Kamakura City, Japan, Two days before Uehara's awakening
"Come, Sakura. We should be able to find more information about this "Tannin" here."
Sakura replied cheerfully.
"Okay~"
A few hours ago, Chizuki had received a messenger hawk from one of the underground blacksmiths. The message contained the log sheet which contained all the information from the customer's name, to his looks, and what weapon he wanted made.
What interested her was that this log sheet was drafted sixty-years ago and yet the description of the customer matched Tannin's current appearance to the letter.
Right now, she was in Kamakura because the message also contained a note that quoted the man saying it was a betrothal gift for the love of his life. When the man was tailed after leaving with the weapons, he was last seen heading north from Miura where he got his weapons forged. The city directly north of Miura was precisely Kamakura, where the stronghold of the Minamoto clan was.
A small part of Chizuki felt a bit uncomfortable at returning to the city where she lived for most of her life.
[I have already taken master's name and swore to serve him. I no longer have any ties to the Minamoto.]
Chizuki and Sakura began walking towards the city gates. Their faces were half-covered in dark cloaks and a conical straw hat that had strands of cotton called igusa that functioned like curtains, shielding them from the sun. The cotton strands also had the function of partially hiding their hair. Both were wearing shinobi sandals, which they had long since become accustomed to after Uehara's "suggestion".
Entering the city gate, they weren't given any trouble by the guards at all. The city of Kamakura itself was more of a military establishment than a normal city. There were atleast a couple dozen guards patrolling the streets for every block Shikibu and Sakura walked.
Sakura could even feel the presences of a few shinobi monitoring everyone from the shadows.
[That explains why the entry procedure isn't as stringent. Any sort of troubles could be handled easily.]
Continuing to walk, both of them entered a bar that was more on the poorer side of the city. Sitting on one of the tables by the corner, both Sakura and Chizuki ordered some cheap sake (sa-ke).
Their contact was supposed to come today. It was a man who worked within the Minamoto clan, forcefully abducted as a child into slavery. Chizuki knew him since she had befriended him.
Almost half-an-hour passed before a tall man in grey worker's attire entered the bar. His hair was brown and was tied in a ponytail. His skin was slightly pale but his arms were full of grooves and scars as well as a circle tattoo on his forehead, a sign of a slave.
His discerning feature though was diagonal scar over right eye. Looking closer, an experienced gaze would be able to tell it was from a whip. This man's given slave name was Tayuki.
Directing his gaze around, he noticed Chizuki slightly lift a cup. A cold glint covered his eyes.
[That's her alright.]
Both Chizuki and Sakura instantly felt the faint negative energy from him. It was one of the first abilities Uehara had drilled into them the moment they could also sense chakra.
Both of them instantly had their guard up, mirroring each other's thoughts.
[[He has to die after this.]]
But outside all of their expectations, Tayuki didn't come to them. Instead, he stood on the spot and yelled out while pointing at them.
"Chizuki-sama! I never expected I would get to see you again-"
The next thing that happened was Chizuki chopping his neck so hard that he was decapitated. Looking at Sakura, she only said one word.
"Run."
Immediately, they were about to rush out in a burst of speed but imagine their surprise when a barrier stopped them from exiting the building.
"Not good! Sakura! We must hurry!"
Chizuki could feel the build-up of ki all around them. Her instincts screamed at her to get out of the vicinity immediately but the barrier in front of her was preventing all of that.
The people inside were screaming as well. The now dense amount of ki in the air was causing them to drop like flies. They had no abilities that could stop it from entering their bodies in excess, causing it to destroy them from the inside out.
Ignoring the wails of the people in the bar, Chizuki activated her water sage transformation. She formed a waterball and began compressing it as much as she could.
Meanwhile, Sakura was already unleashing concentrated fire spears at one area of the barrier. She couldn't sense ki as well as Chizuki but she knew as well of the danger they were in.
"Nee-san! Aim it here!"
Sakura had just barely managed to make a small hole through the barrier with her consecutive flame spears. Chizuki nodded and timing it with the last flame spear, she was prepared to launch her waterball there when she suddenly felt her chakra vanish at an insanely high rate.
This caused her to lose control over the waterball, making it explode with such force that it blew both her and Sakura away. Smashing against the wall, Chizuki bit her tongue in order to not lose consciousness at such a critical moment, unlike Sakura who was directly knocked out. Chizuki's sage transformation had already receded due to her not being having anymore chakra to hold it.
Looking at where all the chakra was being directed to, she saw a man with black hair and facial features similar to hers. He was holding something like a teapot against the barrier, using it to suck in the chakra.
Chizuki's expression turned into one of pure anger when she saw the man.
[Brother!]
Her eyes flashed red for a while before finally falling unconscious from her chakra being drained too much.
Meanwhile, her brother outside the barrier stood unmoving for a while. He was still operating the chakra absorption teapot to further drain Chizuki's chakra for safe measure. He still can't forget how ten-years ago, all the shinobi sent to hunt down his sister had died. The news had caused an uproar in the family since all those twelve shinobi were the best of the best within the clan. The twelve of them were always tasked with keeping the upper echelons of the family safe.
The fact that those shinobi never returned afterwards immensely destabilised his father's position as patriarch of the Minamoto clan. This allowed his uncle, Minamoto Hozuki to assume the position of patriarch after a vote within the family.
This caused him, the rightful heir of the clan to lose his status overnight. He endured ten-years of hell trying to track her. He planned everything for what would happen when he found her and how he would incapacitate her.
He was very ecstatic when found out that his sister's former servant had made contact with her. After all, he had made sure that every single one of Chizuki's close confidants was under him as soon as possible just in case she wanted to make contact with one.
Looking at the unconscious figure of his little sister, his eyes darkened.
[I swear on my name as Minamoto Yaroi, I will find out how you got so strong. Then with my newfound power, I will rightfully assume my role as the clan patriarch.]
Pulling the abnormally large white kettle from the barrier, he snapped his fingers. Hearing the sound, four martial artists positioned around the bar stopped channeling ki into the barrier, allowing it to disperse.
Yaroi walked into the now tattered bar while stepping over the corpses of the other unlucky patrons of the bar. Apart from Chizuki and Sakura, everyone had already died due to ki poisoning. Even the both of them were at risk of suffering from ki poisoning since the amount of chakra within their bodies that could combat the ki was dangerously low.
Kicking aside a few corpses, he crouched down when he reached Chizuki. Stretching a hand to cup her cheek, he smiled.
"It's been so long, little sister. Although I do hold some hatred for you not dying that day, I can't help but think the gods are with me. After all, you've brought me a great gift this time."
Yaroi really can't wait to find out how she got so strong over the course of ten-years. Although he's just slightly stronger than a normal human, even he could feel the amount of power Chizuki released within that barrier.
Before he could further indulge in his fantasies, one of his men in dark robes came to him and bowed.
"My lord. I can detect a soul-link within Lady Chizuki."
Yaroi smiled condescendingly.
"Really? WELL BREAK IT THEN!"
The man shuddered.
"This…I'm afraid it's impossible. It's much stronger than any soul-link I've seen before."
Yaroi smiled.
"I see. Well, you have one-hour to use whatever means possible to sever or disable the soul-link…"
His smile disappeared.
"...or there will be no reason for you to continue existing."
His smile returned again.
"Okay?~"
"Y-yes my lord. I'll get right on it."