___________ POV Narration ___________
Yamada sipped an aromatic cup of tea as he sat down in his office, with the leaders of his village's clans all around the table.
"Lord Kage, with all due respect, making such a deal with the Red Dot is... Unadvisable at best..." One of the old men around the office spoke out, his shaky tone made it clear that he was no powerhouse.
The only real power within that village was Yamada, the Kage. The rest were mostly fodder, with very few exceptions.
But those decrepit old men still had political power and affluence, which was what allowed them to stand in Yamada's office in the first place.
"What exactly is unadvisable about my dealings with the Dark Brotherhood, pray tell?" Yamada was not one to go back on his words regardless, he had already struck a deal with Ken, and it was disrespectful to back down at that point.
"Well... The noble clans funding our village, as well as the Daymio of all surrounding lands, made it very clear that deals with the Dark Brotherhood will have to go through them first..." One of the other fossils mouthed off, his face twisting into a scowl.
No one was utterly pleased with the rulings of the nobles, but they were the ones providing the funding, so the hidden villages, especially the small ones like the hidden village of the Land of Keys, couldn't help but bend the knee.
"Hmph, what exactly was I supposed to do? Send a letter to the Daimyo and ask the Red Dot to wait for one to two weeks the very least to receive a reply? All for some occasional fucking field trips?"
Yamada scoffed at the notion. He was unwilling to admit that he had done anything wrong in the situation.
And yes, the very last deal that Ken had made with Yamada was to make arrangements for all of the Dark Brotherhood members to be allowed to enter the Hidden Village and essentially enjoy a day or weekend at the beach occasionally.
The Kage of the Land of Keys agreed almost instantly and even went out of his way to secure the best accommodations for them after Ken brought it up.
"It may appear like a field trip... But what if they are instead looking to gather information on us? Or set up an informational network..." One of the other elders present brought up a good point... At least it seemed like a good point before one decided to use more than one second to think about the issue.
"And what information would the Red Dot even want from us? What information would there be that he wouldn't already be able to attain by sifting through the burning ruins of our village after he decides to destroy it on a whim?"
Yamada had already thought things through.
In the first place, the rule placed by the Noble Clans was only there to prevent other factions from allying themselves with the Dark Brotherhood. Such small deals were unlikely to cause much of an issue in the long run.
Yamada, as well as the noble clans, were not delusional enough to think that working together with Ken on a small task in exchange for some supplies would make them allies.
It was a business transaction, one that had ended very favorably for their hidden village.
By now, it was no secret that Ken's pockets, and by extension the Three Corner Alliance's pockets, ran quite deep.
Especially since it had been later discovered by some of the Nobles snooping around that the Dark Brotherhood had dealings with the Merchants Guild.
They were able to easily take loans necessary to build trade routes in full, between the members of the alliance they really had everything they needed to be self-sufficient.
Now it was just a matter of how long could the Noble Clans put up with the lack of control before trying something stupid...
But Yamada had no reason to get himself involved with all of their politics. A small transaction was just a way for his village to get a much-needed stream of funding and essential supplies.
If anything, Ken having connections to the Merchant's Guild only made the notion that the Dark Brotherhood was looking to build an informational network in their Land of Keys ludicrous.
The Merchant's Guild was the only information network that a man like Ken could ever need. In Yamada's eyes, it was like a gigantic but essential tumor on the Elemental Nations.
It was impossible to get rid of, as the wealthy merchants within the Association could cause nations to prosper at the flick of their wrists. The most affluent ones were able to enrich the economies of entire cities just by starting up their shops in the area.
But, because of how deeply intertwined they were with the flow of cash, vital information was impossible to hide from them.
Ken being interconnected with such a group couldn't help but put a smile on Yamada's face.
The Kage's deal with Ken was not for a one-off vacation at the end of the day. It was for a permanent holiday location within their Hidden Village by the seaside.
It wasn't exactly ownership of the land, as it was impossible for Ken to legally own any land in any of the nearby territories due to how butthurt the nobles were.
But the land was being rented to the Dark Brotherhood through a subsidiary that Yamada himself oversaw.
Such a secure extra stream of cash and resources was a small breath of fresh air for the strained budget that the Noble Families almost always asked them to make do with.
Well, having foreign assassins roaming the streets was somewhat stressful.
But Ken had made the rule that they would all blend in as civilians, to avoid any panic or information about their presence from spreading.
Even now, Yamada was the only man aware that Ken and his children were all at the beach, enjoying the sun and the waves.
At the private residence that Yamada had prepared, the children were already busy running along the sand, singing along, and making castles of wet sand.
Even the older ones were playing in much the same way... They were just making bigger castles and actual life-sized sand samurai.
"We shall take their lands from them! For we may have lost our honor in the Arena, but we shall never lose in the field of war!" Morita's voice boomed as he stood unmasked on the wall of the small house-sized castle that he had built in the sand.
In front of him was a very similar castle, only a few dozen meters away.
Its walls were not as detailed, but it seemed to have more sand samurai. And on top of that castle stood a one-legged figure, also giving a motivational speech to his army.
"Heed not their words of provocation! For the losers can only revel in the moment to forget the past! I shall lead you, my men, to glory! Now and forever, for the Lobster Crown!"
Ken sipped a cocktail as he stood off to the side, his students doing their best to control the sand soldiers to mash against each other awkwardly, with many of the children on either side trying to control one samurai with chakra strings.
It was a good exercise. Ken found it odd that many of his children had turned their vacation into an odd training session though.
"Teacher, thanks for also letting me join!" Yue was constantly sitting by Ken's side in her swimsuit, thanking him occasionally and trying to get his attention.
She had been behaving better after a period of boring punishment, but Ken was not done with her punishment yet, it was hard to tell if she was behaving better to escape the punishment or if she had actually understood her wrongdoings.
"Uhuh..." Of course, no matter how much she had grown Ken still 'saw' her as nothing more than a kid.
An ungrateful kid at that. Ken had already set a rule internally for himself, to only renounce her punishment and forgive her, after she went to sincerely apologize to Mifune for her words.
The old general may have tried to not take her hurtful words to heart, and likely couldn't bring himself to resent her in any way, but Ken was not going to let her behavior pass.
Of course, Yue was going to receive zero hints as to what she needed to do to escape her punishment, it would be too easy otherwise, too insincere.
"Damn... It would've been nice if Tosho was here in person as well." To the side, Akira was just... Digging a hole. A large hole.
He had supplied the children with the sand to build their armies and castles, but his intentions with that hole were really impossible to guess. Well, Ken knew that there was no such thing as thought put behind the Third Blade's actions.
"Tosho still had to oversee matters back home. Bounty-hunting operations are still ongoing at the end of the day. And Saburo is too busy with his experiments lately, he's doing some tasks for me too, so he's got no time to waste on relaxing." Ken patted Akira on the back, before pushing him back towards the hole to keep digging.
The other two blades were not with them on vacation. Both of them were too busy, and the Compound needed someone to oversee it even in the absence of the children.
And Saburo didn't care about a vacation anyway. To him, his lab was his job, his vacation, and his rest. As long as he could work unperturbed, he was the happiest and most fulfilled man within the Brotherhood.
Well, second most fulfilled man anyway.
Ken sighed as he felt the children playing around the beach. His only regret was that he couldn't grow eyes to see it all. But not having eyes also allowed him to appreciate the scene in his mind even more.
He could feel all of the stress being washed off of the children, he could feel the joy bubbling up within them.
It was euphoric. Even the newer recruits were slowly coming out of their shell to enjoy the cheerful atmosphere.
They were all unfortunate children, gathered together from different walks of life and brought into that big family.
At first, it was all scary to them, the prospect of becoming assassins. Many wanted to give it a try at least, they were all presented with the option of leaving it regardless.
But the reality of the brotherhood drew them in to stay. The aspect of a second family was enticing, but in application, it was even more so.
A huge community of like-minded individuals, all focused on living their best lives. The training and assassination skills they were receiving felt more like a backdrop to that for many of the children.
Ken also realized that the newer generations of recruits were bound to be less hard-focused on training. The times of war were also over, so there was less of a drive for them to train and get stronger in general.
But the Blind Swordsman still hoped that the hardworking attitude of the first batch of recruits would eventually rub off on all of the new ones as well.
Now was not a time for training anyway... Now Ken wanted the children to only focus on having fun.
And focus on fun they would. After that, they could focus on anything else they'd want to learn.
It was time for the Brotherhood to start its agricultural division anyway, children were bound to have more options if slitting throats was not something they wished to do in the long run.
Assassination and fighting skills were still a requirement to remain within the Brotherhood, which was a strict rule that would remain regardless of how things developed.
It was a bit harsh, but it was necessary for Ken's vision, no weak link could be allowed to exist within the Brotherhood, at least not for now.
Regardless, everything was already set in motion.
Black Zetsu was off hiding and doing his best to follow Madara's plans whilst avoiding any contact with Ken or people associated with him.
The Leader of the Cult of Jashin was still looking into ways of seamlessly coming in contact with Ken...
The Daimyo and many noble clans around were doing their best to cope with the fact that a faction had risen within their midst, which challenged their influence greatly.
That situation remained a boiling pot for now, but it wasn't anything too urgent. After all, no power could contend with the Three Corners Alliance on the battlefield for now.
And most importantly. The Elemental Nations now knew better than to slight Ken or the Dark Brotherhood.
'Hmm, everything seems on the right track for now... I 'look' forward to the next few years...'
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Hope you liked today's chapter!
TimeSkip Incoming ;)
Normally this would be the end of a season, but I don't really plan to take a break from writing again, so yea.
Anyway, let the years roll by!
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