Putting his hands down, Uehara could feel his chakra coils burn from continuously using the vulkan flash. Two clones were at his side, healing the bones in his arms shattered from the recoil of using the technique five times in a row, killing all the elders in less than three-seconds.

He could still sense the corpse of the last elder finally falling down.

“Finally. Father won’t be angry at me if I level this entire region now, right?”

The two clones slightly shuddered before one of them gave a slight smile.

“I don’t know big bro. Maybe kill that assassin grandpa in direct combat first before carpet bombing everyone here.”

The clone on his right didn’t do anything but offer a kind supportive smile.

“I trust you know what father would want to see, eldest brother.”

Uehara sighed.

“This is annoying.”

As much as he dislikes this, he knows full well that directly engaging with enemies who will no doubt try to kill him has already revealed significant flaws in his fighting style. The overconfidence he had previously has been brought down to a level of cautiousness, even when fighting the most normal of humans. The previous kunai that would’ve incapacitated him, if not killed him, had seen to that. In fact, were it not for his clones slowing the kunai done, it would’ve no doubt cleaved through his skull, hardened or not.

With his arms healed, his clones dispelled themselves.

“Now to find the other two.”

Flexing his arms to get some feeling back into them, he spread his senses further in a bid to find the energy signatures of the remaining white-robed elder and the assassin who nearly killed him.

Spreading his senses further, he frowned upon sensing an unusual energy signature.

[What exactly is…that?]

…

Deep underneath the Minamoto Clan manor, Ryu was currently with Keiji in the basement quarters. On the floor inside a complex circle filled with various sealing characters, laid both the injured Keiji and the recently deceased Hozuki.

Ryu was currently standing right at the only entrance leading out of the dull, grey room.

“Grand elder. Are you sure about this? There is no reverting the procedure once it has started.”

Hearing Ryu’s earnest question, Keiji was silent, his gaze focused on the glowing white ball of light on the ceiling.

“You have seen that monster as well elder Ryu. I have never met a yokai with so much chakra. Even Grand Protector Murasaki’s chakra pales in comparison to that boy’s capacity.”

His clenched his fists in veiled rage.

“My brother is already dead. Without his strength, our slim chances of winning have already become nonexistent. Unless I absorb my brother’s corpse, we have absolutely no chance of winning.”

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His gaze turned a little solemn.

“I refuse to allow our Minamoto clan to perish in my lifetime, otherwise…”

With a great effort on his part, Keiji turned his head towards Ryu, and looked him right in the eye, his face pulled into a snarl.

“...how can I face our ancestors?!”

“...”

Ryu had no way to reply. Their clan had already suffered too much this round. With their current patriarch dead and their former patriarch having nearly the entire left half of his body turned to stone, there was no longer anyone strong enough to lead the clan. There are a few promising talents but it would take almost an entire decade of training for them to reach the prerequisite level of strength needed to take the mantle of patriarch.

Ryu himself as an elder, along with his brothers, cannot assume the title of patriarch by law of the clan. Throughout the generations of the Minamoto clan, all triplet elders that are born through a special procedure will be the advisors and teachers of the current patriarch by default. None of the previous elders before him had ever assumed the title of patriarch as it goes against tradition.

As of right now, Keiji may very well be the last hope of the clan.

“Very well, grand elder. I will begin the ritual. Please be sure not to resist.”

Slapping his hands together, Ryu released his ki, manifesting it as a white aura.

“Ohm!”

Slamming his hands on the ground, several channels/pathways that were invisible gradually started appearing as white lines that spread throughout the entire room. Where Ryu had slammed his palms had revealed itself to be an circle that was entirely white due to Ryu’s ki. With this circle as the root, Ryu’s ki was already spreading throughout the channels lining the room. The centre of convergence where the channels met was naturally the circle in the sealing circle where both Keiji and Hozuki’s corpse where currently lying.

Slowly, the circle started to glow red while Hozuki and Keiji began to float up. Previously, due to Hozuki’s decapitated state, Ryu had to use his ki to weld the head back to the body. Otherwise, Hozuki’s head might have fallen off by now.

The changes at first, were slow. Hozuki’s corpse began to gradually age while Keiji began to grow ‘younger’. The strands of white hair on his head turned black. The long grey beard and mustache that adorned his face also turned black. The wrinkled skin all over his body regained its vitality and started straightening out. His lean figure gradually started to regain some muscle, giving him the physique of a slim and compact figure like a messenger runner’s instead of a feeble old man’s.

But the most important development was that Keiji, started to emanate chi, a combination of ki and chakra. His body rose up horizontally while streams of light coming from Hozuki’s corpse flooded over to him. The sound of rushing winds filled the room as the flood of ki pooled into Keiji’s body, forming a somewhat stable relationship with his chakra.

Although the ki and chakra didn’t truly mix, just the two energies sharing the same coils was enough for them to imitate chi to an extent.

(AN: Think of a marriage between two couples who don’t love each other. Outside, they give off an appearance of a loving couple but behind closed doors, they sleep in separate rooms.)

Slowly but surely, the transformation was nearing its conclusion. Hozuki was all but a dried husk by now while Keiji regained the looks of a man in his late thirties. He still maintained his long black beard that reached his chest while his hair, currently unfastened, reached all the way to the middle of his back in neat strands.

The wisps of white ki slowly dissipated while Keiji’s body gradually righted itself from its horizontal position. Ryu stopped supplying his ki to the seal and slowly, the pathways dimmed down, gradually disappearing from sight. The circle in the middle of the room also started dimming from its crimson colour to a dull black, contrasting well with the relatively grey floor.

Clack Clack

Landing on both his feet, Keiji gave himself a once over. Being dissatisfied with his current tattered attire, he destroyed it with a righteous burst of chi. His robes instantly shattered into pieces, leaving him with only black pants and wooden sandals. Surprisingly, his weapon holsters were still attached to him, showcasing his quick level of mastery over his new energy. Even Ryu was flabbergasted by this quick mastery.

He only gave a simple smile while watching Keiji take off the shoulder straps holding his daggers as well as the rest of his weapons.

[As expected of the Keiji-sama. His talent rivals the heavens.]

Watching Keiji pull out the ceremonial cloak of the Minamoto from a storage scroll, Ryu lowered his head.

“I wish upon you a swift victory, Lord Patriarch.”

Keiji turned towards Ryu with a smirk on his face. But before he could even deign to reply, a swirl of darkness appeared in front of him.

[?!]

Unable to react in time, Keiji bore witness to a golden rotating sphere that was aiming right for his chest.