1016 AD, 3rd Month of 12, Heiankyo, Japan
It’s been 3 years since Uehara had picked up Chizuki in the forest. When she and Sakura had met, they clicked well. Sakura gained an older sister who understood her and filled in the gap her big brother had left while for Chizuki, she gained a little sister who cared little for her identity and brought much needed joy and happiness in her life. It did raise some questions as to who Chizuki was but with some story being spun about her being a long-lost friend of Mangetsu, it served to quell down people’s nosiness.
As for training, Uehara absolutely went to town with her. He ran her ragged every single day, teleporting her to some of the islands near Japan that he frequented with Sakura. He taught her from the basics, everything related to close-combat and the most effective excercises to condition her body and her chakra as well. As far as Uehara was concerned, he would not allow even a single unit of chakra to be needlessly wasted since that single unit may save your life.
Sakura, who was initially glad that Uehara didn’t focus on her as much became jealous when Uehara focused on her less and less. This may have been part to her slacking off on her excercises and Uehara not being bothered to tailgate her. As far as he was concerned, her training had been completed long ago and up to this point, had been optional. She may not be able to kill hundreds of shinobi in direct combat but she can outrun them to see another day, meaning he’d far fulfilled his deal with Mangetsu. All he had to do was watch over her until the ten years were up.
Chizuki on the other hand, had never once faltered. She was always up bright and early in the mornings, making Uehara his tea with some of her blood sprinkled in it. After that, Uehara would whisk her away to one of the islands where he would immediately begin to assault her with various kinds of attacks, not waiting for her to readjust from the teleportation.
As for growth, Uehara didn’t change at all except for his hair, despite now being 16-years old. His hair, although still spiky, was a bit straighter now than before. That was due to the efforts of Chizuki who had taken to being his attendant. She couldn’t let her ‘lord’ maintain a scruffy appearance. Uehara didn’t see a reason to reject. Although he still kept his spot on Sakura’s head, he found Chizuki’s lap comfortable, especially when she ran her hand through his fur.
Sakura was now turning out to be a lovely woman. With her body being influenced by Uehara’s chakra, it was forced to adapt and that meant hastening her growth. This had resulted in her pushing through puberty much faster than other girls, allowing her to look 16 instead of 13. With her beautiful shoulder-length red hair tied in a pony tail as well as her adventurous personality, she had gotten her fair share of suitors but she was adamant in not marrying yet, much less bind herself to a weakling. The ones from noble families who tried to subtly force the issue however, soon turned up dead.
Chizuki on the other hand had a very dignified appearance. He waist-length black hair was always kept neat and straight and her clothes were always very reserved. Besides when she was in combat where she had to shinobi-style clothing, she always preferred wearing long skirts that noble women wore. Coupled with her calm and reserved appearance, she actually attracted way more suitors than Sakura. Unfortunately, Uehara never took kindly to that. If polite rejecting didn’t work, then they’d end up as corpses.
That did end up spelling rumours as them having been taken in by a powerful man and so soon after, no man chased after them.
In regards to Sakura, Uehara was quite pleased with her mercilessness. He had thoroughly drilled into her that being timid and considerate of other humans is asking to be taken advantage of. He hadn’t needed to burrow that mindset into Chizuki though. She had seen the hidden side of humans ever since she could begin to comprehend. All in all, although there wasn’t a lot of eventful happenings in these three years, they were productive.
It was a quiet morning and Uehara was sitting on the branch of a tree in the courtyard. He was in his humanoid form, a notebook and stylus of his own making in hand.
[It’s been 16 years since I’ve awakened. I haven’t gotten much done as I would’ve liked. As much as I would like to abandon the girl called Sakura, my pride won’t allow me to renege on a deal. Although she’s strong enough to survive this world, I’m not quite satisfied with her current level of strength. Although she can easily live up to 300-years, she’s still too weak in my eyes. Chizuki on the other hand has nothing but praises from me. The girl has grit and conviction. She hungers for strength and she didn’t even falter when I put her through a gruelling training session. As much as it pains me to admit, I am growing rather attached to the girl. I’m almost certain there’s no one else in her generation who has such a strong will and I will do my absolute best to nurture that girl. Maybe I’ll even give her my name. She’s certainly worthy of it.]
He closed his book and reabsorbed it inside his body. After that, he flew down from the tree and gave one last glance at the house before he vanished in a swirl of darkness. He appeared on one of the islands where he left the girls to fight and it was a mess. Half the island was already broken off and far off into the distance, he could hear the sonic booms as the girls clashed with each other. Sakura was doing well enough since she had received training from Uehara for longer but Chizuki had more experience. They were fairly equal but Sakura was leaning more on the losing side since her instincts weren’t honed as much.
Despite the clear frustration Sakura was feeling, she made sure it didn’t control her. Uehara could already guess what was causing it.
[She’s refusing to believe that she’s losing to someone who couldn’t properly wield chakra 3 years prior. It seems I’ll have to beat that budding arrogance out of her.]
They continued trading blows, destroying the surroundings with each connecting punch and kick. Their bodies were bolstered to the brim with chakra, a thin veil coating them but none of it leaking out into the air. The oceans parted in their midst of combat, causing waves that would no doubt ravage other islands within a fifty-kilometre radius.
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Their training clothes were in tatters but their battle was refined. They were neck and neck. Chizuki would use her longer arms and legs to clinch in more powerful hits but Sakura would also use the opportunity to get in closer and devastate Chizuki’s abdominal area.
With combat this intense, the shockwaves displaced huge volumes of water. Their combat was unrestricted.
With a swift kick to the shoulder, Chizuki sent Sakura shooting down into the ocean. Sakura quickly dodged Chizuki’s follow up punch and their combat continued underwater. Bodies of numerous ocean life bobbed atop the surface of the water with a lifeless gaze in their eyes. Some opportunistic predators tried to snatch a free meal but they instead joined the line to reincarnation.
Uehara finally had enough of observing them.
“Stop.”
With their sharp sense of hearing, they were able to hear him. They immediately stopped and came down from the air, landing in front of him. They put their guard up, already preparing for their inevitable…thrashing. Chizuki didn’t even bother trying to fix her ponytail since she didn’t want a kick to her gut.
The both of them were tense. Beads of sweat trickled down Chizuki’s face and threatened to enter her bright blue eyes. But even then, she didn’t wipe it off or blink. Sakura didn’t even bother removing the strands of hair on her cheeks that were tickling her. Her black eyes remained focused on the boy before her.
After showing a satisfied nod at the level of focus they were displaying, Uehara decided to get to the point.
“As you are right now, you are stronger, faster and have much more vitality than normal humans. Your bodies have reached their limits and so after this spar, it will officially mark the end of your preliminary training. This time, it will be different. I want you to use every tool and skill you have. This is my final assessment. Based on your chosen actions, I will either retaliate lightly or heavily. Fight like you want to kill me. Show any signs of hesitation or stupidity and I will show what really happens when you fool around in combat.”
Then, very dense killing intent filled the air.
“Show me that I didn’t waste my time training you.”
The girls shivered, much better from the times when they outright fainted. Both were hesitating on moving but Chizuki shoved down her worries and charged forward.
“Then judge me well master!”
She unleashed a punch that shook the very air around her, causing the surroundings to shake intensely. Uehara had blocked it casually and swatted her a few metres away.
“Control your power and keep it within a certain focal point or else a lot of your firepower will be wasted like you did just now. I can’t keep telling you the same thing.”
Sakura was charging up a ball of chakra, until Uehara vanished from her sight and kneed her in the chin and then just as quickly, appeared behind her and kicked on the back of her head, sending her face-first into the ground. He redirected a kick from Chizuki, using her forward-momentum to slam her into the ground right next to Sakura.
Then, he raised both arms up and shoved them into their chests, breaking through their ribs and grabbing their bronchial tubes and squeezing, shattering them in the process. Immediately, their eyes shot open but any screams failing to come out.
“Chizuki. Although trying for melee in order to get me away from Sakura was good, a shockwave fist would’ve done a better job. Sakura. You took a few moments too long to charge up a chakra sphere. That’s the result of neglecting your training for months.”
He removed his hands and started healing them. When they were fully healed, he jumped back, just barely hovering above the ground. He waited for the girls to get up before he spoke.
“I can’t assess you accurately like this. You are too different from each other.”
A black wisp of flame that soon looked like him materialised at his side.
“For now, my clone and I will be taking each of you on. Make no mistake, my clone could still kill you both easily. This is simply for me to judge you both seperately.”
Both Uehara and his clone cracked their fingers and spoke at the same time.
““You’ve died once. Now come again.””
-Sakura-TPP-
She was lying against a tree, her body covered in torn garments and dried blood…her blood. The training session had ended brutally. After Uehara’s clone charged at her, they fought for 16 hours straight with no rest in between at high intensity combat. He was much more brutal than normal, landing killing blows and then healing them. Multiple times she had her limbs ripped off and even when she felt like giving up, he wouldn’t let her.
‘Trust me when I say, giving up will lead to worse results like torture.’
She was really considering giving up. She could still feel the phantom sensations of her heart being ripped out multiple times. Uehara hadn’t used any chakra except for healing her. Beyond that, it was pure animalistic combat. Somewhere along the number of times her heart was broken, she lost all desire to prove herself and instead, just fought to survive.
‘Listen to your instincts, your gut, or else you’ll die again.’
Uehara had long since told them to fear death and she didn’t take it seriously until then.
‘Don’t try to process things. Just act. If your body is telling you to move…MOVE.’
‘Good. You avoided a fatal blow that would’ve ruptured your insides.’
‘Alright. You’re finally starting to listen to your instincts, the primal animal in you.’
Uehara had broken her multiple times until he had finally decided to end the session, leading to their current situation.
"I’m not impressed but I’m satisfied with your current development. Your usage of chakra, while would be viewed as exceptional amongst other shinobi, is still subpar in my eyes. Although you’re not wasting as much chakra as before, it’s still not good enough if you still aim to pursue higher levels of power. However, don’t mistake my critique for dissatisfaction. As you are right now, you can single-handedly annihilate an entire army of high-class shinobi. You already have the necessary strength to subvert the entire human world under your control. This marks the end of the training and I’ve fulfilled my part of the deal with your brother to the highest possible level. Should you seek further strength, you’ll have to prove it to me just like how Chizuki proved herself to me. In three years I’ll come back to see how much you’ve improved.”
With that, Uehara’s clone vanished in a wisp of black flames. Nothing more needed to be said.
[72 times. I died 72 times. I’m strong enough to wipe out armies but I’m not strong enough to even touch the fringes of his robes. I was getting too arrogant. I need to change that.]
She started circulating her chakra, trying to hasten the healing process. Although Uehara healed any fatal wounds, he didn’t care about broken bones and cracked ribs.
[I have three years to prove my worth.]
-Chizuki-TPP-
Chizuki was barely able to stand up properly. She always seemed to be on the cusp of falling but through sheer will and determination, managed to stand, even though her body had long since failed her and cried out for rest.
He picked her up.
“You’ve done well Chizuki, far better than I’d expected. I officially accept you as my person.”
“T-thank you…”
“Rest for now.”
“Yes.”
She then passed out over his shoulders.
[She has great potential. If I’m going to go against those higher existences, I will need a helper to watch my back. Sakura has potential as well but she’s too lazy. Hopefully she’ll grow up during this time and not disappoint me.]
A black swirl surrounded them.
“Chizuki. Your true training has only just begun.”
With that, they vanished.