Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Wandering Samurai

_________ POV Narration_________

Ken wandered the land, jumping from tree to tree as he mapped out the areas he travelled in his mind.

Many of his targets were rouge shinobi, and he only had a rough estimation of where they could be.

Tosho had done his best to help him memorize some locations on the map, even going as far as to draw him a map of the continent with a pen.

Ken was able to easily feel the location of certain landmarks and roads from the imprints of that drawing, but that didn't mean he was easily able to tell where exactly he was on it.

That was his main issue, even with his hyper-enhanced senses, he still had quite a bit of trouble navigating around.

Even when he somehow, through a miracle, managed to pinpoint where exactly he was on the map, the second he moved he would somewhat lose that position after a while, which got him back to square one.

The only good thing was that he was able to at least find a good direction to walk towards after a few stops.

He started hunting down a random criminal. Renowned killer and rapist, someone going by the name of Seza Toyonso.

Ken only knew about him a bit, that he hanged around the Land of Lightning and that he was well known for kidnapping young kunoichi for obvious reasons considering his reported crimes.

His crimes weren't really the only note-worthy thing about him though.

'An S-rank missing shinobi was able to escape the encirclement of three different Jonin at some point in the past. The full scope of his abilities, unknown.'

Ken figured he'd just be able to deal with him anyway. Which made him think back to 'reading' about his crimes.

'I guess beasts like him are common in every world...'

Ken wasn't exactly outright impressed by what he was seeing.

He knew plenty of similar people from his past life. Warzones were fought with soldiers taking advantage of locals, it was almost a tradition for warzones at that point.

But he didn't think much of them besides the fact that their desires were a lot stranger than his.

He thought that he was just as disgusting as they were, so he had no right to judge them at that time. Now he saw things in a different light.

'I may still kill, but I am a changed man when it comes to mentality at this point... I refuse to compare myself to these beasts any longer.'

He decided that he'd kill any 'beast' he came by if the opportunity arose. But he otherwise still didn't feel the need to hunt down criminals specifically.

He wasn't planning on becoming some righteous crusader, nor did he really have any right to.

The first few days of wandering the Land of Lightning were quite uneventful, Ken even managed to set up camp and make a fire.

'I'm not here to attack any shinobi, so I couldn't care less if they find me...'

His intentions were different, and so were his actions. There was now no reason for him to really hide. He was actually aiding the Land of Lightning by hunting down a criminal for them.

Ken didn't bother to rest for long, he was young and full of energy. The natural energy revolving around him almost didn't want him to rest.

And so, the blind swordsman decided to take it a bit slower, scout out the terrains.

'I'm unlikely to just run into the criminal if I run around at high speeds everywhere.'

In truth, Ken also wanted to take a few moments to appreciate the fresh air around him.

'Appreciating nature is something I've only taken to during this lifetime. I guess I was too focused on other things to appreciate small things like this...'

Ken continued walking slowly through the forest for a few hours, not bothering himself with hiding his presence like he usually would.

He only stopped himself when he noticed that he was encircled... He wasn't exactly worried though.

He wasn't approaching the people of the Land of Lightning as an enemy, after all, he didn't have anything to hide.

But he also had no reason to pretend that he couldn't feel them around him.

"The four of you can come out now... I can tell you've been tracking me for a while now."

Ken's voice rang out clearly as he stood tall in that clearing.

He noticed that 4 people were basically encircling him in the middle of that clearing. He could tell that they were a team of Genin most likely, with a Jonin leading them.

"Quite perceptive for a random traveler" The Jonin was the first one to speak up, Ken could tell from the amount of chakra flowing inside her body.

The team seemed to be led by a woman by what Ken's ears were picking up. He sniffed the air a bit, he could tell rather quickly that two boys and a girl were part of that team.

"I'm not exactly a regular traveler, miss...? How should I call you exactly?"

"Not exactly of importance... But I'll play along. My name is Mabui... Obviously a Shinobi of Cloud village, something you should be aware of, you are in our territory after all..."

The woman seemed to take out a kunai as she spoke, seemingly preparing in case Ken proved to be 'less than friendly'. The Genin around her did the same.

"Now, now. No need for hostilities. I am not involved with any of the hidden villages, your wars don't concern me much." Ken raised his palms in a defensive manner, not wanting to start up a fight with people that weren't even his target...

'Target, huh?' Ken took a closer 'look' at the people around him.

The female Jenin seemed to have a relatively attractive form. Ken could feel the wind bending around her figure, he smiled as he came to a realization.

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'She seems like prime bait. Though our resident degenerate might rather aim for that Genin girl...

No, regardless of who he aims for, this entire group is good bait... But I should make sure they don't have any important mission. I don't want to get involved in conflicts between villages now.'

"And we're supposed to take your words at face value? When you don't even show us your face? Haha, nice joke!" One of the Genin said, the boy then quickly looked away as his Jonin teacher/handled gave him a stare-down.

"Although my pupil was rather rude... I would still have to ask you to take your mask off. I don't know how accustomed you are to Shinobi ways, but those that wear masks always have something to hide." Mabui said as she narrowed her eyes at Ken.

Although her tone was more polite, her accusation was about as obvious as her pupil's, maybe less pointed and gruff.

Ken frowned a bit, but ended up slapping the back of his head in frustration.

'I guess wearing masks is associated more with the Secret Operations Unit of villages, the Anbu, was it? They may not be voicing that specifically, but they're certainly thinking about it.

Tosho did tell me a bit about them, but I didn't think much of it at the time... q'

"I don't mind taking off my mask, but I must warn you. It is no pretty sight." Ken said as he slowly started taking off his mask, a small smile rising on his lips as he did so.

He wasn't scared of showing his face to others at all. If it wasn't for the mask being a gift from his loved ones, he wouldn't even bother wearing one.

He also somewhat liked the design, so he mostly wore it.

There was no denying the fact that his appearance would stir some reactions in others as well, so there were really few reasons for him to take it off most of the time.

Now however, it only seemed sensible.

The four shinobi around him seemed to be preparing for something as Ken's mask was taken off.

An ambush or anything. Anbu went by an extremely strict code, they were to never unmask themselves, not even to allies. So if Ken was to actually be an enemy, then he likely would throw a smoke screen and attack them before they even caught a glimpse of his face.

Their doubts fell off when seeing Ken's face though. Eyeless, mangled beyond any recognition. It was absolutely impossible to accurately pinpoint his age, but Mabui could still tell that he was relatively young.

Either late teenager or young adult if she went using her intuition. It was clear that Ken was either highly trained or malnutritioned, she could see no excess fat on his sunken cheeks at all.

'I would say he's trained... No one would keep their composure in such a situation otherwise...'

For a second, Mabui even thought that he was using some type of Genjutsu to hide his face. But as a Jenin, she wasn't able to feel anything.

There was always the question of who exactly trained Ken, but at the very least he didn't seem aggressive.

'We're still on a mission, I would question him more under normal circumstances, but I guess this should suffice for now.'

Mabui nodded. "Sorry about that, traveler. Some question are still in order, but I can tell that you didn't come here to make enemies at least..."

If he planned to attack us, he wouldn't have shown his face, nor would he be so deep into our territory while doing so, our reinforcements would quite literally appear in seconds.'

Ken then put his mask back on, ignoring the reactions of the people around him as he sighed and continued to talk.

"No apologies needed. You're just doing your job. Now, I'll stop speaking in circles.

I am a Ronin, Wandering Samurai if you will, though you can likely tell from my armour.

I am also a bounty hunter, it's how I make my bread.  I am here tracking one 'Seza Toyonsn'. A missing-nin last spotted around the Land of Lightning."

Ken's voice rang out confidently in that clearing, confident and unshaken.

Mabui ended up sighing, not exactly sure what to think of this 'bounty hunter'. On one hand, it did make a lot of sense, as he did seem strong, and he didn't seem hostile at all.

But now she actually felt a bit guilty about technically forcing him to take his mask off.

"So you're hunting down that animal? I should warn you, he's pretty strong. A squad of Jonin from our side is already trying to track him though..." Mabui said as she finally put down her weapon and crossed her arms.

Her pupils followed her motion of putting down their weapons, making Ken sigh a bit at the almost mechanical way the child soldiers were moving.

"It is understandable that more would be after him... But I do happen to want his bounty... So I don't plan on giving up on it." Ken's confident tone didn't waver one bit though.

"Puh... So you're saying you're going to go against the Cloud Village and compete for his bounty?" Mabui seemed quite amused at the notion, her pupils also seemed to raise an eyebrow at Ken's 'arrogance'.

"Well, I have my ways. Anyway, I'll be seeing you people, maybe we'll even end up going after the same bounty one day!" Ken then started walking off, waving at the group as he made his way through the forest.

Mabui was about to say something, before she stopped in her tracks, realizing that the second she blinked, Ken was completely out of sight.

Even as a sensory type, she couldn't sense him anywhere in the forests nearby.

'... Maybe it's better that we avoided a fight with that one...'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Didn't get much time to write lately, sorry about that :((

I'm still trying to get used to the new schedule at work. Ya boy will be working graveyard shifts as well. 

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