Chapter 143: Reconstruction Process, Spreading False News and Trust Issues

Chapter 143: Reconstruction Process, Spreading False News and Trust Issues

__________ POV Narration __________

The Samurai and the Cloud Duo did indeed help the brotherhood with housing.

They were by no means a professional construction crew. But they did have a lot of hands in the form of the Samurai, and a lot of strength in the form of B and the Raikage.

They ended up using a few of the cut-down/collapsed trees to build dozens upon dozens of cabins upon the scorched earth in front of the collapsed compound.

The cabins were built on the crater where the Tailed Beast Bombs had first clashed with the Rashomons that the Blades summoned. The crater was of course filled using a few earth-style jutsu.

The Blades and the Children helped with that, but once again, the Raikage did most of the work, as most of the members within the Brotherhood were too tired. He didn't outright specialize in Earth Release, but he still knew a large variety of jutsu, as any respectable kage would.

Ken also helped in that aspect, as much like the Raikage, his knowledge was sufficient to assist with putting out the fires within the forest and filling in craters.

The Samurai also helped with the clean-up process, they dealt with the corpses and carted them away for incineration and proper burials.

Despite their overall distaste for Shinobi and their endeavors, they still respected the dead, which was also why the shrine that Ken had built for his fathers had remained untouched for all that time.

The Samurai that had passed were also carried away, but a bit more ceremoniously. They were, after all, samurai who had served their country with their lives on the line, and dutifully followed orders until the very end.

The epitome of what all samurai aspired to be. It was only natural for them to receive the greatest honorifics and burials as heroes.

Their families were also to be heavily compensated and set for life. But that was business that Mifune was going to deal with after his return.

For now, the wood log cabins were put together with concern for longevity and sturdiness.

They were quite simple, but Ken had already arranged for a large construction team to arrive and help them rebuild.

Cleaning up the Debris was rather labor intensive, but it was all done within 3 weeks. They had even managed to scavenge a lot of doors and furniture from the collapsed buildings, which was going to be quite useful.

And it was at that time that Mifune and the Samurai that remained also departed.

The Raikage and B also left, of course with a promise to stay in contact.

Their 'Three Corners Alliance' was still very much active and on the table. It was only a matter of making it official and known to the world.

But what the world learned about first was the details of the war and assault on the Dark Brotherhood and their compound.

It helped further cement the Dark Brotherhood as an entity on par, if not greater to than the 5 Great Villages.

It also became a well-known fact that they received help from the Land of Iron, the Cloud Village, the Leaf, and the Whirlpool.

The Whirlpool and the Cloud were no surprise to the world, as Ken was touted to be quite close to both sides.

But the Leaf took many by surprise. Upon investigation from the Daimy of the Land of Fire, more details were revealed.

And the information guild, which had agents all over the world, was also able to pick up on the matter.

They, like always, profited a lot from spreading that information by giving it to the highest bidder.

In the end, it became known within the Shinobi World that the Leaf was involved due to one of their own getting involved in the assault.

The Leaf took it upon themselves to assist the Brotherhood to prevent a larger conflict from occurring between the Leaf and the Dark Brotherhood.

At least that was the explanation that was provided to the Daimy of the Land of Fire. The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

As they had not yet decided to go public with their alliance, it was only natural for Hiruzen to make up a cover story for his and the Leaf's involvement.

It was also technically true, as one of the biggest factors in his decision to mobilize so many people was because he knew Danzo was involved.

That and the fact that Jiraiya had pleaded with him to assist the Brotherhood. The Sannin had even gone as far as to claim that, if Hirzuen was not going to do anything, then he was going to go rogue and help them himself.

Of course, the God of Shinobi tied his student upside down and essentially grounded him, but he still took his student's opinion into account.

Jiraiya was, at the end of the day, a perceptive person. He had a talent for understanding others, which was why Hirzuen trusted him to start building on the Leaf's information network.

Joining the Three Corners Alliance was a bit of a jump in the Hokage's opinion, but it was also felt necessary at the time.

The Whirlpool Kage had likely felt the same.

After all, had they refused, the alliance would've still happened. The only difference was that the founding members were going to be just from the Brotherhood, the Cloud, and the Land of Iron.

Those three parties were already more than enough to pose a significant threat to any other nation. The Three Corners Alliance would've still been, in fact, powerful enough to pose a threat to every nation even if they were to somehow scramble and band together.

So, instead of being swept up and forced to agree to the terms that the would-be Alliance wanted like the rest of the world, it was much smarter to just be part of the founding members of the alliance.

That way, at the very least their opinions mattered, and the safety of their villages was assured.

That was exactly why Hiruzen didn't feel any resentment towards Ken, who was the obvious mastermind behind everything.

Much like Mifune, the Hokage realized that Ken had decided to reveal his age knowing that it would 'come back to bite him'.

After all, the Blind Child Assassin could have simply kept quiet until he grew to the point where no one in the world would've even dared to face him.

But no, he had taken the opportunity to bait out his enemies and used the situation to get rid of many of them in a manner that was both decisive and gave way to the formation of the Alliance.

Hirzuen felt a bit of disappointment in himself that he hadn't managed to untangle the webs before reaching the remains of the Dark Brotherhood compound that day.

He, and everyone there, had essentially gotten played by Ken.

Tosho had been the one closest to Ken for the longest time. He was Ken first official student, the very first member of the Dark Brotherhood, and the First Blade.

He was the first to comprehend and master Ken's techniques, and he was the one to pass on that information to the children with varying degrees of success.

He had done a lot for Ken's sake, and he had not compromised one bit to ensure that the best outcome was achieved for his master.

So why...

'Why does he 'trust' Saburo more than he trusts me?'

But as he thought further and spoke more and more, he couldn't help but feel that he was also blowing things out of proportion.

He felt as if he was cornering Ken, and acting too childish, unbecoming of someone in his position. But he couldn't help it, for the first time in years, he felt helpless, outside of the circle.

A circle that he had helped Ken build from the ground up. It simply didn't feel right, even if Ken's reasons were sound.

Ken's senses seeped deep into the First Blade's soul. He felt the raging emotions within him, the frustrations, anger, hurt and also... envy.

"Haah..." The Blind Monster could only sigh, cursing himself internally for not taking Tosho's feelings into consideration with his plans.

The Blind Monster had done a lot to distance himself from emotions when planning things. He had done his best to avoid doing so after the situation with the 7 Swordsmen, he knew that nothing good came out of it.

But it seemed that by mistake, he had stopped considering not only his emotions but also the ones of those around him.

'As we grow, we learn... I guess I still have plenty of growing to do.'

The silence in the cabin seemed to be unnerving, Tosho was starting to feel more and more frustrated and anxious, so Ken decided to finally speak up after thinking things more thoroughly.

"Tosho..." The First Blade's ears perked up for a second as if he was startled when the silence was finally broken.

"I am sorry." But Tosho was certainly not expecting an apology right off the bat.

"I didn't take your feelings, or the children's feelings into consideration. I went ahead with a plan that put everyone in danger.

Even though I had made preparations for their safety, I still did everything without your, or their knowledge, so the distress you and the children felt is very much real."

Ken's voice, for the first time in a while, sounded a lot less robotic, and a lot more human, and Tosho's eyes couldn't help but widen as he continued to listen.

"I... I will try and work on this, to prevent such a thing from happening in the future. I am still new to this, to having a family that you can trust fully..."

Ken's life was a rather tumultuous mess after all. And whilst it was true that in his current life he's had a family for a few years, he had never quite opened up fully to anyone.

Not even to the ones that raised him. He was starting to open up, but then they died. And he retreated back into his shell.

It was the children of the Brotherhood, Tosho and Akira, bonds that he had made, which were slowly prying him out of that shell.

Key word, slowly.

After all, what were a few years compared to the decades he had spent deprived of all genuine human connections in his past life?

"You are right, you of all people did have the right to know. And from now on you won't be kept in the dark about anything else."

The First Blade couldn't help but tremble slightly when hearing those words, his eyes also felt watery.

But he refused to cry. He didn't want to appear weak, not in front of his leader, not after hearing his honest words.

He didn't want his tears to blur the sight that was in front of him. The sight of Ken, the Leader he idolized so much, admitting to his faults and pledging to improve himself.

"I- I accept your apology." After taking in that scene for a few seconds, Tosho finally spoke up again.

"The children weren't upset at you in any way, they trust you completely... I was just being irrational."

Tosho's shoulders seemed to sag for a second, as his tone became a bit dark. Despite being moved, he still felt as if he had acted in an unbecoming manner.

"Now, now. Let's not call your very real concerns about my trust issues and misgivings irrational. You are fully in your right to be mad at me for what has happened."

Ken sighed once more as his finger slowly tapped on the arm of his chair.

"... Thank you sir. For everything." Tosho nodded before turning around.

"I will go and attend to the children as well... Please take care." The First Blade nodded and started walking off.

Ken only nodded back as he watched the man leave the room, and close the door behind him.

And as soon as he left, Ken slowly rested his head on his desk.

'What a mess... Maybe catching a wink of sleep would help... It's certainly been a while.'

_________________________________________

Heya! Hope you liked the chapter!

War is finally over, time for the world to start moving on :)) Timeskips are incoming, but I do have one or two arcs in mind before a major timeskip happens...

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