Two hours later Kenshin reached the city, noting that he was almost not tired—his daily workouts were paying off. The young man wanted to get into the best possible shape, not wanting to look bad compared to his stronger children.
After lunch at a local café he began walking around the city, learning many new things for himself. For the first time he saw Konoha shinobi up close, and outwardly the person standing ten metres away from him inspired no awe. At first glance an ordinary man of about thirty, about 170 centimetres tall, with a build not distinguished by pronounced muscles, but in the next moment Kenshin stopped considering him "ordinary" because the man sharply turned toward the young man, as if feeling the gaze directed at him with his back.
Kenshin quickly looked away and walked on, trying not to attract unnecessary attention. A minute later he came across a shop with a shuriken on the sign and went inside. In the shop he found a huge variety of shinobi equipment, from vests with extra pockets to shuriken and kunai.
"Hello, do you have a basic chakra control guide?" he asked the fat salesman lazily sprawled in a rocking chair.
"I do, but you can't afford it," the fat man answered with contempt, giving the young man only one evaluating glance, then closing his eyes again.
"And how much does it cost? Maybe I'll find the money…"
"A basic chakra control guide costs 50,000 ryo and contains explanations on chakra control and hand seal folding. Find the money—come back, until then don't get in my sight. And now get out, you're poisoning the aura of my pious shop with your beggar presence!" the fat man grunted irritably and closed his eyes again, not at all afraid of the displeasure of the seemingly strong young man.
Kenshin understood that this fat man wasn't behaving completely relaxed for nothing and knew who he could be rude to and before whom he needed to wag his tail. The young man decided not to argue and left the shop, heading to a clothing store.
After choosing simple trousers and a T-shirt, the young man paid, becoming 200 ryo poorer, and went out into the street. The sun was already setting, and Kenshin decided he wouldn't make it home before dark, so after asking a passer-by where the nearest inn was, he headed in the right direction, deciding to spend the night in the city and go home in the morning. Aya was aware of this plan, so Kenshin wasn't worried that she would panic.
Finding himself in a dead-end alley, the young man belatedly realised he had taken a wrong turn, hearing a shout three metres away.
"Hey, what are you doing here? This is my territory. Pay 500 ryo for passage, and you can go further," a bald brute said, appearing out of nowhere.
"Yes, pay for passage, or you're done!" one of his two lackeys added.
"Damn, and I had to run into trouble in the exact place!" Kenshin thought, tensing his whole body, preparing to fight back. He really didn't want to give unknown bandits 500 ryo, and he perfectly understood that once they saw his money, 500 ryo wouldn't be the end, and the robbers would take everything.
"Why are you silent? Give the money!" the bald brute spoke again.
"Maybe we just go our separate ways peacefully? I don't want trouble," Kenshin declared, smiling and waving his hands in front of him.
"Trouble? Ha-ha-ha, did you hear that? He's going to cause us trouble. Who the hell are you, pup!" The brute's smile instantly turned into a beastly grin, and he reached out to put his arm around Kenshin's neck, but he dodged to the side and landed two punches. The first to the brute's solar plexus area, the second to the chin, hoping to knock him out using the element of surprise.
The right-hand punch to the chest hit its target, but at the last second the brute slightly shifted position, and Kenshin's fist hit a chest muscle hard as steel, not seriously harming the bald brute. The planned left-hand punch didn't reach its target at all. The brute deftly jumped back a metre.
"Stand! Don't interfere!" the brute commanded his two lackeys who were about to attack Kenshin from both sides.
"We weren't going to, Koga-san," a skinny guy who looked about twenty said in a fawning tone and added: "But the kid's no slouch, daring to resist the senior… Brat, you apparently don't know, but Koga-san studied at the Konoha shinobi academy!"
"Yes! So what if he was kicked out? He'll still make you with one left hand!" the second lackey, just as skinny as the first, an eighteen-year-old guy with a large scar on his cheek, added fawningly.
"Shut your mouth!" the brute growled at him, and the second lackey instantly fell silent.
"Want to cause me trouble? Well come on, show what you're capable of!" Koga said with a laugh and headed toward Kenshin.
Kenshin took his familiar boxing stance, surprising the bald brute, and as soon as Koga was one and a half metres away, Kenshin made a sharp swing with his right hand, aiming for the enemy's chin, but he dodged quite easily and made a counter punch to Kenshin's chest area.
Kenshin blocked the punch at the last moment, putting up a block with his arm, and took two steps back. His left arm exploded with pain, and the young man could barely move it. Koga snorted in surprise and made another punch lunge. Kenshin barely reacted to the brute's speed and dodged only at the last moment, twisting to the side, and in the next second met a direct punch to the stomach.
The young man's eyes almost immediately darkened, and his stomach exploded with unbearable pain; Kenshin collapsed to his knees, reflexively lying on his left side, bending his legs at the knees and arms at the elbows, protecting himself from future blows.
But no more blows followed; instead a loud shout rang out: "Hey you, what's going on there?!"
"Damn, let's go!" Koga commanded, and the trio instantly disappeared around the nearest corner.
"Hey, you alive?" the man in a green vest with a Konoha forehead protector on his forehead asked Kenshin. In this shinobi the young man recognised that very "unremarkable" man with eyes in the back of his head.
"Cough, cough!" Instead of words a cough burst from Kenshin's mouth along with half-digested miso soup.
"Get up and get out of here," the shinobi commanded, completely uninterested in helping the young man. He had been watching the whole situation from the beginning but didn't interfere, wanting to see what this unusually curious guy was made of. Seeing the young man "deflate" from one weak punch from a failed genin, he instantly lost interest in him and only shouted at the trio to give them time to escape, not wanting to deal with their detention and complicate his work.
Kenshin somehow got up, coughed several more times, and holding his stomach slowly trudged to the alley exit.
Finding the right inn, the young man barely ordered a night in a room, locked the door inside, and collapsed onto the bed, almost immediately falling into deep sleep. During the night he woke up several times and vomited the remains of dinner; his left arm hurt badly, but not as much as his stomach. The young man hoped his internal organs weren't damaged and everything would be fine.