I glanced towards the shrubs as we moved inside, hoping Rihei would gather everyone soon. After Shohei and I entered, the thick door was closed shut by the younger man before the two of them lined up dutifully before us.

We were in a large room that seemed like a temple vestibule. The room was packed full of crates, and the few that were open had weapons of all kind visible. There were four other men in the room who stood up from where they were sitting when we entered.

"Welcome, ninja sirs." The older man said.

The attitudes of the two had changed after seeing my "puppet" techniques.

"Is this everyone here?" I asked.

"No, the others are in the other rooms and some are out getting their tasks done. But I should take you to see the overseer first."

Just as the man finished speaking, a stern looking man strode into the room and spoke in an authoritative voice.

"What's going on here?" He turned to the older man. "Jizu?"

I let out an immature and involuntary snort after hearing his name.

"Allergies." I said when they all turned to look at me.

"First lieutenant. They're the ninja that the overseer said were coming in."

"Oh? You're early." The first lieutenant said before he scrunched his eyebrows. "Weren't there suppose to be three of you?"

"The last one went out check out the area, they should be coming anytime now." I said as I turned around to open the door. "They might actually be waiting outside right now."

'I hope the group is ready and waiting outside.'

"Hold it right there." The first lieutenant said before turning to the two that let us in. "Did these two give the password?"

'Uh-oh.'

"No, but they proved that they were ninjas." The older man of the pair said.

"What did the two of you say your names were again?" The first lieutenant asked.

"I'm Heisho." Shohei introduced himself before pointing at me. "And he's Mister Nei."

"Are you independents or from a clan?"

'What's the correct answer here?' I thought.

"We're from the same clan." Shohei answered for us.

"And which clan is that?"

'Should I mention the Shiin or Fuma Clan that I heard of while in the Land of Rice Fields, or make one up?'

Shohei was at a loss as he glanced at me.

'Make one up. It would probably be bad if they personally knew those clans or they were enemies.'

"Well?"

"The Wu Tang Clan." I said the first name that popped into my head.

"Heisho and Mister Nei of the Utan Clan? I've never heard of any these names before." The first lieutenant said. "How about the two of you wait here while I call Overseer Zuki over to confirm your identities."

'Shit, this guy suspects us. We can't let him call for backup.'

"Alright." I said, keeping my calm as I reached into my robe. "But can you give this to the overseer? They'll know it's us when they see it."

"What is it?" He asked when I rummaged inside my robe for a little too long.

"Where did I put it? Ah, there it is." I chucked out a flash bomb with it's fuse already half-way lit as I grabbed Shohei and pulled him down for cover.

"Shit, take cover!" Someone in the room called out.

*BOOM*

I felt a pain in my ribs and ringing in my ears as I quickly got up and sent out a detection pulse to find my way through the disorientation. I quickly reached for the large bar that was blocking the door, sliding it out of the way before turning around and quick-drawing my blade to block the incoming attack from a dagger held by the first lieutenant.

"Stop them!"

"Open the door!" I yelled at Shohei as I deflected the dagger and kicked the lieutenant away to ready myself for attacks from the sides.

The sound of metal groaned as the door was pushed open while I defended the two of us from anyone who wasn't caught completely off guard by the flash bomb. I constantly sent out detection pulses as I kept on the defensive.

"Take them all down!" I soon heard from behind me.

I felt relief, especially in my ribs, as arrows shot in from the outside behind me towards the men I was fighting before my backup pulled out their own weapons and charged in.

"Do you have any idea whose base you just trespassed onto?! You'll regret this!" The first lieutenant roared.

"Ahhhhh!" The Yamaguchi-gumi members ignored him as they continued their charge in.

The large commotion had attracted backup from the rest of the hideout as they entered the room and it quickly became a huge skirmish.

30 people was a huge number trying to squeeze into the door behind me, so I tried to pull to the side and keep out of the fight. One man spotted me and ran at me with his weapon, forcing me to fight back. I quickly sent him onto the ground and decided I didn't want to be in the room anymore, so I moved into a hallway on the side and ducked into the closest room just before more backup ran by.

The room I ducked into was a small bedroom with a desk. On top of the desk was a pouch and after checking inside the pouch, I pocketed 2 gold ryos and a couple silvers.

'Maybe there's more to take in this hideout before the Yamaguchi-gumi raids it.' I thought.

I made sure it was clear before sneaking out and heading further into the hideout. As I was doing so a heard the fighting become much more heated back in the room they were fighting in. I quickly peeked through the rooms as I went down the hallway and deeper into the hideout to see if there was anything else to grab.

After clearing a couple rooms, I netted almost 8 ryos. Further into the hideout, I opened a door into a large office. Inside, I found a young man, who looked like he was around 17, in the middle of gearing up. He wore what looked like some sort of headphone or earmuffs.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my office?" He demanded the moment he saw me open the door.

'What the hell is he still doing in here when there is war going on at his front door.' I thought.

The young man slid his headphone off so that it hung around his neck and there was a pause as the two of us stared at each other in silence, the young man tilting his head like he was listening for something.

"You nervous?" He finally spoke. "If you're nervous, that means you're weak!"

He tossed what ever he was holding in his hands towards me. I instantly slam the door shut and made my way to retreat. There was a thump against the door from the object he tossed and then a bang as the door was knocked down and the young man charged into the hallway.

He reached behind his waist, pulling out what looked like a tanto and ran at me. I defended with my katana and he forced me back on the defensive as he took a couple swings at me before stopping and putting some space between us.

He looked me up and down before speaking. "What's wrong? You injured?"

Receiving in no answer he charged in again. This time attacking all over the place. In and out, left and right, high and low. He was forcing me to make bigger movements to worsen my injury. He was even jumping off the walls, using them as springboards, and jumping over me to attack from behind.

Deciding that I was in a really bad situation, I created an illusion before stepping back to create some space between us. I reached into my robes to grab a flash bomb and toss it at him.

"So you know some tricks?" He scoffed as he instantly recognized the illusion and cut through it before slicing the flash bomb in half, making it useless.

"Fury." I muttered as I circulated ki in my arm and readied myself for his charge.

When our weapons clash this time, his eyes widened slightly as he was forced to brace his tanto with his other hand and jump backwards to recover from the force of the attack.

One of the men from the Yamaguchi-gumi suddenly appeared from around the corner and snuck up behind the young man as he raised the machete in his hand.

The young man turned around last second and dodged the slash before stabbing the man in the stomach, causing him to fall back as he clutched his wound with both hands.

'This guy is tougher and much more nimbler than I expected.' I thought as I reached into my robes again.

"Tricks again?" He said as he reached up and put his headphones on again before he charged in again.

During that time, I pulled out a little needle and focused my ki into as I stabbed it into a spot on the left side of my head before quickly doing the same for another spot on the right side. The two spots were where the gates of opening and healing were, and the needle stimulated them into widening up.

I felt ki surge through my body as I readied myself to re-engage the young man. He immediately knew something was different because he dodged before our blades clashed again.

'Isn't this guy a little too perceptive?' I complained internally.

The young man attacked again, this time from a low angle. He ended up pulling his tanto back last second and switched to an uppercut aimed at me with his other hand. The punch caught me off guard but I responded quick enough so that it only clipped my mask, pushing it upwards and revealing the bottom half of my face.

Out of no where, I felt a bout of dizziness as my vision spun and I felt like I was going to puke. Teru's teachings engraved in me, I quickly sent out a detection pulse to find him trying to take advantage of that moment to attack me from the side.

*Ching*

The young man backed up after his sneak attack failed. "You actually blocked that?"

'So this confirms he caused the bout of dizziness. How did he do it?' I thought as I tried to regain my balance while blinking away the rest of the disorientation.

"Let's see you try it again!" He charged again and went for the same low angle attack.

He did the exact same feint with his tanto and went for the punch again. I was ready this time and swung my sword with the intent to chop off his arm.

*Ring*

There was a loud echoing ring as my sword cut his sleeve to reveal that he was wearing a sleek metal bracer underneath. The metal bracer had small holes in it and it's ringing felt extremely piercing to my ears. He used the moment of surprise from blocking my attack to cut at me with his tanto. I moved back to evade but he cut deep into my side, drawing blood.

I felt a sharp pain in my side as he pulled his tanto out and backed away to avoid my reactionary swing.

'This can't go on, he's too good. I don't think I'm a match for him even if I was 100%. I have to gamble if I want to beat him.' I thought as I felt a searing pain in my side. 'And that bracer he's wearing is most likely the cause of the dizziness.'

I grabbed my sword, holding it behind me in a two-handed stance as I muttered to myself. "Fury."

This time, I was the one on the offensive. Ki circulated explosively and unstably in my right arm as ran forward. I used all my focus and willpower to rein in my ki to keep it from going out of control and exploding inside my arm.

I felt excruciating pain from both my sides and ribs as I followed behind the phantom image I sent forward. It did nothing but add more stimulus in his vision. Right before I reached him, I spat at him, aiming for his face. He tilted his head a little to dodge the projectile attack. I then took the katana into my left hand and swung it at him. He retreated backwards and deflected the swing upwards.

My triple distraction seemed to work because he was surprised by a fury infused fist that followed right after. Air was displaced as my punch hit in square in the chest, causing him to instantly fly backwards and slam into the wall before spewing out blood from his mouth.

Using his own trick against him worked but my right arm felt like it had been run through a grinder and torn apart as it hung there limply.

'I guess this is why the brain limits the body to 20%.'

I slowly staggered over to where he was shakily struggling to push himself off the ground but it seemed like he couldn't find any strength to get himself up.

I kicked away his tanto once I reached him and then kicked him in the face to try and knock him out. He still stayed conscious but he was struggling to move. I took a quick look around to see if our fighting had attracted any attention but the hallway clear other than the Yamaguchi-gumi man who was dressing his wound with his robe.

"Good work, Mister Nei." He said when he caught me looking.

I then slowly and painfully knelt down, and with my one working arm, gradually to pull off the metal bracer off to completely disarm him. I then pulled his headphones off of him, since it seemed like he had some kind of extra sensitive hearing.

Working the metal bracer onto my left arm, I channeled ki through it and felt it slowly seep into the bracer as it began to vibrate.

'Looks like I was right about it.' I thought.

I placed my arm close to his ear but nothing happened.

'Do I have to throw a punch?'

I tossed out a punch and could feel the vibrations from the bracer amplifying as it passed through the air. My punch ran by the young man's ear causing him to grunt and then passed out.

Once that was done, I let out a breath of relief.

"Tough bastard." I muttered.

I suddenly felt something cold and sharp against my neck as a low voice spoke out.

"Don't move."