The next week flew by unnoticed. The young man and girl enjoyed ordinary family life. On the fifth day Kenshin finished drawing the huge formation and relaxed a bit, confident that the number of people wandering near his house would sharply decrease.
Aya's belly had noticeably grown, and the newlyweds decided to temporarily stop having sex, but the girl occasionally pleased Kenshin, relieving accumulated tension.
Several times they went to the river a few kilometres from their home and had a wonderful time, enjoying the virgin beauty of nature and privacy.
The young man made small fish traps on the river, spending half a day searching for engineering solutions to apply the necessary formation to the river bottom. As a result, the newlyweds always had fresh and nutritious fish on the table.
Kenshin and Aya sat at the table drinking coffee and having a casual conversation.
"Kenshin, we're out of tea, and we're almost out of salt, and there's little grain left… Maybe I should go to auntie's shop?" the girl asked after taking a sip of coffee.
"What? No! I'm not letting you go anywhere, especially to your home village. I'll go get what we need myself," Kenshin said decisively, refusing point-blank to let the girl out of the house.
"But… But why? Is it because I've become fat and ugly? So you don't love me anymore?" the girl muttered sobbing and began to cry.
Kenshin stood up from the table, hugged Aya, and pressed her to his chest: "Don't say stupid things, dear. I haven't stopped loving you, it's just dangerous in your home village, and pregnant women shouldn't walk long distances…" the young man whispered, kissing the girl on the back of the head.
"And what will happen when I become old and ugly… Will you forget about me completely?" the girl roared, refusing to calm down.
"Oh god, what nonsense! First, I won't abandon you. And second—with age women only get better, like wine!" the young man said, and then it was as if lightning struck him.
"Exactly, wine! Ha-ha-ha, yes, wine!" Kenshin suddenly laughed sharply, instantly calming Aya.
"What's wrong with you, Kenshin?" the girl asked in surprise, her mood changing sharply.
"I just figured out how we can get rich!" the young man proudly declared and kissed the girl's tear-salted lips.
"How?" Aya asked with interest, unable to restrain her curiosity.
"Accelerated aging! You and I, girl, will age wine and sell it for big money!" Kenshin proudly declared.
"What? But how?" the blue-eyed brunette asked again in surprise.
"With an aging formation of course! Well, the name is too grandiose, because this formation doesn't age organic things, but it's perfect for disposing of inorganic substances, from radioactive elements to caustic chemical solutions. True, I can't create such huge and powerful formations yet, but for our needs my abilities are more than enough!"
Aya froze in amazement, processing everything said. Kenshin had recently decided not to hide his formation creation abilities, reasoning that even if Yamanaka Inoichi got into her mind, he would easily understand everything. The young man didn't yet have formations that protected against mental scanning, but he planned to acquire them soon.
"Um, all right, as you say. Please bring some salted fish!" Aya declared with a smile, completely forgetting how sad she had been a few minutes ago.
****
Kenshin spent several days preparing for the outing. He studied the approximate location of nearby villages and several cities. One of the targeted cities was Shukuba, where the young man planned to go. He took all the money Aya had saved, hoping to move far away from the annoying Kaito. In total the young man had 2700 ryo. He had managed to find out the approximate prices in this world and knew that a kilogram of rice cost 20 ryo, and a kilogram of salt—400 ryo.
Loading his backpack with everything necessary, the young man kissed the girl and ordered her not to leave the dwelling unless absolutely necessary, then turned and headed toward one of the villages located fifteen kilometres southwest of his home.
After about four hours the young man reached a small village, asked a slovenly-looking old man with a red face where the trading stall was, and walked in the right direction.
In the trading stall Kenshin struck up a conversation with a pleasant-looking woman of about forty who clearly lacked communication. From her words he learned that the most "ancient" and at the same time common wine was called "Samurai Blade", costing 50 ryo per bottle.
Kenshin bought five bottles of wine and filled the remaining space in the bag with essential goods, spending 700 ryo in total. The stall owner gave him a 10% discount. Kenshin, seeing the effect he had on this woman, thought for a second about taking her into the harem but instantly changed his mind.
A few days ago he had already thought about seducing more girls and having lots of children, but in his opinion it was all useless. Children born from ordinary girls would be extremely weak, and thus he would doom them to suffering.
Kenshin decided that the next girl in the harem should be a kunoichi, but had no idea how to interest and seduce a woman trained to kill. He had no illusions about the tenderness and kindness of local kunoichi, and although in the "anime" most of them resembled tender flowers, he already understood that reality was very different from what he saw on screen. This world was much crueler than what he saw on his TV screen. The young man thought it was all due to the child audience orientation, and Masashi Kishimoto, knowing the history of this world, hid its bloodiness.
Kenshin had already heard enough stories from Aya about how Konoha shinobi could sometimes rape an ordinary girl and get away with it. Sometimes they could be punished, but only disciplinarily. The girl explained that for Konoha shinobi, all people outside its borders were like cattle, not worthy of mention.
Loaded to the brim, the young man left the trading stall and headed for the village exit. After walking several kilometres he sat down to rest and chose a place for a cache. Drawing a formation on the ground, he dropped the backpack and threw branches and leaves on top, then turned and headed toward Shukuba, located ten kilometres from his current position.
After walking along the road between forests for about an hour, he flinched in fear when four silhouettes rushed over his head, jumping from tree to tree. The four people didn't even look in his direction, and he could only watch them go.
"Konoha forehead protector? Probably genin under a chunin's leadership… What speed! Thirty kilometres per hour, no less!" the young man thought and shuddered, imagining the consequences of a fight even with the weakest of this group.