“You are weak.”

  Those were the words of the Soutou clan's previous head and my late father Soutou Akira. Those words, while short and simple, were laced with much venom. Yet despite that I cling to them dearly.

  For most of my life, especially my youth those words had little meaning to me. I thought of him as jealous of my innate power, my potential which was greater than his. It wasn’t until within the later half of my life that I began to understand what he meant by those words.

  They were not said with malice or meant to scorn me. They weren’t meant to tear me down and break my soul but to remind me of my own mortality.

  For the majority of my Fathers life he was a man with a single goal, to become strong. A goal which most men do have in their life at least up to one point but they all seem to move past it. But for my father it was a goal which he had focused his entire being on reaching. A path which his own father Soutou Inuaki had burned into him.

  During my fathers and grandfathers time the dynamic of the great 3 clans had begun to drift dramatically. The main reason for the shift being the rapid decay of the Kageki Clan. Many generations prior, a rather arrogant and prideful man had deemed all those without the blood of the Kageki blood to be weak, less than human. By such logic if the Kageki Clan were to procreate with those less than human would their blood not be defiled? As such he had instituted a law against the introduction of new blood. Only the Kageki could bear the child of a Kageki.

  While at first this wasn’t a great issue as the clan was very large within a few generations the problem became clear, the power they once prided themselves upon rotting away with each new child.

  In an attempt to mend the issue new blood was quickly added in but the damage had already been done. The Kageki would crash and burn in a blaze of their own prideful ignorance.

  With the decline of the Kageki clan the Soutou and Hojo clans who had been allies for over a thousand years and worked hand in hand to restrain the Kageki clan had a chance to look closer at one another.

  Their faults became clearer and animosity grew thick. They entered a cold war, while neither would throw the first blow they both planned how to receive and retaliate if the other advanced.

  If and when the Kageki were removed the Soutou and Hojo would only have each other to hold them in check. A clear deviation from the three clan system which was a sure fire away to ensure no single clan had more power than the other.

  Right when it seemed as though that balance was going to be shattered however, there was a star which fell from the sky straight to the Kageki clan's lap. That star being Kageki Kanroji.

  He was a man of no great worth upon first appearance. Nasty slant eyes and of short stature he was quickly discarded by the Kageki as another child of no worth.

  That is until he did something unexpected. When Sasuke the heir to the Kageki clan was nearly defeated and killed by a man who he’d been hired to assassinate, it was Kanroji who saved him.

  Appearing with the same lackadaisical behavior as ever he managed to not only defend himself from the man his brother was ruthlessly beaten by but also draw his blood. Though even him with his unprecedented power was unable to kill the man who the target had been placed up on so he took Sasuke and fled to their home.

  Upon which the title of heir was stripped from the humiliated and mutilated Sasuke and given to Kanroji.

  Though even with this new change of status Kanroji continued to live as he did when he was no more than a low ranking member of the clan. He spent his days flirting with women, drinking until he collapsed and never doing what was expected of him.

  As such even though he was reported to triumph over the already notable Sasuke the Soutou and Hojo clans deemed him as nothing of particular interest.

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  That is until he appeared before my father and grandfather. It was then that they truly began to understand that before them and in the hands of the Kageki clan was a being which should not have existed. One who defied the logic of his birth. A monster in the form of a human, Kageki Kanroji was indeed someone of renowned interest.

  After this meeting my grandfather Inuaki began to burn the desire of being strong into the soul of my father Akira. Not to surpass him mind you but to at least be able to stand in his shadow. That’s how vast the distance was.

  But unexpectedly in what seemed like another cruel twist of fate, what took the life of Kageki Kanroji was not a stronger opponent nor the flames of violence. But the sickness of cancer which took him away.

  The brightest of stars which defied the laws of the world was extinguished by something as meager as cancer. That fact ruined my father Akira who had made it his entire life's goal to simply catch a glimpse of Kanrojis power for his own. The man who he idolized, who he thought of as immortal and the ultimate goal was killed by cancer. As such he came to a brutal and late realization.

  “I am weak.”

  No matter how strong one was, no matter their wealth, nobility or rank they would always be crushed under the wheel of time and circle of life. And I too was no expectation.

  “I am weak. I cannot expect myself to live forever because of my strength. As such I must value that little time which I am not guaranteed to have. Make sure that it is one which is worth living.”

  That is what his words came to mean in my mind.

  As such I’ve tried my best to model my life in such a way that it was one worth having lived. However, how is the value of one's life measured? That is a question which my father never gave to me and one I’ve been forced to conclude myself.

  The conclusion I have come to is that the value of my life is based on the impact I’ve left on the Soutou clan post mortem. As the head of the clan it’s my job to build a bridge towards prosperity and guide them across it.

  In this pursuit I've crushed and killed countless with my fists, burned bridges with my flames, forced connections with my tongue, and toppled hierarchies with my wealth.

  I strengthened the connection with the Sosaki clan and the Sosaki Corp. building our influence on the world. I spread our business across the globe to all ports and harbors. I did everything I thought I could within my short life.

  That is until I saw an even greater chance before me, a clear line to the ultimate victory. A path which opened when the Kageki Clan had been eradicated by the Toumeikan.

  Immediately my plan was one which I prepared to act upon. I would force one of my sons on the Hojo clan as a gift and break the taboo of the clans never crossing blood without regret. My blood would fill the Hojo clan's ranks over the generations and as the generations passed we would blend together and become nothing but a single family with a different name. From there the two clans would fuse into a single entity and I would be responsible for the biggest impact in the history of the Soutou clan. My life without a doubt would be one which was worth having been lived. I would not become immortal through my strength but through my actions, my name spreading throughout history as the one responsible for the new Soutou clan. The greatest family in all of Edoland.

  My plan was simple and effective, something which should have come to fruition without trouble within only a few years. However to my dismay I was seen through by a pair of cold calculating eyes by the one who’d I’d expected the least from. That of Suwabe Mitou, the wife of the Hojo clan head Burosuke.

  Seeing through my plan she whispered into her husband's ear and made sure that my goals would become far from reach. But to give up without giving my all would only make regrets and my life not worth being lived. So I fought back with all my might.

  From my four children I selected the one which would have been the most unexpected to be my heir, Soutou Sosuke. From the moment of his birth I knew he was strange, a man with no emotions, a child who never cried nor laughed. One who only watched others trying to understand how they ticked.

  Picking him as my heir I planned to put my son, the one with the true potential as a leader, Soutou Inurashi into the Hojo Clan. To the Hojo it would appear as a foolish mistake giving my son with the most worth to their daughter. But that’s why I would do something like that.

  For he is the only one to match my own cunning mind. He is the only one who could make sure our blood begins to fill the Hojo clan until the two clans become one.

  However in this plan there appeared something I didn’t expect. Sosaki Ryoku, the son of my greatest Business partner Sosaki Chairo. Coming to Ryoku like a starving mutt with mange was Hojo Norosuke, and chasing after Norosuke was the heir to the Hojo clan Hojo Asara.

  My son Sosuke and Ryoku should have forged a pact between themselves, they should have pushed away Asara and left him out of their little group but my expectations were crushed as Sosuke, Ryoku and Asara all became friends. The one thing I wanted not to happen as the dynamic of the three clans would once again form. However this time with the Sosaki, Soutou and Hojo. I would go down in history as having done nothing but squandered the greatest of opportunities. And that is where this story leads to the present.

  My goal while so far away is close enough for me to catch the scent of it, my plans while damaged have not yet shattered, My life while not yet having been one worth having lived hasn’t had its value assigned.

  I still have a chance.

  Chapter 70… I wanted this chapter to have some meaning to it since it’s such a huge milestone so I decided for it to be Raizens chapter since I think this is the best time for him to have one.

  The Kageki clan is the clan I have a very large set of notes for. Mainly because I was bored one day and drew like fifty family members to see how far I could push myself in terms of character design. I hope to expand on them more in the future because they’re actually pretty neat.

  There’s a lot of stuff I don’t think I’ll be able to fit into this saga or know I have to cut / had cut because I don't want to bloat it. Honestly I had ideas for multiple more arcs which could have taken place within this saga but I had to trim down the fat quite a bit and some of that is more world building elements.

  [戌秋] Inuaki - The first Kanji is the same as Inurashi being for the sign of the dog. Probably what inspired Inurashis name. Second is for Fall or Autumn.

  [明] Akira - Brightness or Wisdom, generic male name.

  [茶色] Chairo - Brown, Literally means “tea color”.

  [冠炉寺] Kanroji - First Kanji means “Peerless” or “The best”. Second means “Furnace.” and the last means “temple.” I actually like this name alot. This is the father of Dou, and who Satoshi is the spitting image of.

  [瑳佐] Sasuke - First Kanji is for “polish” or “brilliant white luster of a gem.” Second is an alternate spelling of 助. Honestly there’s so many different Suke kanji.