_________ POV Narration _________

Things were going quite well for Harada Yuichi, as the Daimyō of the Land of Iron, everything was proceeding in the best way possible.

The Land of Iron was prospering, and crime was becoming more and more of a rarity, as the iron rule of both the samurai and the Dark Brotherhood made criminal groups extremely rare.

Much to Yuichi's surprise, the Dark Brotherhood had managed to rack up enough bounties to discourage criminal organizations from settling in their 'turf' much sooner than expected.

It seemed that the assassins worked day and night, restlessly.

That allowed their nation to prosper, which was a much better outcome than they had initially expected.

There was also the fact that the Shinobi side of the world was surprisingly peaceful. Which helped with trade and commerce.

A war had been avoided with the failure in taking down the Uzumaki Clan, and the Land of Iron was just one of the many nations that managed to profit from that.

Now, with the nation being steered in the perfect direction, towards a hub of prosperity and peace, there was one problem left...

Fatherhood was unfortunately not panning out that greatly for Yuichi.

As a single father, he had always done his best to keep his daughter away from the struggles of both regular life and noble life.

In a sense, his daughter was a sheltered child... Or at least she used to be.

All until that incident...

Currently, Yuichi's daughter, Harada Yue, was becoming a great cause for concern.

Her requests to learn swordsmanship had gotten more and more frequent, and Yuichi had no choice but to concede, as he was a pushover when it came to his daughter's happiness.

Mifune ended up being the appointed teacher. The Daimyō wanted the very best for his offspring, and there was none better under his regime than the General of the Land of Iron.

The general was happy to teach the little girl something more about the blade...

But it wasn't long into their training that Yuichi received a 'concerning' report.

'It would seem that your daughter is more interested in 'Assassination Techniques' than Swordsmanship...'

And the final nail in the coffin?

Yue herself came up to him and made an even more unusual request...

'Daddy... Can you get Ken, the man that rescued me, to teach me instead?'

The final nail in the coffin which was Yuichi's mental state.

It was only then that it clicked for the poor Daimyō... His daughter was infatuated with the man that had saved her life.

It was the usual fairy tail, the knight in shining armour... It was just that his daughter's knight also happened to be an assassin and to have plenty of heads impaled on his lance...

At first, Yuichi immediately rejected his daughter's request. Hoping for her interest to die down in time. Children were usually quite momentary in their 'affections' after all...

Unfortunately for him, Yue's affection was bridging more into obsession... And it wasn't exactly directed towards Ken... But he had no way of knowing that.

Eventually, he had to cave in. He had no real choice when Yue started starving herself.

So he started trying to get an audience with Ken... Once, twice...

His efforts seemed to have gone unnoticed. But his daughter wasn't discouraged, she was already becoming a bit happier when seeing her father make an effort to help her.

Thankfully, the third message received a response... Right when Yuichi had some alone time in his office, right after he sent his guards away for a few moments to try and relax his mind.

That was when the Red Dot showed up in his office, it almost looked like the wind had dragged him in, even though there was no window large enough for a human to fit in...

Regardless. The short man looked just like Yuichi remembered him...

The only observable difference was that his mask seemed to have a different shade of red, which was a bit suspicious...

"I do have to commend General Mifune, sneaking into this place has become a lot more difficult..."

'Probably just a transformation... His voice is the same, and there aren't many people that could sneak into this place like he does...'

Yuichi was wearing his regular 'regal' robes. Without the headdress this time.

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There was nothing to obstruct his face, so Ken finally got a decent feel of how the man looked, sensing the wind bend around his features.

Features that were quite average. Sunken cheeks, but otherwise even features, some would even describe him as 'handsome'. But that was quite unimportant to Ken.

"... Difficult, yet you're still here... Unnanounced and unnoticed by my guards..." Yuichi was less surprised this time, after Ken's last appearance, he had somewhat expected the assassin to just waltz in there whenever he wanted.

Mifune hadn't yet managed to strike a deal with the Uzumaki Clan, so they hadn't quite 'upped their game' defense-wise, they just had a lot more eyes on all possible entrances.

"You did call for me... And from your reaction, you were expecting me..." The Red Dot tapped his mask a few times as he spoke.

"I was hoping you would respond... I can't blame you for not coming sooner, I assume you are a busy man." Yuichi nodded, confirming the assassin's words without much hesitation.

"Let's get straight to the point, shall we? The situation is a bit... Delicate... I'll call on Mifune, his testimony might help you understand it a bit better... "

Yuichi then pulled out a strange bell from his desk, and rang it thrice, before setting it back in its drawer.

"I take it this isn't a regular assassination request, is it?..." Ken tilted his head as he asked in a neutral tone.

'I have a feeling this will be both profitable and annoying to deal with... Well, it never is simple when working with people like the Daimyō...'

"It's not even an assassination request... But I can assure you, you will be greatly compensated for complying..." The Daimyō once again confirmed Ken's suspicion, as the assassin just heaved a sigh.

'Fine, whatever... Let's just hope it won't take too much of my time... I had to send Akira alone to collect all of the valuables from the Shinobi Alliance corpses...

It'll take him at least a month or two alone... Well, at least he'll be able to discern what's valuable and what's not.'

Ken pondered on a few more things that he had to do after he was done with the Daimyō's request.

As he did so, the door to the Daimyō's office swung open, and Mifune walked in with a confused gaze.

That confusion turned to shock upon noticing Ken, who was just lounging in a random chair.

And that shock quickly turned into frustration...

"You!..." He placed his hand on the hilt of his katana, but Yuichi stopped him by simply coughing once.

"Now now, we've already been over this, no use in repeating the events of our last meeting with Sir Ken..." Yuichi's voice seemed to dispel some of Mifune's frustrations, but the General was still quite annoyed.

Thankfully, he stopped reaching for his blade, instead, he just walked up to the assassin, who was still calmly laying in his chair.

"... How did you get in?..." The General's tone was certainly not friendly, but at least it wasn't hostile anymore.

"There are people all over the castle and walls of this city... But people tend to blink sometimes, you know?"

At that point, Ken was fast enough to slip by whenever a guard blinked, it wasn't even that difficult for him to do either.

After all, no matter how trained a soldier was, he wasn't ever going to be as reliable as a high-tech camera/motion sensor from back in his old world.

Hell, some of the richer people he had assassinated in the past even had 'Automated' Wall-Mounted GunTurrets that responded to motion sensors...

Overall, even without speed, he had snuck into more difficult places... Though he did have the proper equipment to help him.

"... Understood..." Mifune nodded and then turned to the Daimyō.

"Lord, I must apologize for this failure... Once again, our defences have failed us..." He took a knee and apologised with a resolute look on his face.

"No need to feel ashamed, General Mifune... We're dealing with someone that is quite likely the Best in the business... Thankfully, he is an ally." Yuichi looked towards Ken as he spoke, trying to see the assassin's reactions.

To his surprise, the Masked Assassin nodded.

"Indeed... We are currently allies, there is no reason to be too concerned about me strolling in here unannounced...

I did receive an invitation, but it didn't state that I should come through the front door."

Mifune just sighed upon hearing Ken's nonchalant tone, he got up and nodded.

"Still, I will instruct my men to be even more careful from now on..." Mifune shook his head before looking back to his Daimyō.

"Other than that... How may I assist you, Lord Yuichi..."

"General, could you please be so kind as to explain to Sir Ken, the situation with Yue?" Yuichi couldn't help but sigh as the meeting finally started steering in the correct direction.

'Yue... The name sounds familiar... Ooh... That little girl...' Ken rubbed his chin as he finally remembered the little girl.

He had somewhat forgotten about her after one year. All that mattered to him was that Yuichi still owed him a favour.

'Still, he already owes me one... The situation must be quite dire if he actually needs my help again...'

"Of course Lord Yuichi..." Mifune nodded to the Daimyō before turning towards the assassin once more.

"Red Dot... I have been training Miss Yue for a while now...

And it would seem that the Daimyō's Daughter has developed a rather strange interest in assassination techniques, as well as similar fighting styles...

More specifically, the techniques you used to dispatch her kidnappers a year ago..."

Mifune was quick to summarize the situation.

'Techniques? I was just playing around... The kidnappers were a bit strong, but they were at most at the level of a regular Hatamoto...'

"... We assume that this interest is birthed out of an infatuation with you... As she has specifically requested you to become her teacher..." Mifune continued as he shook his head, also a bit frustrated by the situation.

Having the Daughter of the Land of Iron's Daimyō trained as an assassin was bad enough... But she also insisted on being trained by Ken, who was overall a controversial figure even among Shinobi/Assassins worldwide.

Ken's methods were brutal and effective, sure. But many had also called his methods a bit more akin to 'Torture-Fighting'. Especially the Samurao that found the bodies of the kidnappers...

"... This sounds a bit concerning... I am not someone a young girl ought to be 'infatuated' with..." Ken scowled a bit underneath his mask as he quite disliked gaining such attention from an actual child.

"I am glad you think that... Although girls in this land marry quite young, my daughter is still a bit too young for that..." Yuichi nodded with a wide smile on his face. Reflected on it was the pride of a doting father.

But Mifune seemed to have other thoughts.

"Although she is certainly young, she is currently 13, which is the legal age in our Land...

Though that doesn't matter in any way. Lady Yue is royalty, I am sure you understand the implications of that, Sir Ken..."

The General didn't care as much about her mental maturity, as he cared about status. After all, most 13-year-old girls were getting married in the Land of Iron. Especially young girls of noble descent.

"Of course, I wouldn't be interested in marriage regardless... At least not for now, or any time soon."

'I am not even of legal age in this country... Damn, so that little brat is actually physically older than me?'

Ken was a bit pissed at that thought. But there was nothing he could do about it... He only hoped he would grow old faster.

"So that's what you want from me? To train your daughter into an assassin?" Ken crossed his arms and turned his head towards the Daimyō.

"Well... No. We actually have a plan to put her 'infatuation' to rest..." Yuichi smiled once more as he started talking.

Ken also smiled a bit underneath his mask.

'Good... Let's hear this plan...'