Chapter 6 - First Kill

How are you doing? I'm pretty tired while editing this chapter so if I made a mistake or if something doesn't make sense comment and I'll explain or take care of it. The next chapter is going to be awesome in my opinion, but I'm pretty nervous about it. You'll know why when you read it next week, but basically, you'll find out the gimmick of the story. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

================================================================

"That's... Fine, if you want a guarantee, take this. It has one of the last photos of my wife. But make no mistake, Haru, I'll be back for it once you calm down." Akemi said with a serious tone as he removed a necklace from his neck before tossing it to Haru.

"I'll give it back to you after I move all the weapons from here," Haru replied as he caught the neckless. "Now, what about you, Akira?" Haru questioned the spear-wielding guard. "Take this, It's the last gift my father gave me," Akira replied as he tossed his spear to Haru.

"Alright, this is acceptable. As I said, Ryu and I will move all of the equipment and weapons to a different location now, so it'll take a little while, but you'll get your things back," Haru said. "How much time would it take you?" Akemi questioned. "About a week or two, I'd guess. Moving the weapons is easy, we can even finish it today, but the equipment is the problem." Haru responded.

"Anyway, you can go now," Haru said to the two guards. The two turned and started to walk towards the exit when their instincts suddenly flared up. "Get down!" Akemi yelled as he and Akira hit the ground just in time. Not a split second later a spear shot above their heads and impaled itself into the wall. "Haru! What are you doing?!" Akemi exclaimed. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave here alive, even with what you provided," Haru said as he grabbed another weapon off the wall. "So you allowed us to leave just to lower our guard?! Give me my wife's photo back you son of a bitch!" Akemi yelled in anger as he grabbed a masterfully crafted Katana off the wall.

"Ryu! Akira is escaping, kill him!" Haru yelled as he deflected a blow from Akemi. "..." Ryu, who was still shocked by the whole situation, woke up from his father's order. "What?!" Ryu exclaimed in surprise. "Kill... *Ugh*... Him!" Haru yelled as he got hit by one of Akemi's slashes, resulting in a nasty wound on his left leg.

With a quick, adrenaline-filled breath, Ryu began to channel Chakra into Silver Eagle

Meanwhile, Akira's heart pounded with fear as he heard Haru's desperate shout. He knew he had to get away, and fast. Driven by sheer adrenaline, he attempted to pick up his pace, hoping to outrun the fate that was rapidly closing in on him. However, as he tried to sprint, he felt a searing pain in his leg as the blade hidden in his sandal buried itself in his foot. The pain was so intense that he lost his footing and, with a gasp, found himself sprawling on the ground.

As he lay there, desperately trying to regain his balance, the stolen blade slid out of his sandal, glinting in the cave's light.

"He stole a blade! Kill him, Ryu! You can't let him show it to anyone else!" Haru yelled. Ryu clenched his fist hard, so much so that he broke the skin and blood trickled out. Even so, he shot the sword forward toward the escaping Akira, who was just about to arrive at the staircase to the surface. Ryu wasn't opposed to killing, it was a very natural part of their reality in his eyes, but he wasn't prepared for the feeling he got as the sword flew at Akira's head.

As Ryu prepared to release the charged Silver Eagle towards Akira, time seemed to slow to a crawl. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest. His breathing grew shallow, each breath a whisper, as if to prolong the moment and delay the inevitable. As the adrenaline hit of the situation finally began to wear off, he realized what he was about to do.

Ryu's thoughts drifted to the man he was about to kill. Akira, a man in his late twenties, with a life and dream of his own. He had a mother and two siblings, and from their conversations, Ryu knew he was dating a kind and caring girl. The thought of the devastation his actions would cause tore at Ryu's heart.

As he stood there, frozen in time, beads of sweat formed on Ryu's brow. His grip on Silver Eagle tightened, his knuckles turning white with the effort, yet his arm quivered with uncertainty. He swallowed hard, trying to suppress the lump that had formed in his throat, and blinked rapidly as his eyes grew moist with unshed tears.

How could he face Akira's family after what he was about to do? They wouldn't know the truth, but that would only make the burden of his secret even heavier. Yet, deep down, Ryu knew he had no other option. The safety of his own family was at stake. The weight of his responsibility anchored him to the present, reminding him of the grim decision he had made.

With a trembling heart, Ryu closed his eyes briefly, as if to shield himself from the reality of his actions. His entire body tensed, every muscle coiled like a spring, and he let out a shaky breath, steeling himself for what was to come. There was no turning back now.

As time resumed its normal pace, Ryu opened his eyes, a steely determination glinting within them. He released his grip on Silver Eagle, allowing the sword to take flight. The weapon flew through the air like a harbinger of death, and Ryu's heart ached with the knowledge that he had crossed a point of no return.

At the very last moment, mere inches from Akira's head, Akira suddenly turned around and raised the dagger in front of his face, causing the sword to clash with it. Although Silver Eagle was of much higher quality compared to the stolen dagger, both of them were pieces that a master smith made. In their clash, although the dagger was destroyed beyond repair, it did manage to deflect the incoming sword, allowing Akira to continue his escape.

"Ah!" Haru's scream caught Ryu's attention, distracting him from the escaping Akira. As he turned around to look at his father, even though the battle lasted only a couple of minutes, Haru had several slashes across his body, most of them were shallow, but there were a couple of serious ones.

Haru was very powerful, but that was only with the strength of his creations, of which he had none on him. He stood no chance against a trained close combat expert in a one-on-one fight.

Thinking quickly, Ryu made Silver Eagle fly towards Akemi at blinding speeds, piercing cleanly through his right thigh and only stopping once the hilt made contact with the leg.

Akemi collapsed to the ground with an agonizing scream of pain. "Thanks, Ryu. Now, Akira should still be on the staircase. With Silver Eagle I-" Just as Haru ripped Silver Eagle out from Akemi's leg, earning a scream of pain, a loud sound was heard from the top of the staircase. The sound of crumbling earth. "*Sigh*, I guess it's too late now. At least he doesn't have the dagger, so that'll buy us some precious time," Haru sighed. But just as Ryu thought it was over, Haru continued to speak, this time with a more serious tone.

"That said, we have a problem to take care of," Haru said as he looked at Akemi who was tying a torn piece of his shirt around his leg, trying to stop the bleeding. "I never wanted you to fight, Ryu. I didn't want you to end up like me and your mother. I thought you'd be able to survive easily with your skills as a blacksmith, but I was wrong. Unfortunately, it seems that my vision won't come to pass. Although I can't teach you how to fight, I can teach you something else. I can teach you how to kill." Haru said as he looked at Akemi with cold eyes.

Without waiting for Ryu's reaction, Haru continued. "Listen to me, Ryu. When you kill someone, you need to justify it to yourself. It doesn't make it objectively okay, far from it, but it'll help resolve your moral issues. For example, let's take Akemi. First, and most importantly, he's basically dead. When you stabbed him with Silver Eagle, the blade went cleanly through the bone, and when I ripped it out I made sure it got everything else. He'll die an agonizing death, slowly bleeding out over the next few minutes. Making this a mercy kill. Is this enough for you to kill him?"

Seeing the hesitation on Ryu's face Haru continued: "Secondly if we let him go he'll try to kill us again and take the pendant he gave me. Even if I give it to him now, he'd still come back in the name of revenge, so you're eliminating a threat to our lives. Is this enough to justify killing him?" Haru questioned. Getting a small nod from Ryu. "Great. Now, take Silver Eagle and cut his head off. That'll be the fastest way to kill him. And don't use the flying function, do it with your hands."

Ryu took Silver Eagle from Haru before standing over Akemi. The latter was as pale as paper, with a giant pool of blood near his leg. Ryu saw that he was in agony, and thinking over his father's words, he took a deep breath before bringing the blade down on Akemi's head.

"I'm proud of you, Ryu. Unfortunately, I don't have more time to congratulate you. You need to go, the Shinobi will be here shortly," Haru cunt straight to the point. 'I can't let Ryu stay here! The Shinobi will kill me for what I did in the past, but they will certainly try to use Ryu. I need an excuse to make him escape,' Haru thought.

"What about you?" Ryu asked. "I'll be forced to make weapons for them, most likely," Haru answered his son with a sad smile. "Wait, then why do I need to run? Won't they treat us pretty well? We can wait and escape secretly when an opportunity comes, maybe even sabotage them from within," Ryu was confused.

"Probably, but you have a bigger role to play. The mist has come this far with only seven unique swords, if I make them anymore, the balance of power will collapse so we don't have time to wait for an opportunity to escape. And it's not like they don't have worthy Shinobi to use those swords, the moment I make one it'll enter the battlefield. This is where you come in, go to Konoha, and become their blacksmith. They'll accept you the moment they see your Sharingan," Haru explained.

Left with no choice, Ryu scrambled to pack his things. Luckily for Ryu, he didn't have many things of his own. He couldn't bring his blacksmithing tools, so he was only left with his books. Ryu read the dozens of books he had several times over, so he knew exactly what each one was about.

Ryu packed the most important books in his opinion, those being medical and survival books. Then came the most problematic issue, that being Silver Eagle. The sword was majestic, and it only took a slight glance to recognize the masterful craftsmanship, even for an untrained eye. Unfortunately, this was an issue since Ryu wanted to keep a low profile... Of course, he couldn't just leave the sword, so he could only cover it thoroughly with a cloth and hope for the best.

Around an hour later, Haru returned with a small bag containing quite a bit of money, then Ryu went aboard a carriage and left the village. Haru had a sad smile on his face as he watched his son go and after Ryu went far enough that he couldn't see him, Haru returned to the smithy where threw all the weapons into the lit forge and hammered them into a steel mesh.

About an hour later, just as Haru finished destroying the last of his creations, a squad of Shinobi burst into the underground forge.

"Hey Haru, long time no see," The leader of the Shinobi said cheerfully. "Huh, I didn't expect so many Jonins to be sent, do you think it's that hard to kill me, Riku?" Haru asked casually while he turned around to face the ninjas.

"After what happened five years ago, we wouldn't dare to be careless." Hearing that, Haru's calm expression faltered for a split second. "But I'm impressed. We thought we left no stone unturned looking for you, yet you managed to evade us while living so close. Akane would be proud," Riku said with a smirk.

Without blinking Haru's hand shot forward, and the hammer that was in it flew toward Riku's face. In a blink of an eye, Riku pulled out a Kuni and used it to deflect the hammer. "𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫," Haru snarled.

"Oh, I'm so scared. Anyway, let's cut to the chase. You've gotta die, that's not going to change, but a little bird whispered to me that you have a son, congratulations by the way. Care to tell us where the little smith is? We'll kill you painlessly if you do," Riku asked Haru.

"Are you seriously me that? You should know that even the most brutal of torture won't get me to reveal a single piece of information," Haru laughed at the ridiculous question. "Eh, it was worth a try. Farewell, Ruler of Steel. It's a shame you chose this fate," Riku said with genuine regret creeping into his voice as he threw the Kuni in his hand at Haru's neck, killing him.