Chapter 18
The labour went remarkably well, Aya pushed for about fifteen minutes until the baby's head appeared. Kenshin was frightened again when he saw the baby's head, and froze for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. But then he pulled himself together, and began to gently pull the baby out.
A few minutes later, Kenshin was already holding the baby in his arms, who was silently looking at him with his little blue eyes.
- Aya, look how cute he is. Here, little Ichiro, come to mummy. - Kenshin whispered, and handed him over.
- God, he's so cute! - Aya said excitedly, taking the boy in her arms. The blue-eyed baby looked at Aya and started crying loudly, his eyes slanting towards Kenshin.
- Be a good boy, don't cry. It's your mum, isn't it? - Kenshin said with a smile, and bent down to kiss his son lightly on the top of his head.
The little boy, as if hearing Kenshin's words, instantly fell silent, and looked at his mother.
Aya pulled her son close to her and kissed him gently, "You're so beautiful, God... My little Ichiro, you'll grow up to be a strong shinobi!" she said enthusiastically. - Aya declared enthusiastically, then shifted her gaze to Kenshin and added: - You know, I always fell asleep to my grandfather's stories about his father, my great-grandfather. I imagined that all his stories were true, and that I was the great-granddaughter of a descendant of the great Uchiha clan!
Hearing Aya's last words, a smile froze on Kenshin's face, and he suddenly asked: - What are the stories? The Uchiha Clan...?
- Ah, it's just the ramblings of an old drunk. As a child, I believed every word of it with admiration, but now I realise that my great-grandfather could not have been the son of the Uchiha clan, who was supposedly dropped off by his parents in a simple village to escape a terrible chase. Great-grandpa always told this unbelievable story, until the real members of the Uchiha clan heard it. They beat him severely, breaking several ribs. After that incident, my great-grandfather stopped telling the story to everyone, but told it to my grandfather, and my grandfather told it to me.
- Yes, your great-grandfather is not to be envied... - the young man sighed half-heartedly, realising that he had rejoiced before his time.
- Ichiro, baby, are you hungry? - Aya asked in a gentle tone, and brought him to her breast. The boy, as if on cue, sucked on her right breast, and silently began to eat.
Kenshin, meanwhile, decided not to disturb them, and left the room. Three hours later, the young father blinked his eyes in surprise when Aya came out of the bedroom as if nothing had happened. Her stomach was flat again, without a single stretch or sag, and her vagina was tight and firm again.
"Wow! The system did its best - no other way!" - The young man thought enthusiastically, and hugged Aya, looking at his first son.
Suddenly an idea occurred to Kenshin, he looked at the baby and mentally whispered "Status" and a small summary popped up in front of him
Name: Nakayama
Age: 62
Talent level:16
Expected development rank: Genin
Chances of further achievement
Chunin -40%
Jonin -1%
Kage - 0.001%
****
"What? 62 days? Hmmm, maybe the system counts by the baby's accelerated development time..."
After reading the description of each item carefully, Kenshin realised that the system had adjusted to the ranks of this world, and rated talent in terms of achievement in chakra control.
"Hmm, so talent level is an indicator of a shinobi's future achievements. Ichiro has that number at 16, so his expected development is peak genin, and possible attainment of chunin rank... Hmm, if the number was 20, then he could reach chunin level without much trouble..." - Kenshin pondered, assessing the future prospects.
- Ichiro, look how much daddy loves you, he can't take his eyes off you, can he, Kenshin? - Aya asked with a cheerful smile and began to cuddle the baby, kissing him and giving him motherly tenderness.
- Mm-hmm... Ichiro, grow up soon, father needs a helper! - Kenshin said with a laugh, and hugged his wife and son.
- Don't listen to him, kid. Daddy's joking. Grow as much as you want, Mummy will take care of you! - Aya said, not happy to be a mother.
The next few hours passed quietly, the baby sleeping and eating, but not crying, and often looking in his father's direction. Aya and Kenshin ate dinner, and went to bed. Because of the stained bed in the bedroom, the girl and the baby used the bed in the "guest" room, and Kenshin had to take one of the four beds in the "barracks". But he didn't complain, and realised that the first night mother and child had to get a good night's rest.
When Kenshin woke up in the morning, he couldn't believe he was a father. He got out of bed, and found Aya sitting at the kitchen table, planting the baby in front of him and playing merrily with him. Ichiro was laughing loudly and playing with his mum without a care in the world.
Seeing Kenshin, Aya said: - Oh, good morning. Look, our baby's teeth have already erupted! I can't believe how fast he's growing.
Kenshin noticed that the baby had indeed grown much larger overnight, and he couldn't help but wonder where the growing body was getting its energy from. He decided that it was another mystery of the "system" and dismissed these useless thoughts and kissed the girl and the baby.
- So, bandit, are you growing up? - Kenshin asked his first son with a smile.
The baby didn't say anything, but shrieked happily, and held out both hands to Kenshin, begging to be held. The young father took his son in his arms, and played with him for about ten minutes, circling the kitchen with him, amid the baby's gleeful laughter and the girl's tender gaze.
The rest of the day went pretty routine. Aya babysat the baby, while Kenshin trained in the gym, caught four live hares, specially making changes to the formation that now made the hares jump into the snare at a certain angle, and caught by their hind legs.
After lunch, the young man rested a bit, waiting out the heat, spending time with his wife and child. In the evening Kenshin went berry picking, and spent about an hour picking the local analogue of the familiar blackberries. Then the young man moved to the river, and took a few fish from the artificial cage, tossing some cooked grits to the others. Then he headed home.