Naruto: The Blind Swordsman

Chapter 58: Journal, Cursed Immortality and Respect

__________ POV Narration__________

Immortality could be achieved in many ways.

In Ken's past life, it was nothing more than a pipe dream of a few deluded people.

However, in the world he found himself in, that pipe dream appeared to be a possibility.

Be it through curses or whatever other means, it was clear that immortality was achievable.

Hell, even Ken himself was technically immortal. His Nature Energy granted him a somewhat permanent regeneration.

The blind swordsman could recover from just about any wound as long as his body still had energy, and his energy was being replenished every second, the rate of which only increased as he grew older...

However, the best example of actual immortality that they had was Akira, who was now, by all accounts, impervious to most types of damage.

However, those were all strains of immortality... But they were incomplete.

Akira's power was born out of an amalgamation of curses that just happened to click right within his body.

And Ken's power could still be subverted, as he wasn't confident in surviving a decapitation(yet) and wounds inflicted by fire always regenerated slower.

No one had perfect immortality, at least no one that Ken was well aware of...

Saburo, however, seemed to have heard of something rather interesting while on his research.

Finding the ancestral shrine of a forgotten clan that had been ruined during the Warring States Period.  There, Saburo was able to find a rather interesting journal in a well-hidden library.

"The story goes into detail, talking about a hermit that had mastered Genjutsu to its very peak, to the point where he was technically unbeatable.

With a simple hand sign, he could trick every sense of a person. Hear, sight, smell, taste. He could trap someone in either hell or heaven, anything his imagination allowed."

Ken listened to Saburo's story with interest, immediately intrigued by the possibility of there being someone with enough mastery of Genjutsu to actually affect him as well...

"The clan, however, was wiped out. The Hermit lost in battle, despite his overwhelming prowess, he couldn't ever defeat the man that was to become the God of Shinobi, Hashirama and his counterpart, Madara Uchiha..."

The Blind Assassin sighed as he remembered whatever information he had about the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama. Someone considered the greatest shinobi to have ever lived, with enough power to put a stop to the Warring States Period.

Madara Uchiha was just as powerful, and their union was what stopped the war in its tracks.

The Blind Swordsman didn't know much about the Uchiha, but he did know that the Sharingan was a dangerous Dojutsu and that they were impossible to catch in an illusion thanks to it.

Ken's knowledge of the history of the Shinobi world was quite decent after all, Tosho had done a good job in teaching him about the most legendary figures in their world.

"Madara Uchiha proved to be a great counter against the Hermit's illusions. Hashirama was a bit more susceptible, but even he could overcome them through sheer will..."

Ken scowled as a few questions rose in his mind.

'How did this Hermit even survive for one second against the two of them? If they both could resist Genjutsu, then how could he even begin to hold his ground?'

"That was when he discovered, that as long as one had enough mastery and will, one could bring illusions to reality, merge the plain of imagination to that of the living..."

Ken tilted his head when hearing that... If one could actually control reality as they would Genjutsu, then wouldn't they classify as a god?

"But he couldn't do it in any significant manner. At most, he could alter small facets of reality and only related to the caster...

He was killed in that fight... But he didn't actually die. Instead, in his last moments, he placed himself under a Genjutsu, one in which he allowed himself to live..."

The Blind Swordsman scratched his chin...

'So this hermit just placed himself under a Genjutsu to live eternally?... How would he even go about doing that... What of his actual physical body?'

"His heart didn't beat, but his mind still lived on for eternity under that Genjutsu. His body was too far gone, but with that Genjutsu, the Hermit was able to do one thing... Stopping his body's time.

But the reality was not as kind. By the time he broke out of his own spell, his family was already destroyed, with nothing left behind."

Ken couldn't help but interrupt Saburo at that point.

"... So you're telling me that this man was able to influence his real body through Genjutsu, essentially stopping himself in the moment of his death..."

The matter was a tad too outlandish to believe... But then again, Ken was now in the type of world where such things COULD happen... Even if it was hard to believe, the Blind Swordsman would have no choice but to.

"Yes. He stopped time for himself... The journal was written by the Hermit, documenting his 'afterlife'.

As a person stuck in time, he could no longer use any Chakra, he could no longer enjoy food, breathe, or do anything really."

Saburo's smile didn't die down at all as he continued telling of his findings. At that point, Ken could do nothing more than carefully listen and digest the information.

"But he could still move his broken body... His perception of time was skewed, a second could pass in real-time, but it would feel like years in his mind.

He moved his body like a marionette, with such delayed responses that it took him years in real time to write out a few journal entries...

I could tell thanks to the way the ink had dried, that it was around a decade spent writing..."

"Wait... So he can't use chakra, and he spent years trying to desperately write down his story... Is it that even he can't even break out of his own Genjutsu?"

The Blind Swordsman gulped a bit, and Saburo smiled at his realization.

"Indeed... He was stuck in that form, in that broken body, unable to properly pass on. Though I am quite unsure if he is still alive to this day.

He may have also found someone to dispel the Genjutsu for him by now... If it's even possible.

I wasn't able to find his body anywhere in or near that ruined clan...

He could still be alive, he did proclaim to be impossible to injure. When writing the journal, he claimed to have tried to kill himself repeatedly as well..."

At that point, Ken couldn't help but feel bad for the so-called 'Immortal Hermit'.

After all, the man had essentially denied himself any chance of rebirth or reincarnation by trapping himself in his own mind.

He prolonged the last second of his life eternally through a poorly understood technique that he had barely mastered... And now he was stuck in limbo.

Ken couldn't help but sigh once more as he thought of that...

"So this hermit... Are you looking more into Genjutsu, wanting to replicate his techniques?"

"... I hope to one day be able to replicate his techniques... But I'd much rather explore the art of Genjutsu in its entirety. I have already run several tests...

Now I am curious about how the time dilation between reality and illusion could affect one's mind, both physically and psychologically."

Ken nodded when hearing that. He truly hadn't expected to hear such a concise answer from Saburo... After all, the strawman was not exactly a team player... Ken expected to not get any answer at all, instead, his mind was opened to countless new avenues.

Provided that the story was indeed true, and Saburo wasn't messing with him, there was a high probability that Shinobi truly had no understanding of the techniques they were using... At least not as much as they liked to believe.

The world around them was a lot stranger than Ken had initially thought it to be. And that said a lot since Ken had originally thought of the world as one where seeing ninjas spitting fire was a regular thing...

"Thank you for entertaining my curiosity, Saburo. I seem to have taken up quite a bit of your time." Ken slowly got up and walked towards the door.

He still needed a bit more time to mull over his own thoughts and digest everything, but he didn't see the point in wasting any more of his researcher's time.

"No need to mention it, Leader... I will keep you posted on any findings I may have. If you need anything else, I will always be around these halls..." Saburo also stood up as Ken left, bowing slightly in a respectful manner.

The Blind Leader just nodded and left, humming a bit to himself as he clenched his hand a few times.

In the end, every story of Immortality that he had heard always made it out to be some sort of curse...

He simply had no example where it was a genuinely positive change for the people that were struck by it.

'That was certainly not what I expected to hear from Saburo... But I should get back to focusing on partial transformation... No use in mulling over some suffering immortal right now.'

The leader then went ahead with his partial transformation training. He went outside, still within the Dark Brotherhood compound, and sat down near the trunk of a large tree.

He took a deep breath and controlled the energies within his body before he started it.

His fingers formed almost invisible chakra blades at their tips, and Ken started by trying to transform only his right arm.

He did so successfully for one second before the arm turned once again into a statue...

The Blind Leader quickly unclogged his Tenketsu, allowing his chakra to flow into his arm once more.

The Blind Assassin repeated those motions for hours on end... Recruits spotted him at some point, but no one dared to disturb him. Not out of fear, but out of respect.

Ken didn't rule with an iron fist. Though his training was strict, and his methods were scary to some of them, no one actually feared the man that had created the Dark Brotherhood...

How could they fear the man that had given them another chance at life?

Besides, Ken had managed to instil one thing into all of the recruits at that point... Discipline.

It was something that an assassin needed for survival. It was something essential to Ken's organization.

The children with disabilities, the ones too young to care for themselves, and even the talented ones. They were all treated the same, treated like brothers and sisters. And all of them learned to respect the one that had made it all possible...

Indeed, it was that respect that stirred a powerful wish to one day be able to repay their 'Father' for all that he had done for them...

And it was that powerful wish that enabled all of them to keep up with the Dark Brotherhood's borderline sadistic training.

They were all pushed to the very limits of their bodies on a daily basis, only allowed rest days once every three weeks. And even then. not one of them ever complained about the training...

After all, how could physical pain ever compare to the pain they all felt when watching their families die?

How could it ever compare to the helplessness they all felt when they couldn't do anything to stop it from happening?

Ken and Tosho's methods worked wonders in turning the perceived trauma of the children into strength.

But they all still had a long way to go... So did Ken. They were all young, and they had their whole lives ahead of them...

And time moved quickly for those that trained diligently though... And one year passed before anyone knew it.

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Hope you liked the chapter! Had a bit of work yesterday, so I wasn't able to write much. This was pretty fun to write tho ;)) 

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