1019 AD, 11th Month of 12, Island of Aokigahara, Japan, Planet Sky
It was one month after Uehara began training Sakura. After gruelling combat training day after day for a month, Uehara finally let her rest. Sakura was deep in the forest meditating by gentle running stream with greenery and thick trees all around her.
Uehara was next to her and was explaining the eight paths to her in detail.
“I’ve told you about the eight paths before but I have not elaborated on them to you. There’s the path of life, the path of death, the path of joy, the path of pain, the path of sun, the path of rain, the path of light and the path of shade. The path of life was the easiest for you to unlock. As the name entails, once you unlock it, your lifespan will increase to three hundred years along with a considerable increase in strength. By that factor alone, you have become a high-human and are allowed to come to my island.”
A bone spear came out of his palm and he threw it at Sakura. It whizzed past her the top of her head and pierced the bark of the tree behind her. Sakura kept her calm, which caused Uehara to nod in approval.
“The next is the path of death. Chizuki has already unlocked this path. As the name says, you have to feel death in order to open it. This is where most of you humans fail since you are not willing to experience death.”
Sakura trembled a bit but she kept her eyes closed.
“D-do I have to die, Black-sama?”
He stood in front of her and took back his bone spear and reabsorbed it into his body.
“Traditionally, yes. You’d have to die and reincarnate again in order to open the second path. Luckily, you have me. After all, Chizuki is still alive and well, right?”
“Y-yes Black-sama.”
Although Sakura had doubts, Chizuki had already told her everything would be fine if she trusted him. She relaxed her body and started listening to the instructions of Uehara.
“Alright. I want you to relax your mind and don’t resist what I’m about to do.”
Uehara held her head gently and began funneling bits of chakra into her brain. Then instantly, he snapped her neck.
Sakura didn’t know what happened before she felt a sudden sharp pain and everything went dark. She then found herself in the same clearing. But before she could adapt to the surroundings, what she saw in front of her brought her tears.
“N-no. I-impossible. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!”
The sight in front of her shattered all of her world views. She saw her corpse and Uehara was walking away from it like it was nothing more than insignificant garbage. But what destroyed her the most was the cold smile Uehara gave when he stopped and looked at her with glowing yellow eyes. He then vanished, leaving her corpse to rot in the woods.
[No-no-no-no. Chizuki-nee said I must trust Black-sama. Maybe this is just a joke of his. Yeah…I-it’s just a joke.]
Her gaze remained lifeless as countless years passed. She had long since lost the tears to cry as she watched her body slowly rot away. She couldn’t even care anymore as the maggots crawled over body and as her bones finally crumbled to dust.
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[Did he really kill me?]
Countless doubts circulated in her mind. She wasn’t even sure whether she’d been hovering at the same spot for how many centuries. All she saw were the ever-changing surroundings as plant life evolved and new animals appeared.
[No. This is just a test. It’s just a test and all I have to do is pass it.]
When the last bone shard of her body was finally about to dissipate, everything began to rewind instantly. Her corpse slowly became recognisable and the vegetation regressed back to how it normally was. Soon, a bright light clouded her eyes and when she opened them again, she was in the forest clearing. The gentle-flowing stream was still there and the butterflies and other insects were chasing each other around. There was your occasional rodent scurrying about and she could still feel the thick tree behind her.
Fresh tears flowed down her cheeks when she realised that everything had ended.
“You’re back.”
Uehara was leaning on the side of the tree in her blindspot.
“She almost couldn’t handle it, master.”
The newest edition was Chizuki. She walked forward and cupped Sakura’s face while wiping her tears with her thumbs.
“It’s okay now Sakura. Everything is fine.”
When Sakura noticed the familiar face of Chizuki, she instantly grabbed on to her and cried her eyes out. Chizuki held her in a hug while stroking her hair and reassuring her that the nightmare was over.
Uehara calmly stood to the side and slightly furrowed his eyebrows. He turned around and walked away with only one thought in his mind.
[Weak.]
Chizuki sensed his dissatisfaction through the link they shared and sighed.
[I’ll have to talk to master later.]
Uehara left them alone and took his time walking back to his modest house. After Uehara was far enough, Sakura looked at Chizuki with teary eyes.
“Is…is Black-sama mad at me?”
Sakura was not stupid. She knew very well how much Uehara despised any show of weakness. Chizuki didn’t choose to hide it.
“To an extent, yes. He expected you to come to terms with your death within a century, not two millenniums. But don’t worry. It’s just because he doesn’t understand. In his eyes, men are no different from women. Both are simply the same in his view so he doesn’t know that women are a tad bit more emotional regarding certain things like death.”
“Okay, Chizuki-nee.”
Chizuki got up and offered her hand.
“Come. Master should be waiting for us.”
“Nn.”
Sakura wasn’t as outspoken as before. All the vitality and vibrancy that she had, had vanished after that ordeal. The betrayal had struck her the most but she after she recovered, she was quick to realise that it was all an illusion. But she knew one thing for sure. She never wanted to experience that feeling again.
…
The next day arrived. It was early morning and Uehara had dragged Sakura out of her room to the same spot as yesterday again. Although Chizuki wanted to voice her opinion on letting Sakura rest, she knew it was the best time for her to open the path of death while her mind was still clouded over her illusionary death.
Sakura was sitting in the lotus position under the very same tree as yesterday. Although she appeared calm, both Uehara and Chizuki could see her chakra was in disarray. It was to the point that Uehara was reconsidering whether he should help her open the second path or come back after a few years when she’s grown up a bit more.
Although Chizuki had talked to him considering the emotional heart of a maiden, he still couldn’t help but clench his fists when he saw how Sakura still wasn’t calming down.
[Weak! I can’t tolerate such weakness in front of me!]
Chizuki instantly noticed his condition and moved forward to placate him.
“Master. Perhaps we should delay the session for a few more days until she recovers? She’s only sixteen and her mind isn’t strong enough to gloss over such matters.”
Uehara furrowed his brows as he glared at the trembling Sakura.
“Pathetic.”
Maybe it was because he was an assassin in his past life but he has always hated any show of weakness. Even when someone was chased by a dog that they could literally kick to death if they just stood their ground, earned his ire. From his early teenage years he has been dealing with assassins. Even girls younger than Sakura showed more strength so he couldn’t help but feel disgust towards the braided red-head trembling in front of him with closed eyes.
He looked at Chizuki with his eyes glowing yellow.
“She begs me for strength and yet she can’t handle the trials needed to gain strength? Unacceptable. If she’s going to waste my time, then I’ll send her to the Buddhists where she’ll truly have to die just to open the second path of death.”
Before he could vanish, Sakura called out.
“Please wait Black-sama! I just need a few minutes to calm down! I promise I’ll be ready soon!”
Uehara looked at her begging expression.
“You have one hour. Chizuki. Stay with her.”
With that said, he vanished in a swirl of darkness.