Chapter 38
On the 99th day, Third and Fourth had finally matured, and Kenshin immediately put them into training, just as he had done with Ichiro and Keiji. He taught them the proper stance, and set up a kick, deciding to wait a few days before mastering the chakra.
Over the next few days, he had several sparring sessions with his sons, and noted that even with his terrible technique, he could barely come out victorious against them in half of the sparring sessions. His assumption about strengthening the basic physical characteristics by a percentage equal to the percentage from the Talented Offspring skill - was completely confirmed. The Third and Fourth were at least 20% faster and stronger than a normal person, and could easily stand up to his father due to their tremendous strength and speed.
Ichiro spent the entire 102nd day teaching his brothers chakra. By evening, both of his brothers had awakened their chakra, and Kenshin hurried to see their "status"
****
Name: Third
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 21
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra Quantity: 3000
Chakra Control: 31%
*****
Name: Fourth
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 19
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra quantity: 3300
Chakra Control: 30%
"Hm, both of them have the same quality of chakra as Ichiro, and in general all the characteristics plus or minus are the same. Third has slightly higher control, but Fourth has a full ten per cent higher quantity..." - Kenshin remarked, and then decided to look at Ichiro's 'status'.
Name: Nakayama Ichiro
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 16
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra quantity: 3250
Chakra Control: 49%
- Congratulations, Ichiro. Your chakra control has grown a bit again. - Kenshin praised him, patting him on the shoulder.
- Thank you, father. I feel something inexplicable related to chakra, and I think the quality of my chakra will soon go to the next level! - Ichiro declared.
- Well done! Train hard to become the strongest shinobi in the world! - Kenshin declared solemnly, mostly to impress his younger sons and to ignite the fire of ambition in them.
- Got it! Said Ichiro.
- You two should also train hard to stand shoulder to shoulder with your older brother. - Kenshin said, wanting to encourage the two younger sons.
- Yes, Father! - The Third and Fourth replied synchronously.
****
On the 104th day, Aya and Natsumi gave birth at the same time. It was not the first time they had given birth, so they easily coped with this "force majeure" and Natsumi went to another bedroom with the baby for the night.
Kenshin named his son by Natsumi the Fifth and his son by Aya the Sixth. Both babies had the same talent score of 20 units. Kenshin was saddened that he had "not been given a new level", but he was not discouraged and decided that he would get the next level when he conceived new children.
On the 105th day, Kenshin took his three sons and went into town to sell off his first successful crop of rare flowers, and to buy various household items and new seeds to experiment with planting various crops. He had wanted to get his hands on some blue sage seeds that could be used to make chakra-enhancing potions, but he hadn't seen them on sale in his previous visits to the city. All the blue sage was being bought up by numerous shinobi teams.
Kenshin and his three sons made their way to the market, to the herb row. After half an hour of haggling, Kenshin sold his first crop of flowers for 7,000 ryo, but his joy at getting good money was dwarfed by the news that the blue sage had once again been sold out as soon as it went on sale.
The saleswoman, a woman of about forty-five, saw Kenshin's sadness and for some reason wanted to help him and told him confidential information about where to get blue sage or its seeds. Of the three villages named, the only one relatively close was Shinto Village, where Aya used to live.
After saying goodbye to the saleswoman, Kenshin and his sons headed out to get the rest of their purchases, all the while pondering whether or not to go to the Shinto village. Deciding that the fat man Kaito and his friends were no threat to a group of three good fighters and one Genin level fighter, Kenshin decided to head there.
By five o'clock in the evening, the four of them were just outside the village, and Kenshin ordered them to hurry up to avoid trouble. After asking the first passerby for the location of a flower shop, they walked briskly in the right direction, and when they found the right house, they went inside.
But unfortunately for Kenshin, luck was not on his side that day, and the procession of four stout fellows was spotted by Kaito, who was sitting on the ground floor of the liquor store, and saw Kenshin through the window. He recognised him at once, and the slight intoxication was gone in an instant. He instantly jumped to his feet, and looked out from behind the door, tracing where this group of four tough guys were going. When he saw them enter the flower shop at the end of the street, Kaito immediately jumped out of the liquor store, running to the house of his grandfather, who was also the elder of the village.
Panting a few minutes later, Kaito literally piled into his grandfather's small office, and his eyes instantly brightened.
- Kaito! Why didn't you knock?! - His grandfather shouted at him.
- Not now, Grandpa. Iori-san, I'm glad you're here too! Hurry, I need your help! Remember I told you about the spy of the enemy village, or nukenin? Well, he's in our village right now! And he's not alone, he's with three people! Come on, Iori-san, while we're sitting here, they could slaughter half the village! - Kaito blurted out despite his shortness of breath.
- What?! The Nukenins?! - The old man almost jumped up from his chair.
- Four noukenin? Hmm, I can't handle them alone, I should let them go and then ask for help from Konoha... - Iori muttered.
- No, they're not! They're not Nukenin, they're ordinary men, Nukenin's handmaidens. I've fought one of them before, and if it was a nukenin, wouldn't he have killed me in one move? - Kaito blurted out, mentally punching himself in the mouth for calling the four of them nukenin.
- Come on, Iori-san, they're in the flower shop now, and God knows what they'll do to the salesgirl. You're the only one who can stop them! - Kaito continued to press on.
- Okay, lead the way! - Iori said decisively, and ran out of the office, followed by Kaito.