Chapter 39
Kenshin calmly entered the flower shop and talked to the saleswoman for about five minutes, barely convincing her to sell him ten blue sage seeds. After spending 5,000 ryo on them, he was satisfied with his purchase and ordered his sons to leave, determined to get out of the village as quickly as possible.
Just as they reached the end of the street, and the edge of the village could be seen 200 metres away, Kenshin heard a shout behind him.
- You, stop!
Ichiro was the first to turn around, followed by everyone else. Kenshin saw an unfamiliar Konoha shinobi twenty metres away, and an old acquaintance, Kaito, another fifty metres away. He instantly looked at the 'status' of this shinobi, and he didn't like what he saw.
Name: Kimura Iori
Age: 30 years old
Talent Level: 14
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra quantity: 4100
Chakra Control: 51% "Ichiro, be on your guard. We are facing the Genin of Konoha. If anything goes wrong, this battle is on you. Don't be nervous, his characteristics are about the same as yours!" - Kenshin informed mentally.
- Shinobi-san, is something wrong? - Kenshin asked politely.
- All of you are detained until the reasons are clarified, follow me. - Iori said unceremoniously.
- Detained? On what grounds? What did we violate? - Kenshin asked.
- You have no right to ask questions. Either you come with me willingly, or I will be forced to use force! - Iori shouted every word.
- Sir, perhaps you've come because my old acquaintance Kaito has been talking nonsense about me. In fact, he and I had a falling out once, and apparently he decided to deal with me by your hand. - Kenshin said with a smile, not wanting to get into a conflict.
Iori looked at Kaito, who was panting, and instantly turned pale and replied, "Iori-san, that's not true! Yes, we had a fight, but only because he stole my fiancée Aya! You know we've been looking all over for her for a week, but we haven't found her! I'm sure that scoundrel must have done something bad to her, and...
Hearing his mother's name, and the way Kaito called her his "fiancée" Ichiro and Fourth instantly stared at him with looks full of murderous intent.
- I wanted to know the grounds for detention? All right, you are all accused of kidnapping a villager, and you must go to jail until the circumstances are clarified! - Iori said firmly.
- Sir, that's nonsense! Aya is alive and well, she decided to move to Shukuba City, away from that crazy Kaito who was trying to rape her! - Said Kenshin, still not wanting to start a conflict.
- Enough! - Iori said sharply, and threw a shuriken at Kenshin's throat, wanting to get rid of this group as soon as possible.
The Third and Fourth noticed the flying shuriken, and wanted to repel it, but were not in time, and at the last moment it was repelled by Ichiro with his kunai, and then instantly folded his hand seals, and shouted:
- Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! - Releasing a nearly metre long fireball that rushed towards Iori and Kaito.
- Suiton: Suijinheki! - Shouted Iori, releasing a jet of water from his mouth, growing to a small wall, which the fireball crashed into at full speed, and hissed, vaporising the water.
While the entire area was covered in a huge amount of vapour, Kenshin quickly ordered - "Ichiro, take care of Genin. Don't show your sharingan if possible. Third and Fourth, stay close to me!"
As soon as the fireball hit the wall of water, Kaito instantly bounced to the side and moved out of the middle of the street and into the wall of a building. Iori was not there, but three shurikens flew from the roof of a nearby building and hit Ichiro.
Iori was surprised that there were shinobi among the group, and planned to have a proper "talk" with Kaito when the battle was over. He would have preferred not to get into a fight with a shinobi, but there was no turning back, so the only thing left to do was fight.
Ichiro swung all three of his kunai and threw two of his own, at the same time rushing towards his enemy, wanting to engage him in close combat. Iori swiped away the shurikens thrown at him in a few movements, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Ichiro.
While Ichiro fought upstairs, Kenshin ran towards Kaito, who was frantically trying to escape, but after a few seconds of running, a shuriken stabbed into his left calf and right thigh, and falling to the ground, Kaito screamed wildly.
- Aah! Don't kill me, please! Don't kill me! - He screamed, rolling over onto his back after a failed attempt to get up.
Kenshin sped up without speaking, and drew his kunai. Iori, seeing that the village elder's grandson was about to be killed, was distracted from the battle and threw one shuriken at Kenshin, paying for it with a deep cut on his chest that Ichiro had inflicted on him.
The third, realising that he didn't have enough skill to block the flying shuriken, shielded his father with his body, but the shuriken crashed into an invisible barrier, and fell to the ground.
Kenshin didn't even stop, and thrust his kunai with all his might into the throat of Kaito, who was struggling to get up and escape. He looked up at Kenshin, and tried to say something, but couldn't. His larynx had been punctured, and all that came out of his throat was an unintelligible hiss.
Meanwhile, the battle on the rooftop was coming to an end. Thanks to his spatial ability, Ichiro wounded the enemy several times, and after another exchange of blows, kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying, into the window of a neighbouring house, and instantly folded the hand seals, shouting:
- Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! - Releasing a half metre fireball that followed the enemy into the first floor window.
Iori didn't hesitate, and despite the pain in his chest and back, half-lying down he managed to fold his hand seals, and release a small water barrier with his remaining chakra.
- Suiton: Sujinheki! - A shout was heard from the first floor, and the two technicians met.
Ten seconds later, Iori jumped out a nearby window, and fell to the ground, suffering severe burns from filling the small room with the sheer amount of hot steam that resulted from the mutual destruction of Cato and Suiton's techniques.
His entire face and neck were burned, and he was in no condition to fight, so the two kunai thrown by Ichiro hit the target. The first kunai pierced through Iori's spine, and the second kunai stabbed into his head.
"Good job, Ichiro. Third and Fourth, grab your stuff, we need to get out of here soon!" - Kenshin commanded, and all four of them quickly left the village, running about eight kilometres all the way to the forest.