Chapter-93
"If you refuse to accept their offer, they will kill you. They are a powerful company that will not hesitate to end the life of an old woman to earn more money. I am your only tenant; you must just accept the payment and go to a 'best place to spend your last days,'" said the shinobi with a more serious tone. He sat on a wooden bench to take the cup of tea that the old woman offered him and drank.
"Never let them bully you and take what little you have. You can't run away from your problems, Naruto-chan. You must face the problems and fight to overcome them, no matter how difficult they are. If we give up and run away, we not only fail others who trust us, but worse, we fail ourselves. And when that happens, you can only ask yourself one question..." Smiling, the old woman extended her hands to reach for the Uzumaki's head, caressing his hair. He remained in silence, looking into the white eyes of the owner of the building. "Is it worth living knowing that you only ran away from your problems? That is not a life worth living." She left the cup on the table after taking one more taste of the tea and then looked at the serious teenager who was silent for a moment.
"Did you read that on a tea box?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence. He stood up and placed the empty teacup on the table. The teenager's sarcastic question only caused the old woman to shake her head.
"You should be out enjoying your youth. What happened to that cute girl with strange plant-like hair that you participated with in the tournament? She seemed like a good girl," she said calmly as she got up to take the empty cups and left them in the kitchen. Naruto sighed as he gathered his tools.
"I don't know. I just stopped talking... like many," he answered calmly as he walked to the door. But before he could knock on the door, he heard the old woman speak again.
"Did you try talking to her?" she asked as she left the kitchen to slowly walk to her couch and sit down.
"..." The teenager's silence was the only response the owner of the building got.
"You are young, you have a whole life ahead of you. I don't know what's on your mind, and if you don't want to say it, that's fine. But we all sometimes deserve small moments of happiness. Don't live in the past and hold on to the now." The words of the older woman made the blonde open the door to leave.
"I don't have time for existential discussions. If that's all, I'm leaving." Just as he was going to leave, the shinobi stopped when a screen of light formed in front of him. With a serious look, Naruto, using one finger, broke the screen of light. The old woman created it with her strange peculiarity of solidifying light rays, but with lower resistance than glass.
"Someone wise once said, 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it is called present.'" With a soft voice, the old man kept his head up, 'looking' in the direction where his tenant was. "Do not waste the gift of each day you live remembering the past, my child. Enjoy each day; at least give yourself that gift." Saying that, he could hear how the Uzumaki only walked to leave the room.
"I can't..." With that answer, Naruto finally left.
….
In another area of the city in the middle of the afternoon, we see in the streets a sea of people who were just continuing with their routines, each living in their different worlds, but our interest is focused on one person.
This was an adult man of short stature as he barely reached 1.60 m, he had typical features of an Asian, his hair being dark as well as his eyes. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a tie of the same color, walking impassively among the pedestrians on the streets going to his destination—a construction site.
Once he arrived at his destination, he entered to see dozens of people working on the construction of a building. Continuing to walk, he went to the mobile home where the foreman of these workers must be. "Hey, short legs! Who the hell are you?" The guy in the tuxedo stopped when he heard the scream of a large man, more than 2.10 m tall and with a big brown beard, currently wearing a plaid shirt and gray pants.
"Oto-san, don't be rude!" Yumi had to leave the RV to find out what this scandal was, only to find her father yelling at a man in a suit. Currently, the brunette girl was wearing tight jin pants and a red shirt that had the sleeves torn off, leaving her arms exposed. Running, the girl placed herself between her father and the stranger. "Oto-san, calm down," scolding her father, she turned around to look at the man in the tuxedo.
"Bha," snorting, the construction boss just crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry for my Oto-san's attitude... Sir," the brown-haired woman now turned her attention to the stranger who was serious at all times.
"No problems, Mr. Toho," the stranger calmly wiped the dust off his suit and fixed his jacket sleeves. "As for my name... you can call me Nobu." That name made the older Toho raise a suspicious eyebrow. Without giving importance to that, the newly known as Nobu only maintained his composure, looking at the father and daughter pair.
"And what does Nobu-san need?" Yumi asked doubtfully as she narrowed her eyes when she saw this strange guy.
"I come to give a message to Uzumaki Naruto, is he here?" He asked calmly while the two Tohos just looked at each other strangely. Perhaps this guy was a lawyer or something like that who came to sue the Uzumaki, it was difficult to say.
"No... he will arrive on the next shift in an hour," Isao answered as he felt a sting behind his neck. What was this bad feeling?
"I see..." the atmosphere turned cold as a dangerous smile formed on the face of the man in the tuxedo, who took a step forward. Before anyone knew, Aria disappeared in a burst of speed.
"Oto-san!" With horror, Yumi had to see how the stranger took two tubes out of his bag and joined them to form a staff. He then separated them to take out a sword, using the knife to make a diagonal cut in the chest of the girl's father. Only to then kick him and make him fly into a truck that was carrying sand.
Before the girl could react, she felt a sting, and with terror, she saw a sword blade pierce her stomach. Coughing up blood, she looked down to see Nobu pull the sword out of her stomach to let it fall. Silently, the sword dwarf observed as the girl was bleeding to death on the ground. Raising his sword, he was about to finish the job.
However, he was struck by a bag of cement that sent him backward. Only to witness the giant bricklayer charging at him. "You dare to touch my daughter!" Isao, fueled by blind fury, seized the assailant by the neck and slammed his head against the mobile home, making him fall to the side. Without releasing his grip, the bricklayer underwent a transformation, with claws emerging from his fingers and a slight amount of fur growing on some areas of his body. "I'll kill you!" Growling like an animal, he rained wild blows on Nobu, who endured each one.
But just as the bricklayer was about to continue his assault, he saw how his fist was caught by the bloody hand of the murderer, blood streaming down from his mouth and forehead. "Is that all?" With a cruel smile, Nobu twisted the giant's hand and, standing up, kicked him in the face, sending him flying several meters to land on the third floor of the building under construction.
Navigating through the iron beams, Toho halted when his back collided with one of the beams. Rising to his feet, he observed his opponent closing in. Turning around, the bricklayer seized a steel beam to strike at the dwarf, but Nobu skillfully evaded each blow. Realizing the futility, Isao used the beam to strike the wooden floor, causing both of them to fall.
"Motherfucker!" Exploiting the fall, Toho, with his peculiar ability activated, seized the dwarf and began hitting him with his right fist. Unfortunately, as they descended to the second floor, Nobu freed himself and, using his sword, pierced his victim's left arm, eliciting a cry of pain.
Crashing onto the second floor of the building under construction, the man in the suit retreated when another onslaught of blows came at him. "So much strength and so little brain." The mercenary adeptly dodged every blow and seized the wrist of the man's right arm. Twisting it, he produced an unpleasant sound.
"Ahg... unhappy man." Falling to his knees, Isao witnessed the assailant extract the sword embedded in his arm. With frustration, he realized both of his arms were now useless, and with a tired breath, he could only watch as blood flowed onto the ground.