Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Energy and Exhaustion

Ken didn't know what to feel when he recovered his senses...

He could smell plenty of his own blood in the air, he could feel the swordsmen departing, but he didn't have the strength to stop them...

They didn't turn around either, only kept going until they were completely out of his range.

That was the only moment Ken was actually able to calm down momentarily and focus on his own body...

He could feel both of his energies... One of them was his Chakra, weakened as some of it had been absorbed by the blade of one of the swordsmen.

The other energy was now the dominant one, at least briefly. It was revolving around his entire body in a way Ken had never felt before.

Ken had never actually managed to control it himself, but it seemed to naturally strengthen his body at all times for some reason.

Ken could feel his body mending, slowly, he would surely be immobile for a few hours at the very least.

The energy was running rampant in his body by itself, he could feel it clearly...

The more it dissipated while healing his wounds, the more of it seemed to be automatically absorbed from his surroundings.

Yet, it seemed to automatically balance itself to match his chakra.

Which now would've technically slowed down his healing if it was not constantly being absorbed from the air around him as he powered through the pain and breathed as much and as deeply as he could.

Ken had no clue what that energy was, it seemed to be related to nature from how it was being absorbed from around him, but Ken still had no clue as to what it was. Although, it was pretty clear that it had saved his life...

Another thing that had clearly saved his life was the fact that, unlike most people, his heart was actually located slightly more to the right, a bit covered by one of his lungs.

It was likely related to his birth, as he was pretty hideously deformed at the end of the day...

Kushimaru had only slightly grazed his heart instead of piercing it. Had it been pierced, Ken would've likely died regardless of that energy...

'Who knew... That a human can actually get that strong...' Ken pondered on the people that had almost killed him while simply enjoying the wind beating on his broken body.

Ken had thought himself relatively powerful. The strange nature-related energy had made him stronger than most adults despite only being 8 years old.

He didn't remember or know much about the world he found himself in, but he had felt that cutting down one or two trees with a sword swing was already powerful...

It seemed that he wasn't all that great after all... At least not yet.

He had the technique forged in the blood of tens of thousands from back in his world, he had the surprise attack on them, and yet he had still ended up in his current state.

From the beginning to the end, Ken had trouble following the movements of his opponents.

He could initially tell that they were stronger than him from their strides, and the way they carried themselves, but he thought he would be able to make up for the difference with skill.

It seemed that the 7 adults were also plenty skilled...

'This isn't acceptable...' Ken felt clenched one of his broken arms with a frown on his face.

He simply felt inadequate, the ones that killed his family were simply able to walk away despite his best efforts.

That was when it hit him...

'No... In the first place, I've just turned 8 this week... These people seem to be talented people that have trained their entire lives...'

That train of thought managed to raise a different emotion in Ken. A wide, crazed and toothy smile rose on his lips, his sharpened teeth somewhat red from the blood that he had just spit out.

'7 Swordsmen... All carrying 'special' swords, not exactly a low-key group. Next time we meet... All of them will die... No. I won't just kill them. I'll make sure to get strong enough to crush them.'

Ken's wide smile didn't disappear at all, not even when wolves had gathered around him, cautiously circling around him as if they were waiting for him to die or pass out. They had likely smelled all of the blood in the area.

While they were approaching, Ken was in his own mind, thinking of the ways he would go about killing the swordsmen.

With those thoughts in mind, he simply let out a small laugh.

All the wolves reared back when hearing it. Then the small laugh turned louder and louder, becoming more and more demented by the second.

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Ken's aura flared up, he released a wave of killing intent so baleful and vile that all of the wolves seemed to freeze up instantly when it passed over them.

Ken's laughter resonated throughout the clearing he was in, the wolves instantly turned tail and ran away, not wanting to get any closer to the thing laying on the ground.

After all... No matter how wounded it was, a predator would always be dangerous prey to hunt.

Ken didn't really bother with the wolves, he merely sat there for the next few hours, running simulations in his mind about how that fight could've gone had he been just a little bit stronger.

Eventually, though, his bloodlust had calmed down, as he regained his bearings and painfully sat back up.

The bones in his arms were still cracked all over, but they were slowly mending. It seemed that most of his flesh wounds were already healed up.

With his hands hanging limply by his sides, he started walking back towards the place where his family was killed, and by extension towards his only home.

He stopped by the corpses of his family, he wasn't the type to put an emotional value on corpses, but he still valued their memory greatly, so he used his broken arms to grab onto something important from each of them.

He dragged his broken body back to the temple, his home, which was now empty.

Ken could feel the air flowing through it, as he realised just how little the house meant without the people living in it.

The previously warm enclosure and safe space they had built, was now nothing more than a cold and desolate scenery, the fire that was usually kept alight by Koji had also gone out while Ken was out.

Ken at this point realized that he wouldn't be able to live there for long. It was no longer a home, it was just a residence now.

And, it was also a graveyard. Ken approached the shrine he had built, the little memorial place he had made for the people that fell before them.

Now, 6 more trinkets were placed on it.

Daisuke's hairpin, the man had always had long hair, and his hairpin always held it in place, even during training.

Koji's favourite kunai, which he also used as a scalpel. It wasn't exactly a sentimental item, but Koji was not the type of person to keep trinkets and to give meaning to items...

Jurou's necklace, which was made out of wolf fangs, from wolves that he had hunted as a young man.

Isamu had his favourite pair of sandals, one that Ken had actually made for him... The samurai had cherished it quite a bit...

Fumio had a small tanto, the first blade that Ken had used as a small child. It was a family relic of sorts, and Fumio had given it to Ken for a while to train with a sharp blade.

And Arata's cracked glasses, as the less dexterous member, he unfortunately also had some eyesight problems. But that never deterred him.

Ken stood there for a bit, carving away at a few pieces of wood with his less broken arm as he made the shrine a bit larger.

After spending a bit of time on that, Ken dropped his tools(which were just sharpened stones), and went on inside the temple.

Falling asleep on his futon almost instantly as tiredness took over his body and mind.

The last thing he thought about brought an honest smile to his lips, as he remembered the recent celebration of his birthday.

A warm moment... One that he would no longer have the luxury to experience.

And with that, Ken blacked out.

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Yeah, at this point it's pretty clear that Ken's basically a natural-born sage.

Oh, yea, to clarify(in case anyone's curious), Ken is currently in the same generation as Nagato.

Also, the 7 swordsmen weren't contracted, they just collected the bounty ;)

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