__________ POV Narration __________
"What the fuck happened here"
The Blind Monster had felt it from miles away, but he was still surprised by the sheer stench when he got close enough.
Ken had been through countless battlefields, his senses had been overwhelmed by the scent of blood before.
What he felt around him was nothing new... But the sheer destruction around him made things a bit more tricky to understand.
Then there was also that lingering aura... It seemed familiar to Ken. Familiar, yet foreign.
'This has to have been either the work of several S-Rank jutsu, all strengthened by Nature Energy, which I know Nagato and the others shouldn't have access to... Or some tailed beast maybe?'
The damage to the surroundings, as well as the strange spikes sticking out of the ground, pointed to the latter theory.
The spikes themselves were brimming with Nature Energy, certainly pointing to the fact that they were part of the beast's body, or at least they seemed to have come out of its body.
Nature Energy lingered, yet it seemed to be already dead. At least that was what Ken gathered from the spikes alone and the energy that was still around after a few hours.
"I can't think of any specific beast that could pull something like this off though... Maybe the 9 tails? But that one's safely in Konoha, in Kushina at that..."
Ken couldn't help but rub his chin as he 'looked' around more thoroughly, hoping to find any survivors.
But if there were to be any survivors of the initial attack, they were likely long dead by the time Ken arrived.
The sheer brutality of the attacks made it so that no body was even close to whole in that entire mess, it was impossible for any of them to survive.
Ken could even feel the ones that had dived into the ground, they were in just as bad a shape as those that remained on the surface...
The Blind Swordsman tried for a moment to make out the corpses, he searched through some of them, getting his hands dirty in the process as he tried to make sense of who sent them specifically.
He only found a few scrolls that were still usable after being submerged in blood for so long, but they all burned up when he tried to access the contents of them.
'A seal that requires a specific chakra signature or tool to unlock...'
Ken couldn't help but scowl as he realized that the seals were likely made by a master of Fuinjutsu.
'Either the Uzumaki taught others as well, and spread out the art of Fuinjutsu, or they are somehow involved with the nobles that caused this to happen.'
The Blind Monster wandered around for a few minutes, all the way up until he found the now almost disintegrated blood cocoon that Konan had made.
He silently stepped into it, the paper withering away as he did so, inside his nose picked up a familiar scent... A blood he recognized. Well, the blood of two people anyway.
"Yahiko and Nagato... They both got injured, then?"
It was impossible to guess how much he had bled, but Ken knew that the two of them wouldn't die that easily.
Jiraiya may have been someone that Ken joked around with, but he was a relatively powerful individual and admittedly a decent teacher as well.
Nagato's weird eyes also made Ken somewhat doubt that he could die easily, or let his comrades get killed that easily.
Ken tried to track the familiar scent for a few minutes, hoping to find the three of them wherever they were, but the trail went dead after a kilometre or two.
Konan was skilled in her own right, and erasing traces was not that difficult at the end of the day.
"What a waste." Ken simply shook his head and turned around.
'I guess they'll just come find me in the Dark Brotherhood when they recover. I made it pretty clear that they will always have an ally with me...
I also have to let Hanzo know that he didn't kill everyone and that someone else from the inside gave away this 'safe' position...'
Ken highly doubted that Hanzo was involved in selling out the Akatsuki at that point, the man was near a breakdown when the Blind Monster interrogated him.
Paranoia was already deep in his mind, and Ken doubted that he would've been able to act it out that well.
But Nagato and Konan had no way of knowing what he knew.
The two of them only knew that they had been betrayed. With no responses from their base, it was also safe to assume that everyone back there was dead.
Hanzo sent them into an ambush, and Ken's protection either no longer existed or had failed them, making him untrustworthy in their eyes.
It was easy to forget all of the help he had provided them after such a catastrophic event at the end of the day.
In the end, the two of them set out to an undisclosed location, doing their best to plan for their future after burying Yahiko...
Meanwhile, Ken returned to the compound instantly, sending out a message to Hanzo as he didn't care to meet him personally again, at least not for now.
Upon his return to his office, he couldn't help but sigh and slowly move to the wall to the right of his office.
Among all of the papers stuck to it and all of the threads, the Blind Assassin slowly reached out and removed one of the posters closer to the centre, where the Dark Brotherhood was mentioned.
That poster had a crudely drawn image of a red cloud on it, the deep indents on the page made it so that Ken could feel it just from the wind brushing against it.
In the Assassin Leader's hand, the page caught fire and was evaporated in an instant, leaving only ash in the palm of his hand.
Ken couldn't help but heave a regretful sigh as he clutched the page silently.
'This deed will not go unpunished... Noble clans or not, they will learn that threatening the peace I've sought to build my whole life comes with a price.'
After all, whether it was red or royal blue, blood still flowed the same. And Ken was going to have to remind the Nobles of that fact.
But Ken was hoping to wait until the remaining Akatsuki leaders came to him, or he found them before starting.
Hanzo was going to be of help in finding out who exactly was behind everything. It was going to be a lot of work, and it would likely take a while, but Ken had time.
For now, though, his attention switched to the wedding invitation on his desk.
He shook his head, trying to get back into the right mind space to think about a wedding before he slowly ran his hand over the card.
The invitation read out rather neatly.
'Lord Ken!
It is I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, your best friend in the entire world.'
Ken scowled as his hands traced over that passage. But he didn't refute it. Sarutobi may have liked to joke, but he was a solid friend when push came to shove.
The Hokage had also developed a level of respect for him that the Blind Monster didn't think would ever 'see' in an outsider.
Ken didn't quite know the exact cause of that respect, but he was not going to complain about it.
With a sigh, he continued to 'read' the letter.
'It is with great pleasure and excitement that we invite you and anyone you hold dear to celebrate the union of two souls, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato!
As you have always been close to the two of them, I took it upon myself to write this invitation for you, as the two of them are currently still struggling with managing other aspects of their grand wedding.'
Ken smiled a bit when thinking about the two children he had once saved in a forest.
Now they were all grown up, and getting married. It was heartwarming really...
Minato had also proven himself to be a monster over the years, he was very close to becoming Hokage already.
He had perfected a method of teleportation that had been created by the Second Hokage, now aptly named the 'Flying Thunder God'. The yellow-haired brat had now become the fastest shinobi alive by a long shot.
Even Ken could not be faster than instantaneous movement. Especially not in long distances.
And Kushina had also developed well, she had become a Fuinjutsu Master, even helping Minato become one in the process. She also mastered the Adamantite Sealing Chains, putting her at least 10 steps above most of her peers.
Ken always somewhat saw them as the cute example of a perfect couple.
Some couples had also sprung up among the Brotherhood's children, but he was not one to peek into those kinds of affairs between his children.
The letter still continued after that.
Of course, I do mean that you can invite everyone you hold dear. I do not mind if you come with the entire Brotherhood behind you.
'I hope to see you here on the 1st day of Winter! May that coat of yours shelter you from the wind!
With warmth,
Sarutobi Hiruzen, aka The Best Hokage'
Ken cringed a bit reading that last part, but he shook his head and slowly sat down on his comfortable cushy chair.
'I guess a wedding can be a good way to take my mind off of things for now...'
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Hello there! Hope you're all doing well.
My bad for missing yesterday, didn't get much time to write.
On other good news, the original story I have planned is going pretty well, have around 7 chapters ready to go, want to build up more before uploading tho ;)
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