[ I have been really lazy these days but here's a chapter. The rewrite unexpectedly takes too much of my time cuz I have changed many things which brought up many new ideas for the future of this ff. I promise it will be something good, different and not a cliche. Just know that I ain't dropped this.]
"Guess my non-killing mentality is still with me huh?" He muttered in slight irritation before he looked at the scene in front of him that was straight out of a horror movie with blood, limbs, bodies, wreckage...etc everywhere.
In his own world, although his name was the Hero hunter, he never actually killed any hero in his entire hunting career. He only wanted to show the heroes their places and how much of a hypocrite they are, he wasn't even brutal when he beat them up, just breaking bones and making sure they won't wake up for sometime.
He knows that at some point he may have killed someone who is not a monster unintentionally, but as far as his memory serves him right then he actively didn't kill or seek it.
He was digusted by the idea of killing another human previously, but now he feels...neutral or nothing.
It may not sound much but now he knows and aware that the monster side of him has already taken a hold of his mind and changed him without him realizing it at some point.
Humanity is defined by empathy, reason, and moral agency, while monstrosity is associated with cruelty, irrationality, and lack of empathy...just like how he is right now.
What he did here and the way he did a job of these people was because of how their Aura was tainted to the point that they didn't deserve a second chance, as a matter of fact, none here deserved to live in the first place, the only ones who are dead are the ones who died by the collateral damage of that fire ball or their own comrades stepping over each other or their body falling on top of each other until the ones at the bottom choked to death.
Does that mean he is on the right path and did a pretty good job? Does that mean he still is a human at heart? Though he can't deny how he tortured this nobodies but was it well deserved?
Why does he feel different from everybody else now after so long? even though the likes of Caesar that should be defined as monsters, he somehow knows that him and Caesar are entirely two different beings.
So now the question is, what defines a monster exactly? And what makes him different? Is it because he is a born monster and doesn't have much say in controlling his self anymore like he previously did when he was turned to one in his previous world?
Though, he has always tried to be authentic in his acts and the thoughts which motivate them, seeking an independence of mind and avoiding the general entrapment of following the crowd in the search for self.
But now after abandoning his original goal, doubts about meaning of life permeated his mind, especially more so after coming to this world and knowing that there was an infinite amount of universes out there somewhere.
His goal of becoming the absolute symbol of fear and evil was just thrown out the window after seeing what that lead to. The only thing that moves him forward right now is his family, soon to be child, and friends, maybe also the so called goal of making a dojo and teach people what his master Bang taught him.
Or maybe he wants to embark on the path of self improvement like his old man Bang always told him? Is that even possible now with him being an irrational monster that can go nuts at any moment?
The changes that he felt in himself after incapacitating these bunch of nobodies... evil nobodies... when a shred of positive emotion couldn't be felt that could tie him to what's called 'human' made him vigilant and cautious of himself, especially with how much he disdains humans lately. He was a guy with an indomitable will so what changed? Is it the mental influence of that reincarnated guy who lost against him in controlling this body or the monster cells inside of him?
Losing one's goal is something but losing oneself is another!
He felt that the only thing right now that kept him in check was that %5 of human blood still lingering in his body and the only bridge to get access to what he truly once was.
...
And it was right there and then Garou decided to not let himself turn to a complete monster and remain a hybrid for as long as he could even though he hated it and felt dirty to have the blood of a lower lifeform in his body, but he is not willing to bet on what will happen after becoming a complete monster.
Something which is implausible.
...
He stopped the obvious disrespectful thoughts to the human race and his human parents, and came back to present after shaking his head then dismissed this philosophical questions with a sigh and looked at Caesar who was drenched in blood also and was shivering while looking at his own hands.
"You didn't kill them?" Katsuyu asked with her head cutely coming out of Garou's hair.
"Let them suffer for life, their disgusting Aura is enough to have a permanent vip ticket to hell" Garou replied and slowly walked towards the counter while Katsuyu just shrugged and didn't really care about what happened here as she was used to this type of scenes or having brutal contractors. Tho that didn't mean she liked seeing these kinds of sights. The foul smell of too many ant's blood is still not pleasant.
"You have too much blood on you, let me fix that." Katsuyu said and without making a hand seal, her soothing and blue chakra enveloped Garou then the chakra quickly removed every filth from his body in no time until he was clean, but his torn with blood stained clothes remained and his Tai chi slippers were already full of blood much to Garou's discomfort and begrudgingly removed the slippers and threw them away which made his bare feet get dirty with blood that Katsuyu constantly cleaned for him.
He continued to walk between the bodies until he was in front of the old man who looked as if he aged 10 more years with how pale he was but he seemed professional and even though scared he tried his best to not show it, albeit failing.
"Take me to the black market" Garou said indifferently.
"C-can you p-please tell me the s-secret code to enter?!" The old man asked while stuttering which made Garou go silent for moments and looked at the old man with a frown until he finally opened his mouth.
"Knock knock" Garou said with slight irritation visible on his tone.
"..."
*Bam!*
"I said knock knock you old fart!" Garou said in irritation after hitting the counter with force that startled the old man who was sweating bullets as this wasn't how the code to enter the black market started clearly, but what could he do except playing along with this maniac.
"W...who is there?" The old man replied nervously.
"Guess who?" Garou asked again which made the old man go silent for some moments.
"C...Crimson Fang?" The old man replied as his blood pressure was rising by the second.
"Exactly you old Fuck! Do I look like someone who cares about codes?! Now take me there before I fold your ass! I don't have time for this bullshit!" Garou ordered with a no nonsense tone and the old man nodded without hesitation as he didn't want to offend him further, he can't bear the consequences of it. In haste, he approached a door behind him in haste and told Garou to follow him.
"Caesar! Follow me, and can you clean up Caesar too Katsuyu? He reeks of blood..." Garou said and Katsuyu just nodded then split her body, and because she didn't want people to get information of her true form she morphed the split part back to a snail much to her displeasure as she didn't like her snail form at all and then hopped towards Caesar who came out of his daze after hearing Garou calling him.
She landed on Caesar's shoulder much to Caesar's nervousness and the old man's surprise as he got a glimpse of Garou being an animal summoner with the name Katsuyu which he will surely get money from if he sold this new information...well, that's the case if he got out of this situation safely.
They followed the old man until they found themselves in underground sewers. Before coming here the old man pulled something and then he blew up the entrance to this sewers, probably to prevent the local authorities Garou sensed miles away running towards the inn to find out this place.
After that, with the old man, they came across some stairs after walking for some time, and then, they descend into the underground further snd further with the only source of light being a torch held by the old man.
...
Unknown POV /
I am a Samurai with a decent rank among my piers, I was rushing towards one of the filthiest, foul, and shady area of the capital with some of my Samurai brothers and many other Ashigaru soldiers running towards the commotion we heard from far.
We are a group of fighters assigned to surround this area long ago by the Samurai hatamoto of this capital so to protect the civilians in case something out of usual happened, but still got ordered not to interfere with the business going on here in the dark and out of sight which most officials and soldiers knew that the black market was located somewhere here with how much mercenaries, rogue Samurais, and merchants selling questionable things could be spotted around here, but we men of law couldn't do much about it unless we offended the big heads and the yakuza groups in black market much to my annoyance.
...
{Author note / There are some ranks among Samurais. First is Gokenin which is the lowest rank who are vassals of feudal lords usually. Second is Goshi which are samurais who could have land but not much authority or allowed to have two swords on their hips. Third is Hatamoto which are the highest rank samurai only under the Damiyo and Shogun, and they have two swords with them as a symbol of power. Fourth is the Damiyo who ruled over provinces independently and lastly Shogun which is the highest rank and ruler of an entire country.}
....
It didn't take long for us to reach our destination but even from far I became extremely serious as I could smell blood even from here, and it didn't take long for a river of blood to come into view with hundreds of bodies laying on the ground bathed in their own blood in front of a wrecked inn much to our shock.
The scene in front of me brought back bad memories of wars in the land of iron and I couldn't help but shiver slightly and go through many thoughts at lightning speeds about who or what caused this!
All my samurai brothers were also hesitant to immediately go inside the inn and search for the cause and were all vigilant with their Katanas out of their sheath.
I could feel the chakra of the fallen albeit weakly and I am sure all of them will die soon if they didn't get immediate aid but even though I was disgusted by these dishonorable and low lives, I couldn't simply ignore them as that would be quite inhumane of me and make me the same as them.
"They are alive! Help them out quickly!" I ordered the fearful Ashigaru soldiers and they hesitantly got to work.
I turned to look at the demolished wall of the building opposite to the inn before I looked at my brothers and nodded at them then 5 of them split and went towards there while my other Samurai brothers who were around 15 Samurais and I already started approaching the inn and went past the laying bodies until we entered inside the inn through the giant hole of the inn and were greeted by a disgusting smell of piss, humans waste, a mountain of bodies piled on each other, and blood altogether which made us stop in our tracks and look at no other color other than a filthy black red.
*Blurghh!!* ×10
Some of my brothers and the Ashigaru who saw this scene puked immediately and stepped backwards with fear striking their bodies.
"Go inform Hatamoto-dono this instant!" I ordered one of the samurai in a grave tone to which he complied.
My grip on my unsheathed katana got tighter as I watched countless severed limbs and pools of blood scattered around "Whoever caused this made sure that these people must suffer! Are these guys Lucky or unlucky that they survived, but I am sure I would wish to die if I were on your shoes!" I said to myself without pitying them as I sheathed my katana because I already sensed that the one who did this is not here, there was only the dying chakra of these low lives.
"Someone call more Ashigarus to clean this mess up and perform first aid quickly unless they died of blood lose! Also start to investigate, and question the ones who are able to speak!" I ordered.
.....
General POV /
It didn't take long for Garou and the old man to reach the black market and came across a dead end where the old man just pushed a brick and a door automatically opened that lead to a dimly lit alleyway with two scar faced and burly men waiting there just before you exit the alleyway.
"My job is done here sir, just go inside and you will get familiar with the place yourself as there is not much of a difference between here and a normal market place." The old man said with a forced smile while rubbing his hands together as if showing that he is waiting for me to give him a tip or something.
Much to the annoyance of the old coot Garou ignored and continued on his way until he was in front of the men.
"Take me to an information broker." He told the men which internally angered them but a second look at the height, muscles and the appearance of Garou who looked down on them told them to not stupidly mess around and just do what was told as almost no one is normal who comes to this dark side of the world.
"At once, sir! Please follow me." One of them replied and professionally started leading Garou through the gothy streets filled with masked people making way for them without speaking again.
Going through the place Garou realized that this place was just another city but underground with many entrances to come here and many lights attached to the rocky ceiling of this place.
Many activities were going on right now.
Filthy activities.
.
A masked guy selling some weird skin he believed to be from a chakra beast which emitted a very faint chakra.
Another selling eye balls of different animals, some looked human.
'Aghhh...ahhh...noooo.....pls.....just...kill' whispers and agonizing screams of every kind of people getting abused, tortured by many men and women inside run down places, houses or inns, and no one even batted an eye as if the occasional screams was normal.
Tools like kunai, swords and spears which is obviously being sold illegally. Some unique equipments like expensive vases that weirdly was like a trend as many people who looked like nobles with masks seemed to care about these vases.
Many torture devices here and there.
Butchers selling....chakra beast's meat and.... what the fuck???
"What really defines a monster?" Garou genuinely muttered to himself while hearing and smelling all of the underworld in slight shock while he Looked at these people and place around him with the most disgusted expression he has ever made.
His fists clenched tightly.
"You said something sir?" The man in front asked Garou as he vigilantly looked back to see his disgusted expression which made him quite nervous.
"Just lead the way you fucking piece of shit!" Garou said in a dangerous tone as he stared at the guy with some Hado leaking out unconsciously which made the surrounding people to back away a little in nervousness and the guard to get soaked with sweat and get scared.
"R-right away sir!" The man realizing he is in danger quickly looked back ahead and continued on the way with his body stiffly shaking.
It didn't take long until we were in a new district filled with some ninjas, nobles and a few samurais in disguise.
"All the information brokers reside here sir! Do you need me for anything else?" The guard asked nervously while bowing.
Garou ignored the guard and walked away into the district with his back visible inside the crowd even from afar.
The End.
______
[ I know it wasn't much but character development will be the main point of this journey and also meeting and fighting some Naruto characters. It won't stay boring, especially with some surprises here and there that will make him the centre of what will happen in the second shinobi war.]