29. The day of birth (2)

"Hokage-sama the barrier setup is complete" said the masked man kneeling in front of Minato and handing him a scroll.

"Take all your personnel and stand guard outside, you are free to attack anyone who tries to enter or destroy the barrier." said Minato, his voice serious taking the scroll from the man and checking it.

"As you command" said the masked man before disappearing from the cave.

Minato, Kushina and Biwako were sitting around a table which was placed in the centre of the cave and another masked woman was standing to the side.

"Taji-san, you can come and sit, ya know" said Kushina looking at the masked woman.

"It's okay lady Kushina" said the woman, nodding her head slightly.

"Let her be, she is always uptight when it comes to missions." said Biwako, looking at her disciple with a helpless expression on her face.

"I will start the barrier," said Minato, nodding to the three women in the room as he stood up.

Minato walked out of the cave, opened the scroll and poured his chakra into it causing the seals engraved on it to glow and a purple barrier came into existence surrounding the cave from all sides.

Minato closed his eyes sensing the fluctuations of chakra in the barrier and nodded to himself when he did not find any problems before destroying the scroll as he headed inside the cave. Now apart from him nobody could untie the barrier normally.

The cave was brightly lit with lights and a bed placed on one side with clean sheets and a table placed in the middle where the people present in the cave were seated having their breakfast.

'All the preparations are complete.' he thought sitting in his chair beside Kushina as he held her hand.

"You just worry about keeping the seal intact, We will take care of the delivery" said Biwako, looking at the couple.

.....................…

'Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger'

' Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu' thought Ichiro as she spit out a giant fireball from her mouth onto the lake surface they were standing on causing the water to evaporate and form steam, filling the whole area with mist.

"Wow" muttered Aiko who was standing beside her looking at the giant fireball.

"How is it? It is called Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu, Father said it is a signature jutsu of the Uchiha Clan." said Ichiro looking at the surprised expression of the red-haired boy beside her.

"It's powerful," said the boy, relaxing himself to perform the jutsu.

He increased his calm mind skill to 100%, activated instinct manipulation skill and recalled the hand seals used by Ichiro and performed them in one fluid motion.

'Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger'

He took a deep breath of air filling his lungs and felt it get infused with chakra as he made hand seals and the chakra gathered this time was a bit different; it rubbed against each other, becoming hot and caught fire when it came into contact with the air he had inhaled.

He felt the chakra which was now converted into flames move towards his mouth through the windpipe, but strangely it did not hurt him, he waited until all the air he had inhaled was consumed which took only a few fractions of a second and exhaled the flames he had built up forming a ball of fire as big as the one Ichiro had produced.

Ichiro looked at the ball of fire with a smile on her face, her father had told her that it was a jutsu that not all Uchiha could perform as well as her and had even praised her for it, which was rare from him, but she had a feeling that Aiko could also perform it as well as her and it made her happy that she was right.

"It will become even more powerful once we grow up," said the red-haired boy with a small smile as he looked at the disappearing flames.

Ichiro nodded her head in agreement as might of the jutsu depended on the amount of air the user had in his lungs and how efficiently he used chakra.

Ichiro wanted to pat his head like she had done the first time but felt displeased when she saw that he had grown taller again.

"Lets spar" she said running towards the forest which was near the lake.

Aiko looked a bit confused due to her unhappy tone as he followed her into the forest.

.....................….

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' they thought at the same time as a cloud of smoke formed beside them revealing an identical clone.

They were standing quite a distance apart in a small clearing of the forest, Both the original Aiko and Ichiro took some distance from each other, while the clones moved towards each other taking out a kunai.

This was how they trained after learning the shadow clone jutsu, in this way they could attack leathally while avoiding truly being injured.

'She is able to keep up' thought Aiko, observing the battle, now that his skills had levelled up he was faster and stronger than before, but Ichiro seemed to be able to keep up as if she had also gotten stronger making Aiko look at her with admiration.

Ichiro was also observing the fight and seeing her clone get pushed back little by little, frowned thinking, 'He is stronger than before'. Because the last time they had fought it had ended in a draw but this time it seems it will be her loss.

As she predicted, her clone dispelled after a few moments when it was kicked in the stomach, transferring its experiences to her confirming her guess. Aiko's clone wasn't that much in a better shape as it was also breathing heavily.

Aiko also dispelled his clone coming close to her while reviewing their fight.

"You became a lot stronger," said Ichiro, looking at the red-haired boy, she felt that she should increase the intensity of her training a bit more otherwise she would be left behind.

Aiko nodded his head in acknowledgement and added " you have become a lot more skillful" making her smile, from the memories of his clone he could see that her moves became more unpredictable as the fight went on, helping him improve his skills too as he tried adapting to it.

"One more time?" he asked looking at the black-haired girl.

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' she formed a clone in answer to his question causing a small smile to form on his lips as he reciprocated the action.

Once again the sounds of kunais and fists clashing against each other sounded in the small clearing.

After the second battle exhaustion hit them as they sat down leaning against the tree shoulder to shoulder, Aiko felt a lot better due to his increase in attributes but Ichiro seemed more exhausted because the second battle was a fierce one compared to the first.

Ichiro looked sideways at the boy who seemed to be thinking something with a bit of frustration in her heart as she had also lost the second one, but it also felt good to have someone to compete against and share her thoughts with honestly.