Chapter 3: First step of a journey
About a week has passed since the Shrine of the Blood ceremony. To say the blood test of Byakuya caused a mayhem would be a fairly serious understatement. So much so that his exceptionnal sixteen percent purity was immediately forgotten in the fierce debate that surrounded the matters related to Byakuya.
At first, many members of the main family believed that he would be made a branch member, and some even suggested to castrate him as it was to the opinion of many that his mother hooked up with an outsider in one way or another. After all, his hair color was already a significant proof, and a foreign Kekkei Genkai was all that some needed to damn his fate.
But his father was not just a nobody, and there was no way that anyone in the clan could simply do something to him if the later didn't allow for it to happen. In the end, what ensued was the patriarch came out of his seclusion training, and ordered extensive diagnostics to Byakuya to shed the light on his lineage and abilities.
And when the results came out, few expected that Byakuya actually was one hundred percent son to Ôtsutsuki parents. He was not a bastard, but the legitimate son of his mother and heir of his father the Great Elder. His unknown Kekkei Genkai actually was a Dojutsu, in his left eye, the kind the moon clan had never seen.
It was not a Tenseigan, but an unnamed black iris with a bright yellow pupil at the core, and two yellow rays with a triangular shape seemed to come out of it. Nobody knew what it was nor what is was capable of, but one thing was for sure : it came from the latent bloodline.
The latent bloodline was in fact the core preoccupation of the blood obsessed experts of the clan. What was refered to as the bloodline purity was actually the percentage of Kaguya's genetic make up that was active in the human body, and the latent bloodline the percentage of her genetic legacy that was sleeping, unactivated but still carried by the descendents.
Although she should normaly be considered the benchmark, the experts of the clan have noticed that whilst she showcased many of the Kekkei Genkai she passed on, there were also some that she passed on that she didn't actively had, such as her son Homura's Tenseigan. So whilst it was more or less speculative, Kaguya was considered to have about eighty to ninty percent active bloodline purity, and thus ten to twenty percent latent bloodline remaining inactive in her genome. Her sons were speculated to have around fifty to sixty percent active purity and about thirty to forty percent latent bloodline, with some of the legacy being lost through the genetic mix of each mixed race offspring.
It wasn't very clear how much of the genetic legacy of Kaguya the Ôtsutsuki clan retained today. Some estimated have speculated it was as low as twenty five to thirty percent whilst others claim it was above fifty. No one ones for sure but as in many cases the truth probably lies in the middle. The difficulty was that it was pretty much impossible to map out their genome and identify howa set amount of genes constitutes a Kekkei Genkai or not. The only indications were the unusual variation of their kekkei genkai that happened from time to time, and the very rare cases when a clansman awakened a bloodline limit out of his latent bloodline legacy.
In the opinion of many main family experts, Byakuya was such an individual. It was a historical event for the clan, as it was the first time a completely new Kekkei Genkai was unearthed from their bloodline since the Tenseigan. The fact that he did not showcase the Shikotsumyaku did not matter at all anymore, nor did his hair colour. Celebrations ensued in the main family, and the patriarch himself baptised the new pupil the Taiyogan, in reminiscence of its somewhat solar pattern and the hopeful meaning he believed it carried for the clan.
There was no doubt that with the dramatical shift of his status, Byakuya's life would change for the better. The very best and most powerful teachers would be assigned to him soon enough, and it would not surprising that any girl of mariage age would be made available to him in order to give birth to the next generation of the Taiyogan Kekkei Genkai in the future.
But despite all of those things, not an ounce of joy could be seen on his face, as he was waiting for the teacher to arrive like his classmates.
In the main family classroom of the Shirogakure academy, the four new student were quietly waiting for the class to begin.
Even though no one said anything yet, besides Byakuya, they were all sparing glances to each other in the silence.
The classroom isn't anything special.. thought Haru, trying to assess how similar it looks to Konoha's academy classroom. It certainly was smaller, because there was actually more aspirant shinobis in Konoha's academy than people in the whole Shirogakure village.
And about these guys... Haru wasn't very impressed with them, though he had some curiosity towards the son of the Great Elder. Out of the four, he had the biggest chakra reserves. Of course they weren't much as a four year-old kid. If he had to make a comparison, his mother had a chakra reserve a hundred times larger than his and according to his speculations she was at least Kage level. He knew better than anyone how the quantity of chakra was pretty much the most important factor that determined how far you can go as a ninja, so having about twice the chakra reserve of the two little girls his age was satisfying. Byakuya's were more or less about the same, but he was one year older as well.
In any case, Haru knew that his clansmen were bad comparisons to evaluate himself to the average ninja. Every Ôtsutsuki from the main family like him were actually hybrids with at least one tenth of their blood hailing from the true Ôtsutsuki race. That alone even if the various Kekkei Genkai were put aside meant that their basics talents and characteristics in chakra arts were incomparable to normal people.
Even if Eina, the blond girl next to him had twice as less chakra as him, she may very well have more than the average Senju or Uzumaki her age, not to mention normal people. Even the other clans that descend from Kaguya are incomparable to them, because their blood was that much purer. He highly doubted that the average bloodline purity of any clan on the planet went beyond three or four percent in the best case scenarios.
He was taken out of his thoughts when the door opened, making way for a tall blond haired young man in his twenties. He wore the standard bicolour Ôtsutsuki robes similar to a traditional kimono with a few magatamas around the collar, and as he approached the teacher's desk his white eyes settled upon every one of us one after the other, the black haired kid last.
"My name is Hantaro, and you'll call me Hantaro-senpai or Hantaro-sensei from now on. You are the two hundredth and eleventh generation of main family clansmen, and I shall teach you in the basics of the Ninshu and Taishu arts this year. From left to right, please present yourselves."
On the far left was the auburn haired girl, Koyuki. As she rose up to answer the call of the new teacher, one could see that she had a somewhat arrogant demeanour, but she didn't look like an insufferable person either.
"I am Ôtsutsuki Koyuki, the daughter of elder Hitoshi. I'd like to become strong enough to second him in the council, and my dream is to open the Tenseigan one day."
Hantaro-sensei raised a eyebrow on the last part of her speech but didn't comment. Whilst it wasn't odd that yearned for the Tenseigan in Shirogakure, in truth it was a bit whimsical and for anyone that didn't have absurd degrees of bloodline purity it was almost wishful thinking.
Of course Haru knew what the other method of opening the Tenseigan was, as he can recall how Toneri did it. As a branch member that didn't have the Shikotsumyaku, Toneri most probably had an inferior bloodline compared to Koyuki, to a significant degree. So it was likely that Koyuki could pull off a Tenseigan if she were to have that knowledge.
The fact that she yearned for the legendary Dojutsu like that had probably something to do with Byakuya, seeing how she spared some envious and somewhat obsessed glances at him earlier.
Eina then rose up.
"Hello ! You all can call me Eina ! I really love ninshu arts I think they are really cool. I'm looking forward to learn and spare with you !"
The blond haired girl's character was much more to Haru's liking, and the teacher seemed to share this feeling seeing the subtle pleased grin on his face. She was cheerful, confident and rather simple. She seemed passionate about ninshu arts, something that would please any teacher of said subject. She was just a kid, but Haru felt like he might enjoy her company despite his more mature personality.
Next was him, and he rose up under the somewhat piercing gaze of the teacher.
Why is he looking at me like that ? Thought Haru, a bit bewildered.
"Ôtsutsuki Haru. My goal is to make the best out of my potential, and to further my limits." Said Haru, looking at the others still listening to him he finished. "That's it. I'm done."
"Right…"
Hantaro-sensei expression was unreadable, and neither seemed pleased or displeased. Truth is, Haru was surprised that the clan didn't become weak and degenerate with such a lack of incentives. This place was insanely boring. What could he say ? To protect his family ? From what ? At least the Shinobi had legit reasons to get stronger. Explore the world ? This place was nothing but grey dust and rocks if one went beyond the areas powered by the energy vessel. And how could he say that he wanted to later explore the Shinobi world ? Although going down on the planet happened once in a while, it was a very controlled endeavour. Unless one had a very good reason like a mission issued by the council, it was strictly forbidden.
So. Boringness it is.
And last but not least, the black haired kid followed up.
"Ôtsutsuki Byakuya."
He should have expected it. That kid was the second venue of Sasuke.
"Don't you have anything more to say ?" commented Hantaro.
"Nothing that concerns any one of you."
An awkward silence followed suit. The Ôtsutsuki in general were far from the most affectionate or talkative people he has met. One could even said that their very blood was cold, but basic courtesy even if it was just being a hypocrite was always fulfilled. Byakuya wasn't being arrogant because he was the son of the great elder or because of his Kekkei Genkai, he just didn't give a fuck.
Hantaro didn't dwell on it too much either, he knew it was a waste of time and whilst he had some patience, he had better things to do.
"Alright." He swiftly shifted the topic. "Now that presentations are made, I will tell you about your curriculum. I expect you to already know how to read and write, so if you aren't because your parents did a bad job, you'd be well advised to pick up those basic skills as soon as possible. Compulsory courses include Ninshu and Taishu with me two mornings per week, clan and world history one morning per week, and Kekkei Genkai knowledge and manipulation one morning the day after the Taishu lesson. There are also optional courses in Genshu, Fuinshu, Kenjutsu, Botanics and Medical Arts. Do you have any questions ?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Rowan_Wild
Rowan_Wild Sorry the first chapters were really a bit lengthy in miscellaneous explications, now that’s out of the way the story will advance steadily.
That should be the last chapter of the week end, as I want to make some stock for future updates when I won't have time and for the planned Patreon that I should launch when the story gets to at least 20 chapters. More about that later.
Do you like the way this is heading ? Please tell me.
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