Chapter 13: Hidden Candidate
The next day, after his morning routine, Rayzen met with Takeshi.
They were having tea that was brought over and poured by his 'Mother' Arisu. She left the room before asking Rayzen to stay back after, as she had some things to talk with him.
Seated on the floor, Takeshi took a sip of hot tea and placed his teacup back on the low table. He looked at the curious Rayzen infront of him as he asked:
"Do you know why you are restricted to move about?"
" Byakugan." replied Rayzen.
" No! Only the involved people know about that. Neither the Hyuga Patriarch nor the Uchiha Patriarch knows about it. At most they and a few others have doubts, but none within a mile of the truth."
" Then what other reason is there for my 'detention'?" Rayzen asked in frustration.
Takeshi didn't intend to side-track as he said:
" You are the last Patriarch candidate to be selected!"
Dumbfounded by the sudden rise of his status, he couldn't help but ask: "Why?"
Takeshi explained:
" Since both your father and I have a three tomoe Sharingan, the strength of your bloodline meets the requirement. My status as an elder and the potential of your father, means that you can be considered to be of a noble family and to have a high potential."
He paused a bit, took another sip of tea and then continued:
" Until now your competitors were only 'lightly' observing you. But now that you are going to join the academy, their eyes will be locked on you and 'obstacles' would pop up on your path."
Hearing everything, Rayzen asked the first thing that came in his mind:
" Did you recommend me?"
Takeshi praised Rayzen for his deduction:
" Good! See! You are a perfect candidate for the patriarch. Your mind is suited to this. Before, you had unlocked Byakugan, I had already planned to recommend you. But now that you..."
Rayzen filled the gaps as he said: " Nothing is a better cover, than being the patriarch of the Uchiha clan."
Takeshi smiled happily seeing his nephew's critical thinking skills, which meant that he has a better chance of survival in this world.
He said: "Hiding in plain sight. This would ensure that your identity is preserved. But you have to do your part as well, always cover you face with a mask and left eye with a headband at all times. Once you start at the academy, you will be monitored, so it's best that you wear those at home too."
Rayzen sighed and asked: " Who is my competition?"
Takeshi went on talking about how the Uchiha clan is being torn internally, due to the conflicts between the two factions, the liberals and the extremists. Rayzen was nominated by the liberal faction, while his competition from the other faction was a 16 year old Jonin, Fugaku Uchiha.
Takeshi said: " You don't have to worry about Fugaku, he won't set out against you personally. But, the faction behind him won't stay still. You can expect blows from the least powerful members of the extremist faction."
Rayzen felt that it is stupid to rely on a 7 year old academy student against a 16 year old Jonin. When asked Takeshi, told him that the previous competitors had lost the race due to being subdued in battle, defamation or other means.
And he was also informed that he was not officially nominated, as he was not powerful yet. The more powerful he is and the more potential he has, the faster he is pulled into the race.
After the meeting, he looked for Arisu.
Arisu's cold demeanor was betrayed by her gentle eyes and concerned voice. She said while stroking his hair: " You need to take care of Sora okay, she is very mischievous. "
She lectured him on how to behave and other stuff regarding the Academy for so long that he had to grab Sora and do a 'Substitution jutsu' and escape.
Once home, he ate the lunch prepared by Arisu and went over his gains for the year.
He felt the amount of true essence available to his body increase by a substantial amount. This passively upgraded his body strength such that the wooden stump in his backyard can no longer be used. He was unable to accurately determine the limits of his strength as a result. With the increase in his soul force, he felt confident in controlling his true essence energy.
With Byakugan active, he was surprised to see that although the true essence seemed superimposed with his chakra, when he controlled true essence, this superimposed state broke apart and he could see his chakra circulating as it normally does when it's not under his control. Invisible to the Byakugan he could 'see' or sense using his soul force, his true essence circulating under his control.
The opposite happened when he controlled chakra. He could see the chakra circulating under his control whereas sense the true essence energy circulating naturally, using his soul force, as it enhanced his body passively.
Rayzen had a feeling that once his true essence forms a balance with his chakra, he could bring out an unparalleled energy.
He also felt that his chakra his much more than an average Jonin. He couldn't make an accurate estimate, since he had very few people to compare to. Influenced by the increasing true essence energy and chakra, his physique looked like that of a 12 year old.
Being used to Rayzen's growth speed, his loved ones didn't feel that weird, since it was still acceptable to them.
During this year, his Sharingan evolved to a two tomoe Sharingan and he felt his Byakugan improved by a grade as well, the limits of which he is unable to test in the village.
Besides these he felt the connection to the Divine Cube increasing a bit by bit each day.
Meanwhile, he used the Basic Impurity Cleansing Technique on Asami once each month from the time he started doing it.
In order to hide his power, he used the same amount of chakra to complete a single cycle. Although the improvement in her physique, recently has slowed down by a lot, she still had body strength much better than an average Chunin. Her body retained its youth as she became more beautiful.
She had also attended the Chunin test and successfully passed to become a Chunin. Her teammates failed however. Rayzen was worried a lot during the time of the test. He knew that many people died during Chunin test.
Asami seeing him worried, told him that the test location will be revealed only to participants and they won't be given time to prepare after. Rayzen felt that she was lying. But, nonetheless, told her to watch out for other ninjas, as everyone had their trump cards.
Although he motivated her and believed in her prowess, such confidence didn't implicate that he was devoid of fear or worries. He couldn't even sleep during those days and Asami saw how much he had her in his mind as she had seen him collapse with a smile when he saw her return safely.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone