In a certain shop, a tense atmosphere could be feel from the outside. Some passersby tried to listen to the commotion by standing closely to the sweet shop. Soon, the crowd gathered around the shop with a curios expression planted on their faces. Whether it was a clueless kid, a retired old man or even a patrol guard seemed to not want to leave. In their minds, one question lingered around, 'what is happening?'
While the people outside were questioning of what happened, on the inside was not any better too. Customers were stunned and some of them even ran away from the shop but there was also they who decided to stay, either because of too afraid to move or maybe they wanted to see the end of this matter.
Yoshi who was already got up from his seat and now was ready to leave the place with Naruto being stopped suddenly by another man. The second man touched Yoshi's shoulder and started shouting.
"You! You think you can get away just like that after what you've done! You bastard!"
"Are you that bastard's friend? Then you will get a beating too for not taking care of your friend better!"
Yoshi said then did a spin to the left and side kicked him on the abdomen with his left leg. Since Yoshi was still a kid, the attacked doesn't gave so much impact to the man but it was enough to hurt him. The man stumbled few steps away while holding his now injured abdomen. Seeing what happened, the first man from earlier that had a broken nose got up and pulled out a kunai knife from his pocket. Yoshi who saw the man's action, ready himself for the next attack.
'A kunai? Isn't he a civilian? What does a civilian like him doing walking around with a weapon? Doesn't anyone care to report abo- wait a minute. Now I look closely-'
Yoshi thoughts was been interrupted by a kunai came swinging fast towards his face. Thanked to his fast reaction, Yoshi got to dodge the attack just in the nick of time. He steps back a little to make some distance between them.
'The attack is fast. No, it's too fast for a civilian. Sure, I can't judge him since some of the civilians was a retired shinobi, but still.'
"Yo- Yoshi! Let's just go from here, okay? There's no need for you to danger yourself like this." Naruto said with a scared voice while walking towards Yoshi's side.
Before Yoshi could say anything, the man with a knife ran towards them and Yoshi took this chance to pushed Naruto away from him. He did a side step to avoid the knife again but this time he grabbed the man's wrist and used all his might to hurt him that caused the knife on his hand to fell out of his gripped. Once the knife got out of the picture, Yoshi hurriedly punched the man's stomach caused him to bend down a little because of pain. As to not want to give him a chance to fight back, Yoshi brought his hand out and immediately grabbed the opponent head then slammed it onto his right knee as hard as he could. The result of the attack made the man fell unconscious onto the ground.
'Damn, all this moves made me tired. Next time, I better remember that I am a kid and try not to overexerted myself.'
After Yoshi pulled such stunts, no one dared to move as they couldn't believe that a boy just did that. Some blood that was splattered got on his clothes but gladly he wore black overall so it was barely seen. Seeing all of the attention was on him, Yoshi decided to run away to get out of the situation, so he grabbed his yellow-haired friend by the collar and stormed away from there.
(Few minutes later)
In an alley, two boys were panting with one of them sat on the ground while the other one was standing while supporting himself with his hands on the knees. Naruto who was standing started to speak while still gasping for air.
"Huff- Huff- Y- Yoshi. Are we- Huff- Are we gonna be okay?"
"Huff- I- Huff- I don't know. But- Huff- Hope everything's gonna be fine later." Yoshi said while letting out a heavy sigh.
Yoshi went out from the alley and checked around the bustling street, tried to find any clue if anyone was chasing after them or maybe some familiar faces that he could remember back at the dango shop before called out for Naruto to come out too. Seeing no one cared about their existence, Yoshi started to speak.
"Oi, Naruto. I think it's best for you to go home for today. But if you don't want to, then go hangout at Ichiraku or you can go bother the Hokage. Nevertheless, be careful. If you see someone suspicious, run straight to the Hokage's building, okay?"
"A- ah! Yeah! Got it, but what about you? Where are you going? Aren't you coming with me?" Naruto said still anxious and a little bit confused of the sudden ordered from Yoshi.
"No, I can't come with you. I'm sorry, but I still have things to be done today. And apparently, those guys were after me, so I think it's best we keep our distance for a while." Yoshi said seriously while his eyes still locked on the street just in case if one of the men suddenly pop up.
Naruto was troubled with all the things that happened, at one time he felt nervous and scared, but he also felt confused and mad. After heard the reasoning as to why they have to stay away from each other, Naruto became a little bit irritated. And so he spoke his mind to Yoshi with a slightly angry toned meant that he cared deeply about Yoshi, not that he was angry at his idea.
"Yoshi! Who am I to you?! I'm your friend, right?! I don't know what made you think that those bastards were after you, but if they truly were, then that one reason enough for me to tell Gramps about this! He's the Hokage, he'll surely be able to handle them." Naruto said while walking away to the direction of the Hokage's building.
Yoshi was startled for a second at his friend sudden angry toned, but snapped out of it when he saw Naruto walking away. He hurriedly got to Naruto and yanked him back by the back collar of his shirt. Naruto was shocked at Yoshi's action and so he faced Yoshi and yelled at him.
"Oi! What was that for!!? I almost die, you know!!"
Because of Naruto's yelling, everyone that walked passed them would looked at them weirdly.
*Bonk*
"Shut up, Naruto. Everyone's watching. Anyway, I want you to keep the things that happened today a secret. Don't tell anyone about this, including your beloved Gramps. Understand?" Yoshi said coolly with his hands crossed over his chest.
"Eh! But, how can I tell Gramps about this when you want me to keep it a secret even from him?"
"Then, don't tell him! Are you even listening to what I said. Sigh~"
Yoshi was tired with all these pointless argument with Naruto. He just finished fighting with some random guys and that drained so much energy out of him, plus he didn't eat anything yet today, so it just made him more lethargic. He came with an idea to end the argument with one final words, but if Naruto still stubbornly wanted to do things his own way, then so be it. He knew how to handle them as Yoshi was such a prepared kind of guy. He just doesn't wanted to take action yet since his plan was rather not normal for a kid, and of course the plan was too troublesome to do.
"Naruto. Listen, all I ask you is to not tell anyone about this matter. I don't want to hear you deny my words or such. I was tired and I still have something to do right now. So please, shut your mouth." he said with a serious tone while glaring at Naruto.
Naruto was slightly taken aback by what his friend said, so he doesn't confronted Yoshi any further, instead he looked straight into Yoshi's eyes for a mere second before turned around and walked away to the direction of the Hokage's building. Yoshi who saw the blond walking away didn't do anything. He watched Naruto's figure slowly fading away into the crowd of people before turning around and do the same.
(Meanwhile at the Dango shop)
UNKNOWN'S POV
"Report to the master that the mission was successful and the target has been confirmed as a potential candidate. Request for permisson to continue the 'look out' on the said target."
A man was standing right outside the shop with his back showed the other man who was sitting at the table near the entrance. He said his so called reports to the latter without attracting any attention.
"Permission granted. But make sure you watched him closely and find out more information about the target. At the same time, be careful when around him. His not one normal kid." the second man respond without batting an eye from his tea.
"Yes, sir." he respond then walked away from the shop.