Naruto: The Blind Swordsman

Chapter 181: Shura Clan, Invitation and Guests

_________ POV Narration_________

The questions Ken asked were all pointed toward finding out more about the Shura Clan's situation at first.

His father was thankfully able to answer all of them, and things were a lot better than Ken had expected.

In essence, the Shura clan could indeed not control their emotions when transformed, they would lash out and attack each other.

Ken immediately surmised that Nature Energy was going to their head and affecting their thought process, likely turning it into a more primal and less rational one.

Still, the fact that they attacked each other led to the current situation, where to maintain the Shura Clan's status Ken's biological father had come to an agreement with the village.

He, as the chief was the only one within the village to not inherit the Clan's bloodline. He was tasked with essentially overseeing them and representing them before the Kage of the Land of Keys.

The regular members of the clan would get a few hours each day outside of their homes, after which they would all chain themselves using chains made of the strongest material they had available.

Ryoko, his wife was the one to help him in all matters, as an outsider who married into the clan she was also pretty much exempt from being chained to the wall.

She was tasked mostly with delivering food to all of the members whilst they were chained.

Whenever someone went into a frenzy she was also the one to throw a smoke bomb made out of special gas to knock them out.

After all, the adult Shura Clan members could break out of any chains whilst, in a frenzy, it was important for them to not be allowed to harm themselves or others around them.

Hiroshi also helped his mother with that, covering one half of the village whilst she covered the other.

It was not a perfect system, sometimes the clan members would break out and be sedated outside instead.

Some clan members were chained near windows, and they had poisonous darts near them, containing a powerful sedative that would knock out the rampaging Shura Clan members before they did further damage.

There were plenty of procedures in place to ensure that the residents of the Shura Clan survived through their frenzies, and most of them were centered around Toyama, the clan head.

Their clan was not a powerful one, however, so they were taxed rather heavily by the Hidden Village nearby.

The Land of Keys was providing them with resources and protection at the end of the day.

But the Shura Clan didn't have the greatest financial situation, the only real export out of the village was wood, which was cheap and rather plentiful through other nearby villages.

They were also not able to help the Hidden Village with raising any shinobi due to the nature of their Bloodline Limit.

The only person within the clan able to control his transformation somewhat was Ken's brother, Hiroshi. But he only really gained control over his transformation in his later teenage years, missing the timeframe for attending any academy.

Hiroshi was only able to control his transformations thanks to gaining some understanding and mastery over Nature Energy. Even without a teacher, he was able to achieve quite a bit, which was impressive on its own.

He was far from being called a sage, but he was at least able to stop the energy from rushing to his head.

This at least allowed him to use his Bloodline Limit, which technically made him a shinobi, but he didn't have any formal training aside from his mother coaching him slightly.

She used to be a Genin, so it wasn't like she could help him all that much aside from helping him gain control over his chakra and the basic 3 ninjutsu that every academy thought.

Well, the variations of the 3 that her village had taught her anyway.

Hiroshi had already mastered them, which at least put him a the level of Genin, which really didn't mean all that much considering the fact that children had that very same rank and only went on small missions like repairing fences and catching cats.

His bloodline limit, the transformation was also very different from Ken's. That was the case for the entire clan of course. They didn't grow any scales, nor did they seem to be able to alter their body like Ken could.

Their transformation did turn their bodies into biological weapons, Nature Energy-propelled attacks were what they were mainly capable of, and their physical strength was monstrous.

The next thing Ken did after learning more about the Shura Clan's situation as well as their bloodline was to ask for some DNA samples.

At first, his parents thought that he wanted blood, and were quite anxious when he brought it up, but Ken plucked a strand of hair from each so fast that they didn't even feel it.

He stored the DNA within a scroll, much to Hiroshi's excitement.

"So that's a seal?!" He was quite ignorant when it came to matters related to the shinobi world. Though his not recognizing the Red Dot's mask was already a good indicator of that.

"Yep, a basic storage seal, very useful in transportation. I always carry quite a few resources with me when traveling." Ken pulled out a few scrolls and took out some warm meals to show to his brother.

"The seals are Space and Time Fuinjutsu, they are surprisingly not complex to be considered anything special, despite the fact that Space-Time Ninjutsu is considered the most difficult out there."

Ken sighed as he remembered the hoops and leaps he had to go through to turn the Summoning Jutsu into the main method of transportation for the Dark Brotherhood.

Hiroshi seemed to be quite fascinated about it too, his eyes sparkling as he listened to his brother's explanation.

It didn't really need to be said, but Hiroshi pretty much saw Ken as an older brother, not really a twin.

There was a stark difference in world experience in maturity between them at the end of the day.

Maybe it was the blood connection or his innocence, but Ken also took to caring about him quite quickly. A lot faster than it would have in the past of course.

At this point, the Blind Assassin saw Hiroshi the same way he saw Minato. A kind soul in a dark world. But the difference was that Hiroshi was actually sheltered from the world.

'It's hard to tell whether or not he'd be able to maintain his kindness and purity whilst partaking in this mad world as Minato did... But it's better that he doesn't participate in it at all.'

"Well... I have most of what I came here for." Ken slowly allowed his senses to prod the room and search for the expressions of the people around him.

"How about you stay for dinner?" The question came from none other than Hiroshi. Had it come from either Ryoko or Tyoama, the Blind Monster would have refused it without a second thought.

Hearing his brother's voice, he did stop to consider it for a second.

'Hmm... I'm unlikely to return here anytime soon unless the DNA results turn out anything interesting. Might as well humor him for a few more minutes.'

"Fine, it had been a while since I'd sat down at a table and eaten with others."

Even after reaching his current level of strength, and his progress essentially plateauing slightly, he still kept training with just as much intensity.

Still, the time of him growing stronger with each day that passed was already over. Now it seemed that he would have to increase his strength by honing his techniques further and learning new jutsu.

This constant training meant that most of Ken's meals were usually quick snacks in the middle of training breaks.

Ryoko's eyes widened and a smile quickly formed on her features.

"I-I'll start preparing the food right away!" She immediately got up and went towards the kitchen, a rather decently sized one at that.

She started preparing some local cuisine that Ken was not quite accustomed to.

Ken and his brother continued to speak during that time, with Toyama sometimes chiming in. Thankfully he was not ignored nor scorned whilst chiming in, at the very least his own son was still willing to speak to him.

Ken didn't have much interest, but that was to be expected.

Trust was something that could hardly be squeezed out of Ken even by his loved ones. Abandoning him once was enough to break any possible trust.

No matter how much they grew as people, the Blind Assassin didn't care. Second chances didn't come quite so cheaply.

Meanwhile, in the forest in the distance, the Anbu finally returned with their Kage's orders.

"We are not to get close to the Shura Clan or Ken for now. Secure the perimeter and do not allow anyone to get close."

The silence among their group stretched for a moment before one of them seemed to become quite panicked.

The captain immediately realized that, and his gaze instantly fixated on his subordinate.

"... What the fuck did you do?"

"W-well... I let some friends pass earlier, like always... Figured the Red Dot already left since there's nothing interesting about this Shura clan..."

The Anbu Captain blankly stared at his subordinate. He could feel a blood vessel pop in his eyes from how hard he stared...

As the Anbu squad was arguing, Ken and his brother continued speaking openly, sharing stories and experiences.

It was during his interactions with his brother that another knock at the door was heard, this time the sun had already set, and the person, or rather people outside seemed to be quite a bit more violent.

Ken could feel their emotions rather easily, he felt his father silently stand up when hearing the knocking, and he also felt his mother and brother both flinch.

"Open the door freeloading scum!" The man at the door shouted, his fist still banging on the door.

Toyama scowled when hearing that voice, a low growl escaping his throat as a hint of shame appeared in his eyes.

'To be shamed in front of both of my sons like this... These bastards.'

The clan head opened the door, his face morphing from a scowl into a friendly smile.

"You guys! So glad to see you..."

"Hah, shut yer trap." The man barged into the house pushing Toyama out of the way as the other two followed behind him.

Ken felt the wind bend around their features, more specifically he felt their headbands.

'Hmm? Shinobi, well they are chunin at best... The Leader is likely a 'Special/Tokubetsu Jonin''

"Maan, this really is a nice place. Good to see all the village's donations are helping your freeloading butts." The leader of the pack seemed to scan the home with his eyes.

"Sir Iruma... We've already paid the tax for this week. What do you want from us." Despite his frustration, Toyama still managed to speak out.

Ken smiled as he remembered how his parents greeted him at the door, it seemed that this was far from the first time this group of shinobi beat on their door and entered their home.

Iruma, the Special Jonin, or almost Jonin as Ken liked to call them, ignored the clan leader.

His eyes scanned the house, eventually landing on the dinner table.

"Please do not bother my sons..." Toyama's hands clenched, as he didn't quite like the look that Iruma had on his face.

The 'Almost Jonin' continued to ignore Toyama however, he instead looked at unmasked Ken for a few seconds, before a shit-eating grin split on his face and his eyebrows raised a bit.

"What's with the scarecrow? Didn't know you had a second shitty son, haha!" Iruma mocked Ken openly, his cronies behind him laughing along.

"... What rude guests." Instead of scowling, a wide and large smile split apart face.

_____________________________

Hope you liked today's chapter!

Shenanigans ensue! Yea, most ppl can somewhat guess how this situation's about to go ;)

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