Chapter 26
Kenshin, Ichiro and Keiji were unaware of the surveillance, enjoying a stroll around the city and having fun visiting many shops. Kenshin bought four silver pendants on a chain, giving 1000 ryo for the whole thing. He wanted to put a material protection formation on them, and give them to Aya and his two sons.
Kenshin himself already had a similar pendant with the formation applied, he had spent almost a whole day installing such a complex formation on such a small pendant, but the result was worth it. The formation could protect him from three thrown kunai, or ten full force blows from Ichiro, spreading the kinetic energy of the impact across his body, causing him to recoil without visible damage.
Kenshin guessed that this formation would not save him from even one full force hit from Jonin, but guessed it would at least stop one fireball from Genin.
After half an hour of wandering around the city, the trio had lunch at a local diner, and Kenshin and his two sons headed towards home. Their shoulder bags were half-full of various items, but because of the weight-reduction formation, the weight of the bags was hardly felt at all, and the trio was quickly ten kilometres out of the city, their "home" forest already visible on the horizon, but Ichiro suddenly froze like a stumbling block and looked back.
"Father, we are being pursued!" - Mentally he stated in a serious tone.
"What, stalking?!" - Kenshin thought with surprise, and looked back. At a distance of 500 metres, a figure was rapidly approaching them, rapidly reducing the distance.
"It's a Konoha shinobi!" - Ichiro declared, peering into the distance. Thanks to his enhanced vision, he could see things Kenshin couldn't.
"What are we going to do, father?" - Mentally asked Keiji, becoming serious.
"We'll act on the circumstances. I hope he's just running past" - Kenshin stated, and the trio continued walking at the same pace as a moment ago.
- Hey you, freeze! - Thirty seconds later, an irritated, slightly panting voice sounded.
Kenshin and his two sons turned round, looking at Genin. Kenshin put on his most ridiculous and friendly smile, playing the part of the village fool.
- Greetings, Mr Shinobi. Do you need something from the three brothers? We're simple peasants, but if there's anything we can do to help Master, just say the word! - Kenshin said selflessly, and Ichiro and Keiji nodded.
The young Konoha genin looked at the three brothers appraisingly, as if considering and deciding a difficult question, but then his eyes glittered, and he said, obviously having made up his mind about the question that had been plaguing him: - Follow me. - And he involuntarily shook his head in the direction of the small hills about five hundred metres away from this place.
The sturdy young man pondered whether to rob the trio or to rob and kill, and at the last moment he chose the second option. He decided to eliminate possible future trouble by simply leaving no witnesses or victims.
Kenshin could see exactly where the Genin had ordered them to go, and he knew immediately. He had originally been willing to give up all his money to avoid having to fight a full-fledged Konoha Genin, but now he had no choice, and Kenshin mentally commanded "Now!".
Ichiro and Keiji, standing to the left and right of the Genin, immediately threw their shurikens at him, and Kenshin lunged with his kunai, but at the last moment the Genin jumped back, and Kenshin's kunai missed its target, as did Keiji's shuriken, but Ichiro's shuriken plunged into his lower back, sinking a good two centimetres into his body.
As he landed on his feet, the genin instantly grabbed two kunai, one of which he instantly threw at Kenshin, hitting him right between the eyes, but the kunai was stopped by the formation, and the kinetic energy from the blow was evenly distributed throughout Kenshin's body, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his arse.
Kenshin instantly broke out in a cold sweat, but he came to his senses immediately. He knew he had no time to hesitate, and he had to help his sons as soon as possible.
After throwing the kunai, Genin was a little surprised when a seemingly one hundred percent corpse suddenly flickered in front of him, an invisible defence, and the kunai was stopped. Without giving it much thought, he grabbed the second kunai, and leapt towards Ichiro, wanting to end the battle as quickly as possible.
Ichiro and Keiji had already drawn their kunai and were moving towards the genin, Ichiro was closer, so he immediately engaged in close combat, masterfully repelling the enemy's kunai, but just as Keiji approached, Ichiro almost missed the decisive lunge, but at the last moment managed to deflect it, and immediately received a kick in the chest from the turn, flying several metres away.
While Kenshin recovered, and came closer, at his very small speed, Keiji engaged in close combat with the enemy, and at first successfully fought back, but his lack of experience quickly put him at a disadvantage, and after a few blows he was wounded in the left arm.
The Konoha genin, seeing his two other opponents approaching, made a dangerous move, and lunged forward. Keiji instantly reacted and lunged at the enemy, but the genin took Keiji's kunai on the thick leather wristband of his left hand, and the point of the kunai pierced through the wristband, embedding itself deeply into the genin's arm, at which point he lunged back without a care in the world, and the enemy's kunai plunged into Keiji's chest before he could react.
It happened so fast that Kenshin, who was running towards the fight, and Ichiro, who had just risen, couldn't believe what they were seeing, the enemy's kunai had entered the heart area of their native Keiji by the hilt.
Kenshin's mouth let out a beastly growl and he instantly sped up, attacking the genin from the back, but to the enemy, Kenshin's speed was nothing more than a joke. He reacted instantly, and turned around and kicked Kenshin in the stomach.
An invisible barrier instantly flared up at the impact site, but it was extinguished just as instantly, absorbing half of the force of the blow. The remaining half was more than enough to throw Kenshin back three metres.
At that very moment, Ichiro's eyes flashed back to the many times he had spent with his brother, as if in slow motion. He remembered the first time he'd been allowed to hold that little bald lump. He remembered how little Keiji had begged to be held, and he remembered how he had helped Keiji get his favourite honey candy. And now the little one stood there with a pierced heart, looking his big brother straight in the eye, and a second later collapsed to the ground.
Ichiro's eyes suddenly closed, and when they opened, bloody tears flowed from them, and the entire iris of his eye turned red, and a small black comma appeared on the pupil.
- What?! Uchiha?! - Genin exclaimed in astonishment as he stopped walking in Ichiro's direction.
Ichiro didn't answer, and only growled, instantly rushing forward.
Genin hurriedly pulled out a spare kunai, and only at the last moment was able to deflect Ichiro's lunge. He kept attacking, snarling furiously, preventing Genin from doing anything more than retreating into a defensive position.
Kenshin, who had risen to his feet and was planning to rush back into battle, suddenly froze in place when he saw the eyes of his fearsome son. He also saw that Ichiro had no trouble pressing the enemy Genin, preventing him from counterattacking.
Ichiro's reactions jumped to a whole new level, and he could easily see all of his enemy's movements. After a few dozen lunges, his kunai found its target.
When Genin made an attempt to retreat, and jumped back, Ichiro's kunai suddenly slashed at his throat. The shocked Genin, who landed on his feet, collapsed to the ground a few seconds later.
Kenshin froze in astonishment as he saw the final blow that cut the throat of the enemy Genin. Ichiro's kunai was definitely not meant to hit the target, there was at least thirty centimetres from its blade to the enemy's throat. But at the moment, Kenshin didn't care about anything but the motionless Keiji lying there.