Naruto: The Blind Swordsman

Chapter 6: Gifts and Surprises

The months flew by quickly, with the Samurai and Ken all doing their best to survive in their new environment.

Although at this point, they were not just surviving, they were thriving. They were the kings of that mountain range.

Slowly but surely, they had received a name from patrols within the Land of Iron. They were known as the 'Mountain Hyenas'.

The hunting group was well known for leading patrols into traps in the area, they were called the Hyenas due to their propensity to laugh at their pursuers from a distance.

A few of the decoys had been raided, but nothing major had happened, and Daisuke was just able to build a few more to replace them.

The paths that the hunters took through the mountains also constantly changed, Ken, spent some time making more traps for their retreating paths.

The authorities were not any closer to finding the shrine as they were when they started hunting them though.

The shrine was a lot deeper inside the mountain than the decoys and hunting paths were. So their home was relatively safe.

Daisuke had scolded the 4 hunters a few times for their careless attitudes. Getting a reputation was not exactly a good thing for them after all.

But it was already done, so there was nothing they could do about it, besides be more careful in the future.

The hunts became more and more restrained, as the attention, they received also started dying down.

During this time, Koji was also able to slip into one of the cities. Enough time had passed for him to be mostly forgotten, he looked completely different to the posters they had of him anyway.

It certainly helped that he had never left the base to hunt. This was mostly Daisuke's plan though. To have at least someone capable of going into a city and sometimes buying supplies/spices.

Returning to the shrine was done through the same paths that the hunters took, just for added precaution.

And, when Ken's 8th birthday came, Koji brought Ken a gift, not one that he had bought, but one that he had made.

It was a wooden mask, painted white with a red dot in the centre of the face. It was reminiscent of what some Anbu from the shinobi villages wore, but this one didn't have any eye holes.

He also had managed to acquire the three beginning Jutsus that most ninja villages practised. This was bought off a peddler, and he gave them all to Ken on his birthday.

One can guess that Ken was rather pumped with the gifts he received, he especially appreciated the mask, as he now could finally cut off the bangs that he had always been using to hide his deformed face.

Unfortunately, it seemed that none of the Jutsus were all that useful for Ken.

He couldn't use transformation or clones, as he found it difficult to envision how other people looked.

He could tell some features with his senses, but details such as clothes and even facial expressions were impossible.

The substitution jutsu also required one to use an optical illusion, which once again, Ken turned out to be unable to do. It was rather tragic, but Ken just decided he'd stick to his swords for now.

In the first place, Koji had to read him the techniques and teach him the hand signs. As Ken had no chance of understanding a book.

His written Japanese was nowhere near his spoken one, and he also couldn't feel the words on a printed book.

In the end, Ken ended his birthday with a smile on his face.

Even if the techniques turned out to be a bust, the effort was certainly there, and Ken knew that the samurai had likely spent a good portion of their savings on him.

So he started planning out a gift to give the other samurai, as thanks for all of the hard work they had put into raising him.

The gift he thought about was also a meaningful one. Ken planned to quickly start building a small memorial for all of the people in their group that had fallen.

He didn't even wait more than a few more days before deciding to gather all of the materials needed to build a small altar.

He hid them somewhere near camp and proceeded to go on with his plan.

He wanted this to be a surprise to everyone, so he pretended to be sick, pretending to have a sickness that would he require some herbs from a bit farther away from the shrine.

Kenji had read him some medicine books that he had kept around when he had been little. And Ken's memory was extremely good, so all he had to do was imitate some symptoms from that.

The herbs weren't far enough for any patrols to appear, but far enough that it would give him enough time to build the memorial place unobstructed.

So, Koji and the hunters formed an expedition.

Ken needed a bit more to convince Daisuke to go with them, the leader was obviously a bit suspicious, but he ended up going with the herb gathering team as well.

He was happy after finally having the entire shrine to himself, so he quickly started building the memorial place using the materials he had gathered and hidden beforehand.

He spent around an hour, and the construction was mostly done. Ken was rather proud of himself.

He hoped it also looked pleasing to the eye, but he couldn't quite judge it himself when it came to aesthetics...

Ken was still satisfied with the work he had done. So, he simply walked over to the front gate, and sat down, waiting for his family to arrive back with the herbs...

He simply waited and waited. Another hour passed by, and that was when Ken was starting to think that maybe something bad had happened.

But he waved away those thoughts, knowing that it was most likely just that they were having issues finding the herbs.

At least that was what he thought at first... The silence didn't last long, unfortunately.

--- BOOM ---

That was when he heard it. A deafening sound, Ken could feel the trembling ground at his feet.

Ken could feel the trees shaking, the snowy mountain trembling as a small avalanche was formed. The sound instantly filled him with concern, as his greatest fears were manifesting quickly.

Confusion overwhelmed his senses, as he quickly ran inside and grabbed his blade, a regular katana, and ran into the forest at inhuman speeds.

The more he ran, the more concerned he grew. His steps became heavier and heavier, as he eventually could feel people moving in the distance...

But with people moving, he could also smell it. The extremely familiar stench of blood wafting through the air.

The burning smell of a smouldering cadaver was a thing he had been somewhat used to at some point, but he didn't think he'd sense it in his new life...

His senses flared, as the movement died down by the time he got closer.

In a small clearing, surrounded by blown-up trees and cut-down bushes, Ken could clearly feel 6 bodies lying on the ground, as the mountain winds flowed over them.

They were all missing their heads, but Ken could still tell who they were. He knew them by smell at this point...

With steady steps, he reached the clearing and stood right in front of the body pile.

The grip of his hand weakened as his blade fell to the ground, and his knees simply buckled as he felt something he hadn't thought he'd ever feel in his life... Rage. Pure and unadulterated rage.

The former assassin had never felt that emotion before... Now, he got to experience it in its full glory.

"... Whoever did this... I will find out..." Ken started speaking as he placed his hands on the ground, the blood flowing from the bodies coating his gloves directly.

"I promise... That I'll make sure they join you... In hell." Ken said as he clutched the hand of a headless corpse whom he had formerly called Daisuke.

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