On day 99 Third and Fourth finally matured. Kenshin immediately began their training, just as he had with Ichiro and Keiji. He taught them proper stance and strikes, planning to wait a few days before introducing chakra.
Over the next several days he sparred with his sons and noted that even with terrible technique he barely won half the matches. His theory that Talented Offspring increased base physical stats by its percentage was fully confirmed. Third and Fourth were at least 20% faster and stronger than normal humans and easily matched their father through sheer power and speed.
All of day 102 Ichiro spent teaching his brothers about chakra. By evening both awakened their chakra, and Kenshin quickly checked their status.
Name: Third
Age: 20
Talent Level: 21
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra Quantity: 3000
Chakra Control: 31%
Name: Fourth
Age: 20
Talent Level: 19
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra Quantity: 3300
Chakra Control: 30%
"Hm, both have quality 2 like Ichiro, and overall stats are roughly the same. Third has slightly higher control, Fourth has 10% more quantity…" Kenshin noted, then checked Ichiro's status.
Name: Nakayama Ichiro
Age: 20
Talent Level: 16
Chakra Quality: 2
Chakra Quantity: 3250
Chakra Control: 49%
"Congratulations, Ichiro. Your control went up again," Kenshin praised, patting his shoulder.
"Thank you, Father. I feel something inexplicable with chakra—I think my quality will soon reach the next level!" Ichiro declared.
"Well done! Train hard to become the strongest shinobi in the world!" Kenshin said solemnly, mostly to impress the younger boys and ignite their ambition.
"Yes, sir!" Ichiro replied.
"You two, train hard too so you can stand shoulder to shoulder with your big brother," Kenshin said to encourage the younger sons.
"Yes, Father!" Third and Fourth answered in unison.
****
On day 104 Aya and Natsumi gave birth simultaneously. Having done it before, they handled the "emergency" easily. That night Natsumi took her baby to another bedroom.
Kenshin named Natsumi's son Fifth and Aya's Sixth. Both babies had talent level 20. Kenshin noted sadly that he didn't gain a level but didn't despair—he would get the next one after new conceptions.
On day 105 Kenshin took his three sons to the city to sell the first successful rare flower harvest and buy household items and new seeds. He really wanted blue sage seeds for chakra-enhancing decoctions, but previous visits found them sold out—shinobi teams bought everything.
Reaching the city by noon, Kenshin and his sons went to the market's herb row. After half an hour of haggling he sold the flowers for 7,000 ryo, but his joy was marred by news that blue sage was again sold out the moment it appeared.
The forty-five-year-old saleswoman, seeing Kenshin's sadness, decided to help and secretly told him where to find blue sage or its seeds. Of the three villages mentioned, only Shinto—Aya's former home—was relatively close.
Bidding her farewell, Kenshin and his sons continued shopping while he pondered whether to go to Shinto. Deciding that fat Kaito and his friends posed no threat to three decent fighters plus one Genin-level, he chose to go.
By five in the evening the group of four reached the village. Kenshin ordered everyone to hurry to avoid trouble. Asking the first passerby for the flower shop's location, they walked quickly, found the house, and entered.
But luck was not on Kenshin's side that day. Kaito, sitting on the first floor of the wine shop, spotted them through the window, recognized Kenshin instantly, and his slight drunkenness vanished. He jumped up, peeked out the door to see where the four strong young men were going, saw them enter the flower shop at the street's end, and bolted to his grandfather—the village elder's—house.
Minutes later, out of breath, Kaito burst into his grandfather's small office; his eyes lit up.
"Kaito! No knocking?!" the old man barked.
"Not now, Grandpa. Iori-san, perfect you're here too! I need your help! Remember the enemy village spy or missing-nin I told you about? He's in our village right now—with three others! Come on, Iori-san, while we sit here they could slaughter half the village!" Kaito blurted despite his panting.
"What?! Missing-nin?!" the elder nearly jumped from his chair.
"Four missing-nin? Hmm, I can't handle them alone. We let them leave, then ask Konoha for help…" Iori muttered.
"No! They're not missing-nin—just their underlings. I already fought one; if he were a missing-nin he'd have killed me in one move!" Kaito shouted, mentally kicking himself for calling them missing-nin.
"Come on, Iori-san, they're in the flower shop—god knows what they'll do to the saleswoman. You're the only one who can stop them!" Kaito pressed.
"Fine, lead the way!" Iori said decisively and ran out after Kaito.