_________ POV Ken _________

Tracking their movements was never the hard part...

They have never been particularly quiet in their work, and this time around they made the most sound, almost as if they were asking for attention.

Thankfully, we've been tracking them for a while now.

Kazue was nice enough to give me a hand too...

Besides calling on other Uzumaki Shinobi nearby and becoming pillars supporting the barrier, he also made sure that the Uzumaki and Leaf wouldn't interfere, no matter how much noise we make here.

I made it clear that this is a personal vendetta against the swordsmen. But Kazue likely just wants to help the Leaf and the Uzumaki by getting rid of the Mist Swordsmen.

But his intentions don't really matter... What actually matters is that he helped make this possible...

This way, I don't have to strike a deal with the Leaf to get them to back off, and I don't have to deal with any other interference either.

I also don't have to ask the Blades to hold up the barrier, which would've been difficult in itself since their Chakra Reserves can't really compare to those of the Uzumaki Shinobi...

Akira and Saburo may be able to, but we need more than two pillars to hold up the barrier.

This way, I can also see how my closest associates fare against Top Jonin from the Hidden Villages.

Kazue himself may be a good benchmark, but he is also not an enemy, so a battle to the death isn't possible.

The Swordsmen targeting villages isn't all that surprising, seems that the Third Shinobi War is already shaping up to be just as bloody as the Warring States Period, which is quite regretful...

Surprising as it is, it seems that the 'Shinobi World' seeks to be more and more combined with the 'Regular World' with each war...

But I guess they were always the same world... Even if the Shinobi were supposed to be in the shadows, they still step out in the light and kill each other en mass.

Even Anbu, the supposed black ops that actually deal with assassinations in each village, take part in these wars actively.

Regardless, there is nothing I can do to change the Warmongers that started this. I'll at least finish what I set out to do... What I've been preparing for all these years...

Let's see how the Swordsmen fare against the Dark Brotherhood...

_________ POV Narration _________

The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist would've been ignorant if they hadn't heard about the 'Red Dot' before.

They also could connect the dots slightly to the child that they had 'killed' back in that forest.

When the Red Dot first appeared they thought that he would come after their necks sooner or later...

But after months of nothing happening at all, and the Red Dot not even targeting the Mist in any way, they somewhat reached the conclusion that the 'Red Dot' was likely unrelated to the child they had killed.

A large bloody coincidence that they just happened to look the same, and wear similar masks.

After a while, that conclusion was solidified, as the Red Dot showed strength comparable to that of the 5 Great Kage.

'There's no way that child could've gotten that strong in such a short time... It's simply not feasible.' Was their reasoning...

Kushimari even then was not quite convinced, leading him to be a lot more cautious of his surroundings at all times, to the point where he had become slightly paranoid.

But the consensus was still that they were going to be fine. That the little monster they met in that forest had died.

They didn't bother to look for reports of other incidents that may have happened around that time...

If they did, they may have heard that a clean-up crew was murdered in cold blood by an unknown assailant. And they may have been able to better connect the dots.

But as things stood, they all figured that everything was going to be fine...

At least until the cruel world they lived in decided to play a nice prank on them.

"As I've said... Lively as ever..." The Red Dot's voice was chilling, emotionless even.

It made the swordsmen feel even more nervous.

They expected an emotionally charged and revenge-driven man to come after them... They weren't expecting... This?

The tone in which he spoke, the casual manner in which he seemed to carry himself... It was almost as if they were looking at a bored food-stall owner just trying to get his shift over and done with...

Kushimaru gulped a bit as he twirled a wire around his fingers.

"There's still 7 of us... We can take him on. Together we are the strongest force that the Mist has, we won't fall here..."

Despite feeling uneasy, he still spoke out to his teammates.

They seemed to agree, their confidence returning momentarily.

Jūzō and Fuguki were the least motivated by that little speech... They were the two that had almost died to Ken back when he was still a child at the end of the day...

Fuguki was well aware that he would've been dead even before getting the chance to retaliate if it wasn't for the Samehada.

The living blade could sense an enemy's charka signature and lifeforce no matter how well they hid it. It was, after all, a blade that fed on Chakra.

If Samehada hadn't warned him back then, he would've been skewered like a pig. So he knew to be even more cautious now.

Jūzō however, in his infinite wisdom, seemed to gain a really strange idea in his mind...

'Kushimaru is right, we've even faced Kage before... It's not like we're bound to lose here .'

"Hah! To think you'd come back alone and give us the chance to finish the job! Do you want to get to see those stupid bandits so soon?!"

Taunting an enemy as strong as Ken was rarely a good option. But Jūzō figured it might give them an edge if their opponent truly did lash out and attacked them recklessly.

The others around him seemed to silently agree with him, preparing for any eventuality as they all waited for Ken to make the first move.

In such a situation, the one that made the first move was always going to be at a disadvantage after all.

They also had a numerical advantage, so they knew better than to give that up so easily. As long as they were together, they were well-defended.

"... When exactly did I say that I came here alone?" Ken's voice quickly dampened their mood though...

The 7 immediately acted and turned to stand back to back...

All around them, white masks seemed to peek out from the darkness... Dozens upon dozens of them appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

'Shit multiple enemies... Of course, there would be more of them, they even had the resources to trap us here...' Kushimaru immediately started manipulating his wire to form some sort of perimeter around him and his comrades.

"The Dark Brotherhood, huh..." Jinin scoffed as he looked around at all of the assassins that now encircled them.

"Shit... They seem to be ranging from Chunin to Jonin... There's over 50 of them..." Fuguki scowled as his eyes scanned the faceless crowd still somewhat hidden in the shadow of the trees.

"They got this close since we were too focused on him, but we can manage them..." Kushimaru scowled underneath his mask as his eyes also darted around the village.

"Focused or not... I don't know if we'll be able to take them all on while also having to deal with him..." Raiga's green hair moved with the wind, as he looked up at the red sky with an anxious expression.

"4 of us can keep him busy, while the rest take care of the fodder." Aramo transformed his two-hilted massive blade into two separate swords as they shined a deep blue.

"Apologies... We weren't able to bring much fodder with us... I'm afraid we only have trained assassins..."

Three men stepped forward at that moment, clearly different from the rest...

They all wore different masks, one had one red slash in the centre, one had two, and the last one had three...

"The Blades, huh? Didn't know there were only three of them..." Jimpachi held his explosive 'blade' with a rather anxious expression.

The Blades had already become known to be part of the top brass within the Brotherhood. They rarely appeared in public.

The Third Blade did build a VERY bloody reputation recently though... He was said to brutalize his enemies in extreme ways... Much like the Mist Swordsmen did.

The one that had spoken out was the one with two red slashes, the Second Blade. A man that had never made a public appearance before.

His voice sounded slightly amused and even... Excited?

"Well, all of you can rest easy... You won't have to die today... Though your future 'lives' won't be something to look forward to..." The Third Blade sounded even more excited. He didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was finding amusement in their anguish.

"Leader... Everything has been prepared to your demands... We are ready to begin at any point." The First Blade seemed to completely ignore the Mist Swordsmen, speaking directly to Ken, who simply nodded.

"Very well... You can all go to your spots!" Ken's bored voice echoed through the entire area, and the masked figures all nodded silently and vanished into the shadows, including the blades.

The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist prepared for the worst... They could thankfully still sense some of the masked assassins as well, as they seemingly couldn't hide their presence as well.

Ken's figure stepped forward, causing the Mist Swordsmen to almost flinch.

He seemed to wear a sleeveless long coat, held close by a button around the chest area, only his long hair and mask were visible still.

The cornered swordsmen immediately noticed something strange...

"He's taller than described in the Bingo Book..."

The figure approaching them was around 1.8 meters(5.9 feet) tall, taller than the average adult even.

While the Red Dot was reported to be around 1.5 meters(4.9 feet) tall, much shorter than the average adult...

'Something isn't right... He's not transformed either...' Kushimaru mused as he set up traps all around them with his steel wires.

"I guess they just got it wrong... That or he just grew taller... He's still a teenager, I think." Jinin's tone sounded a bit anxious.

The Mist Swordsmen didn't like to be reminded of the fact that the beast standing in front of them was technically a child...

Even more shocking was the fact that said the child had already shaken the world of Shinobi to the point where he was considered on par with the 5 Great Kage...

'His presence is nothing like back then! Shit, I think we're actually going to die... Or whatever the hell they have in store for us? Torture maybe?' Jūzō was already panicking internally, preparing for the worst.

Ken immediately proved his superiority, in the blink of an eye, he was already in front of them, his hand outstretched towards the one closest to him, which was Jinin.

"No you don't!" Kushimaru's voice rang out as wire sprang out from the ground, coiling around Ken violently as Jinin also swung his axe towards his neck, hoping to behead him in one go.

"Die!" Jinin's axe seemed to connect, it shone as the Jonin imbued it with as much chakra as he could.

'I got him!' The swordsman couldn't help but become excited at that moment. He could feel his axe touch the skin on the beast's neck.

"Close..."  A cold voice rang out from behind him, and the figure he had almost touched turned into an afterimage.

'Shit, he got in between us!' Was all that any of them could think.

But before they could even muster up some sort of defence, they all felt as if they were pushed, losing their balance.

Ken then jumped away, turning in the air and landing in a crouched position.

At that moment, Kushimaru's eyes widened as he noticed a seal on the back of one of his teammates...

'A forced Contract Seal...'

"Shit! He's marked us!" His voice rang out in panic, but it was already too late for any of them to get rid of the seal...

"Reverse Summoning Jutsu: Seven Hell Formation!" Ken cut both of his thumbs with the nail on his index finger and planted them onto the ground.

The 7 Shinobi in front of him disappeared in a puff of smoke at that moment.

'Let the fun begin...'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Now, I saw a few comments about a cliffhanger last chapter.

Honestly? I feel kinda bad for uploading another cliffhanger, but it is wat it is. 

The reverse summoning will be explained more next chapter btw. Tho some ppl may already be able to speculate about what he did. 

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 12 chapters in advance (or 6/3 depending on tier)