The Green Forest, Meeting and 'Deal'

__________ POV Narration __________

Sighing, Asai Hideaki perused the reports arranged before him.

Wearing a green hooded coat, his short, spikey hair pointed to the ceiling of his surprisingly well-decorated office, which contained only a few scattered human skulls.

Looking at the mountains of reports he had to deal with on a daily basis, his two sets of red eyes blinked repeatedly.

Slumping back into the plush back cushion of his chair, he stretched his arms behind his head.

'From conducting experiments to taking care of bandits like they're children... Oh, the curveballs life throws at us humans.' 

He had previously dedicated his entire life to openly pursuing his experiments within the Cult of Jashin that he had founded.

Even though there were still some traces of it in the world today, Asai stopped participating in it after realizing how unstable that group was.

The Cult had somewhat spiralled out of control, so he had merely switched gears and used his powers and knowledge to start a network and recruit bandits from all over the Elemental Nations.

Though it grew slowly, he eventually established an organization that could be a serious threat to many groups in the Elemental Nations.

Even the basic three Ninjutsu techniques were difficult to teach to nitwit bandits, but he put a lot of effort into trying his hardest.

All of it was done with the intention of rising to a position where he could approach Ken and engage in negotiation.

To finally cast his gaze on his most perfect accidental creation.

It had long since dawned on him that Akira, the Third Blade, was nothing more than a lightning in a bottle. 

He hadn't been able to replicate it ever since that day.

It was obvious to him that attempting to capture Akira would be futile. He was already a powerful assassin in his own right. He was practically untouchable because of that and his backing.

But Asai wanted only to study that lighting in a bottle. Not even in a laboratory, just being able to study him while under watch in the Dark Brotherhood's Village would be more than enough for him. 

'But gaining a meeting with someone like Ken is easier said than done...'

Any letters he sent to the Blind Assassin would either be intercepted by nobles, or ignored.

Most were cryptic and hard to decipher; they only mentioned Akira's peculiar constitution, and expressed an interest to study them.

The Green Forest Leader never really introduced himself during those cryptic letters. After all, he felt that simply admitting to having experimented on the Third Blade would make him an open enemy of the Dark Brotherhood.

'At least when meeting in person, I shall be able to explain my position properly... Soon, I'll present myself as the Green Forest Union's Leader and request a meeting on neutral grounds.'

That was Asai's plan at the very least.

But life really was in the habit of throwing curveballs at people, and one was already in the room with him.

"Wow, didn't expect the Green Forest Union to be tied to the Cult of Jashin..." 

Asai's entire being was frozen when he heard that voice.

It originated from the middle of his room, from a couch his generals sat on during meetings, not even from behind him.

There was a figure on that couch who could only be described as relaxed. A tall, heavily built young man with wide shoulders and long, spiky hair.

A black cloak covered the majority of his body, but his infamous mask was clearly visible.

"The Red Dot..."

The former Cult Leader's breath hitched as he muttered the title of the man who had happened upon his office.

"In the flesh~" Ken smiled underneath his mask, especially when feeling the barely concealed fear that the Cult Leader had towards him. 

'He is like a small cornered rat it seems... To think that the leader of the cult of Jashin was hiding in such a place.' 

Ken recognized the man right away based just on his Charka signature. Ultimately, it was intricately embedded in each and every cursed seal that had been applied to Akira's body.

Asai took a deep breath, his brows furrowing as he tried to calm himself down. 

Finally, he looked the infamous figure straight in the 'Red Dot' as he spoke.

"I have long since cut ties with the Cult of Jashin, it had spiralled far too much from its initial stages.

After being taken down in the Land of Lightning, other nations became wary of the Cult too, so I decided to just cut my losses there." 

The former Cult Leader explained in an even tone. He had hoped for a meeting with Ken, after all, he had long since rehearsed all of his lines.

He just hadn't been prepared for the meeting to happen so soon...

'Did the Green Forest Union somehow gain the Dark Brotherhood's interests? I made sure to steer clear of the Land of Iron for now though' 

"That's an interesting story. But I don't care, nor do I remember asking.

My eyesight may be infamously bad(nonexistent), but my memory works well enough. The things you did to my subordinate... Did you think you would get away with them forever?"

Ken's voice took a more hostile tone as he 'peered' into Asai's soul.

In that moment, the Cult leader realized that he was about to die, but he had already prepared a card for such a situation... A hidden ace, as some would say.

"I may have caused Akira's current situation. But I am also the only one who can fix it, and by extension, his declining lifespan." 

Even without having closely observed Akira, Asai was aware that the stress of those curses perpetually coursing through his body would shorten his life expectancy.

"..." Ken was silent for a moment, in his mind, he was weighing his options.

On one hand, Akira's lifespan was slowly coming to its unnatural end. 

He was still very powerful, but his body was showing signs of deterioration. 

The initial estimation given by Saburo upon Akira's first body inspection was that he still had a few more decades in him, his body was still in good shape at that time.

Furthermore, there was not much evidence to suggest that the curses got more intense when Akira's body was under more strain.

But, as he used his abilities more and more, the curses ravaged his body with heightened intensity. 

In the end, Akira was currently expected to still have around 10 years in him. 2 at most if he kept being just as active in the field as before. 

The only upside was that, as the curses got stronger, Akira himself seemed to grow stronger.

His body was decaying inside out, but his strength was somehow not diminishing. 

It was something that Saburo had not been able to fix that entire time. Someone like Orochimaru was also not able to help much, as he had even less experience with Jujutsu. 

But who in the world would have more experience with Jujutsu than Asai? Who was more than likely either the progenitor of Jujutsu, or the only existing master of it at the very least. 

Therefore, the Blind Assassin really had to weigh his options.

On one hand, Asai deserved to die. There was no question about it. 

On the other, he was likely the only one who could help Akira at that point. 

'Whatever, I can decide what to do with him after he takes a look at and fixes Akira...'

"You better not be lying to me, otherwise, death will start feeling like a mercy to you." The Blind Monster stepped forward, immediately placing a contract seal on the Leader of the Green Forest Union, who just looked at him with wide eyes.

Before he could even react, Ken disappeared from his office in a puff of smoke. Performing a reversed summing straight into his own office.

He then sliced his thumb with his index finger's nail, and performed the Summoning Jutsu, bringing the former Cult Leader into the Dark Brotherhood compound. 

Asai's 4 eyes blinked repeatedly as he studied his new surroundings. He was not at all disoriented by the transportation jutsu, as he was seemingly already used to something similar.

But this was the first time he had ever stepped into the Dark Brotherhood's compound.

"You will spend today here, while Akira returns from a small assignment. I still have other business to attend to.

But if you misbehave or touch anything you're not supposed to I won't hesitate to peel you like a potato." 

Ken then left his office, leaving the former Cult leader to sit down on a small plastic chair in stunned silence. 

Asai wanted to open his mouth and say something, but in reality, he had gotten what he wanted, right? 

'This is a sort of deal... I guess.

I just hope I can bargain for my life after I take a look at Akira...' 

In the meantime, the Blind Assassin smiled as made his way to the persistent problem child of the Dark Brotherhood... Yue. 

_____________________________________________

Hello! Hope you liked the chapter!

Back to Yue's situation now, we'll see how that goes. Next chap would be the final one focusing on her for now

Been writing a bit more on the OG story lately, preparing to start publishing it either on Sunday or Monday ;) Anyhow, I'm off to sleep now, had a pretty long day

Discord: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 12 chapters in advance (or 6/3 depending on tier)