Sakura was feeling immense sadness and rage. Uehara betraying them was never a thought that she would ever have. Even if she was somewhat suspicious of his intentions after the first few months after they met, he had never shown an ounce of having had hidden motives. In her mind, although he was very strict, he had their care in mind. She still remembers the times when he took care of her, comforted her. The first few months after her brother’s death were hard. Many people wanted to take advantage of the fortune Mangetsu had acquired during his time in the army. There were even times when people wanted to sneak into their house. Uehara was always there, always protecting her. And although rare, he would offer simple words of comfort.

Over the years, she had come to admire Uehara as a great figure. She first saw him as a teacher, then a brother and overtime, a possible…

[I’ll kill him. Sniff I’ll kill him!]

The pain of such a revelation hit deep home. After having seen Chizuki’s head droop, her hatred for Uehara had reached an entirely new level. She knew of soul-links from Shikibu. And she knew what would happen if they were forcefully severed. The other party would die.

Having seen Chizuki’s head droop, she naturally assumed the worst. Tears of rebelliousness and righteous indignation streamed down her cheeks as she furiously struggled against the paralysis seal.

The clone binding her was visibly struggling if its shaking left hand was any indication. Having to bind both Sakura and Shikibu was proving to be too strenuous for it. But it knew that it only had to bear with the strain for just a few more moments. It had to make sure that Sakura witnessed everything.

But Sakura’s resentment was not to be underestimated. Having practically grown up under Uehara, the effects of the betrayal hit her the hardest. As a result, the chakra churning within her rapidly continued to ram against the paralysis seal. With each ram, her killing intent soured.

The clone quickly sent a mental message to Uehara, informing him of its distress.

[Eldest brother! I can’t restrain her any longer!]

Uehara replied, still keeping his gaze on Keiji.

[I know…]

The young demon walked over and stood just a door’s length away from Keiji.

“I guess even humans know how to be patient.”

Keiji remained silent. His patience wasn’t because of overconfidence or arrogance. It was because he had to stabilise his form. The power he had unlocked in his near-death experience still wasn’t under control. It was mostly due to the amount of sage chakra that had flooded his system that caused his newfound power to be slightly unstable. That’s why even though he had successfully transcended the limits of humanity, he was still suffering from injuries.

Even now, the mist like state he was in was because his physical body was destroyed. Luckily, Uehara’s attack couldn’t destroy the soul, allowing him to survive. Just thinking that he survived purely on luck made him feel like vomiting blood.

Uehara had the same feeling as well. Talking pleasantries with the enemy was something he despised. But he had no choice but to resort to such an undesirable method. His infantile body was already at its limits. He was doing his best to discreetly absorb as much nature energy as possible to bolster his healing ability. The chakra pathways on his arms were still damaged and it felt incredibly itchy trying to heal them. Even then, he hasn’t completely recovered from using his own origin energy. The amount of power he used was more than the amount he used for the scroll.

Stolen novel; please report.

However, his sacrifice wasn’t meaningless. He could feel the node of the fifth path situated on his right lung was showing signs of breaking. His entire trip to the Minamoto clan, while dangerous, wasn’t meaningless. The feeling of death looming over him was forcing him to evolve, to get stronger.

That’s why even though he could tell that Keiji was currently stronger than him…

“Heh~ I want to see how you’ll smile once I rip you apart limb from limb, demon.”

…he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. The blood in his veins was boiling. The chakra in his body was churning.

A haze of royal blue chakra covered him.

“I’d like to see you try, human.”

At that moment, Sakura finally managed to destroy a part of the paralysis that prevented her from speaking. With bloodshot eyes, she glared holes at the back of Uehara’s head.

“I’LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL KILL YOU, I’LL KILL YOU!!!!”

Uehara was silent. Keiji was inwardly smiling.

[That girl just brought me more time.]

Sakura was breathing heavily while the clone struggled to restrain her. For Sakura, it seemed like the previous outburst had used up all of her energy. Her eyes were bloodshot with anger. But upon noticing that Uehara didn’t even give her the face (have the respect) to turn towards her, she couldn’t restrain her tears.

“Why??? WHY???? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO US?!?!?!”

Silence…

No one spoke. At this point, Shikibu wanted to forcefully tear apart the seal restraining her but a glare from the clone made her instinctively stay put. Her tails that were about violently thrash curled in on themselves while her fox ears drooped. She was forced to play an unwilling spectator.

Uehara, who was silent for quite a while, just barely turned his head towards Sakura, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. His amatsugan swirled menacingly.

“For power of course. What else are humans good for?” (Chizuki and Sakura have ascended above normal humans)

The haze of blue aura surrounding him became more intense, sadistic smile on his face.

“And you two, just happened to have what I needed.”

Without waiting for Sakura to speak, he waved his hand and his clone immediately knocked her out. Shikibu was the only one conscious amongst the three women. She looked directly at Uehara and directly broke a part of the paralysis.

Her gaze was straightforward and unyielding.

“Let me stay and help.”

Uehara slightly smiled at her determination.

[We haven’t known each other long, but I can tell she isn’t saying this out of courtesy.]

Just by this, his impression of Shikibu increased. As such, he couldn’t accept her request.

“And who’s going to watch them? I still have plans for them. So for now…”

He waved his hand like he was shooing her away.

“...go back and take care of what’s mine.”

Shikibu was about to lash out when suddenly, a clone appeared beside her and grabbed her shoulder.

“Come on, come on… *yawn* let’s go.”

Another clone appeared next to Sakura and grabbed her body. The original clone gave a salute.

“I gotta get going, boss. My chakra is about to run out.”

So without stalling, a dark swirl covered both it and Shikibu. As for Shikibu, she blatantly released her chakra in a bid to retaliate against the forceful teleportation.

“Wait Aoki-sama-”

But as the strands of darkness covered her vision, she caught sight of something that made her wish she had fought harder. A single tear was flowing down Uehara’s cheek while a gentle smile adorned his face… as he mouthed the words: “Thank you”.

[AN: Weekend is coming up. So I won’t be updating until Monday. I have a website to design and I want to complete it soon. Some of you may be confused about the sudden twists in the story but things will make sense later. I would explain but…]