Chapter 45
On the 142nd day, Kenshin received good news from the Third and Fourth. Both of his sons had learnt to perform the joint technique through long training.
Standing in the gymnasium, he watched an incredible scene. His two sons synchronously folded their hand seals and then shouted:
- Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! - And instead of releasing one fireball at a time, they formed one gigantic one and a half metre sized fireball, which rushed towards the tree manikin a second later, but was stopped by an invisible barrier. After half a second of the barrier flickering violently, the fireball, reduced to half a metre, broke the defence and burnt the wooden manikin to ashes.
- Wow! Even my best defence formation couldn't absorb all the damage..." Kenshin muttered, and walked over to the mannequin, struggling to contain the remaining heat. He scraped with a long iron pole, and found the half-melted amulet on which the formation had been applied.
Even Ichiro was quite surprised by the power of the two younger brothers. He believed that if he accelerated the use of the technique, it would become an incredibly formidable weapon in the hands of the Nakayama family.
- Ichiro, practice with the Third and Fourth. You must learn how to create a triple fireball. - Kenshin ordered, and all three of them obeyed his will unconditionally.
Before leaving the gym, he decided to look at the "status" of his kids, and see the extent of their progress.
Name: Nakayama Ichiro
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 16
Chakra Quality: 3
Chakra quantity: 3350
Chakra Control: 52%
*****
Name: Third
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 21
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra quantity: 3500
Chakra Control: 47%
*****
Name: Fourth
Age: 20 years old
Talent Level: 19
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra quantity: 3400
Chakra Control: 46%
Day 144.
Two figures of stout men were rushing swiftly through the woods, leaping from tree to tree, and after half an hour, one stopped abruptly, and said to the other:
- Wait, Izao. This place is perfect. We'll lay low, sit here for a few weeks until the noise dies down. They won't find us in these mountains.
- You're right, Toru. After what we did in that town, we're probably being followed by a Konoha punishment squad. We should definitely lay low! - He was a broad-shouldered black-haired man wearing black trousers and a black T-shirt with a grey waistcoat with a lot of pockets on top.
The two men quickly headed towards the nearest mountain, but suddenly, Izao noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye, and stopped abruptly.
- Look, there's a potato field! - He turned to his comrade with surprise.
- You're imagining things. There can't be potato fields here. - Toru shook his head, but looked in the right direction anyway, and froze in surprise.
The two mates rushed towards the potato field, and ten seconds later they were both holding a large potato in their hands.
- Hmm, potatoes indeed. But who planted them in the middle of nowhere? Izao grinned wickedly and split up with his mate to look around.
After an hour, they came to the conclusion that someone had definitely lived in this place, or even still lived there. After exploring all the nearest caves, they found nothing, but they were not upset. After gathering a sack of potatoes and finding two snares with live hares, they chose one of the caves and decided to set up a temporary base there.
- Judging by the snares and the potato field, one of these days we shall meet the "owner" of all this splendour, and see what he is all about! - Toru said with a laugh, and took a large bite of meat from the hind leg of a roasted hare.
*****
Kenshin immediately noticed the intrusion of the two strangers, and hoped they were just passing through. But as they approached the potato field, he instantly gave his sons the command to go on alert. They had already practised the enemy invasion scenario many times before, so they quickly went on alert, and waited for the order.
Kenshin could clearly see all of the aliens' movements, but with a slight delay. The information coming into his brain was like echolocation, without colours or precise images, just barely recognisable outlines.
As the uninvited guests began to search each cave, Kenshin realised that there was likely to be a conflict, and feared that the strangers would find the entrance to the shelter in some unprecedented way, and when one of them entered the cave, Kenshin held his breath, mentally ordering all his sons to be ready for battle, but after a few seconds, he finally exhaled. The stranger wandered around the cave, not noticing anything, and stepped outside.
When the two strangers finally stole two rabbits and a sack of potatoes, and then disappeared into one of the caves, Kenshin called his sons away, and ordered them to train harder and improve their combined fireball technique as much as possible, while he began to think of a plan to eliminate the enemies.
There was no doubt in his mind that they were enemies. He knew from their behaviour that they were certainly not Konoha shinobi who were on a mission and had decided to spend the night in the mountains. In any case, Kenshin planned to wait at least a few days before making a move. If it was by some ridiculous coincidence that the shinobi of Konoha, who looked like outright bandits, would be obliged to leave by then.
Based on the speed he noticed, Kenshin surmised that these two were at least peak Genin, or even Chunin. Their speed was slightly faster than Ichiro's, so Kenshin hoped they would leave the next day and never come back.
To his deepest regret, they didn't go anywhere the next day, but only began to scour the area with even more zeal. One of them was a Doton user, and had even caved some caves, but then he either got bored or it was too hard, so he gave up caving and started walking around.
Kenshin stayed up all last night, and spent a long time trying to come up with a plan, and when he finally did, he started drawing a prototype of the desired formation, replacing key nodes, and making adjustments to it.
All of Kenshin's adult sons were training hard to prepare for the coming battle. His two wives were worried, and Natsumi even volunteered to join the attack on the outsiders, but was refused.
By lunchtime on the 146th all preparations were ready, and Kenshin planned to act that night.