Chapter 4: Chapter 004: Shinō Academy
Shinō Academy, also known as Spiritual Arts Academy, is a school dedicated to cultivating Shinigami in the Soul Society.
It's founder is Gotei 13's Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, the oldest Shinigami in the entire Soul Society, and even the Shinō Academy he founded has a long history.
The enrollment of Shinō Academy is quite similar to the annual college entrance examination of the Chinese Dynasty. In addition to the excellent talents recommended internally by various families in Seireitei, Gotei 13 also selects outstanding talents with great spiritual power in Rukongai for training. The cannon fodder among them with low spiritual power joins Gotei 13 as a façade, but although they will be cannon fodder, for the wandering souls living at the bottom of the Soul Society, being admitted to the Shinō Academy is also an opportunity to change their own destiny.
Of course, if you want to change your destiny, you have to see if you have spiritual power and have the qualifications to become a Shinigami.
Mazuru lived in Rukongai before enrolling in the Shinō Academy. He abided by Aizen's warnings and maintained a low-key attitude, controlling his own reiatsu so as not to be seen by others.
After all, he is not from a professional background, and the only reiatsu skills he has mastered are also created in Hueco Mundo by himself. In Hueco Mundo that day, Aizen followed his uncontrollable and overflowing reiatsu to find him out.
During his stay in Rukongai, because the place Aizen arranged for him was in the front area of Rukongai, it was relatively peaceful. Mazuru didn't encounter anyone who would trouble him. Similarly, because of his low-key life, he didn't make friends with anyone during this period. He didn't meet some soul-friends or something.
When the enrollment of Shinō Academy started, he left Rukongai alone and headed directly towards the direction of the academy.
The Shinō Academy is located behind the White Road Gate (Hakutōmon) in Rukongai West Street. The guard of the White Road Gate is called Jidanbō Ikkanzaka. He is tall and muscular. It is said that he has been guarding the White Road Gate here for many years. Nobody can break through the White Road Gate in front of him.
Today is Shinō's enrollment day.
So the White Road Gate was rarely opened.
A group of ordinary wandering souls of Rukongai lined up in a long queue.
Several Shinigami dressed in Shihakushō (literal meaning 'Garment of Dead Souls') stood guard at the White Road Gate. They used specific instruments to conduct qualification tests on these wandering souls who lined up. If they found that the other party had spiritual power, they would let them go and wait in the rear until the inspection was completed, after that they will be led by a dedicated Shinigami to the Shinō Academy for follow-up assessment.
After all, Shinō Academy is a place where destiny can be changed. Even though there are strict requirements for admissions, there are always some wandering souls who are unwilling to accept the status quo and want to try their luck.
What if they have what it takes to be a Shinigami and gets recruited into the academy!
It's a pity that the probability of this eventuality is extremely small. At least, during Mazuru's queuing period, nearly 90% of the people in front of him were brushed off, and only a few were tested to have spiritual power. Most of them only have weak spiritual power.
This is actually the status quo of the Soul Society.
Although the Shinō Academy recruits students every year, the number of people who are actually admitted to it each year is very small, but even if it is rare, it can hold up due to the longevity of Shinigami. Since the establishment of the Shinō Academy, thousands of years have accumulated over time, making the number of Shinigami in Soul Society quite a lot.
"Next!"
The Shinigami standing in front of the White Road Gate has a cold attitude, perhaps because he has seen too many wandering souls who are overwhelmed and came to sign up, or because the job itself is really boring.
Mazuru found that there was no one in front of him, so he hurried forward.
In the hands of a Shinigami, there is something like a crystal ball, he said coldly: "Put your palm on it!"
Mazuru followed suit.
Moments later, the crystal ball burst into a bright light.
The few Shinigami who were originally bored with this job noticed this scene, their eyes lit up, and they all looked at Mazuru.
"What's wrong?"
Mazuru knew that he would definitely be able to pass the examination, but after noticing that they were looking at him, he still made a confused look.
A middle-aged male Shinigami came back to his senses and said, "You passed the first round of assessment."
While talking, he began to write on the registration form in his hand, in the column of spiritual power, he wrote a sixth grade.
For the registration of Shinō Academy, the spiritual power of the applicants is divided into nine grades, the first grade is the lowest, and the ninth grade is the highest. Generally, the aptitude above the fourth grade is already extremely extraordinary, and the first grade of spiritual power, even if admitted to the academy, it is not necessarily possible to graduate and become a real Shinigami.
Generally, one or two spiritual powers above the fourth level will appear in a few years or decades, and they never thought that a sixth-level spirit power will appear this year.
After writing this, he asked Mazuru about other things.
"Name?"
"Kyo Mazuru."
After writing the name, he asked some less important information.
The Shinigami handed over the registration form to Mazuru. It seemed that because of his good qualifications, he looked a little more pleasant to them, "You go and wait at the back, someone will take you to Shinō Academy later for the follow-up assessment."
"Yes."
Mazuru responded first.
He walked obediently to the group of newcomers who had passed the initial test and waited. Not long after, a shinigami with a typical asian character face came and led them into the White Road Gate, and walked southward for 100 meters after entering, and then turned right, a academy with a rather large area appeared in front of his eyes.
This is Shinō Academy, which had been in the Soul Society longer than many shinigami.
"You guys wait here, someone will come to take you guys to the second round of assessment!"
The shinigami who brought them here said.
Afterwards, under the leadership of newly arrived shinigami from Shinō Academy, Mazuru and a group of unnamed characters conducted another two rounds of assessment.
These two rounds of assessment are actually just formalities. What really matters is the first round of assessment. Whether or not there is spiritual power is the key to determining whether a wandering soul can become a Shinigami.
If there is no spiritual power, it is useless to pass the next two rounds of assessment.
After passing these two rounds of assessments, Mazuru took his registration form and stood at the gate of the Shinō Academy, waiting boringly for the result of class placement.
Suddenly, two figures came into his eyes.
The former is an uncle with a scumbag beard, a straw hat on his head, and a gorgeous floral robe draped over his body. Under the floral robe is a white captain's haori.
The other one is a little girl who looks delicate, with a pair of black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, making her look somewhat refined.
Mazuru noticed the two people and frowned slightly.
He knew these two.
Kyoraku Shunsui and the small version of Ise Nanao, the captain and deputy captain of the Eighth Division in the original book, but why did they come here?
And judging by Ise Nanao's appearance, it seems that she is not a shinigami?
Mazuru kept staring at with great interest, it seems that it is because he has stayed in Hueco Mundo for too long and has not had contact with outsiders for too long. Even if he stayed in Rukongai for a few months, most of the time he lived in isolation that he didn't even realize that he stared at Kyoraku Shunsui and Ise Nanao for quite a long time.
Kyoraku Shunsui, as the captain of the Eighth Division, looks frivolous on the outside, but is actually an extremely capable person. He keenly noticed Mazuru's gaze, following the gaze, he found that the other party was a 17-or-18-year-old juvenile.
Of course, in the Soul Society, the lifespan of the wandering souls is extremely long, and those wandering souls with spiritual power develop at an astonishingly slow rate. Mazuru looks seventeen or eighteen years old on the outside, but no one knows his real age.
Of course, the party in question himself must be aware of his own age.
Squinting his eyes slightly, Shunsui took the initiative to walk towards Mazuru, "This little brother is Shinō's freshman this year?"
Seeing that Shunsui took the initiative to say hello to a freshman who just passed the examination, Ise Nanao, who followed him here, was also a little curious.
Some staff members of Shinō Academy also noticed that the captain of Eighth Division, Kyoraku Shunsui, was interested in a new student. However, due to Shunsui's identity and rumors that the other party acted frivolously and was very inconspicuous, they didn't think that it is a unacceptable or rare thing.
*****
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