__________ POV Narration __________
Ume dragged herself out of the arena, a disappointed look in her eyes as she gave her father one last look before finally leaving.
It was clear that she needed someone to talk to, so the Blind Swordsman finally stood up.
'... Comforting people has never been my strong point.'
Throughout both of his lives, he had not been put in that position many times. His family seemed to be able to take him out of his comfort zone and broaden his horizons quite often.
Hell, not so long ago he had even ended up comforting Mifune, who he considered a close associate.
But even so, Ken felt quite strange himself emotionally. Even when he was comforting Mifune and dealing with Yue's situation, he felt a bit detached.
At most, he had been there to help Mifune vent his frustrations, and he had been there to listen to him.
Was he really human enough to properly comfort someone?
Each day that passed, humanity escaped him more and more. He had not slept in quite some time once more, the previously comforting and necessary escape from reality into dreams was now nothing more than an afterthought, a near-forgotten memory.
He was so far gone that even finding out his real lineage didn't help him much. Just two random nobodies form a disconnected clan.
He had yet to look into that thread, but maybe he would soon... Maybe that place would help him regain even a strand of humanity.
For now, the only real anchor he had was the Brotherhood, which was once an organization meant to serve as his eyes in the world, was now the only thing that made him feel human.
It was especially so since most of his associates, as well as the world at large saw him as a genuine monster. Even the Raikage, who saw him as a friend, still barely treated him like a human.
Though that might've just been the old Raikage's way of treating everyone on his level of strength, it was hard to tell.
Regardless, it was clear enough that he had long departed from his roots.
In a sense, Ken felt that the most telling factor in his dehumanization was none other than his fighting style.
It was always brutal, aiming to dehumanize his enemies and strike fear into the hearts of any remaining opponents.
The 'Scaled Sage Mode' which was initially meant to be a trump card in battles and hard to maintain was now feeling more like his true self.
Even in regular fights, he tended to default to it. His monstrous scales and jagged tail, his leathery wings... He felt empty without them.
And that had been the case for quite a few years already. Only in the beginning did he use the Scaled Sage Mode in its initially intended way.
Now, even when travelling he had a habit of overloading his chakra network with nature energy and letting that form take over, always hidden underneath his cloak.
No battle required him to go all out anymore, he had not wielded his sword seriously in quite a while, despite continuing to train it regularly.
Regardless, he felt that his boredom would be sated thanks to the Raikage and their still unannounced upcoming spar.
But that didn't mean he'd become any more human. That didn't mean he could relate even more to his children.
Emotionally, he had never been human. And yet, he was now more human than he had ever been.
So, when finding Ume, silently crying in the shadows of the long halls leading out of the arena, he knew exactly what to do. Even without experience, his body almost moved by itself.
The little girl was also shocked when she felt her father's arm slowly pull her into a warm hug.
She couldn't even react as one of his calloused hands slowly stroked her hair.
"You did well, Ume. You made me proud. You made all of us proud."
The blind monster couldn't help but slowly take this mask off and give his young daughter a sweet smile.
Ume, upon seeing that, couldn't help but gasp, as her sobbing got even more intense. This time, however, they were not tears of sadness and disappointment. Rather, they were tears of happiness and contentment.
In the corner, Tatsukio also couldn't help but smile. He had also walked out to comfort his little sister, doing his job as an older brother was something he would never stop doing, not even when all of his brothers and sisters grew into their own men and women.
Still, the last thing he expected was to see his father to be one step ahead of him. After all, Ken seemed to have bigger concerns lately, and he figured that Ume's internal struggles wouldn't be something he'd worry about in the moment.
'I guess he's always one step ahead of me...' Tatsukio simply, smiled and walked back through the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel on the other side, were all of the Dark Brotherhood members still within Konoha, all waiting to comfort Ume in their own ways.
Tatsukio simply smiled underneath his mask as he walked past them, leaving them a bit confused.
What they expected even less, was for Ume to come out with the widest smile they had ever seen on her young face. It only lasted a few seconds, until she put her mask back on, and skipped over to them.
She was clearly in a chipper mood, but that didn't stop them from continuing their comforting plans, and they all headed to eat ramen together like a good family would.
Ken observed them from a distance for a while, smiling as he did so, his mask still hooked to his belt.
"Didn't expect to see that side of you..." A voice rang out by his side as he rested on a rooftop right across the ramen shop they had chosen.
A puff of smoke came right after it, as Ken's senses washed over the figure of Sarutobi, dressed in his Hokage cloak and official garb.
The Leaf Village Leader had followed Ken in the arena as well, looking for an opportunity to speak to him.
Of course, he couldn't bring himself to interrupt such a nice moment with his presence, so he waited and followed Ken right after.
And obviously, Ken was well aware of this.
"Well, a father can't help but act that way towards their child." Ken shook his head, a smile still present on his thin lips.
"... So you do see them as your children, huh?" Sarutobi's curious gaze washed over Ken, before scanning the children once more.
The Will of Fire also taught him to see the children of the Leaf Village as his own, but there were quite a few degrees of separation, as all of them were, at the end of the day, supposed to be tools working for the village itself.
"Of course I do. As I am right now, they are the most important thing to me." Although that was the first time Ken spoke about such a thing, the words flowed so naturally... He knew it wasn't a lie, he couldn't bring himself to lie about them.
"You know... That can be quite dangerous." The Hokage couldn't help but sigh when hearing that.
Ken tilted his head when hearing that.
"Danger? How so?" The Blind Swordsman slowly turned towards the Hokage, now facing him directly as his long spiky hair blew in the wind.
"Well, such powerful ties can be used against you, as you are a powerful leader. Not only that, you will one day be forced to make a choice..."
The Hokage slowly walked forward, now standing but a step away from Ken, his Hokage cloak blowing in the wind as well, as his pipe was extinguished in a powerful gust of wind.
"Will you choose the safety, happiness and stability of the non-combatant members of the Dark Brotherhood, or will you choose the safety and happiness of its trainee assassins?"
It was a choice that all Hidden Villages reached after a while. Sarutobi could clearly see it with his own eyes, that the Dark Brotherhood was developing into a Hidden Village more and more with each year that passed.
'Even without Ken, they are bound to be able to compete against the 5 Hidden Villages within 10 years... That type of growth will lead to difficult choices, it always does.'
"I like to believe that I am strong enough to be able to forsake such a choice... But if the day is to come when I have to make such a choice. Then I will likely look for a different option."
The Hokage blinked a few times, not expecting that type of answer from Ken. He didn't need to ask again for Ken to further elaborate thankfully.
"There will always be a way, an in-between. After all, there is no such thing as true happiness and stability, if its cost is the wellbeing and happiness of others within the same family.
Just some food for thought, I guess."
The Blind Assassin couldn't help but give the still-flabbergasted Sarutobi a wide smile.
In an instant, the Leaf Village Leader felt inadequate, standing in front of Ken, a man much younger than him.
For a moment, he wanted to refute the young man's logic. To argue that Ken was still inexperienced and that his views would change with time... But was that truly the case, or was he just lying to himself to justify all of the things he had done in the name of the village?
'No... He is indeed young, but his experience and wisdom are undeniable... Maybe he is right... Ha ha, it seems that the world needs someone like him. A fresh perspective.'
Unbeknownst to Ken, in that very moment, he had won Sarutobi's respect to the highest possible degree, far above the respect one would feel towards a powerful ally.
"I see... In that case, I hope to see you succeed." 'And seeing your success, I hope that you will be able to open the eyes of many others, showing them that this peace is truly achievable... If it's you, you can certainly do it.'
At that moment, Sarutobi no longer saw Ken as an equal. It felt inadequate to him, to call Ken an equal.
The Blind Assassin had risen to the level of Senju Hashirama in the Hokage's eyes. Powerful, determined, willful and most importantly, although blind, a visionary.
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Hope y'all liked the chapter! Tried my best to write this out, not currently at home, so sorry for any mistakes...
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