s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o couldn't believe what he just heard. He never expected his father to give him advanced notice of his succession. It was only until he was able to recall what his father had said earlier did s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o realize that there was something wrong.

"Temporary?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o asked. This had never happened before. Though the former head had the right to revoke the qualifications of the successor he named, that will only be applicable if it is within one year of the appointment or the new clan leader was found to have broken the main clan rules.

"Looks like you realized it quite faster than I thought you would" Tenma scoffed. He knew just how ambitious this son of his was. s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o even sacrificed his own wife who although was betrothed to him for benefits, was still the wife he had chosen among all the candidates that were given.

"Though you are indeed the one with the most success over all the other candidates, your methods can be far bit too extreme and although effective, still has some risks towards our clan" Tenma spoke. "I am willing to give you some time to accomplish some tasks that only you should know about. After they are completed will be the day you will be officially the next head of our clan" he stated.

Although Kurogane Tenma saw s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o as the most capable amongst all the candidates for succession, he found him to be a little too ambitious for his own good. He had a bad habit of executing plans that involved high amounts of risk than Tenma would have liked. Though these mostly worked out in s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o's favor, a cautious and paranoid man like Tenma couldn't see this as something the next head of the clan should continue doing. He would bear the whole clan on his shoulders once he took the position after all.

*KNOCK KNOCK* both men turned towards the door. This manner of knocking was from one of Tenma's most trusted attendants.

"Pardon my intrusion but an incident has occurred that I thought you should be aware of Tenmsama" the butler bowed politely at the two and gave his report on the incident between Kazuya and Sousuke.

s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o was indeed correct in his a.s.sumption that Sousuke would try something after being humiliated. Tenma on the other hand couldn't help but sigh after hearing another disappointing move from his eldest son. He wondered where he had gone wrong in raising the eldest to be the most useless whereas the youngest to be the most useful.

"Cancel all of that idiot's spending privileges immediately" Tenma ordered. "If he wants to spend money, he should first make his own without relying on the clan from now on" he really didn't know what was going through the head of Sousuke because he was as useless as he was when he was with his first wife.

Unlike most of Tenma's other progenies, Sosuke was the eldest so he was heavily favored. He was probably the only one amongst his children to have been allowed to take a wife of his own choosing regardless of whether she had been useful to the clan or not.

Who would have thought that he would have suffered humiliation when it turns out that the firstborn daughter he cared so much about turned out to be born from another man. This twisted the proud man as he crippled his wife who tried protecting the daughter of someone that wasn't his.

"Right away" the butler bowed politely and left after receiving his orders.

"At least your boy knows how to hold back now" Tenma commented after the door was closed. He could more or less guess what Kazuya whispered to his eldest son but this was the reason why he had summoned s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o alone. "You should have expected this to happen right?" he scoffed at s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o who also knew that Sousuke would try something.

"You knew that elder brother would threaten Kazuya?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o was a little surprised. He knew that Tenma had already taken a liking to Kazuya so why would he let the arrogant Sousuke threaten him?

"Who do you think raised all of you? This has something to do with the task I'll be using as your test so it is better that you are aware of it. It has something to do with the boy's relations with the Kouzuki family"

"Relations to the Kouzuki family?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o didn't seem to understand what his father meant and tried to clarify.

"With Nagisa gone, that kid is now officially your first-born son. Why haven't you done anything to remedy that situation? I already know that you are fond of the boy and although I have avoided meeting with him, I am aware of everything he has done as well as the plans you have for him" Tenma looked his youngest son in the eye which made s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o a bit nervous. "Surely you aren't going to allow your successor to bear the name 'Kozuki' right?"

"I…" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o couldn't reply because he already knew about that problem but has been avoiding it since he was too focused on his plans regarding both Kazuya and Tenma's relations.h.i.+p as well as handling most of the problems of the Kurogane Conglomerate.

"Though I believe you are capable, I don't want to hand the clan over permanently to someone who has a successor that is capable yet not officially bearing the name he should" Tenma made his stance clear. It wasn't that he ignored what Sousuke had to say, rather, he was already aware of this problem thus avoiding Kazuya for the past three years.

"Although my relations.h.i.+p with Kazuya had indeed improved over the years. He has only recently acknowledged me by referring to me as father not too long ago. It might take some more time for me to convince him of taking the Kurogane name so I haven't really talked to Kazuya about it yet" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o decided to come clean because he knew that his father was serious about this and there was no way he could fool him otherwise.

"Looks like actually having a son has affected your way of thinking like you used to" Tenma grinned. "What's funny is, you don't even realize it yourself" Tenma gave a mocking laugh at the son who didn't dare show any emotion when it came to sentimental things. s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o, though still focused on his ambitions, had strayed off his usual path and started to act like a father although still a twisted one.

"Me...?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o couldn't believe it as he thought about what his father was talking about. He really didn't find his actions different from what he would have done in the past.

"You don't need to think too deeply about it. I can just tell you that you started caring about what your son thinks about you. This is why you still haven't thought of the fastest way for him to accept his ident.i.ty as a Kurogane" Tenma spoke.

"…" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o stopped. He couldn't deny it and thought deeply about what he had been doing to make sure that Tenma's observation was indeed correct. He thought for a while but the fact that he indeed cared about what Kazuya thought of him more than proved Tenma's point. He tried pleasing the boy to gain his favor and was extremely careful with him even more than he was careful with his father.

"So you haven't realized it until now." Tenma smiled. He could see this ambitious son of his finally realize his status as a parent and therefore hoped that he could understand his own point of view at times. The only thing that was missing to make him a complete parent was the complicated situation this excellent son of his had with Kazuya's mother.

"By the fastest way of Kazuya accepting his ident.i.ty as a Kurogane…" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o thought for other solutions other than the first idea that came to his mind. There was nothing that would have worked in the deadline that was stated other than the method he initially thought of. s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o was almost sure that his father was thinking the same thing because he was raised by this man after all. "Do you mean…" his voice trailed off because it was something that was very risky.

"That's right" Tenma gave him a deep nod. "After the boy loses his mother, you will be the only parent he has" Tenma didn't say it outright but the father, son and even the grandson who leaked out an intense amount of bloodl.u.s.t on the other side of the property was clear on what was implied. "Be warned, it should even be more convincing than what happened with Nagisa or with the boy's wisdom, he will find out"

"But what about Nagato Tsuna?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o was very cautious of this man. He believed that Tsuna's existence was also part of why he never even thought of touching the Kouzuki family. His bold declaration of ending their clan wasn't something that could be ignored after all.

"As long as it is done properly, even if he suspects it, he can't do anything without proof" Tenma stated. "His warning was only concerning any harm that comes to Kazuya who even we don't want to lose now. Once Kouzuki Kyouko is out of the way, that old fool Kou will grieve and most likely leave for another journey until he dies this time. Nagato Tsuna's hands will be tied because the boy has already started treating us as family"

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s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o didn't want to admit it but Tenma had a point. It wasn't that he had gone soft but he indeed had started to care for Kazuya. He was proud of him and wanted the boy to experience and show him more things. The only problem he had with Kazuya was that he was still closer to the Kouzukis more than he was close to the Kurogane clan that it was only three years later did he agree to stay with them for an extended period of time.

Kouzuki Kyouko still had complete monopoly of her son and was even in charge of when he was able to visit. Things have only been going smoothly until now because she valued what Kazuya wanted and as time went by, s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o was getting more confident in his influence with the boy.

"Take these" Tenma pulled a bunch of papers from his desk and showed it to s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o. "These will be the foundation of your plan so that you wouldn't be suspected of anything" This made the son look at his father in shock.

s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o's confidence was shaken. He thought that he had gotten a grasp of everyone in their family yet his father has been showing him that things were not as he thought they were especially now that he was shown this hand. Tenma had taken an interest in Kazuya long before he even pushed for the two to get along and these doc.u.ments proved it. Tenma had indeed planned for this ahead of time.

"This…" he was utterly speechless. Tenma had not lost his touch and it made s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o wonder just how much more his father was holding in his grasp.

"You really didn't think that you've actually surpa.s.sed me, right?" Tenma gave a smug laugh. "I've been the head of the clan for a long time and from how I raised you and the others, how can I not have some measures of my own? I do have to make sure that the clan's rules are followed after all" Tenma's statement was a reminder as well as a warning. He was still the head of the clan and even though he might pa.s.s it on to someone else, he was still capable of making everyone of them uphold the rules of their family.

"Are you going to leave things for me to decide?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o tried to make sure because with these in his possession, it would save him a lot of time in trying to make sure that he was going to be implicated.

"What kind of test would this be if I did it all on my own?" Tenma scoffed. "It is best that you take care of things flawlessly because if you don't… I have another candidate who I think will do even better than you given time"

Kazuya who was listening in on the other side of the estate was trying to hold himself back from barging into Tenma's office and finis.h.i.+ng those two off. The Kurogane estate was indeed Tenma's domain as the paranoid head riddled his territory with an insane amount of security cameras.

It would be hard for Tenma not to know everything that was going on under his roof and anything unexpected that would happen might implicate him so Kazuya tried hard not to make a move as he heard of the two's plot. What made him even more anxious was that the two never discussed what it was that was handed to s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o.

"Another candidate?" s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o's eyes narrowed as he had never heard of anyone that could have compared to him when it came to abilities or achievements.

"Don't be too sensitive about it" Tenma laughed as he slightly applauded this youngest son of his' ambition. "If you fail this test then I would be naming Kazuya as the successor so that he may take the Kurogane name despite your failure. He may a.s.sign everything for you to handle but once he is capable enough, your reign will come to an end sooner than you would have hoped" he crossed his arms.

For Tenma, regardless of s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o's failure or success, he had plans of making Kazuya take the Kurogane name. He believed that even Kyouko would encourage him because even though they had gone through a rough patch, the Kuroganes were still a clan that could stand toe to toe with any family in the country. It would also remove any suspicion towards s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o who would have failed his test.

s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o didn't know what to feel. He focused his whole life for this and it was almost within his reach. Kazuya was the perfect candidate to take over after he was done with his reign in the Kurogane clan but his failure would lead his son to skip over his time as the clan head. he was confused for a time but there was one thing that he knew, he had to make sure to pa.s.s the test that Tenma had given him so that everything will go the way he designed it.

"I will make sure to finish this task perfectly" were the words that came out of s.h.i.+s.h.i.+o's mouth as his eyes was filled with determination.

.