Chapter 3: VIP Escort

Yoshino was walking down the hotel hallway towards the bathroom and when she saw Kazuma, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and blushed. "Oh..." she said as she struggled to find her words, "Kazuma. What are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Kazuma figured it would be best if he kept his mouth shut about the details. "We decided to rest up before heading back out." He noticed how Yoshino was in her nightgown; instinctively he blushed and glanced away. "So,uh, what are you doing here?"

"Oh I was just heading to the..."

Yoshino gasped as she noticed a shadowy figure down the hall walking towards them.

"Should've expected one of you brats to be up keeping watch," said the shadowy figure as he stepped into the light, revealing a damaged face. It was Zaku Matemishi, one of the 3 freelance shinobi that attacked the vessel in an attempt to assassinate Elijah Ramu. The burns on his body were pretty bad, but some time with a medical jutsu made his injuries bearable enough for him to get back to work.

"This time I'm not just here for Mr. Ramu," he said, "I want that kid who ruined my face."

"This guy again?!?" Kazuma whirled around to see Zaku, looking none too happy at the sight of him and Yoshino. He raised his kunai back up in a defensive position. "Yoshino, get behind me," he said as he turned his attention Zaku. "Looks like Renji did a number on you," Kazuma said to him, grinning mockingly, "But I'm your opponent now. And i'll do more than just leave you with a fried tempura of a face."

Yoshino immediately jumped behind Kazuma, trembling in fear.

"Hmph..."

Zaku grinned.

"Arrogant brat," he said, "Your friend was fighting me with back up. He took advantage of an opening made by the girl. Unless that girl behind you has some tricks up her sleeve, I have the advantage here."

Kazuma gave Yoshino his key to the hotel room. "Here, take this and stay back," he ordered, "if things start to get crazy, get inside, warn the others, and stay inside." He then turned his attention back to the mercenary ninja.

"I'm being arrogant, huh?" he asked. "Hate to break it to you, but that's not my Trait." Kazuma threw the kunai at Zaku, hitting the wall next to him. The tag attached exploded, filling the hallway with thick smoke. Mercenary or not, he's still a Jonin; leagues better than what I can probably do, Kazuma thought, in order for this to pan out, I'll have to stay a step ahead. He readied himself, pulling out two more kunai, one in each hand and jumped in the smoke with the intent to attack Zaku.

Although he couldn't really see, Zaku rushed in the smoke with two kunais drawn. Hearing Kazuma's footsteps in the smoke, he threw one of the kunai in the direction of the sound.

Kazuma didn't see the kunai until the last second, as it flew past his cheek and sliced it. He continued foward until he saw a silhouette of Zaku.

There you are.. Kazuma dashed towards him, and threw his kunai in that direction.

Seeing the silhouette of Kazuma throw the kunai, Zaku was able to deflect it. "You're mine now kid," he said as he lunged forward and swung the kunai towards Kazuma's head.

Kazuma ducked down to avoid the attack and countered with his own, hitting Zaku in the jaw with an uppercut, and followed up with a spin kick to his chest, sending him staggering back to the other side. Man that was close, Kazuma thought, Just gotta keep him on his toes. Kamiko and Renji have done their part with this guy. Now it's my turn.

Zaku quickly reached over and blocked Kazuma's attempted uppercut, but was unprepared for the kick to the chest. The force of the impact caused him to slide back across the floor as he tried to catch his breath. "I'm getting pretty ticked off with you kid," he said as he opened a canteen strapped to his waist and poured it on the floor. "Water Clone Jutsu" he said, creating 3 clones.

With that, Yoshino felt it was time for her to run. She didn't want to leave Kazuma's side, but he had instructed her to go hide and she didn't want to risk his safety by making him protect her while he tries to fight. Looking at the room number on the key, Yoshino ran off in search of Team Raiku's room.

"Great, his chakra nature is water," Kazuma mumbled, "just my luck...". Kazuma realized he was going to have even more of a difficult time fighting Zaku. Whereas Zaku's chakra nature seems to be water, Kazuma's was fire and lightning; using Fire Style would be almost pointless, and although lightning wold be useful, it puts a physical strain on him.
Then again, he thought, so does using most ninjutsu overall...

Kazuma readied himself for whatever Zaku had coming for him next. If it comes down to it, I'll use ninjutsu if I have to, but for now it's genjutsu,
kenjutsu, and taijutsu only.

The three clones rushed Kazuma with kunais ready. One of the 3 jumped over Kazuma, and ran down the hall. The other two extended their kunais to stab him.

"Oh no, you don't!" Kazuma exclaimed after the clone, but turned around just in time to duck the other clones' attack. He swept their legs from under them with a low kick, and made a mad dash towards the third one.

The two attacking clones fell to the ground and dispersed into water. The clone Kazuma was chasing stopped in his tracks and turned around. The original Zaku and the clone, now on opposite sides of Kazuma both attacked simultaneously. "Water Style: Raging Waves!"

Seeing no other way to avoid it, Kazuma braced for the impact of the attack, sending him crashing into the wall. "Okay," he grunted from the wind being knocked out of him, "was not expecting that."

Zany looked up at his clone. "Leave him to me. Go find Mr. Ramu." The clone nodded and continued down the hallway.

Yoshino had been moving down the hall trying to unlock doors with the key Kazuma gave her until she eventually managed to find the right one. As she opened the door and stepped inside the room, she saw that Renji and Kamiko were sound asleep. "Guys, Kazuma's in danger!" she exclaimed.

Kazuma stood up, fully recovered from the attack. "You must be dimwitted if you think you can find him that easily," he said with a smirk. "Regardless, I'll still take you down."

"He'll locate him eventually," said Zaku, "But that's no concern of yours." Zaku lunged at Kazuma and swung his kunai at his waist.

Kazuma quickly stepped within Zaku's range, using his own momentum to grab him bu the arm and judo throw Zaku over Kazuma's shoulder and into the opposite wall. "Huh, Renji was right," Kazuma scoffed, "you are way too predictable. Honestly, I don't see how those two were having a hard time with you."

As Zaku was slammed onto the ground, his body dispersed into water, revealing it to be the 3rd water clone. The real Zaku was actually the one that ran down the hall in search of Elijah.

"As much as I wanted to kill that brat myself," he thought, "I couldn't leave it to the clone to complete the mission. Now which room did the manager say Mr. Ramu was staying in again? Oh wait, he never told me. We killed him and I checked the book myself. Should be room number...203."

Zaku stopped in front of the door with the number 203 over it. "Excellent," he said to himself.

When Zaku opened the door, not only to find Mr. Ramu missing, but also three unexpected kids in the room: Renji, Kamiko, and Yoshino, who was looking just as confused as he was.

"NYAAHH!! Gotcha!' Renji exclaimed with a mocking face.

"What?" he thought, "How unlucky can I get? To stumble upon these brats instead of Elijah Ramu. Rather than say anything. Zaku simply closed the door. "Mr. Ramu has to be around here somewhere, but him and the leaf jonin are probably aware of my presence here. Time for plan B." Zaku activated his communicator, "Initiate plan B," he said.

"PLAN THIS!" Kamiko dashed made a beeline towards Zaku and landed a powerful punch into his face, sending him flying through the wall and back into the hallway.

"Was that really necessary?" Renji grumbled. Even he thought it was a bit excessive.

"What?" Kamiko replied back, with a deviously confident smile on her face as she cracked her knuckles. "You and Kazuma had your fun with him, I started to feel a little left out. "

Zaku flew out into the hallway, just barely maintaining his footing. "I don't have time to deal with these brats," he said, "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu." The halls suddenly filled with a blinding mist, allowing Zaku to escape as he continued his search for Elijah.