Chapter 19

After organising my thoughts I went to the warehouse, where Akiko is captured. I stood on the branch of a nearby tree and threw an explosion tag at the door. In just a few seconds, the whole door blew to bits and it attracted all the remaining men to the warehouse.

I just stood on the branch and waited for the important people to arrive. I didn't have to wait for long, a huge fat man with a bald head and a cigar in his mouth, walked out of the warehouse in anger. Following him was a ninja, a kunoichi to be exact, with blonde hair in 4 ponytails. She covered her face with a mask, but her huge fan gave her away. She is Temari, Gaara's sister.

I don't know the exact reason why she is here, but I think it has something to do with the Konoha crush during the chunin exams. She might be here for Intel or the fat man might have offered a lot of money to the village, which the village needed badly to plan for the attack.

The fat man, Gunde shouted "Who the hell has the balls to go against Gunde?" while Temari looked at me. She noticed me the minute she stepped out. I also noticed some bruises, cuts and scorch marks on her fan. It looks like she was in one hell of a battle.

I shouted to everyone present there "I would like your attention for a moment." making everyone turn to me. Gunde shouted "Who the hell are you kid?" which I completely ignored and continued "You should have noticed by now that there are many people missing in your gang. You don't have to come up with weird theories, I killed them." showing them a bloody sword and spear.

Obviously many didn't believe what I just said. A guy near the tree I was standing on, shouted "Like hell I will believe you. Just get down and tell us the truth."

Immediately when he was done talking, I threw the spear at him with half my strength. The spear passed right through him and stabbed the ground. The people around him were shocked and moved back, not because they saw someone die, but because they couldn't react at all. Many people in the crowd thought that I was a ninja, which can explain my strength.

Seeing them lose their will to fight, I said "I am here for your boss. If you all get out of my way, no one will be harmed. So, whoever wants to live, can get back to their positions. You guys can continue to work here after I am done here. As for those who want to be loyal to their boss or avenge their dead partners or friends, they can stay here."

A huge portion of the crowd left the place, leaving behind 15 men, their boss Gunde and Temari. Gunde was pissed when he saw a large portion of his men leave. He looked at me and shouted "I will kill you and then I will kill everyone who left. Kill him."

The 15 men followed his orders and rushed at me while Temari just stood there, observing the fight while waiting for me to tire myself. I jumped down from the tree and waited patiently for them to arrive. Fighting 15 men at a time is very difficult, but not impossible. 5 men first attacked me, swinging their swords in my direction. I blocked their swings and pushed them back with the swing of my sword. I then immediately made cuts on their thighs. They growled in pain and swung their sword around in rage, which was easy to read.

I immediately dealt with four men, stabbing them in the stomach. I was about to kill the fifth person, when I sensed an arrow flying towards me. I immediately moved to my left, causing the fifth person to move left to attack me.

He was in the path of the arrow and took it in his back. This caused him to look back, which gave me the chance to finish the fifth person with a diagonal slash. The guy was about to fall, when I sensed another arrow being released. I immediately held the guy, preventing him from falling, and used him as a meat shield.

I picked up another sword and moved towards the remaining 10 with my meat shield, but it is now more difficult to hold a dead man with swords in both my hands. They obviously moved back, maintaining distance between us. It looks like they studied the way I fight, indicating that they had combat experience.

They had their guard up, so I knew that waiting like this isn't going to do any good for me, as they will get time to formulate a strategy. I wanted to save my haki for Temari, but I decided to use it anyway.

I threw the dead man towards them and he managed to cover me for a small distance, after which the three archers in the group immediately started shooting arrows at me. My haki can easily block those arrows, so I activated my haki all over my body and immediately rushed towards them.

I threw a sword at one of the archers, taking him down. I am lucky that they are normal people. If I was against ninjas, they would have easily blocked my attacks and I would be fucked. Seeing that I am immune to arrows, the five guys with spears rushed towards me.

Spears are the most difficult weapons to fight against, if you are against a decent opponent. Their range made it difficult for me to approach the user, but I had to deal with them quickly, as the arrows still flying towards me were using up a lot of haki. Since I don't know where they will hit. I have to cover my whole body with haki, my haki is depleting rapidly.

So, I caught the spears with my bare hands and pulled them towards me. They were caught up in motion and leaned forward, allowing me to decapitate them with a single swing. I then immediately used the spears at the archers, leaving me with two men with katanas tied to their waist.

At this time, the boss was shivering with fear while Temari just stood there calmly and kept analysing how I fought. I noticed a shadow behind the boss and looked there. From inside the warehouse, a woman with brown skin and red hair, walked out. She wore clothes that looked costly, but are now dirty. She must be Akiko, but she definitely didn't look 18 and the guards were right in praising her beauty.

I was looking at her, which the two men noticed and took advantage of my distracted self. This proves that beautiful women can distract me even with my enhanced senses from the nature energy and observation haki.

They immediately rushed at me with their katanas. I was able to react and block one sword, but the other managed to land his swing at my left bicep. When the sword hit my hand, it made the sound you would usually hear when you hit a hard object with a metal rod. Since I wore a half sleeve shirt, they thought that I had protective gear below my shirt.

He immediately tried to swing his sword again, aiming at my neck, while I was blocking the other man's sword. I pushed back the sword I was blocking and immediately jumped up, dodging the other person's sword. While in mid-air I performed a perfect split, which I didn't know I could do till then, and kicked both of them in the face. It just instinctively happened and I had no complaints. The kick to their face delayed their reaction enough to deliver the finishing blows to both of them.

Just when I finished dealing with these men. I sensed a gush of wind coming towards me and immediately blocked it with my arms crossed in front of my face. Although there was no damage, I was pushed back quite a distance.

"Finally decided to fight?" I asked and she didn't reply. She immediately swung her huge fan again at me. I jumped to the side and dodged it. This battle was already starting to go in her favor. I used up a lot of haki and she now knows that I specialise in close combat.

I immediately hid behind a tree when I saw her lift her fan again. I had to save haki and not use it recklessly, as I already used quite a lot. I then heard a woman's voice "She still didn't heal from the battle and can't keep fighting for long."

I think it was Akiko, because I then heard Gunde shout "Shut up" and Akiko cry in pain. Although she was brave at the moment, it was useless. She can't fight for long and I can't either. I then calmed down to organise my thoughts and think of a plan at this moment. If only I had Shikamaru with me now, he would definitely come up with a good plan.

I thought and maybe, Akiko's info wasn't completely useless. I just have to make her attack me, but I should not get hit. I can sense her not moving, which means she also understood that if she attacks without thinking, she will lose. I closed my eyes and memorised the whole battlefield, but I didn't get to execute the plan in my head.

Gunde shouted "I know that you are here for her. Come out of hiding if you don't want me to kill her." holding a knife to Akiko's throat. If he killed her, then all the killing I did today will be for nothing. I knew he might kill her, because anyone would want to live more than earn money. He knew that Temari was in aweak state and I was strong for my age. If I happen to win, he would definitely die.

I slowly moved away from the tree, with my arms up. Gunde had the typical evil smile and said "I am done with all this ninja crap. Drop your weapon and surrender now if you want her to live."

I bent down to put down my sword and I immediately sensed Temari swinging her fan again. I used haki again and blocked the attack. Gunde shouted at Temari "I don't know why they even sent you. Last night, her bodyguard was strong, so it made sense if you couldn't defeat him, but now, he is just standing there with no weapon and you can't even scratch him. I wish that the kid with red hair was still here. He would have handled this situation easily."

I think Temari was pissed, as I saw her lift her fan and use all her strength to swing it down, releasing a strong guest of wind. I was preparing to jump, but Gunde shouted "Move from that spot and she is dead."

I growled and just used all my haki to defend myself. Although there were no major cuts or any fatal damage, I still had many cuts on my body, which immediately healed with the help of nature energy. Just when I thought I didn't get much damage, a kunai flew straight to my thigh.

I wanted to remove it, but Gunde seems to have noticed my healing abilities and prevented me from moving. Now I am in a tough spot. Without haki, if she makes any move, I will have to prioritise my safety more than hers, but the fact that I can't defeat a genin, is what's pissing me off. Even after training for years and finding a way to use haki, I am still useless. I couldn't even save someone I wanted to save and I don't even know her. I don't know what I would do if one of my wives were in Akiko's position.

I looked at Akiko, who had the eyes begging me to save her, but I was useless. I had strength and healing abilities from the nature chakra, but Temari's attacks prevent me from getting close to her, while Akiko is making it difficult for me to act from here.

That's when something happened inside me and I felt something inside me change. An image popped in my head, telling me that I would be hit by a gush of wind to my left. I immediately fell to my right and just like the image in my head, there was a gush of wind to my left a second after I moved.

Gunde thought I was lucky and turned to Temari. That's when another image popped up in my head where the knife in Gunde's hand is a few inches away from Akiko in a safe distance as he was distracted while scolding Temari.

And to prove it correct again, Gunde turned to Temari and started scolding her. I immediately pulled out the kunai in my thigh and sniped it at Gunde's head with all my strength. I shouted "Don't move" which Akiko understood and closed her eyes while standing incredibly still.

Gunde and Temari also noticed the kunai, but it was too late. It hit Gunde's head and went straight through it. I then immediately healed and jumped up. Temari realised that she was now at a disadvantage and lowered her fan to try and swing it upwards to try and hit me in mid-air.

That's when another image popped up in my head where Temari tried to swing the fan upwards and flinched for a second due to the pain from her previous battles. I immediately pulled out a kunai from my pocket and threw it at her.

Like always, the image in my head came true and she flinched. The kunai flying towards her caused her to jump back. I used this time to land on the ground, approach her and hit her injured hand with enough strength to keep it injured for a week.