Chapter 45

On the 142nd day, Kenshin received good news from the Third and Fourth. Both of his sons, through long training, learned to perform a joint technique.

Standing in the gym, he watched an incredible sight. His two sons made hand seals in unison and then shouted:

- Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! "And instead of releasing one fireball at a time, they formed one giant ball measuring one and a half meters, which a second later rushed towards the village mannequin, but was stopped by an invisible barrier. After half a second of furious flickering of the barrier, the fireball, reduced to half a meter, broke the defense and burned the wooden mannequin to ashes.

- Wow! Even my best defense formation could not completely absorb all the damage... - Kenshin muttered, and walked up to the mannequin, barely able to withstand the remaining heat. He scraped with a long iron pole, and discovered a half-melted amulet, onto which the formation was applied.

Even Ichiro was quite surprised by the power of the two younger brothers. He believed that if the application of the technique was accelerated, it would become an incredibly formidable weapon in the hands of the Nakayama family.

- Ichiro, train with the Third and Fourth. You must learn how to create a triple fireball. "Kenshin ordered, and all three unconditionally obeyed his will.

Before leaving the gym, he decided to take a look at the "status" of his children, and see the extent of their progress.

Name: Nakayama Ichiro

Age: 20 years

Talent Level: 16

Chakra quality: 3

Chakra amount: 3350

Chakra control: 52%

*****

Name: Third

Age: 20 years

Talent Level: 21

Chakra quality: 2

Chakra amount: 3500

Chakra control: 47%

*****

Name: Fourth

Age: 20 years

Talent Level: 19

Chakra quality: 2

Chakra amount: 3400

Chakra control: 46%

*****

Day 144.

Two figures of strong men quickly rushed through the forest, jumping from tree to tree, and after half an hour, one stopped abruptly and said to the other:

- Stop, Izao. This place is great. Let's lay low and sit here for a few weeks until the noise subsides. They definitely won't find us in these mountains.

-You're right, Tohru. After what we did in that city, a punitive detachment from Konoha probably followed us. We definitely need to lay low! "Answered a broad-shouldered, black-haired man dressed in black pants and a black T-shirt, with a gray vest with a bunch of pockets thrown over 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 there! – He turned to his comrade in surprise.

- You have misunderstood it. There can't be potato fields here. – Tohru shook his head, but still looked in the right direction and froze in surprise.

The two comrades rushed towards the potato field, and ten seconds later both were holding a large potato in their hands.

- Hmm, potatoes indeed. But who planted it in such a wilderness? We need to check, maybe someone lives in the area! – Izao said with an evil grin, and separated from his comrade, they began to inspect the entire area.

An hour later, they came to the conclusion that someone definitely lived in this place, or even lives to this day. Having explored all the nearby caves, they still didn't find anything, but they weren't upset at all. Having collected a bag of potatoes and found 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, any day now we will meet the "owner" of all this splendor and see what he is like! - Toru said with a laugh, and took a bite of a large piece of meat from the hind leg of a fried hare.

*****

Kenshin immediately noticed the intrusion of the two strangers, and hoped that they were just passing by. But when they approached the potato field, he instantly gave his sons the command to be ready for combat. They had already practiced the enemy invasion scenario many times, so they quickly came into combat readiness and began to wait for orders.

Kenshin clearly saw all the movements of the strangers, but with a slight delay. The information entering his brain was similar to echolocation, without colors or precise images, only barely recognizable outlines.

When the uninvited guests began to rummage through each cave, Kenshin realized that most likely a conflict could not be avoided, and was afraid that strangers would find the entrance to the shelter in some unknown way, and when one of them entered that very 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, did not notice anything, and went outside.

When the two strangers finally stole two birds with one stone and a bag of potatoes, and then disappeared into one of the caves, Kenshin called his sons away and ordered them to train harder and improve the combined fireball technique as much as possible, while he began to think of a plan to eliminate the enemies.

He had no doubt that these were enemies. From their behavior, he realized that these were certainly not Konoha shinobi who were going on a mission, and decided to spend the night in the mountains. Either way, Kenshin planned to wait at least a few days before making a move. If this is by an absurd accident, looking like outright bandits - shinobi of Konoha, then by this moment they will be obliged to leave.

Based on the speed observed, Kenshin assumed that these two were at least peak Genin, or even Chunin. Their speed was slightly faster than Ichiro's, so Kenshin hoped that the next day they would leave and never return.

To his deepest regret, the next day they did not go anywhere, but only began to search the area with even greater zeal. One of them was a Doton user, and even collapsed several caves, but then he either got tired of it or it was very difficult, so he spat on the collapse of caves and began to walk around.

Kenshin did not sleep all last night, and for a long time tried to come up with a plan, and when he finally came up with it, he began to draw a prototype of the required formation, replacing key components, and making adjustments to it.

All of Kenshin's adult sons trained hard, trying to prepare for the coming battle. His two wives were very worried, and Natsumi even volunteered to take part in the attack on the strangers, but was refused.

By lunchtime on the 146th day, all preparations were ready, and Kenshin planned to act that night.