Ryuzen and his party arrives home by midnight at his estate; a servant and guard meet his party at the stables, the gates were shut and no could leave or enter the compound until the funeral and succession was finished and guards were placed to ensure no interference in these ceremonies. The entire is estate is covered in candles and torches to give it a solemn and dark mood despite the excess light from the torches, Ryuzen immediately dismounts and heads into his mansion and once he enterd a servant meets him and led him to the newly constructed small hall where all his soldiers and captain of the Takeda cavalry were waiting (During the Sengoku era the succession comes before a funeral to ensure a smooth transition to the next heir in line to lead the clan, logic of the time is a clan without a head was an easy target by its rivals) it was simple hallway made from a simple wooden frame and flooring yet still elegant in its own way and not as lavish as the Takeda great hall. He is led to the end of the hall where a simple seat was set for him and Ryuzen sat down, the doors to the small hall were immediately shut and guards placed outside, everyone present in the hall immediately bowed to Ryuzen and then the captain of the cavalry stated out loud, "The lord has passed. The house must not waver. Ryuzen Kuroda is now ready to stand and hold our house up" Then everyone stood up and shouted their loyalty to Ryuzen as the new head of the clan and vowed to protect him with their life. Another soldier brought Jinsai katana and handed it to Ryuzen to show his new symbol of power and succession. Then a senior monk from a nearby Buddhist temple stepped forward and prayed a simple blessing for Ryuzen to ensure a successful reign. Once the simple ceremony was finished, the doors to the hallway was opened and everyone exited accept Ryuzen who waited for everyone to leave and he then exhaled a large breath of air and steadied himself before exiting the hall. Ryuzen then went to Isabell room to see how she was doing. A guard is stationed in front of her room and as soon as he sees Ryuzen he bowed and sidestepped out of the way to let him in her room. As he entered and the door was shut, Isabell immediately got up and ran into his arms, Ryuzen held her tight and she cried deeply into his chest and spoke, "I am so sorry for what happened, I am to blame for your family's loss and troubles. If I had never come here, you would not be mourning your father now. Your father was so brave and reacted so quickly that prevented my abduction and I will be eternally grateful for his sacrifice" Ryuzen lifted her face and he could see her makeup was running down her face from all her tears and then parted her golden blonde hair out of her face and looked at her in the eyes, "I don't blame you for the death of my father. He was a samurai and dying in service of protecting someone else was preferable than dying in his bed with no honor. I am glad he protected you and kept you safe. We both knew the choice was mine and I accept responsibility and will mourn these events for the rest of my life. I place the blame on Melanios and someday I will get my revenge on him for causing us so much trouble" Ryuzen then kissed Isabell softly on the lips and he left her room to see his father's body. His father was lying in a coffin in his room and dressed in white Buddhist monk robes. He appeared to be washed and groomed for his final journey and a simple white cloth was wrapped around his neck to cover the wound he received from Kotaro. Simple Buddhist prayer beads were placed in his hands. Heavy incense was burning from a large container in the room and had four large lit candles one in each corner of his room burning brightly. As soon as Ryuzen entered the Buddhist monk reciting sutras and prayers exited the room to give Ryuzen privacy and as soon as the doors were shut and it was just Ryuzen and his father, Ryuzen cried silently and deeply as tears flowed from his eyes but he was careful to make sure no one could hear his grief as that would be considered weak and over emotional and would lower his standing in front of his men. Ryuzen then pulled an old burnt broken wooden sword from his robe and placed it neatly under Jinsai robes and stated, "Old man as you pass on to the next world, I will leave my past with you and remember you fondly always and take your lessons to heart of what it means to be a samurai" Ryuzen then wipes the tears from his eyes with the sleave from his robes and composes himself and then exits the room.

  Several hours later when the morning sun had fully risen in the sky, Jinsai body was carried to local temple nearby where the cremation ceremony would begin, the body and the wooden coffin were placed in center of the cremation area. Placed outside of the cremation area were the Kuroda banners with the symbol of a dragon curled around the rising sun, incense burners were also placed in front of the coffin just outside the cremation area, two monks were to right of the cremation are reciting prayers and sutras and everyone else was also directly in front of the cremation area. Ryuzen dressed in simple black mourning robes and Isabell at his side led the procession forward to offer incense. Once everyone had offered incense and the prayers were complete a torch was lit and Jinsai body and coffin were set ablaze, and the ashes would be collected later. The funeral then ended and then Ryuzen 49 days of mourning began as was the custom, though the estate and his duties did not stop but he would don the mourning robes until the mourning period ended.

  A couple weeks later Joam was finally given leave from Shingen Takeda to go back home and arrived at the Kuroda clan estate that evening with his escort. Isabell came running out the mansion to greet her father with a hug and kiss on the cheek. Joam was relieved to see she was unharmed after the attempt to abduct her failed and had been in agony waiting for the daimyo to grant him leave to see her. "I am relieved to see you are safe Isabell, I thank God for him protecting you and I was extremely sad that I was not here to pay my respects to Jinsai for sacrificing his life to protect you" "I am glad to see you also father, shall I get you some refreshments and have them brought to you?" "Yes, my dear but first I must speak to Ryuzen, we have much to discuss, where is he?" "He is in the new hall that has been built, you should speak to him now before someone comes and bothers him with another request or duty he must attend too" Joam then gently kisses his daughter on the forehead and then makes his way to the new hall. Joam then sees two guards at the hall doors entrance and respectfully asks to have an audience with lord Ryuzen. Then one of the guards goes inside the hallway and shuts the door and a few moments later the doors open and Joam is allowed into the hall. A blind old biwa player in his sixties with wrinkled worn face with a long Fu Manchu gray beard and a four string instrument in front of him is sitting to the right of Ryuzen and is maybe 10 feet away playing softly and to his left is a man dressed in light blue Buddhist monk robes and between them is a Chinese go set, the monk is large lean muscular man probably in his late twenties with scar across the top of his left brow and has surprisingly soft demeanor in his face and looks cheerful and the typical shaved monk head, and is actually surprisingly fit for a monk which leaves Joam to guess he is a possible warrior monk. Ryuzen is at the center, and he has cut his hair down to a short samurai ponytail but he has not shaved part of his head like other samurai do though he is only fourteen he has already simple small pencil mustache now growing on his upper lip and is still dressed in simple black mourning robes as is traditional to wear during the mourning period. Joam stops within 10 feet away from Ryuzen and bows in respect to him as is customary when speaking to a lord. Even though Ryuzen is over twenty years younger than Joam, he knows because the boy now holds a position of power and respect, he must be shown the proper respect to his new rank. Once the formalities were finished and Ryuzen begins to speak, "Joam I am glad to see you made it safely back here, Isabell has missed you very much. I am surprised to see you so soon and I thought you would spend time with your daughter, and we would speak in the morning. Before you begin let me introduce these two gentlemen you see before me. To my right is a renowned biwa player by the name of Gensei whom I call the Profound voice, and I met him on my weekly patrol through southern Kai as he was traveling and offered to give him shelter and food and rest until he continued on his journey. After speaking with me and staying a few days and he offered to be an advisor and when I asked why he stated "my voice carries two shadows. One wishes to protect. One wishes to choose" Gesei added in soft voice smiling, "Most men only have one voice" Ryuzen continued, "He has the ability to judge the intent of people by hearing there breathing rhythm, the weight of pauses, and how lies tighten the throat. His insight has helped me in judging people and meet and understanding their true intentions" " To my left is the warrior monk and strategist Enkai whom I call the circle of discipline, and I met him after my father's funeral as he was one of the monks praying over my father and had been observing me since I came to Jinsai estate and was impressed with how I have overcome so many obstacles while being so young and wanted to become my strategist in war and I come to enjoy his cheerful attitude and his love of playing of go. He has a favorite saying that I have grown fond of hearing, is A lord does not win by taking more pieces. He wins by deciding which ones may die. In such a short time he has been here I have learned so much from him" Enkai bows and thanks him for his lord's praise. Joam replied, "Truly amazing my lord and I pray they will aid you in your rise to more fame and glory. The reason I wished to speak to you so soon is because lord Shingen has allowed me to continue on my mission to trade with the Hojo but there are two conditions that must be met, my daughter must stay in Kai, and I must arrange for salt shipments to be sent here to Kai as they much need for much salt for future plans. I had explained to my lord about the marriage proposal between you and my daughter and he has approved of the marriage as it will bind my family to his lands. He has also stated that all my shipments of salt are to be stored in Kuroda clan warehouses and guarded by the Kuroda clan and all merchants must purchase salt through here in the provinces owned by the Takeda clan. He has done this as a reward for you and your family's support and sacrifice in protecting the southern border of Kai and has brought this written agreement of his order and a construction order to get lumber from the mountains for the extra warehouses and additional barracks, stables, roadside inn and store to sell the salt and to house the additional 50 samurai to help with guarding the place. I have been ordered to leave in a week to secure the salt shipments and will send word when the shipments are ready and our lord orders you to begin immediate planning and construction of the buildings right away" Ryuzen was pleased with this news and ordered sake to be brought in and as he was about to drink a small cup of sake and then all of a sudden everyone and everything in the room froze from the drinks flowing into the cups to flickering of the flame by the nearby candle.

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  The room began to blur, and the three weavers of fate came into the room through some unknown portal and Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos were standing before Ryuzen and then began to speak in unison, "You have now become the counterbalance the fates have needed to fight Melanios, your choices have begun to slow down the bleeding of fate. The healing has started by your choices and actions will reverberate for generations; you have made an impossible choice that have caused you much pain and sorrow but in doing so you have prevented Melanios from causing more harm. You have learned not to just rely on fate but also strategy and knowledge will also be your allies against the defilers. We have heard your cry in trying to find out how to kill a God who can rewind fate, and an answer has presented itself in the form of an orb that when carried in the vicinity of time marker it will disable the time marker which will allow Melanios to be killed and not be able change his fate once the orb is activated. Be warned if you activate it and you are killed you as well will not be able to rewind your fate and will die permanently. It is in a land in Japan where a massive volcano resides and is located somewhere near the top. Do not retrieve the orb until you have conquered the lands inhabitants surrounding it as many of Melanios disciples reside there and if they were to discover of the orbs existence and inform Melanios of this weapon he would not doubt attempt retrieve it and destroy it" Then they disappeared and everything unfroze Ryuzen was now armed with the knowledge of how to defeat his enemy but the task to accomplish this would take years or even decades to accomplish. He thought the only massive volcano in Japan was called Mt. Fuji and it was in an area controlled by the one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in all of Japan and that was the Hojo clan. Plus, they are currently allied with the Takeda, and they are going to become trading partners also. Just like the game of go he will need to figure how strategically surround them and defeat them as they have one of the biggest and most powerful castles in all of Japan. Ryuzen downed his cup of sake quickly and realized he had much work to do in the coming years but now he knew where to focus his efforts and was encouraged by that notion.