__________ POV Narration __________ 

"Tsk, to think he'd disappear just like that..." Onoki scowled as the smoke that had enveloped Ken cleared.

By his side, black sand twirled and came together to form a figure. A tall man with spiky black hair. 

It was none other than the Kazekage. 

"It might be for the best..." The man who had seemingly just returned from the dead seemed quite shaken.

"Of course, you'd say that... You seemed content with hiding around in the sand like a rat after your clone got killed..." Onoki scowled once more, this time towards the Kazekage.

"Don't judge me too harshly, Onoki... I've had my doubts, but the Red Dot is certainly worthy of his infamy..." 

The Kazekage clenched his fist as he spoke, he seemed to be sweating heavily as he looked down at his bleeding arm. 

"Even with the substitution jutsu prepared ahead of time I still almost died. His speed is simply unbelievable... What an absurd monster." 

The Kazekage was one of the very strongest in the Shinobi world. one of the Great Kage. And even he only barely escaped death in a brief confrontation with Ken. 

"Well, welcome to the current world. There's a reason why so many of us came together to bring him down, Third Kazekage." Onoki shook his head and crossed his arms.

The Kazekage could only shrug at that point.

'It's possible that he's more absurd than we expected... I'm pretty sure he turned his head towards me whilst I was still in hiding. 

Even stopping my heart momentarily, not breathing and stifling my chakra flow was not enough to go unnoticed by him.' 

The Kazekage decided to no longer speak about that, however, not wanting to dwell on it for too long.

'I guess I now know why the Mizukage didn't want anything to do with this whole operation... I'm regretting joining it myself...' 

"Still, it seems our intel on the Red Dot and the Dark Brotherhood's plans was quite thorough... That Grass Village informant seems to be worth his salt"

Onoki muttered as he looked below, the One-Tailed Beast was already retracting into the body of its Jinchuriki, the flimsy seal reactivating itself after a set period of time. 

"... Indeed, honestly I have my doubts about our chances against that monster now. But the plan might still just work." 

The Third Kazekage could only sigh after contemplating the situation a bit. His hopes were on their plan to succeed.

"Reverse summoning used in such a way. It's certainly ingenious, although a rather large waste of chakra to use it on a battlefield..." Onoki stroked his beard as he remembered the explanation he had received regarding the Dark Brotherhood's means.

"Maybe so, seems they have plenty of monsters in that Dark Brothood of theirs." The Kazekage crossed his arms and looked at the place where Ken had vanished. 

Onoki seemed to be thinking about something for a few seconds before he looked at the Kazekage and smiled in a shrewd manner. 

"Heh, doesn't matter... I wonder how confused the Red Dot is going to be... When he realises that he's not been summoned to the right location!" 

____________________

Ken landed on the stone floor upright, he cracked his neck as his senses adjusted to his surroundings, and in an instant, he felt several spikes stabbing into his body from all sides. 

It wasn't that the attacks were too fast for him to dodge, but that they had likely started before he had even gotten reverse summoned in that strange place.

The Blind Monster growled as he felt himself being strangely immobilised by the spikes, it wasn't long before he realised that all of the stakes that had stabbed into him were adorned with sealing formations.

They weren't as powerful as the ones used by the Uzumaki, but there were numerous, compact, certainly the work of a bright mind. 

Ken could only really move his mouth slightly, every other part of his body was completely immobilized. 

"Keh... A dragon trapped in a cage like a rat..." A sinister voice sounded out in that cave, Ken recognised that presence as one of the beings that had been spying on him throughout his journey.

But he realised that it wasn't quite the same, it seemed to have something else attached to it. A blob of consciousness that Ken couldn't quite put his finger on. 

"Seems Saburo did indeed betray us, huh?... Figures. And what are you exactly?" Ken tried to shake his head in regret but was unable to, so he ended up only slightly gritting his teeth. 

"Hmmm~ You can call me Black Zetsu... You were a tad too trusting of the Strawman. An ambitious man like him would normally dread working under anyone. When promised true freedom he readily accepted." 

Ken scowled slightly when hearing that.

"Tsk, I gave him more than enough freedom. Seems like I'll have to rethink our partnership going forward..." 

The Blind Monster's voice was carrying a powerful intonation, it was enough to strike fear into the heart of any regular shinobi that he would've run into. 

But the thing in front of him was no regular shinobi.

"Going forward? And what gives you the confidence to escape this place? It's a prison specifically made for you, with your specifications in mind. 

Saburo, the little snake, was crucial in the creation of this cage..." 

Ken couldn't help but smile slightly underneath his mask when he heard that.

"Oh, that's cute... You think I've shown him everything that there is to know about me?" 

In an instant, Ken's already transformed boy started shifting unnaturally, and some of the seals around him seemed to start malfunctioning. 

It seemed that the very nature of Ken's being was shifting, and Black Zetsu couldn't help but narrow its eyes. 

'Hmm, I guess sealing him isn't going to be so simple... We don't have access to any powerful sealing technique, unfortunately...

The strongest Genjutsu we have at hand is also visual in activation, which is next to useless in this case... ' 

The parasitic being couldn't help but scowl at the trapped monster's confidence. 

"Even if you hid some of your capabilities, you are not going to make it in time...

The Dark Brotherhood will be a thing of the past by the time you manage to free yourself, and we will only have you to deal with..."

Ken could feel rage bubbling up inside him, in his mind the image of the ones he cared for appeared. 

He couldn't bring himself to imagine them dying. He couldn't accept such a fate. 

"After that, all of our combined efforts will be enough to either permanently seal you away or kill you outright...

That is if I am unable to kill you myself by that point!"

Black Zetsu then plunged a wooden stake into Ken's heart. Or at least tried to, the wooden stake cracked and bent and splintered against Ken's scales, making the Blind Assassin scoff.

"Pathetic..." The blind assassin's cold voice washed over Black Zetsu, sending a few shivers down its spine. But it composed itself almost instantly, even scoffing in the process. 

Black Zetsu then brought out a different tool, a long special kunai, which he then imbued with chakra and once again stabbed towards Ken.

"You can gloat all you want... But we were expecting tough scales." 

The kunai's tip struggled against the Blind Monster's chest, sparks rose and eventually, after a few seconds of applying constant pressure, the parasitic entity finally drew blood. 

"Try your worst... But you better pray that you kill me in time, otherwise, I will make sure to end you and everything you care about..." 

Ken didn't even hiss from the pain, his calm words seemed to unnerve the being slightly.

'Even in this situation, he clings on to hope?... What gives him so much confidence?

By Saburo's words, there was no one besides the immortal that we needed to concern ourselves with.' 

The parasitic being was quite confused at that moment, trying to think of any factors that they might have overlooked in their planning. 

But nothing really came to mind, which prompted Black Zetsu to just shake its head and plunge another long kunai into Ken.

He didn't take out the other one, to prevent the Blind Monster from healing. But even piercing his skin was difficult due to the toughness of his scales. 

Thankfully, the body of the Zetsu it was occupying was stronger physically than others.

Even then, trying to pierce Ken's skin felt like he was trying to pierce a stone wall with a screwdriver. 

"Seems like this will be fun~" The Black Zetsu lamented as it continued taking out various tools. 

 Meanwhile, at the Dark Brotherhood compound, things were not going quite as they were expecting.

The two tailed beasts seemed to have finally escaped from their misshapen sealing formations. It was supposed to be nothing more than a temporary prison regardless.

Now all of the Chakra of the Dark Brotherhood was being finely focused on defending just the compound. 

Tosho and Akira both stood on top of the main gate, both preparing for the worst as they had not received any word from their master.

"Wasn't it time for him to get summoned here?" Akira asked as he watched the two tailed beasts wreak havoc on the mountain range that surrounded their brotherhood. 

"... I have a bad feeling about this..." Tosho mouthed off before looking down at the centre of the compound, where all of the pillars of the formation, the children, were sitting in meditative formations. 

The First Blade's critical eye couldn't help but notice one of Saburo's clones heading for the middle of the village, an action that immediately aroused the suspicion of the already distrustful man. 

 "Akira, watch the gate..." The First Blade spoke out, tapping the Third Blade on the shoulder before dashing towards the middle of the village, turning into a blur in the process.

His eyes narrowed, as he felt more of Saburo's clones heading for the middle. A concerning sign...

There was no reason for Saburo to do so, none whatsoever. 

And it wasn't long before one of the clones took out a blade, and stalked closer and closer to one of the meditating pillars.

'Shit... Seems like my worries have materialized. I need to protect the children!' 

 But Tosho wasn't the only one paying attention.

In an instant, that clone was slammed into the ground at inhuman speeds. kicked by a masked teenager with only one leg. 

Tatsukio, the one-legged devil. 

"What seems to be the matter, mister Second Blade?" The Nr.1 prospect of the Dark Brotherhood looked at the surrounding clones with a cold smile. 

He slowly tilted his head as a cold and deadly murderous intent exuded off of him.

He was initially supposed to be one of the pillars but decided to leave that duty to one of his other siblings, deciding to take it upon himself to defend them to his death.

"Change of plans... We need to take down the barrier." One of the stronger clones stepped forward, instantly deciding on a course of action. 

"Oh? Is that so? The teacher did mention that there won't be any changes... And to be wary of you, just in case..." The veins on Tatsukio's neck bulged slightly as he slowly unsheathed the tanto on his back.

In an instant, countless projectiles were fired towards the pillars from all sides, Tatsukio couldn't help but sweat as he realized he couldn't block every single one. 

But he wasn't alone.

More and more of his siblings jumped in, faceless masks surrounding the clones in their entirety.

Unseen and almost impossible to detect, many banded together to form a circle around the pillars. 

And the rest were all already standing with their blades at the necks of Saburo's clones.

"These clones are all mostly disposable... But I guess I had underestimated how well-trained you all were..." 

The strongest clone present spoke in a rather monotone voice. Its body then seemed to shift in strange manners.

"This clone, however, is not something that you children can deal with... A patchwork of the Swordsmen of the Mist, one of my finest works of art... Besides..."

He then quickly made a hand sign, choosing to sacrifice his weaker clones as all of the children either stabbed them in the neck or beheaded them.

"Shit, get away!" Tatsukio spoke out as most of the clones turned out to have explosive tags on them.

The tags sparked and explosions ate at the entire square.

But they then vanished in an instant, catching even Saburo off guard.

"Oh... So you're here..." The Strawman's clone turned to the side and slowly stepped back, eyeing Tatsukio, who had already drawn the Samehada.

Although the Samehada didn't like Fire-Nature Chakra, the First Blade still forced it to eat up the explosion before it killed any of the children. 

"I knew trusting you was a mistake... I guess master cannot be completely right at all times..." Tosho shook his head and slowly rested the wriggling Samehada on his shoulder.

"... I never did see you in a fight, now did I?" The Strawman clone ignored the First Blade's comment, instead slowly raising its hands and preparing to make a few more hand signs. 

"Let's see how well you fa-" 

The clone continued speaking but was swiftly cut off as both of its arms flew off.

"Shut it..." Tosho stood behind him, towering over him, the Samehada quickly munching on the clone's dismembered arms. 

The First Blade cracked his neck, as the Strawman clone slowly fell forward, pinned to the ground by the enlarged and wriggling handle of the Samehada, completely unable to even move.

"As master's first student and most trusted right-hand man... I shall take it upon myself to rid the Brotherhood of your filth..." 

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Kinda struggled to write this one out, had a busy weekend(had to return to the family home to help around the housE) anyway, Imma go sleep

Story Shoutout: Hell Difficulty Tutorial

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