Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Encirclement and Targeted Attention

_________ POV Narration_________

Akira's hands trembled a bit as he prepared to defend himself, he figured the situation was quite dire if the Red Dot was claiming he wouldn't be able to escape.

In his anxiety, he somewhat missed the part where Ken said he wanted to avoid massacring them, so he now thought that they were going to have a difficult fight on their hands.

'Let's hope we can reason with them...'

"Don't get your hopes up about diplomacy, Akira... When someone pursues you like this it's likely they've made up their mind long before spotting you..." Ken said in his usual calm and collected tone.

'How the hell is it so easy for him to stay calm? I'm assuming strong Shinobi were sent after me since my 'crime' is so high profile, so even a Jonin would likely be unable to escape in this situation...'

In their history, there was never any precedent for assassinating the leader of a hidden village and getting away with it.

Even if Akira didn't assassinate the Kage, he was still accused of it, which meant that his chances of survival had decreased drastically.

Well, at least they were in his mind. At the very least he didn't die to Ken, right?

His talent was the one thing that actually saved his life completely though, as Ken had already decided to take him in and train him.

"Well well well... If it isn't the Red Dot..." One person stepped forward, with dozens of eyes peering into the clearing from all sides, all looking down at Ken and Akira from the cover of the trees.

Their cover didn't mean anything to Ken though.

'The one speaking feels a bit strange, but around us, there are 10 Jonin-Level shinobi, around 30 Chunin... The Chunin are here just for the numbers, glorified cannon fodder, all of them seem to be adults or in their late teens. Average at best.'

Still, their numbers meant that they weren't just random bounty hunters.

That made Ken reconsider the situation for a bit, leading to a prolonged silence to set onto the clearing, as the shinobi seemed to be getting more and more anxious with each second that passed by.

"Silent, eh? I guess we've caught you by surprise. Don't worry, we may spare you if you help us take care of that guy behind you."

"Surprise? Sorry, but you are a few decades off from being able to take me by surprise. Of course, only if your talent even allows you to grow that much..." Ken said in a dead tone, not bothering to act friendly.

He was willing to strike a deal if possible, but he didn't have a lot of money on him, nor was he actually willing to pay them off.

"Arrogant huh? I guess your reputation did go to your head. Regardless, our mission has nothing to do with you." The strange man jumped in front of Ken, his arms moving oddly as he did so.

"You lot seem rather organized... Not some random bounty hunters, that's for sure... You also smell like grass, you know that?" Ken said as he stood in front of the Jonin.

'The Kusagakure got involved after all... I guess it can't be helped, they were likely tracking Akira by themselves even before I started laying down my traps...'

Ken was rather quick to surmise that Kusagakure had actually sent 10 teams led by Jonin after Akira.

For a large village, such a move would've been rather small, but for a small village like the Kusagakure, it was a rather good chunk of their trained forces.

"Huh? You're certainly perceptive. Don't get involved further in this mess, it is none of your concern. We are just here to capture the one that killed our leader." The Jonin said as he extended a palm to Ken, obviously acting as if he was hoping to avoid a fight with the elusive Red Dot.

It made sense, but something about the situation still felt off to Ken.

'If we take both of them on, we are certainly going to incur some losses... Why is neither of them even injured?!' The Jonin thought to himself as he signalled his troops to prepare for battle.

Ken obviously noticed that some of them were taking their stances and preparing hand signs. He wasn't exactly pleased.

"As you can see, he is already with me. I assure you that I'll bring him to your village, as per our agreement. That was our next destination actually." The Blind Swordsman said as he tapped the ground with the tip of his shoes.

Ken didn't even flinch when lying, nor did his heartbeat change in any way. Even if it was unlikely that the Shinobi had any ability similar to his 'Lie Detector', the Blind Swordsman preferred to be careful.

"Hmm, well, I can't notice any restraints on him. How come he even has his weapons?" The Jonin said as the atmosphere around him started getting tense.

"I have no reason to be afraid of my prisoner just because he's armed... I assure you that he is no less harmless to me now than he would've been while tied to a tree."

The Jonin scoffed a bit when hearing that, obviously not believing the Red Dot one bit.

'The rumours paint the Red Dot to be quite powerful... At least above the level of most Jonin. But he seems quite composed even in this situation... He can't truly be at the level of a Kage.'

The Grass Village was currently going through quite a few changes, but none of the people present was kept up to speed on what was truly happening.

Though a sizable force, they were all tools to the village's true leaders, the clans. To them, they were only tasked with a few things. Their mission was actually rather cut and dry.

'Kill the one that murdered the Kage and bring his body back intact, and kill the Red Dot.'

They had managed to stalk Akira for a bit, staying a great distance away even when Ken had arrived.

The plan was simple. 'Wait for the two of them to deal with the other. We'll pick off the straggler and complete our mission.'

Ken had already gained a bounty of his own in some circles after rejecting a few invitations. And he was specifically contacted for Akira's bounty so that this exact scenario would play out...

Unfortunately, the situation shifted completely, as they had all severely underestimated Ken.

The Blind Swordsman was still unaware that he was also a target, but from the reaction of the people around him, he was getting a rather large hint.

"... You were never willing to let either one of us walk out of here alive, were you?" Ken asked as he stepped forward, standing face to face with the Special Shinobi as he clenched his fists.

"Tsk!" The Shinobi quickly jumped back, taking out a large(football-sized) metallic ball tied to a chain from a scroll on his belt, which seemed to be his weapon of choice.

Ken simply grit his teeth as he felt all of the other Shinobi around start moving as well.

'So it's a massacre after all...'

"I'd advise anyone that's weak to simply leave... I don't feel like killing too many of you today..." Ken decided to stop trying to reason with them as well.

Instead, he started releasing his killing intent, which managed to freeze most of the shinobi in their tracks.

His Chakra and Nature Energy both flared up, and combined with his murderous intent, it ended up creating a strange and baleful aura that spread out all around him, most of the Shinobi beside the Jonin all turned completely white.

The tall grass around Ken was swaying, trembling in fear as Ken's aura seemed to push it away constantly, creating a wind of its own.

Ken took out his blade, slowly unsheathing it as a deadly silence spread out all around them, with most of the shinobi frozen.

The only sound heard was Ken's long blade coming out of its Scabbard, as Ken threw the long sheath to the side with a swing.

"Come!" That was all that Ken said, in the next instant, 4 Jonin were already onto him, with more coming behind them.

They had already done quite a few hand signs while Ken was taking out his blade, and was already spitting fire towards Ken.

A large wave of fire was formed, as 4 different Jonin used varying fire Jutsu in an attempt to kill off Ken instantly.

"Useless." Was all that they could hear, as the Blind Swordsman's long blade cut through the wave of fire, blasting it back as the trees all around them swayed to match the raging firestorm that was coming right back at them.

The Jonin managed to dodge away in time, either substituting away or entering the ground. The few Chenin that were behind them weren't quite as lucky.

Ending up being blown away by the wind and getting burnt by the flames.

Ken was about to sigh, but he stopped himself from resting as he raised the hilt of his blade, covering the side of his face with it.

A ball and chain broke through the black smoke, hitting the hilt of his blade almost instantly, bouncing away with a metallic clang as Ken felt his hand shift, being moved by the force behind that blow.

'He's certainly stronger than most... He is actually a bit stronger than me as well....'

Ken was not delusional to think there were none stronger than him, he was still only 10 at that point, so he had a lot of room for growth. He expected to meet quite a few people better than him in many aspects.

But that didn't mean he was unable to fight back against them.

"Akira, duck!"

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Ken didn't resist the movement of the ball and chain, using the momentum it gave him to swing his sword behind him, where a few shinobi were already trying to ambush him.

They barely had the time to react, as Ken's blade immediately became covered in the aura and released a flying slash.

Akira had thankfully gotten the message and was already faceplanted into the ground. the entire forest around him was cut in half, all of the smoke being blown away and every shinobi that Akira was trying to hold off either lost a limb or was forced to retreat.

The cannon fodder was the first to be incapacitated, at least a good chunk of them, as Ken had yet to feel even one of the Jonin die to him.

Still, plenty of Chunin were still hanging on, hiding among the trees and waiting for an opportunity. They were after all decently powerful Shinobi.

"Akira, run away for now..." Ken said as he turned his head towards the Thief who was still hugging the ground and looking at the trees falling around him.

"Y-yes!" For a second, Akira had contemplated remaining to try and aid the blind swordsman, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell that he was holding Ken back with his presence there.

So, using his superior speed he immediately dashed in a random direction behind him, the Chunin had no chance of even getting close to him, as the trees around him didn't even get to fall properly before his back disappeared into the forest.

"SHIT!" The Special Jonin said as he turned and looked at a few of the Jonin around him.

They immediately nodded and started dashing after Akira. Ken turned to them, swinging his blade once more, sending a flying slash in their path.

This time, it seemed that the Shinobi had predicted his move. Two other Jonin and a dozen Chunin stepped in front of the flying slash and rose 12 thick earth barriers between him and the people chasing after Akira.

The walls shook as most of the people behind them were blown away, but the flying slash was still stopped effectively.

'Tsk...' Ken couldn't help but scowl a bit at the almost perfect coordination of the Shinobi.

Individually, they didn't really match up to him, but together they were still annoying to deal with.

'They can try to run after Akira, not one of them is fast enough to catch up with him.'

With that, Ken was left with only around 21 Chunin and 7 Jonin to deal with, including the 'special' one.

"I don't remember ever making an enemy out of Kusagakure..." Ken said as he spun his blade with one hand at blinding speeds and deflected dozens of projectiles with ease.

"Such chatter is unneeded, bounty hunter. Don't think you can just act freely in the Shinobi world." One of the Jonin said as he sent another fireball Ken's way.

This time, he was joined in by half of the Chunin and a few more Jonin.

They formed yet another large wave of flames, much bigger than the last, spanning hundreds of meters and burning the forest and collapsed trees in front of them without any care.

'Combined Jutsus are more annoying than I expected...'

Ken only had a few milliseconds to ponder on his next move. He immediately decided on taking the obvious route of avoiding the torrent of flames by jumping over it.

He leapt far into the air, dozens of meters above the ground as he flipped with his blade a few times, batting away all of the shurikens that came near him with terrifying momentum.

He spun and spun, batting away more and more projectiles as he sent flying slashes all over the place, creating a small tornado above the raging flames.

The flame torrent came and went, but the fire was still present, as the trees had already dried up and started burning with rage, Ken scowled as he realized that landing would be annoying, thankfully he wasn't exactly afraid of getting a bit burnt.

The Blind Swordsman's flying slashes had cut through the cover of many Shinobi, both injuring and dismembering many, including one of the Jonin, who lost an arm and a leg, forcing him out of the fight among many others.

Ken's momentum was almost forced to a stop, as a large chain seemed to rush at him and twirl around his blade, attempting to pull him to a stop, the Special Jonin pulled with all of his might and dug his feet into the ground, but he could only be dragged forward by Ken's momentum.

That was when a few others joined in and grabbed onto the chain, their combined force being enough to pull Ken from the air and slam him towards the ground.

The Masked Swordsman only had enough time to let go of his sword and roll as soon as he hit the ground, dampening most of the damage and using the momentum to roll away from yet another torrent of fireballs.

Eventually, he ended up hitting his back on a burning log. He had felt it there, but he didn't really have any other paths to retreat.

He could feel pieces of his armour falling off, as the heat also slightly burnt his skin. But they were all small injuries, the type that he knew he could heal instantly if he so wanted.

Three short blades popped out of the wood behind him, forcing him to roll away once more, right into a torrent of kunai and a few fireballs.

Ken scowled as his hands moved like lightning, forming a few hand signs and striking the ground with his palm.

"Earth Style: Great Earth Wall Jutsu!" A slightly modified version of a technique he had once stolen, a gigantic wall of earth rose in front of him instantly, blocking off the projectiles easily.

Unfortunately, the techniques were harder to block, Ken could feel his wall breaking apart with each Fire and Earth Dragon that hit it.

Eventually, the combination of Jutsus caused the wall to collapse entirely, the earth blew like shrapnel towards the Blind Swordsman, who managed to jump away in time.

As he landed once more, a few earthen hands rose from the ground and grasped at his legs and torso, making him come to a halt immediately, as he also slowly started to sink into the ground.

"Heh... Even a Kage would've lost to our encirclement, you fought well, but you're still no match for us." The Special shinobi said as he grabbed Ken's sword and studied it with a smile.

"Your coordination is quite nice... I don't know about it being able to kill an actual Kage, but I guess I can stop playing around now.

In the first place, trying not to kill you all was a mistake on my part." Ken's voice sounded calm, despite his situation he didn't seem to even feel an emotion.

This managed to unnerve the Shinobi that had gathered around him.

The Special Shinobi simply scowled not affected by the atmosphere, instead, he held onto Ken's blade and approached the currently 'captured' Blind Swordsman.

"Going out with your own blade... A fitting end for a Samurai, right?" The Special Jonin smiled as he spoke, rising the blade above his head and preparing to decapitate Ken in one swing.

The Blind Swordsman only sighed, the blade cut through his head with ease. Lightning spread around the sword and immediately paralyzed the Special Jonin, as his eyes widened slightly in shock.

'A lightning clone?!' Then, his eyes widened even more, as he noticed a backpack filled with Paper Bombs right in front of him.

"Release..." A voice was heard from behind them all as the shinobi finally noticed Ken calmly sitting on a log, his hand making a simple sign.

Two Jonin quickly went to assist their leader, trying to help raise a wall between him and the bombs, but they clearly weren't going to make it.

The Special Jonin wanted to do something as well, to make a hand sign and substitute himself, but it was far too quick for his paralyzed muscles to react.

---BOOM---

A large explosion engulfed the entire clearing their fight had created, blowing away every shinobi nearby and killing both the Special Jonin, and the two that had tried to assist him.

"So much for not getting involved with villages, huh?" Ken said as he felt his coat blow backwards in the wind.

His armour was still missing pieces, but his body was intact, he was fully healed.

Many Shinobi were discouraged by that explosion, but that didn't mean they planned to stop chasing their target.

14 Shinobi in total dashed at Ken all at once.

The Blind Swordsman sighed, as time seemed to slow down for him. He flexed his muscles, his skin started turning a different colour as scales started appearing on it.

A long tail sprouting out of his back broke the hands holding him with ease, as his muscles continued to expand more and more.

Veins appeared on his hands as his nails grew into shape claws, his tails growing a large spike on the end of it at the same time.

"From here on out... None of you will survive. Alas, you knew what you were getting into, from the start..."

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Hope you liked the chapter! This is a really bad week for me :)) Filled with projects and shit for uni, I had the time to write this one at least. I'll try to release one for the OP story tomorrow as well.

Btw this chapter is like, 3.3k words :)) So it's one of the longest ones I've ever written. 

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