development

[my school dance was absolutely amazing, had a lot of fun. anyway here's the chap]

the red-headed boy laughed heartily, "Hahahaha! See?" he exclaimed, a broad grin on his face. The black-haired boy's eyes widened as he observed the adamantium chains emerging from Kota's stomach. They had pierced through the Uzumaki's clothes, swirling into a shield that successfully blocked the golden projectile unleashed by Noeier. Though the attack was intended to be relatively weak, designed to push Kota to the ground and conclude the bet swiftly, the unfolding events were unexpected. Asahi and Kirito were frozen in place, being the first to enter, blocking the passage to the kids for those behind them. The other clan children stood alongside Noeier and Kota, displaying various expressions of excitement, smugness, and shyness. Noeier lowered his hand momentarily and inquired with curiosity, "So, you can all do that?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Kota. "We can all do this, so we can all beat you now. Even Mei," he continued, pointing at a shy-looking girl in a corner. He paused to think, "No, especially Mei." Noeier looked at Mei, causing the shy girl to turn her head away, and then he shifted his gaze back to Kota. "You really think you can beat me now?" Kota confidently replied, "Of course I do." Noeier clasped his hands together, causing them to emit a golden shine once more before his eyes underwent the same transformation. The aura of his energy was peaceful, but the Uzumaki kids, with the Eye of Kagura, could sense the danger behind it. Kota's smile widened, and he retracted the chains hanging from his stomach. A chain then emerged from each of his hands, hovering beside him. The chains had a dulled pointed tip, unlike the one before, and floated just above the ground despite their length suggesting they should drag on the floor.

"Let's test that," Noeier said with a confident grin, rushing towards Kota once again with his hands shining brightly. The chains moved as if they had a mind of their own, swiping and waving at Noeier, who managed to weave his small body through them and throw a punch at Kota's face. The Uzumaki boy's eyes widened in shock before he ducked back at an angle he couldn't usually hold. However, one chain retracted and emerged from his back to stabilize him, while the other swiped at Noeier, causing him to jump back.

The chain at Kota's back extended, pushing him to his feet, and he looked at Noeier. "Whoa, you're really quick and fast," he praised with a wide smile. Noeier himself held a shocked look of his own. "That's because I'm already a body refiner above mid-level. What about you? I can't even sense any cultivation, but you have a weird energy in you that isn't like mommy's spiritual energy." Kota replied, "It's called chakra. Now, let's see who's better."

"Agreed," after these words, a small bud shot out of Noeier's space ring and landed on his hand. He then threw it at Kota, whose chains tried to slap it away. However, the moment they made contact with the bud, it exploded in a blinding light that had Kota covering his eyes in pain.

The next moment, Kota felt a fist landing on his cheek, and then another, followed by a kick to the back of his knee that made him stumble. He felt the wind move again, but this time his Eye of Kagura told him where the next punch would come from, so he grabbed at the fist.

"What?!" shouted Noeier at the block before he was thrown back like a bag of potatoes. Before he could fall to the ground, he was tied up on the ankles by the chain. From there, he was spun repeatedly and finally thrown to the ground with nausea reigning terror on his mind.

The adults who had been watching the battle in astonishment finally decided to interfere. They stood in between the two and scolded them. Wei and Lian addressed Kota, while Asahi and Kirito spoke to Noeier. Honestly, they could have stopped the fight sooner, but Asahi and Kirito were curious after sensing chakra and seeing the adamantium sealing chains, so they let the battle continue. After all, the kids were friends, and not much harm could come from a battle between cultivators with no spiritual energy yet.

Haru walked Asahi, Kirito, and Noeier out of the clan grounds. After leaving the gate, their carriage departed and traveled to their home and clan territory in the center of the town. Various figures could be seen following after them; it was likely the various clans getting ready to pressure the Lingdhou clan into revealing information on the events that happened before. When the carriage left, the crowd converged onto the clan gates in a commotion, which allowed Haru to make an announcement.

"THE SHEN CLAN WILL FROM HENCEFORTH BE THE UZUMAKI CLAN, AND WE WILL NOT BE OPENING THE CLAN GATES FOR THE NEXT MONTH EXCEPT TO MANAGE OUR ASSETS."

With that announcement, the clan gates closed shut, and the seal on the lock shone momentarily once more. The declaration sent waves across the town as people tried to grapple with why any clan would forsake their karma like that.

[fastfoward]

Within the clan grounds over the next week, all the clan members were given basic seal techniques to learn, along with the method of creating new types of seals. Each clan member, except for Mei Jr, was given a monster contract seal. Everyone received physical techniques and basic ninjutsu to learn before being sent to their rooms to cultivate.

Wei and Lian were the only Uzumaki members to leave the clan's grounds during this time. Using transformation jutsu and accompanied by two guards, they visited the shops owned by the clan. The shops were emptied, and then filled with paper space seals and others containing projectile weapons and explosive tags. The shops were rigged with seals to prevent theft and were manned by the families of the maids and guards who wanted the freedom to leave the clan's grounds.

The clan members, except for Rioto and Haru himself, all had to restart their cultivation. However, it was easier for the adults than the children. The reason for the restart was that instead of spiritual pathways, the Uzumaki physique started with chakra points. Unlike normal cultivators who have to actively search for their pathways, the Uzumaki members' chakra point locations are known. This makes it faster for them to progress through the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Moreover, the innate robustness of the Uzumaki physique allows them to easily advance through the Body Building Realm. For originally muscular individuals like Shun, they could even skip this realm. Various breakthrough phenomena occurred over the clan's grounds, visible for all to see. This astonished onlookers and made the other clans anxious.

Within the Zuzhou clan's grounds, a meeting between two elders, a middle-aged man, and a plump, ugly teen was taking place. The meeting had clearly been going on for a while now, with heated arguments taking place.

"We have to attack them now! You saw those breakthrough phenomena. At this rate, they'll be back for revenge!" shouted the teen.

"And Heavenly Dao?" questioned the middle-aged man.

"It likely won't risk interfering again," spoke the female elder.

The male elder tapped the table and spoke, "Let's contact the other clans and secretly meet up with them to discuss how to handle the situation of the Shen... sorry, Uzumaki clan. We all can't live peacefully until this problem is dealt with, so?" The others looked at each other and nodded in acceptance.

the next day each of the clans in the city except for those who had no conflict with the Shen clan like the zuzhou received a letter

[ill post on Monday, wednesday and friday usually from now on on this fic]