Uehara unwillingly watched as Keiji began to power up. All his clones had already dispersed at the sudden influx of pressure. The surge of power he felt from the man caused even him to feel a bit of fear. Because unlike his father, Keiji truly and willfully wants to kill him.

[Damnit! This pressure isn’t allowing me to move. Even in my sage mode, I can barely stand straight!]

Uehara felt like a mountain was pressing down on him. There was so much of Keiji’s chi in the air that he felt like he was wearing weights underwater, unable to move. Only sheer will and immense pride made the young drake not fall down on his knees.

But he could already feel the nature energy around him dwindle bit by bit. The density of Keiji’s chi made him unable to properly absorb enough nature energy, resulting in him being unable to keep the absorption-to-consumption ratio. In a minute or so, he knows all the nature energy in his body will be spent.

[If this keeps up, I won’t be able to stand straight soon.]

Thinking of his impending humiliation, of giving his knees to anyone but his father, made him very angry. His anger was mostly directed at himself for allowing such a situation to happen.

So knowing that, he knew he had to find a way out of this, using any means necessary.

“I would sooner die, than bow down...TO YOU!”

Digging into his own source of power, Uehara forwent any thoughts of conserving nature energy and directly released it in a burst of golden light. At the same time, he dug deep into himself and tapped into his origin chakra (internal nature energy), the energy that he was formed from.

Bringing both his hands together in the unison sign, dark tattoo-like lines began to cover his body.

[I’d sooner take a beating from father for the rest of my life than give this man my knees.]

The origin chakra in his body replaced the external nature energy absorbed from the world. As the replacement energy process happened, Uehara felt his strength increase even further. Using his origin chakra, his power directly surpassed his base state by twenty times.

Releasing a breath he’d been holding, he temporarily gave himself some leeway to admire his power.

[Origin Sage Mode. Although two times more powerful than normal sage mode…]

A slight frown marred his face.

[...it also can’t be maintained for long.]

He could already feel his energy depleting at a fast rate. Golden aura surged like a fiery blaze around him. The power he currently exerted was enough to offset the crushing pressure released by Keiji’s unbridled rage. Being able to stand up straight now, Uehara immediately noticed that Keiji was getting stronger.

He directed a steely gaze at the Minamoto Patriarch.

[I can’t let him.]

Creating two shadow clones that were also in origin sage mode, they stood next to his side. Locking his sight directly on Keiji’s aura-obscured figure, Uehara crouched down slightly, almost as if he was about to sprint at any moment. At the same time, he stretched out his hands to both his clones standing on his side. The clones reciprocated the action, using both their hands to seemingly hold an invisible object in the original’s hands.

Then, swirling masses of blue and red streaks of energy began forming in Uehara’s hands. The streaks of energy gradually coalesced into a small ball of energy, the ball itself being red and blue like yin and yang. It was akin to a small planet that rotated on its own axis, slowly increasing in size and mass as more and more streaks of red and blue merged into the sphere in a mass of swirls.

The clones were hard at work, seemingly knitting the water and fire chakra together into the sphere. Their hands were moving rapidly, making sure to keep the balance and integrity while the original continued to supply the needed chakra. After nearly a dozen seconds had passed, the two spheres were now big enough to rival the size of a watermelon on steroids. Uehara’s hands were visibly straining right now, the density of the two spheres being quite high.

The clones stopped their hand motion of rapid weaving and instead, began to insert their own nature energy into the sphere. Like rivers of lava on a volcano, golden radiance began to bleed through the red-blue spheres like multiple rivers that diverged into tributaries (smaller rivers/streams). Then, like the morning sunshine, the golden radiance that emanated from the small lines began to cover the entire spheres, effectively turning the red-blue spheres into miniature suns.

The power these two spheres were releasing was by far more than enough to send warning lights to the powering-up Keiji. But the clones had made absolutely sure to hide the pressure. A small application of seals primed into the ground through chakra was enough to hide the brunt feel of the orbs. At most, Keiji would feel like Uehara was futilely trying to resist his pressure.

With the clones channelling the last of their nature energy into the orbs, their sage state immediately ended. And since they were using their origin chakra, they vanished from existence in a rapid combustion of flames. Immediately, Uehara began to feel the strain of having to maintain the two orbs.

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[I have to do this fast.]

His gaze returned to focus on Keiji. The patriarch was still powering up and already, half a minute had passed since he had entered that state. As curious as Uehara was about what would be the conclusion of all of this, he knew full well there would be no better chance to kill Keiji. So when he saw a strand of hair on Keiji’s head turn white, he immediately channelled as much sage chakra as he could into his legs.

[NOW!]

BOOOM

Rising through the air his square focus was on Keiji’s form. His own sage aura repelled Keiji’s own pressure that seemed intent to push him back down. Either way, once he appeared in front of Keiji, barely a blink later, he reeled back his arms and with as much force as he could exert through his tired limbs, pushed them forward.

[Kitai Endan!]

BOOOM

Keiji was too slow to react. Any defences he was able to raise were shattered like cheap glass the moment the power of two metropolitan-level attacks exploded. The explosion itself…was massive. Anything left of Kamakura was gone immediately. Surrounding districts kilometres away were destroyed. To any outside observer, it appeared as if the southern region was engulfed in two massive domes of golden light that spanned tens of kilometres.

Nearly fifty kilometres away, Sakura looked at the scene of the explosion with obvious wonder in her eyes.

“Woooowww~ Amazing! Amazing!”

The teenage girl was jumping around in sheer delight, her braided red hair flailing all over the place.

“Did you see that, nee-chan?! Baa-chan?! It was beautiful!”

Shikibu lightly chuckled at Sakura’s antics.

“My, my. Someone is excited~ So excited that were it not for Aoki-sama’s clones, they would’ve died~”

Sakura immediately froze at that last statement, especially when she detected the veiled promise of punishment behind it. She turned to face Shikibu, not wanting to meet her eyes while she subconsciously twirled her hair with her finger.

“Uh-uhm…sorry?”

She was unsure of what to feel. The jitters she felt when she thought of the potential damage within the golden dome...

[I wanna see it again!]

Swivelling her head so fast that there was a slight crack heard, Sakura stood transfixed at the gradually dimming golden dome. Unbeknownst to the redhead, the yokai of the group was NOT taking this blatant display of disrespect well.

“Ara? Turning your back on me, are we, Sakura-chan?”

Although there was a smile on her face, the dark aura Shikibu released was anything but kind. Sakura stood rigid…again. But this time, she didn’t turn to face Shikibu. No. She kept her eyes on the golden dome, burning the image into her brain.

She could feel Shikibu’s dark aura pressing down on her even more, but right now, Sakura only had one thought.

[If I can die to a sight like this, then I’ll die a happy woman.]

Shikibu’s eye twitched. Getting up from the grass, she walked over to Sakura, ready to kick her off the cliff. But while walking, her dress got snagged by a thorny bush.

[Tch!]

Bending over to unhook it from the thorns, she unconsciously glanced over at Chizuki who was staring at the destroyed city with a solemn gaze. Immediately, a devious thought entered her mind, the matter of Sakura pushed to the back of her mind.

“Oh my~. Worried for your beloved master~?”

Chizuki remained silent, which was quite an unnatural reaction to Shikibu’s teasings. Normally, the blue-eyed beauty would glare at the fox and retort with a snarky comeback. At the very least, she would twitch in irritation. But for there to be no reaction, worried her.

Having un-snagged her dress, she walked over to Chizuki, her strap sandals cushioning her feet against the numerous rocks on the ground. Putting her hand on Chizuki’s shoulder, she idly praised the softness of her white coat.

“Chizuki?”

Chizuki turned her head slowly towards Shikibu, her eyes being noticeably wet. Immediately, Shikibu could notice the feelings of fear, anger, and…confusion.

[Aaaah…I see.]

She immediately grabbed Chizuki in a tight hug, using her superior height to press Chizuki against her chest. Shikibu didn’t speak any words, only giving a slight glance towards the two clones of Uehara that brought them here. She noticed both clones give her a nod of approval. In return, she gave her own smile.

[Now I see why they are here. It isn’t to provide back up to the original, but to watch over Chizuki and Sakura, especially Chizuki.]

Thinking of the situation now, everything started to make sense. The sudden rashness to eliminate the Minamoto clan. They know that whatever power she used, it allowed her to get so strong that even a high-tier chakra drain pot couldn’t kill her. Whatever power or technique she had, her family would want it.

[They would have probably hunted her soon if Aoki-sama didn’t strike first.]

Holding Chizuki who wasn’t even struggling, she wasn’t surprised when she felt her own chest begin to get wet. She felt her own eyes begin to wet in sympathy.

[And also, despite everything her family did to her, she still feels sad for their destruction.]

She hugged Chizuki tighter, letting her feelings of reassurance be transferred through her warm embrace. She gently muzzled her chin against Chizuki’s scalp.

“Don’t think so much, Chizuki. Everything will be alright.”

Although Shikibu didn’t get a verbal confirmation, the slight nod of Chizuki’s head against her chest was significant enough.

Just a few metres away, Sakura was watching the scene with a tinge of sympathy. Although she wanted to empathize with Chizuki, every time she thinks of the torture she had to go through…

*Fists Clench*

…she can’t help but feel an overwhelming amount of anger. She still precisely remembers how Minamoto no Keiza, Chizuki’s brother and also their kidnapper, spoke of how they’ll be monumental to the ascension of the clan. The methods of how that will happen however, were far less than savoury. Gritting her teeth, she abruptly turned away from Chizuki and faced toward the scattered ashes of the Minamoto clan. A bright smile surfaced on her face.

[That’s right. They no longer exist anymore~]