Salamander, Confusion and Truth
___________ POV Narration ___________
Ken stepped into Hanzo's office and sat down on the Kage's chair whilst waiting with his legs crossed.
With a flick of his finger, all of the Anbu that had been present in the room fell unconscious, all tangled up in strings almost as if they had been captured by a spider to be consumed at a later date.
The Amegakure village was uncharacteristically quiet as the Blind Monster's senses washed over it, it was as if they were preparing for war, which was quite confusing.
'Why would the atmosphere be this tense after half a decade of peace? Why has the merchant's guild or the spy network not informed me of this? Unless it's a new development...'
The Amegakure's position had always been bad. The Land of Rain was turned into a battlefield by all surrounding nations, forced to get plunged into wars over and over again, wars that they had no stake in.
The era of the Salamander came, one of the strongest shinobi in their generation, he swore to protect the Land of Rain and protect it he did.
He fought hard and repelled countless powerful shinobi all on his own. Gaining a reputation and infamy almost on par with the current God of Shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi. But he was only one man, his land was still torn apart by war, and there was little he could do about it.
The period of peace must have been good for him as well, which really only confused Ken further. 'Why would he go and get rid of the Akatsuki?'
Hanzo was always worried about them, sure. They were representative of the presence of a foreign force in his land. The Salamander had somewhat seen them as an extension of the Dark Brotherhood, despite them not being part of it.
But why would he decide to attack them now? What was the point?
Hanzo was not an idiot, he should have known that no matter how much he had erased his tracks, Ken would tie the matter to him or would at least question him about it.
There was no lying in front of the Blind Assasin, even the slightest change in blood pressure was something that Ken could sense, he had become somewhat of a lie detector over the years.
It did wonders during interrogations and political talks, but it was an otherwise minor side-effect of his overall monstrous constitution.
Hanzo was already aware of Ken's 'eyes' and how far they saw. So why would he try something against the Akatsuki?
'Did he think I grew mellow over the years or something?'
It was true that with the peaceful era upon them, Ken had been less and less active in the field. Some would start thinking that he had gotten rusty, but it wasn't like the Blind Assassin was past his prime.
In fact, by human standards, it was rather the opposite. He had lost track over the years, but he was somewhere around 21 or 22 years old, which meant that his best years were far from over.
Of course, human standards were not exactly the best thing to take into account when considering Ken.
But they were something to be considered when thinking of Hanzo. Maybe Ken had failed to take into account how old age would affect the human mind? That could also be the answer...
After all, older humans were sometimes predisposed to going senile or developing dementia.
Regardless, the Salamander would have to explain himself.
Ken felt Hanzo reach the door to his office, he turned around in the chair, facing the window and heaved a silent sigh.
Hanzo entered the office none the wiser of what was transpiring.
It took him all but one second to realize that something was wrong, especially when he saw his guards strung up for display.
"Hanzo."
The Salamander also recognized the voice almost immediately, and he felt the hairs on his back tingle for a moment, his spine trembling with unease.
"Sit down."
Despite being in his own office, Hanzo didn't at all feel like he was at home, instead, he sat down in the chair in front of his desk as instructed.
He gulped a bit, likely already guessing what Ken's visit was about.
"I believe introductions aren't needed here. You should know why I'm here." Ken turned around in the Kage's chair, placing his feet up on the desk as he tilted his head towards the Salamander.
"My people... I had nothing to do with the demise of the Akatsuki." Hanzo gritted his teeth as he spoke. It was hard to gauge if he was lying or not though, as his entire being was rather irregular due to the unease and fear that came with standing in front of Ken.
But Ken didn't notice any improvements or deterioration in his blood pressure or heartbeat as he spoke. It was possible that the Salamander was telling the truth...
"And why should I believe you? The Akatsuki were stationed in your Land, under your watch... Now they are all mostly dead, with the leaders missing."
Ken slowly stood up on the desk, stepping off of it gracefully as he started to circle Hanzo with light steps.
The Salamander trembled slightly, before grasping at Ken's coat.
Under normal circumstances, Ken would have cut off that hand before it reached his coat, but he didn't feel any bad intentions from Hanzo so he let it happen.
He didn't react much when Hanzo grabbed his hand and tapped on it in a specific manner.
The Blind Assassin then nodded, his hands moving quickly as he threw out 4 kunai with paper tags around the two of them.
He then made a simple hand sign. And he allowed his chakra to fill in the gaps of that formation.
"There you go, a soundproofing formation. Speak your mind now."
The Salamander breathed a sigh of relief when hearing that.
"They don't know how much I know... But this entire office is being watched." Hanzo slowly stood up and looked out the window, before closing the curtains.
For a moment, the powerful village leader looked almost... paranoid.
"The nobles, all of the ones in this land and the surrounding ones somehow found out about the Akatsuki's connection to you, they were deadset on wiping them out."
Hanzo leaned onto his desk as he placed his chain and sickle on it. Ken couldn't help but notice the smell of blood coming from that weapon.
"They tried hiring our village first, but I refused. The last thing our Land needed was to become the starting point for another war..." Hanzo scowled underneath his gas mask as he felt the unfairness of the situation all over again just by remembering it briefly.
"Yet, it seems that they were still all murdered? If not by you, then by mercenaries dressed to look like your forces." Ken judged all of the Salamander's responses. He was either a very controlled man, able to work under an ungodly amount of pressure, or he was telling the truth.
"I was going to inform you, but I had no time to reach you before they sent that other group to do it.
I only had the time to summon the leaders of the Akatsuki to an undisclosed location. That was all that I could do."
Hanzo slowly reached into his back pouch and pulled out a scroll, a small map. He handed it over to Ken, who took it and opened it in that same instant.
His hand ran over that parchment, recognizing the location on the map by some landmarks nearby, before placing the scroll in his coat.
"As for the men who did it... They weren't just mercenaries, some were truly shinobi from my village.
I do not know who I can trust anymore in this village, the walls have ears, and they seem to always go to whoever the highest bidder is."
Hanzo's teeth seemed to clench as he spoke. It was pretty clear to Ken that he was having a hard time.
He was stuck between three different hard places, and they were all leading to possibly catastrophic situations for him and his people. Ken couldn't even blame him for being stressed out.
So, he continued to let the old Salamander rant.
"I already intercepted and slayed the ones responsible for the massacre.
A group of around 300, they were well prepared, but they were just grunts. The strongest among them were Top-Level Jonin only.
One was dressed like me though... They all died with their skin melted off in clouds of poison, I made sure of it."
Ken huffed a bit when hearing that, feeling that the situation was starting to look more and more like a pain in the ass.
"300, huh? That's essentially a war party, isn't it?"
It felt odd to speak about such major forces in an era of peace. It seemed that there was always something brewing in the background looking to take a shit on whatever progress Ken made towards his goal.
"Indeed. It brought me back to the old days... But not in a good way." Hanzo eventually walked around his desk and sat down in his own chair, before reaching for a few other scrolls in his desk.
"I'm sure you've realized by now, but something big is happening. I do not know what, or why. But I expect the next few decades to not be as peaceful as you'd want them."
Hanzo sighed once more, before rubbing his forehead in frustration.
"I guess I will have to look into this further on my own too... Thank you for the information, and for your cooperation. Keep the kunai and tags." Ken then reached into his pouch and threw a scroll towards Hanzo, who caught it with a confused look on his face.
"This Soundproofing formation is a basic technique of Fuinjutsu, but it will let you know if someone is trying to listen in. Learn it, it will serve you well."
With that, Ken disappeared from the office, heading straight for the location that Hanzo had confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Salamander just sighed, collected the 4 kunai and started studying the scroll that Ken had left him.
He didn't bother untangling his guards from Ken's strings, he figured they'd manage after waking up.
As for the gathering of nobles that was behind everything?
Well... They were currently holding a meeting of their own. Deciding on future moves they could take.
They only had two goals in mind...
'Diminish the influence of the Dark Brotherhood and Break Apart the Three Corners Alliance.'
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Hello there! Hope you're all doing well.
Managed to write this one out sooner than yesterday thankfully. Hope it turned out good!
Anyway, have a great day!
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