Chapter 40
Back home, all four of them took a cool shower, and collapsed into their beds. Ichiro and Kenshin were exhausted physically, while Third and Fourth were mentally exhausted. It was the first time they had been involved in a battle in which their father had almost been killed, it had left an indelible mark on their immature minds. They each promised themselves to train harder so that the next time, if Ichiro wasn't around, they would be able to protect their father and support him.
Kenshin didn't feel particularly bad about killing Kaito. He knew it had to be done, at least because he was the only one who knew Kenshin by sight.
Ichiro's chakra reserves were depleted, so he needed to rest. He took a shower, waddled to his bed, and fell instantly into a deep sleep, skipping dinner.
Aya and Natsumi were shocked, and rushed to the bedroom to question Kenshin about what had happened. He briefly told them the whole story, not forgetting to mention Kaito's death, but not how he died.
- The most important thing is that you're all okay! - Aya said. She wasn't upset by Kaito's death, but the possibility of losing another member of her family scared her, so Kenshin pulled her to his bed and hugged her.
Natsumi took the story without surprise. She had been in similar battles before, and they didn't scare her. She was relieved that Kenshin and the children were all right and lectured him to stop getting into trouble.
Kenshin realised without her admonition that if even the weakest Chunin were their opponent, they would all be left there, torn to shreds. Even Ichiro with one tomoe was no match for the Chunin. Kenshin surmised that to fight Chunin, Ichiro would need at least two tomoe, or a chakra quality of three units.
After resting for about an hour, Kenshin and his two children were invited to a family dinner. Aya didn't wake Ichiro, but stroked his hair, marvelling at how quickly the little boy she held in her arms had grown into a strong shinobi.
At dinner, Kenshin briefly discussed the situation with his sons again, and praised them for their valour, again urging them to train harder. After dinner, everyone went to their rooms, and after a while went to bed.
Kenshin had planned to "impregnate" two wives for tonight, but after such a hard day he had no energy for it. Besides, the Fifth and Sixth had just been born, and could not be without their mothers for long, so Kenshin postponed the important matter until tomorrow, and went to bed.
Kenshin spent the next day, day 106, planting blue sage. He had already read the book he had bought in advance on the care of this very valuable plant, and knew what conditions it required for growth, so all Kenshin had to do was set up the formation, and in about ten days wait for the first harvest.
Ichiro hadn't quite recovered from yesterday's chakra depletion, so he'd spent the day training his younger brothers. He sparred with them and explained how to concentrate the chakra on their feet to keep them on the wall or water.
Third and Fourth were very capable students, and progressed by leaps and bounds. By evening, Third was able to stay on the wall for half a second, and it was a matter of days before he fully mastered this ability.
In the evening, after dinner, Aya and Natsumi put the children to bed in the next room, and fell into the clutches of the insatiable Kenshin. Overnight, they both compensated him for the last week before the birth, when the girls were in the last stages of pregnancy and couldn't satisfy their man.
After the two girls tiredly fell asleep, Kenshin focused on his "status" and distributed a skill point from the seventh level he had obtained into the skill "Creating Formations" raising it to the fourth level, then tiredly went to sleep.
When Kenshin awoke the next morning, he found that he knew a little more about formations than he had before. He learnt the ways in which old formations could be modified and improved. Of the new knowledge, the most important in his opinion were the 'Animal Control Formation' and the 'Energy Suppression Formation'.
Animal Control Formation was applied to a special collar or skin of the animal, and made it completely submissive, and somewhat controllable within the intelligence available to the animal.
Energy suppression formations were usually applied to shackles or special cuffs, and were used for capturing mages. Kenshin liked this formation, but it needed to be modified to fit his chakra, and at his current level of knowledge, Kenshin could modify and change the available formations, and in theory create completely new and unique formations.
The thought of not being able to add strong kunoichi to the harem had long bothered Kenshin. He didn't want to capture strong women with the help of his sons and then rape them while tied up.
After breakfast, Kenshin went into rethinking the new knowledge and trying to make the formation perceive chakra instead of magic, because he knew exactly which node in the formation was responsible for it.
Several times during the day, he would summon either Ichiro or Natsumi and ask them to release chakra to the right place on the formation, and then he would dive back into his work, drawing and erasing lines again, trying to get some results.
The following days were a carbon copy of the previous days. Kenshin's older sons were training, and the younger ones were growing up. Kenshin himself was always working on improving his formation, and had no time for anything else. Aya and Natsumi did chores as usual, and often relaxed in the pool, where Kenshin would occasionally drop by, followed by a few hours of mindless sex and relaxation.
On the 108th day the Fourth also learnt to linger on the wall for half a second, and the two brothers were now and then leaping over the surfaces of the mountains nearest the house, honing their skill.
On the 109th day, Kenshin was sitting in the afternoon drawing formations on the ground as usual, but suddenly he heard Ichiro's voice over the mental link, "Father, come to the gym, you have to look at this!"
Kenshin immediately dropped what he was doing and headed for the gym. When he got inside, he saw Ichiro and Third and Fourth standing next to him, and they were talking excitedly:
- Father, you must see it! - Unable to contain his emotions, the Third said.
- Yes, Father, look, it's incredible! - Confirmed the Fourth.
- What am I supposed to see? - Kenshin asked with interest, not noticing anything unusual.
- Here, father, watch carefully! - Ichiro said, and threw the shuriken at the wooden manikin at the end of the room.
Kenshin strained his eyes, trying not to miss anything, and opened his mouth at what he saw. The shuriken, about a metre away from the manikin, disappeared abruptly and stabbed into the head of the wooden manikin.
- Holy shit! Ichiro, are you in control of this? - Kenshin asked, unable to contain his surprise.
- Not always, but I think with practice I can not only improve each shuriken throw, but also increase the distance! - Ichiro said proudly.
Kenshin immediately began all sorts of tests and examinations to find out the nature of this ability, and its prospects. For example, it was discovered that it was not just shuriken acceleration, but a kind of "teleportation". Kenshin and his two sons stretched a dozen threads at a distance of 50 centimetres from the manikin's face, and after Ichiro's throw, the threads were intact, but the face was not.
But this ability had its disadvantages. For example, Ichiro couldn't "teleport" a shuriken to a place he couldn't see with his eyes. When Kenshin pulled a long cloth in front of the mannequin, Ichiro's ability would stop working and the shuriken would fly further away, tearing through the cloth.
But even with this "disadvantage", the ability was rarely strong and dangerous. After Natsumi saw Ichiro's throw, she was just as shocked as Kenshin and said that not every Chunin would be able to dodge such a throw.