1013 AD, 8th Month of 12, Forest Region, 10km West of Heiankyō, Japan

It has been four months since Uehara had revealed his departure within the next few years. He had ended just another training session with Sakura that they had started after she came home from school. He was lying down on a tree branch, his front leg dangling freely while Sakura was lying down on the ground after a brutal spar with him.

He gazed into the canopy above, seemingly lost in thought.

"Sakura. Have you chosen your sin yet?"

With great difficulty, she opened her eyes and urged the muscles in her throat to work.

"Can I choose sloth?"

Uehara swiveled his head to look at her for a brief moment, before looking up at the tree canopy again.

"Nevermind. You're still too young to identify your sin. We'll revisit this topic once you reach 30 years of age."

All of a sudden, Sakura regained a burst of energy that allowed her to stand up at record speed.

"30?! SO THAT MEANS YOU'LL BE AROUND THEN?!"

Shawn briefly winced at the sudden increase in volume before skillfully decreasing the sensitivity of his hearing to the capacity of an 80-year-old.

"No. I will still leave to travel the world but I will need a place to rest."

"But how will you come back home if you're so far away?"

Uehara didn't bother replying to what he considered a stupid question. It took Sakura a few moments to realise the answer to her question.

"Oh right! Teleportation."

Uehara, at that moment, vanished and appeared next to her in humanoid form. He bent down and grabbed her t-shirt by the neck and levitated.

"I'm starting to question why I bothered educating you."

Sakura looked like a sack of potatoes and she didn't look happy about that in the slightest bit.

She whined.

"Nooo sensei~. Put me downnnn~"

"At this rate, having you as my student will be…detrimental."

It was night time and Uehara was about to go into a deep meditation when he felt Chizuki's aura fluctuate erratically through the mark he gave her.

[Someone's touching my person.]

He vanished in a swirl of darkness, ready to kill anyone who dared to touch what was his.

Minamoto Chizuki/TPP

The mission was simple. Gather a few herbs from the nearby forest and submit them at the guild. She had estimated that it would only take her 3 days at most. Imagine her surprise when 2 days in, she suddenly felt dozens of auras with less-than-good intentions within her immediate vicinity. She's had her fair share of assassins over the last 3 years but these ones were very different. These ones were able to get within a hundred metres of her.

Because of how Uehara had always injected her with chakra after he finished feeding, her sensory capabilities had extended into the supernatural realm and because of that, it made her have the ability to feel everything within a kilometre radius. The fact that not one, but dozens of people could escape her senses meant one thing.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

[Shinobi!]

There was no use in questioning how they found her. She didn't particularly hide herself this time except for changing her disguise multiple times and taking the scenic route to the nearby forest. Although it was smart, it would never fool top-rate shinobi. Regretfully, although she has chakra, she has never been taught how to use it. She only knew the basics of the basics that she figured out herself like boosting her body's physical capabilities. Jutsu however were an entirely different ball game. Jutsu scrolls were heavily guarded and regulated. Even the most basic techniques were kept behind closed doors.

Knowing she was outclassed and outnumbered, she channeled an immense amount of chakra into her whole arm and smashed her fist into the ground, creating a large dynamite-like explosion and shaking the ground in the process. She immediately ran, not caring about being silent about it either. She channeled as much chakra as she could into her body, her veins and muscles bulging out in retaliation to the unfamiliar stress they were experiencing. She ran, blitzing through the forest with an incredible amount of speed. She then suddenly felt a burning sensation approaching behind her.

[SHIT!!!]

There was a scorching hot fireball approaching from behind her. She was about to dodge it when suddenly, a black swirl appeared in front of the fireball, negating it completely. As the black swirl dissipated, a figure she hasn't seen in years appeared, floating in front of her, his back turned.

"You've done well, Minamoto."

She felt her chest vibrate.

[There's that voice.]

The shinobi that were chasing her stopped just a few dozen metres from Uehara, observing him before one decided to speak.

"Y-yokai?"

Uehara extended his hand and the other shinobi flinched.

"Vampire."

The ground around them suddenly rumbled as large hands made of earth came out and grabbed all the shinobi by their waists in a sheer burst of speed. The sound of ribs slowly being crushed sounded throughout the entire forest.

"Deplorable performance."

Uehara made 5 clones that went to the shinobi. The clones placed their hands on the foreheads of the shinobi, ramming their chakra into their brains in search of the relevant memories as well as some of their other experiences. The clones didn't care for the clear pain the shinobi were experiencing through having such pure, undiluted chakra entering their bodies and clashing with their own. Done slowly over time, they would've got unimaginable gains. Having it done in such a rush, their bodies began to break down.

Uehara saw what his clones were seeing and relayed some of the information to Chizuki.

"Minamoto clan wants you back. Apparently, you didn't do a good enough job hiding."

He didn't even glance at her but he could feel the mix of negative emotions emanating from her.

"Calm down. You're making me…uncomfortable."

Chizuki immediately calmed down and knelt.

"Forgive my impudence."

He could still feel a bit of her emotions but he opted to ignore it.

"Nn."

He focused back on the task at hand, watching as the shinobi slowly turned into grey statues. The clones dispersed in black flames and Uehara finally turned around to face Chizuki, who was still kneeling.

"Although you aren't much, I'm quite impressed with how far you've progressed. I'm sure you can figure things out on your own given a couple of years, but that'd be such a waste."

Chizuki lifted her head, a hopeful and almost begging expression in her eyes.

"Do you mean…"

"Should you wish to, I will train you. Don't worry about lifespan from now on. With my help, you can at least live for the next century, and more should you continue to improve yourself. You can also do it yourself if you wish."

Chizuki lowered her head again, an aura of excitement emanating from her.

"Thank you for your consideration but if possible, I would like to follow you. Although short, I've seen enough to know that weakness is a sin and no enemy will happily wait for me to become stronger, especially the Minamoto."

Uehara stared blankly at her.

"How are you so sure that I haven't manipulated you? You haven't verified the tidbit of information that I gave you."

Chizuki was about to say she trusted him but a nagging feeling in her gut knew that wasn't what he wanted to hear. So there was only one answer.

"Because you're strong. I know full well in your eyes, I'm no better than livestock that has the ability to talk. For three years, you have feasted on my blood, with even the most seasoned martial artists and shinobi not being able to sense you. That speaks volumes of how strong you are, nevermind how easily you killed these shinobi. I'm weak, you're strong. I'm also…replaceable. I'm not stupid enough to believe no other human who can satisfy your hunger doesn't exist. That's why I believe you haven't manipulated me and even if you did, I believe it would be for my own go-ah!"

Uehara had flicked her forehead.

"Don't blindly believe in me. Even I can have my own agenda. Now come. You should salvage some good things from them. After that, we'll have to discuss what you should do for the next decade or so."

"Y-yes."

By all accounts, Chizuki was rightfully nervous. The boy that had shown her just how close she was to death 3 years ago was now in front of her again and with a simple motion of his hand, killed off highly trained shinobi from her clan like they were nothing. But what made her nervous more was the way he was treating her. It was nothing like back then. Right now, he is treating her relatively well, even considering her input. But she knows that can easily change should she disappoint him. Right now, she has his interest and his tutelage, and she'll fight tooth and nail to prove she's not a waste of time.