Chapter 169: Monstrous Heart, Humanity and Vision

Chapter 169: Monstrous Heart, Humanity and Vision

__________ POV Narration __________

Ume dragged herself out of the arena, a disappointed look in her eyes as she gave her father one last look before finally leaving.

It was clear that she needed someone to talk to, so the Blind Swordsman finally stood up.

'... Comforting people has never been my strong point.'

Throughout both of his lives, he had not been put in that position many times. His family seemed to be able to take him out of his comfort zone and broaden his horizons quite often.

Hell, not so long ago he had even ended up comforting Mifune, who he considered a close associate.

But even so, Ken felt quite strange himself emotionally. Even when he was comforting Mifune and dealing with Yue's situation, he felt a bit detached.

At most, he had been there to help Mifune vent his frustrations, and he had been there to listen to him.

Was he really human enough to properly comfort someone?

Each day that passed, humanity escaped him more and more. He had not slept in quite some time once more, the previously comforting and necessary escape from reality into dreams was now nothing more than an afterthought, a near-forgotten memory.

He was so far gone that even finding out his real lineage didn't help him much. Just two random nobodies form a disconnected clan.

He had yet to look into that thread, but maybe he would soon... Maybe that place would help him regain even a strand of humanity.

For now, the only real anchor he had was the Brotherhood, which was once an organization meant to serve as his eyes in the world, was now the only thing that made him feel human.

It was especially so since most of his associates, as well as the world at large saw him as a genuine monster. Even the Raikage, who saw him as a friend, still barely treated him like a human.

Though that might've just been the old Raikage's way of treating everyone on his level of strength, it was hard to tell.

Regardless, it was clear enough that he had long departed from his roots.

In a sense, Ken felt that the most telling factor in his dehumanization was none other than his fighting style.

It was always brutal, aiming to dehumanize his enemies and strike fear into the hearts of any remaining opponents.

The 'Scaled Sage Mode' which was initially meant to be a trump card in battles and hard to maintain was now feeling more like his true self.

Even in regular fights, he tended to default to it. His monstrous scales and jagged tail, his leathery wings... He felt empty without them.

And that had been the case for quite a few years already. Only in the beginning did he use the Scaled Sage Mode in its initially intended way.

Now, even when travelling he had a habit of overloading his chakra network with nature energy and letting that form take over, always hidden underneath his cloak.

No battle required him to go all out anymore, he had not wielded his sword seriously in quite a while, despite continuing to train it regularly.

Regardless, he felt that his boredom would be sated thanks to the Raikage and their still unannounced upcoming spar.

But that didn't mean he'd become any more human. That didn't mean he could relate even more to his children.

Ken tilted his head when hearing that.

"Danger? How so?" The Blind Swordsman slowly turned towards the Hokage, now facing him directly as his long spiky hair blew in the wind.

"Well, such powerful ties can be used against you, as you are a powerful leader. Not only that, you will one day be forced to make a choice..."

The Hokage slowly walked forward, now standing but a step away from Ken, his Hokage cloak blowing in the wind as well, as his pipe was extinguished in a powerful gust of wind.

"Will you choose the safety, happiness and stability of the non-combatant members of the Dark Brotherhood, or will you choose the safety and happiness of its trainee assassins?"

It was a choice that all Hidden Villages reached after a while. Sarutobi could clearly see it with his own eyes, that the Dark Brotherhood was developing into a Hidden Village more and more with each year that passed.

'Even without Ken, they are bound to be able to compete against the 5 Hidden Villages within 10 years... That type of growth will lead to difficult choices, it always does.'

"I like to believe that I am strong enough to be able to forsake such a choice... But if the day is to come when I have to make such a choice. Then I will likely look for a different option."

The Hokage blinked a few times, not expecting that type of answer from Ken. He didn't need to ask again for Ken to further elaborate thankfully.

"There will always be a way, an in-between. After all, there is no such thing as true happiness and stability, if its cost is the wellbeing and happiness of others within the same family.

Just some food for thought, I guess."

The Blind Assassin couldn't help but give the still-flabbergasted Sarutobi a wide smile.

In an instant, the Leaf Village Leader felt inadequate, standing in front of Ken, a man much younger than him.

For a moment, he wanted to refute the young man's logic. To argue that Ken was still inexperienced and that his views would change with time... But was that truly the case, or was he just lying to himself to justify all of the things he had done in the name of the village?

'No... He is indeed young, but his experience and wisdom are undeniable... Maybe he is right... Ha ha, it seems that the world needs someone like him. A fresh perspective.'

Unbeknownst to Ken, in that very moment, he had won Sarutobi's respect to the highest possible degree, far above the respect one would feel towards a powerful ally.

"I see... In that case, I hope to see you succeed." 'And seeing your success, I hope that you will be able to open the eyes of many others, showing them that this peace is truly achievable... If it's you, you can certainly do it.'

At that moment, Sarutobi no longer saw Ken as an equal. It felt inadequate to him, to call Ken an equal.

The Blind Assassin had risen to the level of Senju Hashirama in the Hokage's eyes. Powerful, determined, willful and most importantly, although blind, a visionary.

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Hope y'all liked the chapter! Tried my best to write this out, not currently at home, so sorry for any mistakes...

Story Shoutout: Transcendence: The Versatile Demoness

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