time passed. He was still young.
Even so, Ken was still impressed with Kazue's strength. He really lived up to the name of 'Uzumaki'. His calloused palms also allowed Ken to guess that Kazue was a swordsman, which was certainly a big plus.
Not only that, Kazue's chakra reserves were larger than all of the blades put together... Well, chakra reserves didn't instantly mean he was stronger, but it was still impressive.
If Ken was to rank him, then Kazue was somewhere in between him and Akira, the Third Blade.
It was hard to tell who would win between the two of them.
Kazue only had any chance of winning because Ken assumed he would have some sort of sealing technique to deal with Akira's immortality.
Otherwise, all Akira needed was a drop of blood to kill Kazue instantly. So a fight between them could go either way...
Regardless, Kazue wasn't even a member of the Dark Brotherhood, he was just there on a mission. So his presence at their compound didn't really mean that they were going to get a strong fighter...
Ken was a bit disappointed... Or he would've been had it not been for the excitement he felt at the prospect of creating a Fuinjutsu Specialized division.
He couldn't wait to spread out Formations around the mountain that the compound was located on. They would no longer have to worry about being taken by surprise when Ken wasn't there.
Saburo's sensory abilities were also decent, but he couldn't compare to the range that a proper formation made by an actual master could have.
Meanwhile, Kazue was trying his best to understand Ken more and more throughout their journey. Which was admittedly hard.
Ken and Kazue didn't speak all that much on the boat ride to the Land of Waves, they were taking the safe route out of the Land of Whirlpools, as Kazue couldn't exactly run across an ocean...
Well, he technically could have with his Charka reserves, but it would've been too tiring for him to do so.
They only really started speaking more when camping out in the middle of the Land of Fire.
"So... Where exactly is your brotherhood located?" Was the first question that Kazue had. Like most shinobi, he didn't have much knowledge about the Land of Iron.
He only knew that the Brotherhood was there, but that was about the end of his knowledge...
"Our Brotherhood is located on an unnamed mountain range somewhat near the borders of the Land of Hot Water and Land of Rice... A prime spot for us to be able to collect bounties from all three Lands nearby..."
Ken didn't hold back on the details at all, even surprising Kazue with how much he spoke.
It didn't really make sense to keep such things hidden from Kazue though, as the Uzumaki Prodigy was certainly going to see plenty of the Dark Brotherhood's secrets during his stay.
"Interesting... I've had a few missions in the Land of Hot Waters in the past..." Kazue rubbed his chin as he remembered the bloody affair that was the Second Shinobi War.
"I'm sure you've had... Shinobi rarely tend to stay within the confines of their own territories when handling missions..." Ken's tone sounded a bit spiteful in Kazue's ears, but he decided to ignore the slight jab...
"So... How many members will I have to teach exactly?" Kazue asked as he started making plans for his teaching endeavours. He had the theory on lockdown, but he wasn't all that experienced as a teacher. The more people he needed to teach the harder it would be.
Ken also realized that, but he didn't complain too much. He had all the time in the world to slowly teach the entire brotherhood about Fuinjutsu.
It was also better to have someone younger teaching the children, he could relate to them a bit better...
"At first, you'll have a batch of around 10 students, most of them will be academy aged. You'll also be teaching the Blades... You can think of them as the Top Brass within the Brotherhood..." Ken nodded as he decided to make the initial class of 10 students.
In truth, he hoped to have everyone in the brotherhood at least somewhat proficient in Fuinjutsu, while also having a department fully specialized in it.
It was a big dream, but he was sure he would achieve it with the Uzumaki Clan's help.
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Yorihhiko was also likely going to help with more techniques if needed. After all, he hadn't even asked Ken for anything in return for sending his son to the Dark Brotherhood.
Well, their contract still stood. As in they would be able to use the services of the Dark Brotherhood for free.
Theirs was essentially a full alliance, not unlike the alliance between clans in the same hidden village. There were some lines, but they otherwise fully supported each other.
Ken still drew the line at openly offending too many hidden villages, but that line was going to become more blurry with time, as the Brotherhood grew strong enough to handle whatever threats were thrown its way.
"So, these Blades... Mind telling me more about them?" Kazue's questions didn't end there...
Ken proceeded to explain more about the structure and future plans of the Brotherhood.
To Kazue's surprise, the Brotherhood was much more than an unorganized band of Bounty Hunters, as the rest of the world was painting them.
It was growing to be a proper hidden village... One within a country of Samurai.
The two of them kept talking into the night, all until Kazue had to go to sleep. Ken didn't need any sleep, he had rested enough while within the Uzushiogakure.
The two of them continued their travel after that, avoiding all patrols that may have spotted them while dashing from tree to tree, from rock to rock.
The landscape around them changed often, but they still mostly passed through forests, as most of the lands were lush and brimming with nature.
Trees were always friends for the Shinobi, they provided both coverage and ease of transportation, as jumping from tree to tree was sometimes even faster than a horse and carriage, depending on the skill of the shinobi.
Kazue was thankfully skilled enough to keep up with Ken... Well, as long as Ken didn't try to speed up too much. They were still going at a steady pace.
Eventually, the two of them reached the Land of Iron. At that point, they were already within safe territories.
Ken took out two winter coats from the seal on his wrist and threw Kazue one of them, as the landscape around them quickly shifted into a snowy one.
The Land of Iron was cold most of the time, all of its residents had gotten used to the temperatures though.
An Elite Jonin also had no problem with cold temperatures, but Kazue still appreciated the gesture.
The two of them didn't have to travel for much longer to reach the Dark Brotherhood Compound.
The wooden walls were taller than Kazue had imagined.
There were also plenty of guard posts along the wall... All of them were stationed.
Kazue managed to see at least 9 Jonin lining the walls of the village, all of them wearing blank masks, wide-brimmed straw hats and long coats.
'They really are building a Hidden Village here, huh?...'
Kazue had already expected to see other Shinobi within the Brotherhood, but he hadn't expected to see so many Jonin right off the bat... Especially since they were all acting odd...
All of the Jonin were unmoving... To the point where all of them had snow accumulated on their hats and shoulders.
Even the Gate Guards were the same. The snow fell off of them as they nodded to Ken and Kazue as the two of them passed through.
'... I know shinobi are usually determined and steadfast... But it's almost as if they aren't even human...'
Kazue was a bit unnerved, but he didn't speak out about it. Not even when some of the guards were slowly rotating their heads towards him...
Meanwhile, Ken was either oblivious to their strange behaviour, or he didn't care enough to address it despite feeling that Kazue was bothered by it slightly.
An Elite Jonin should be composed enough to not need any handholding in any situation after all.
Despite the fact that it was snowing all around the small compound, the streets and the training grounds were immaculately clean.
There was a large bonfire in the middle of the training grounds, and even while it was snowing, Kazue was able to see quite a few children out and about, either training or enjoying their free time.
It was somewhat comforting to see that the Dark Brotherhood was not too oppressive of its youth. But it did make sense considering what Ken had told him...
All of the people present, children included, were only there because they wanted to be there. They were allowed to leave at any moment.
From Ken's admission, the Brotherhood would even escort the children to the nearest orphanage with enough space for them...
It was extremely generous considering the way that Shinobi usually treated their young... And Kazue was well aware of that.
He had seen plenty of shinobi of the same age as some of the children training in the compound. He had seen them in the form of corpses scattered around large battlefields...
"Father! You're back!" One of the children finally noticed Ken, and they were then swarmed by dozens of children, all of varying ages...
They were respectful enough to give Ken enough space, only crowding the space around him as they made way for him to reach his office.
They all excitedly started telling him of their exploits during training, some of them even bragging about learning how to cook better.
Ken sighed a bit, feeling some of his tiredness being relieved as he listened to the children attentively.
"I'm glad that you are all having a good time... I hope that no one has been slacking, training will only become harder as you grow older." Ken simply patted some of the younger children on their heads as he walked by.
Kazue couldn't help but smile a bit as he looked at the scene. Even though Ken was wearing a mask, he could imagine the smile that was spreading on the assassin's lips...
But the atmosphere seemed to die down a bit when another person stepped in.
"Children... Please don't bother our Leader too much... Go back to your training." A man wearing clothes similar to those of the guards, the only difference being his mask.
It was white, with only one red 'slash' in the middle. Kazue recognized the man as the 'First Blade'.
Ken hadn't told him their names, only their titles.
'You'll learn their names eventually if they trust you enough... For now, just refer to them as their titles if needed.'
Kazue gave the First Blade a curious look as some of the children finally noticed him as well...
They had been so fixated on Ken that they hadn't even spared him a glance... But now more and more of them were looking at the red-haired man that their Leader and 'Father' had brought back...
Let's just say their reaction was less than pleasant... Kazue could feel their hostility. All of them seemed to have similar thoughts, and none of them were friendly...
It was only then that he remembered something Ken had said...
'All of the children in our compound are war orphans... I hope I don't have to explain why they may dislike you at first...'
Kazue was, after all, still wearing his headband... And the children weren't ignorant enough to not know how to identify a shinobi.
They didn't attack him or anything, they wouldn't have dared to try anything against someone that Ken considered a guest...
But Kazue still felt quite bad when feeling the hateful gazes of so many children... Even worst, he understood exactly why they hated him.
As someone that had participated in the Second Shinobi War, it would've been a lie to say that he didn't feel even a tad guilty under the gazes of those that were truly affected by their conflict...
The children all returned to their training after the First Blade insisted upon it once again, but some still eyed Kazue cautiously.
Ken didn't make any effort to stop them either, knowing that it would be in vain.
There was not one child that didn't detest Shinobi within the Dark Brotherhood. And he knew that changing their perspective on that was going to take a very long time.
Hell, he himself detested Shinobi. So he wasn't even going to try and change their perspective in any way. He just needed them to mature enough to be able to stand some Shinobi...
Kazue and Ken continued towards the Blind Assasin's office after that, with the First Blade silently trailing behind them.
As they passed the guards stationed at the doors of the building, Ken seemed to signal one of them for something.
The guard only nodded wordlessly and dashed away towards a large stone door in the distance. Kazue assumed it led to some cave system, used either for housing or training...
The Uzumaki Prodigy sighed as he cleared his mind slightly, calming down from the previous encounter.
'I guess it's time to meet the 'Blades' huh?'