As the elder slowly made his way out of the room to the main hall, the chatter got louder as the aspirants were exchanging their ideas and insights.
A while later, a small group of senior cycle students, closely followed by Aizen, Eina and Fujisuke exited the room as well. Their steps were quickly followed by the others, who were not newcomers to this kind of party.
At the tail of the group were amongst others, Haru, Isshin but also Ryūnosuke and the only person of normal blood that could be found in a three hundred thousand kilometers radius, Matsumoto Hayao.
Exiting the building a short while later, the small crowd found itself in an hectare grand backyard, lush with grass and a few fruit trees. A unique place in Shirogakure, luxury of the reigning household status of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
The house attendants, blessed with the foreknowledge of the event, had already prepared the place with chairs and an outdoor banquet featuring some beverages for the audience.
Striving forward, a brown haired kid looking ten or eleven whose name was unknown to Haru spoke.
"Friends, I hope you've enjoyed your evening so far and blessed our lady Aizen with your birthday wishes." He said diplomatically, "Please extend a warm welcome to our new fellows and first timer to our circle to our new clansman of the main family, Haru, son the Nabeshima noble household, and the honored heir to the great Matsumoto dynasty, Matsumoto Hayao."
A polite round of applause resounded, and while Hayao was unphased by the speech, something left Haru somewhat surprised.
It was the first time he ever heard someone else introducing, or even mentioning the name of his household.
The social structure of the Ōtsutsuki clan was deeply rooted in its traditions. Whilst the clan was decently large, with almost four hundred members in total, there were only about eighty or so individuals of the main family.
But not everyone in the main family was of equal status either. The main family itself was divided by birthright between those who were born in noble households and those who were not.
For a household to be considered noble, a lineage must prove the quality of its blood by giving birth to at least four generations of main family male descendants consecutively. The first name of the first generation main family ancestor of that lineage would then be taken as the name of the ennobled household.
It wasn't just a matter of honorary status and prestige. Being a strong nobleman of the main family was what granted a warrior a place in the clan Council.
The Nabeshima household was a recent one. Ōtsutsuki Nabeshima lived over a hundred a fifty years ago and was Haru's ancestor to the fifth degree. Haru's father, Genji, was the first of his lineage to be born noble and to have a seat in the Council.
Never before had anyone mentioned his household name, and it was why Haru was taken aback. Strictly speaking, the brown haired speaker did him a favour, as being a nobleman heightened his status in the eyes of the others who might henceforth view him in a new light.
Not all guests present were hailing from noble households. Generally speaking, noblemen made up about half of the main family people and were popular profiles for marriage alliances and networking.
Having one more friend who might sit in the Council one day was always a welcomed thing.
There were about fourteen noble households in the clan currently, and each were given one seat at the Council.
The oldest noble household in the clan currently was the house of Masamune, which was over five hundred years old. Notable contemporary members include the current matriarch, Ōtsutsuki-Masamune Kaori. Isshin and Aizen's mother.
This was also the household of Eina, which meant that she and Fujisuke were actually second degree cousins of Aizen and Isshin.
The house of Honma was the lineage of the reigning patriarch, Isshin and Aizen. An ancient house over three hundred years old.
And the house of Mori was the lineage of the Great Elder and his son Byakuya. It was a younger lineage about two hundred and fifty years old.
Those three households were the most influent today. They were not necessarily the most important in the history of the clan however, as there were more ancient lineages that gradually lost their status as main family households over the course of the thousand year long history of the clan and thus lost any formal rights to bearing their house names.
Some of these lineages include the Kiyowara, which was an astonishing eight hundred years old lineage that lost their nobility two hundred years ago. Some of their descendants in both the main family and the branch who still claim and identify with the prestigious name, but once the status is lost even for one generation, it is forever.
"Now that the formalities are over, let's not waste any more time." He continued, "If we are here together tonight, it is for the duels. I'll make a quick reminder of the rules. You are here to fight, showcase your might and enlighten your peer of your Warrior Way ! No crippling, no deaths. Other than that, everyone is free to challenge anybody, but those who have lost once can not be challenged afterwards. Challengers, please come forward ! May the Spirit of Hamura bless your might !"
Following a short moment of polite restraint, a blond haired kid ironically familiar to Haru stepped forward.
"In the name of the house of Ide, I, Ōtsutsuki Akihiko challenge the house of Matsunaga !" The blond troublemaker shouted loudly. "Hisae ! You did not expect that this day would come so soon right?!"
"He's definitely out of his mind.."
"What a fool."
"Bahahaha.."
Mocking laughs and remarks could be heard from the audience. A breathtakingly beautiful girl with an ice cold face instantly became the focus of all gazes.
Not unlike Haru, her hair was white, long and silky. She had a skin of porcelain, spotless, and wore light blue coloured make up on her eyelids and lips.
To the opinion of most, she was the number one beauty of the academy. But more importantly, at age nine Hisae ranked second in the Junior Cycle Rankings, and Sixth in the Academy Rankings.
She was a complete warrior.
In the Shirogakure military administration, there were three recognised warrior ranks, excluding the Aspirant Warrior grade which was reserved for academy students.
As only strength was the sole factor considered, the academy graduation exam would serve the purpose of allocating the fitting rank to the newly graduates.
From the lowest to highest, those ranks were Warrior, Elite Warrior and Exalted Warrior. In Haru's rough understanding, they grossly corresponded to Jounin, Kage and Super Kage levels of strength respectively.
Of course, very few people graduated with anything other than Warrior grade. And never before in a thousand years one had been given the Exalted Warrior rank upon graduation.
So it was nothing surprising that the Warrior rank encompassed all levels of strength inbetween Elite Chunin to Special Jounin all the way to Elite Jounin. The Warrior rank itself didn't mean much to assert reliably the skill of an opponent.
Someone like Hisae who would not rank low within the Warrior rank would not find much difficulty in dealing with Haru within a few tens of seconds.
She could be easily counted among the strongest fighters of this little assembly, it was clear to everyone that Akihito's chances of beating her were very slim.
On all accounts, this challenge was extremely reckless, to not say pure foolishness.
Stepping forward to face her challenger under the cynical gazes of the others, she then faced Akihiko with a cold and imperturbable expression.
"Are you upset that I've said that you were a weak and brainless monkey a few days ago ?" She asked.
"So what if I am ?" He snapped back with anger. "Do you think that because you're a little strong and popular you are free to humiliate me ?"
"Humiliate you ?" Her tone tone was filled with sarcasm, "You're humiliating yourself on your own, I was just saying the truth. You can't even beat my little cousin, who has just been at the academy for a month or two. You've been training as a warrior for well over a year now. The mere fact that you dare to challenge him is disgraceful enough on its own, not to mention that you can't even beat him."
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW !"
Without even waiting for the arbiters announcement, Akihiko pounced on her like a raging beast. As his palm pierced the air towards Hisae, a scene that seemed almost magical under the white eyes of the audience took place.
The fierce winds that his movement stirred suddenly bent in a very unnatural manner. Hisae, who still had yet to move, watched with a cold gaze the arm of her blond opponent deviate to the left a mere meter away from her chest.
As Akihiko did not expect to miss his target, the momentum of his charge now left him unbalanced. He tried to decelerate his body as he passed by the white haired girl, stumbling ungraciously for a few steps.
What was that ?!
Turning back to face the second seat of the Junior Rankings, Akihiko gulped in unease. As bland and unexpressive her white eyes were, in his eyes they radiated nothing but a cold and sardonic despise.
He had been rash. Yet again.
Not that he didn't know that she was a superior warrior when he decided to challenge her, but when he overheard Hisae speaking out loud her mind the other day at the cafeteria in front of everybody he had been utterly unable to digest the feelings of humiliation he was subjected to.
He had to do something, and although he has never been a very level headed person he lacked neither pride nor courage.
He should have learnt better from his draw against Haru, but his pride subconsciously clouded his assessment of the situation. In his mind, as he was not worse than anyone, he explained the fact that Haru could draw him as an Aspirant Warrior that had trained for less than two months by the fact that Haru should have been trained privately by his family prior to his entry at the Warrior Academy.
There was no other reasonable explanation in his opinion. Because such a growth in less than a month would be absolutely outrageous and would qualify him to the monster category along people such as Ryūnosuke. It was an assumption that he was far less willing to believe.
But as he faced Hisae tonight, he realised how wrong his mentality had been. His stubborn belief that as long as he trained and fought hard he would not be inferior to anyone besides those who belong to the monster category has paved a trap for him.
Over the course of a single exchange, he has been forced to recognise the reality that he didn't even understand how she countered his strike. Had she wanted, she could have ended that fight in a very humiliating way as he stripped over.
But she didn't. Instead, she just stood still and watched him make a fool of himself silently under the gazes of their peers.
It was even more embarrassing.
"Want to try again, monkey ?"
Her tone was snideful. He clenched his fist, his heart quietly suffocating. The snickers of the others came to his ears.
Straightening his stance yet again, he steadied his breath before resuming the fight yet again.