Kenshin calmly entered the flower shop and after five minutes of talking convinced the saleswoman to sell him ten blue sage seeds for 5,000 ryo. Satisfied, he ordered his sons out, planning to leave the village quickly.
As they reached the end of the street with the village edge 200 meters away, Kenshin heard a shout behind him.
"Hey, you—stop!"
Ichiro turned first, then the others. Kenshin saw an unfamiliar Konoha shinobi twenty meters away and, fifty meters behind, his old acquaintance Kaito. He instantly checked the shinobi's status—and didn't like what he saw.
Name: Kimura Iori
Age: 30
Talent Level: 14
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra Quantity: 4100
Chakra Control: 51%
"Ichiro, stay alert. Konoha Genin ahead. If things go south, this fight is yours. Don't worry—his stats are about the same as yours!" Kenshin sent telepathically.
"Sir shinobi, is something wrong?" Kenshin asked politely.
"You are all detained pending investigation. Follow me," Iori said rudely.
"Detained? On what grounds? What did we do?" Kenshin inquired.
"You have no right to ask questions. Come willingly or I'll use force!" Iori snapped.
"Sir, perhaps you came because my old acquaintance Kaito told you nonsense about me. We had a disagreement once, and apparently he decided to settle it through you," Kenshin said with a smile, still hoping to avoid conflict.
Iori glanced at the panting Kaito who had caught up. Kaito paled and replied: "Iori-san, that's not true! Yes, we argued, but only because he kidnapped my fiancée Aya! You know we searched the whole area for a week and never found her! That bastard surely did something terrible to her, and…"
Hearing their mother's name and Kaito call her "his fiancée," Ichiro and Fourth instantly glared at him with murderous intent.
"Want grounds for detention? Fine—you are all accused of kidnapping a resident of this village and must come to jail until the matter is resolved!" Iori declared.
"Sir, that's nonsense! Aya is alive and well—she simply moved to Shukuba city, far from that lunatic Kaito who kept trying to rape her!" Kenshin said, still unwilling to start a fight.
"Enough!" Iori barked and hurled a shuriken at Kenshin's throat, intending to finish the group quickly.
Third and Fourth saw the flying shuriken and tried to block it but were too slow. Ichiro deflected it with his kunai, instantly formed seals, and shouted:
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" releasing an almost one-meter fireball that sped toward Iori and Kaito.
"Suiton: Suijinheki!" Iori shouted, spitting a water stream that expanded into a small wall. The fireball crashed into it at full speed and hissed, evaporating the water.
While the area was shrouded in thick steam, Kenshin quickly ordered: "Ichiro, take the Genin. Try not to reveal Sharingan. Third and Fourth, stay close to me!"
As the fireball hit the water wall, Kaito instantly jumped aside and pressed himself against a house wall. Half a minute later the steam cleared, but Iori was gone. Instead, three shuriken flew from a neighboring rooftop toward Ichiro.
Iori was quite surprised to find a shinobi among them and planned to have a serious "talk" with Kaito after the fight. He would have preferred not to fight shinobi, but there was no turning back.
Ichiro easily deflected all three kunai, threw two of his own, and charged the enemy, eager for close combat. Iori parried the thrown shuriken in a few moves and engaged Ichiro in taijutsu.
While Ichiro fought on the roof, Kenshin ran toward Kaito, who was frantically trying to flee. After a few seconds of running, shuriken pierced Kaito's left calf and right thigh. He collapsed screaming.
"Aaaa! Please don't kill me! Don't kill me!" he wailed, rolling onto his back after failing to stand.
Kenshin didn't waste words—he accelerated and drew his kunai. Iori, seeing the village elder's grandson about to be killed, turned from the fight and threw a shuriken at Kenshin, paying for the distraction with a deep chest wound from Ichiro.
Third, realizing he lacked skill to block the shuriken, shielded his father with his body—but the shuriken hit an invisible barrier and fell harmlessly.
Kenshin didn't even slow down and drove his kunai into the throat of the barely standing, fleeing Kaito. Kaito looked at Kenshin, tried to speak, but only incoherent hissing emerged from his pierced larynx.
Meanwhile the rooftop fight was ending. Thanks to his spatial ability Ichiro wounded the enemy several times. After another exchange he kicked Iori in the stomach, sending him flying through a neighboring house's window, then instantly formed seals and shouted:
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A half-meter fireball followed the enemy through the second-floor window.
Iori didn't panic—despite pain in chest and back, half-lying he managed seals and released a small water barrier with his remaining chakra.
"Suiton: Suijinheki!" came the shout from the second floor as the two techniques collided.
Ten seconds later Iori leaped out another window and collapsed to the ground, suffering severe burns from the massive hot steam created when fire and water techniques canceled each other in the small room.
His face and neck were burned; in pain shock he couldn't fight. Two kunai thrown by Ichiro hit their mark. The first pierced Iori's spine, the second buried to the hilt in his head.
"Great work, Ichiro. Third and Fourth, grab the things—we're leaving now!" Kenshin commanded. All four quickly fled the village, running about eight kilometers into the forest.