20 Kaori's Secret (3/3)

We followed them across three branches, roof tops and other vantage points that let us maintain surveillance while keeping ourselves unbeknownst to our targets. The entire time Naoki had his arm tightly around Kaori's neck, as if keeping her captive and preventing her from running off, while the girl simply looked terrified. As much as I had always told myself I cared little for her, seeing Kaori now near tears infuriated me like never before.

It didn't take long for the duo to enter an alley way, and when we managed to stealthily position ourselves on the wall of the alley above them, we were able to scan the area.

Other than Naoki and Kaori, there were also the four other students who had ambushed him, as well as two additional ones, for a total of seven of them excluding Kaori. I quickly used [Observe] on them, and saw that they were both level 10, similar to the big guy Tetsuo. So in the group below us were two level 8s, two level 9s and three level 10s.

Hinata almost gasped in surprise when Naoki released Kaori from his grip and threw her on the floor. I barely managed to cover her mouth with my palm while motioning for her to stay quiet. She blushed at the sudden contact but nodded in consent.

Shikamaru was glaring at Naoki but held himself back from acting as he understood the need for discretion and the need to catch them red handed. Which unfortunately meant that Kaori might need to endure for a little longer before they could intervene.

"Have you been talking to anyone about this?" One of the boys, now surrounding Kaori, asked, as he punched his palm in an effort to look threatening.

The gesture seemed sufficiently effective as she shivered slightly in response. "N-no, I haven't told anyone."

The same boy narrowed his eyes, looking doubtful. "You sure? Not even a hint?"

"No, I really haven't!"

Naoki snickered infront of her, "Yeah you better not have, if not… you know what would happen to your dear little Shinji-kun, right?" The rest of the boys laughed at that while Kaori just teared up even more.

"W-wait, I haven't say a word! So, so please! Not Shinji-kun! I'll… I'll get you more money!"

Up on the walls my companions glanced at me briefly while my jaw clenched, knuckles whitening at the little punk's words. So that was how they were keeping her silent. God damnit Kaori… perhaps I should have advertised my true skills just a little more, even if it was just to her.

"Oh yeah? When's that? We've already run out of the pocket change you gave us before." Naoki continued, an expression of juvenile sadistic pleasure growing on his face.

"I-I… I don't have anymore right now, if you could just wait a month-" Kaori pleaded, emptying her pockets to show her honesty.

"A month!?" Naoki moved forward and grabbed Kaori's collar reminiscent of what I had done to him a few weeks back. "This brat is really asking for a beating huh?"

Tears spilled out of her eyes, "Y-you already took most of what I got this month. I only have 2,000 ryo left… and I- I still need it to buy food."

"So you're saying you got 2,000 on you right now? Then hand it over!"

"Bu-but, then I won't have enough to –"

"I don't care! Hand it over! Or else!" Naoki cocked back his fist, the act causing Kaori to flinch and recoil with her eyes shut, anticipating the pain.

"O-oi Naoki, if she doesn't have it then…" Tetsuo hesitatingly stepped forward and spoke up, trying to placate his friend.

"Shut it Tetsuo!" Naoki pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Don't forget that we're doing this for you! Why should an orphan like her deserve that much money from the village, huh? We should get some too! It's only fair!"

"I know, but…" The stocky boy again tried to reason with the boy.

"Look, she knows better than to tell anyone. And remember, my aniki gave us the go ahead on this. So he's got our back, right?"

"But…"

"Enough! You can walk away if you want, but you ain't getting a single ryo once you leave." Naoki threatened.

With that ultimatum, Tetsuo could only gulp down his opposition and look back down in shame.

Satisfied with his compliance, Naoki continued his tyranny on the sobbing girl on the floor. "See? Nobody cares about you, so you might as well just fork up the dough right now." He released Kaori and rummaged through her pockets, fishing out a pale pink wallet.

Inside it, there was only a single 1,000 ryo note. Naoki pulled it out and frowned, "Only 1,000? I don't care if you have to beg, borrow or steal. From next week onwards, whenever we ask for your money, you better have some for us!"

Hinata stifled a gasp, "Ka-Kaori-chan…!"

Next to me, Shikamaru whispered grimacing, "That's evidence enough isn't it, Shinji?"

I shook my head. So far we had only witnessed extortion and only through threats. So unfortunately for Kaori, if we really wanted to nail them, there had to be some display of violence. Otherwise the instructors would just chalk it up to bullying and they might get off way too lightly.

Kaori grabbed at Naoki's ankle, "Wait! Please! I need that or else I won't have enough to-!" The leader of the delinquent scum cut her off with a hard kick to her gut that knocked the wind out of the girl's chest.

I widened my eyes, that was it, we got all we needed. I shared a glance with my companions, all of their gazes similarly froze briefly in shock from the sudden cruelty before hardening in readiness. Even the gentle Hyuuga looked to be outraged and primed to deliver some well-deserved punishment.

I put up three fingers as a countdown.

Three. I signalled silently to them our respective targets with my other hand. Shino got Tetsuo, Hinata and Shikamaru got two of the level 9s while I had my eye on the other two level 10s.

Two. Naoki was going in for another kick. We tensed our bodies in preparation.

One. I took the lead and jumped down while the rest followed.

I landed a devastating axe kick reinforced with [Power Strike] on my target's shoulder which saw the boy immediately yelling out and crumping in pain. This time, I had no room for mercy.

Shino had landed on the left side of Tetsuo, catching the only bully that showed any shred of hesitation with a vicious punch to his jaw. The Aburame rapidly followed up with a swift hook to the big guy's body and then a low kick to the calf to send Tetsuo falling to his knees.

Hinata settled smoothly and silently behind her target, before activating her Byakugan with an audible cry. While the sound had startled the bully, she was quick enough to smash her palms rapidly on his back. Once she was done, the boy fell down face first.

Shikamaru had actually landed on his knees on his target's shoulders while leaning forward. The sudden weight and impact, as well as Shikamaru's momentum caused the thug to lurch forward abruptly which led him to fall forward. As he was falling however, the Nara heir was able to position himself on his back and put him into a rear naked choke. Even though the thug was able to catch himself from falling with his arms, he could do nothing about Shikamaru's chokehold.

Since our opponents were in pretty close proximity, it was easy enough rush them while they are still taken by surprise. Capitalizing on their shock, I leaped towards the last level 10 student, already cocking back an arm. I flung my fist in to the stupefied face of the student, and another one for good measure to put him down for good, both hits empowered with [Power Strike].

Looking back, I saw Shino and Hinata going for the second last student still standing while Shikamaru was slowly but surely asphyxiating his opponent. Trusting them to handle themselves, I turned to the final threat – Saeki Naoki.

"Wh-what," The boy in question looked around him at the sudden ambush and witnessed his comrades falling one by one before laying his eyes on my threatening visage.

"You done fucked up now, Saeki Naoki."

"Oh shit, wait, no, no, don't come any closer!" Naoki managed to pull Kaori up from the ground and hooked his arm around her shoulders in front of him like a human shield before I could make my move.

Just as I was about to rush the fool, he somehow drew a kunai – a sharpened, fully functional, lethal kunai – from the pouch on the back of his waist. I paused. He shakily pointed the weapon at me before gesturing towards Kaori, "St-stay away, or else the girl gets it!"

I glared daggers at the boy, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. How fucking cliched was this going to get? "I know this might be hard for you, but really try your best here. Don't be stupid. There's four of us here and only one of you left. What are you going to do, kill her? Are you fucking retarded? Just let her go before this gets any worse for you."

"No way! I know you're just going to beat me up if I let her go!" The desperation in his voice was palpable. And desperation was dangerous. He might be too stupid to understand the position he is in right now and could accidentally nick an artery on Kaori's neck judging from his shaky grip on the kunai.

The girl in his grip gaped at my sudden appearance, "Sh-Shinji-kun! How, why, what are you doing here?"

I relaxed my gaze and shifted my eyes at her while giving a reassuring smile, "Saving your butt, what else would it be?"

Kaori choked back a cry, "Bu-but, how did you… when did you…"

"We can talk later, for now… Saeki Naoki, just put down the kunai and I will consider not kicking your ass too hard."

At this point, Hinata and Shino had already taken care of their target while Shikamaru's opponent was lying down on the ground unconscious. The three of them joined me by my side.

Naoki looked hesitant when the others joined me but solidified his grip on the weapon, "Not a chance! The four of you, get lost!"

Shikamaru shook his head, "How annoying. Hey, can't you see what kind of a situation you're in? You're not in any position to be bargaining right now."

"Yes. It is quite illogical for you to continue being so obstinate. Surrender and we will let the authorities know of your cooperation." Shino added.

"Y-yeah?" Naoki stammered out but poked the tip of his kunai at Kaori's neck, "How is this for a bargaining chip? My nii-san told me before… when something seems insurmountable, I just have to find a way around it!"

I sighed deeply at his stupidity, "Uh-huh, and what are you going to do if the four of us come at you? Cut her neck open? Stab her in the back? And then what? Somehow escape the pursuit of Shino and Hinata, members of the best tracking clans in Konoha? Then somehow run out of the village? Possibly avoiding the patrols of Konoha shinobi, and, what, living all alone in the wilderness, praying to Kami that you won't eventually be found, arrested, trialled and then summarily executed for murder? Is that it?"

"Huh? Uh… yeah, yeah, I… I think I will do exactly that!"

I groaned even harder. This was the problem when dealing with idiots, they never knew when to cut their losses. What did they call it? The sunk-cost fallacy? In for a penny, in for a pound?

"Right… you know what I think?" I said as I took a step towards him.

"St-stop! Don't c-come any closer!" Naoki distraughtly cried out, the tremble in his voice giving away the façade of bravery he was putting up.

"O-oi, Shinji!" Shikamaru called out after me, worried the boy would do something foolish.

I held a hand up and him, indicating for him to trust me, and continued pacing towards Naoki leisurely, "I think… that you're an itty, bitty, coward who doesn't have the guts to do anything." With every word I took another step and at the end of the sentence, I was just an arm's length away from them.

"St-stop! I mean it! Or else…"

Giving a confident smirk and asked, "Or else what? Hmm? Oh your parents would be so disappointed in you. And what did you say before? You had your genin older brother's support for this? Well then you can be sure he will be arrested as well, charged with aiding and abetting a criminal. Or would it be criminal conspiracy? Either way, since he knew about the whole thing and didn't try to stop you, there's no way his shinobi license won't be stripped away. Then who do you think he's going to blame, hm? Me? Or you, the criminal little brother who ruined his career, bringing shame and dishonour to your family?"

Naoki's resolve faltered; his mouth dried up as he found no words to counter my point.

As he looked downwards, momentarily distracted by the thoughts running through his mind, I quickly reached forward and snatched his wrist that was holding on to the kunai.

Ignoring his yelp in surprise, I twisted the knife out of his grip, letting it drop down on to the floor, before removing Kaori from his other arm. I entrusted her towards the safety of my companions and turned my attention back to Naoki. Once she was free and out of any danger, my face twisted up in unholy anger and I smashed a [Power Strike] reinforced fist in to his weaselly, conniving little face.

The boy recoiled in pain, a tooth visibly flying out of his bloodied mouth, but I wasn't done with him yet. His arm still in my grasp, I raised my fist up once more and cracked down upon him again. Just when I was about to land another, I felt someone reach under my arms and pull me back.

"Oi, that's enough, Shinji! You're going to kill him!"

Glancing back, I recognized Shikamaru and even Shino holding me back. I was tempted to shake them off and pummel the bastard a few more times, but I cooled my head and let my logical side take over. Even if I broke his face right here and now, it would only complicate matters even further. The bastard had already lost all will to resist and was squealing out while clutching his broken nose.

I shrugged off their hold and nodded at them while breathing out heavily, the tension leaving my body, "Right. I'm good. Thanks guys."

I turned back to our primary objective for being here in the first place, and saw her holding Hinata while sobbing, having watched my brutal smack down of her tormentor.

I immediately approached her, "Are you okay, Kaori?"

Kaori's blubbering face scrunched up further as even more tears and snot flowed out, "Shinji-kun. I… Shinji-kun!" She broke away from Hinata and flew at me, burying her head in my chest all the while unintelligibly crying something out. Ah she's getting her snot and tears all over my new shirt.

I looked down at her and awkwardly patted her back, "There, there. It's all fine now. You're safe."

She looked back up at me and I spotted a string of mucus from her nose sticking to my shirt. Gross. "I was so scared! They said, they said, uwahhhhh."

I could only shake my head at the sobbing mess before surveying the scene around me. Seven of the thuggish academy students were all laying in various positions on the floor, although some of them were struggling to sit up. I turned to Shikamaru and the others, "So what now?"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "This is beyond troublesome… for now, we can just leave them here I guess."

"A-ano, w-what if they r-ran away?" Hinata hesitantly asked.

"Like what Ikari-san said before. Unless they are prepared to leave the village and become a wanted fugitive, there's no where they could run to." Shino answered.

I nodded in agreement, "Exactly. Right now, we need to get Kaori some medical attention first, get her wounds looked at. Then the rest of us go report what just happened and what they've been doing to Kaori to the academy instructors."

After receiving their consensus, minus Kaori who was still sobbing into my shirt, I couldn't help but praise our handiwork, "That was a smooth operation guys. Heh, we make a pretty decent team, huh?"

"I have to agree, Ikari-san." Shino adjusted his shades with a finger. "Our teamwork was satisfactory, and the execution of the plan was flawless."

"You are one scary dude, Shinji. I thought that kid was about to shit himself for a moment." Shikamaru added, glad that the hard part was over.

"I-I didn't do much, but Shinji-kun, Shino-kun and Shikamaru-kun were a-amazing!" Hinata shyly piped up.

"Don't sell yourself short, Hinata. You did great too. I saw you back there, your Gentle Fist technique is improving. And your Byakuugan would have helped us locate them if we had lost them at any point." I smiled and flashed a thumbs up at her.

The shy girl blushed heavily at the unexpected praise and suddenly found her fingers really interesting.

I heard a muffled, disapproving whine coming from my shirt where Kaori had buried her face in before shrugging as we made our way back to the Shinobi Academy.