Two hours later, Kenshin reached the city, noting he was barely tired—thanks to his daily training. The young man wanted maximum form, not to embarrass himself compared to his stronger future children.
After lunch at a local café, he strolled the city, learning much new. He saw a Konoha shinobi up close for the first time, and outwardly, the man ten meters away inspired no awe. At first glance, an ordinary thirty-year-old, about 170 cm tall, without pronounced musculature, but the next instant, Kenshin stopped seeing him as "ordinary" as the man abruptly turned toward him, as if sensing the gaze on his back.
Kenshin quickly looked away and walked on, avoiding extra attention. A minute later, he spotted a shop with a shuriken sign and entered. Inside, he found a huge array of shinobi gear, from vests with extra pockets to shuriken and kunai.
"Hello, do you have a basic guide to chakra control?" He asked the fat seller lounging lazily in a rocking chair.
"We have it, but you can't afford it." The fat man replied contemptuously, giving the young man one appraising glance before closing his eyes again.
"How much is it? Maybe I can scrape together the sum..."
"The basic chakra control guide costs 50,000 ryō and explains chakra control and hand seal formation. Find the money—come back; until then, stay out of my sight. Now get out; your penniless presence poisons the aura of my pious shop!" The fat man grumbled irritably and closed his eyes again, unafraid of the sturdy-looking young man's displeasure.
Kenshin realized the fat man wasn't casually relaxed; he knew whom he could rudely address and whom to fawn over. The young man decided not to argue and left for a clothing store.
Picking simple pants and a T-shirt, he paid, 200 ryō poorer, and stepped outside. The sun was setting, and Kenshin figured he wouldn't make it home before dark, so he asked a passerby for the nearest inn and headed there, planning to overnight in the city and head home in the morning. Aya knew the plan, so he wasn't worried she'd panic.
In a dead-end alley, the young man belatedly realized he'd gone wrong, hearing a shout three meters away.
"Hey, what are you doing here? This is my turf. Pay 500 ryō passage fee and go." Said a bald brute appearing from nowhere.
"Yeah, pay up or you're done!" Added one of his two lackeys.
"Damn, why'd I end up in exactly the wrong spot for trouble!" Kenshin thought, tensing his body, ready to fight back. He had no desire to give 500 ryō to unknown bandits, knowing that seeing his money, they wouldn't stop there and would take everything.
"What, cat got your tongue? Hand over the money!" The bald brute barked again.
"Maybe we just go our separate ways peacefully? I don't want trouble." Kenshin stated, smiling and waving his hands.
"Trouble? Ha-ha-ha, hear that? He's gonna cause us trouble. Who do you think you are, pup!" The brute's smile turned to a feral snarl as he reached to arm around Kenshin's neck, but the young man dodged and landed two fist strikes. First to the solar plexus, second to the chin, hoping to knock him out with surprise.
The right-hand punch to the chest hit, but at the last second, the brute shifted, and Kenshin's fist slammed into steel-hard pecs, barely hurting him. The planned left punch missed entirely. The brute agilely leaped back a meter.
"Stand down! Don't interfere!" The brute commanded his two flunkies about to attack Kenshin from both sides.
"We weren't going to, Koga-san." Said the skinny twenty-something in a fawning tone, adding, "The kid's no slouch to resist the boss... Brat, you don't know, but Koga-san trained at Konoha's shinobi academy!"
"Yeah! So what if he got kicked out? He'll still flatten you with one hand!" The second flunky fawningly added, an equally skinny eighteen-year-old with a big cheek scar.
"Shut your trap!" The brute snarled at him, and the second flunky instantly fell silent.
"Wanna cause me trouble? Come on, show what you've got!" Koga laughed and advanced on Kenshin.
Kenshin assumed his familiar boxing stance, surprising the bald brute, and as Koga closed to 1.5 meters, Kenshin swung his right hard at the chin, but he easily dodged and countered with a chest punch.
Kenshin blocked at the last moment with his arm and stepped back twice. His left arm exploded in pain, barely usable. Koga grunted in surprise and lunged with another fist. Kenshin barely reacted to the brute's speed, dodging at the last second by sidestepping, only to meet a straight gut punch the next instant.
Kenshin's vision darkened instantly, his stomach erupting in unbearable pain, and he collapsed to his knees, reflexively curling fetal on his left side, knees bent, arms shielding for more blows.
But no more blows came; instead, a loud shout: "Hey, what's going on there?!"
"Damn, let's go!" Koga commanded, and the trio vanished around the nearest corner.
"Hey, you alive?" A man in a green vest with a Konoha forehead protector on his forehead asked Kenshin. The young man recognized the same "unassuming" man with eyes in the back of his head.
"Kha, kha!" Instead of words, Kenshin coughed up half-digested miso soup.
"Get up and get lost." The shinobi commanded, utterly uninterested in helping. He'd watched the whole thing from the start but stayed out, curious about the unusually nosy guy. Seeing him fold from one weak pseudo-genin's punch, he lost interest and shouted only to give them time to flee, avoiding the hassle of arrest.
Kenshin somehow stood, coughed a few more times, clutched his gut, and shuffled out of the alley.
Finding the inn, he barely ordered a room, locked the door inside, collapsed on the bed, and fell into deep sleep. He woke several times overnight, vomiting dinner remnants; his left arm ached badly, but not as much as his gut. He hoped no internal damage and it'd heal.