Who Were the Soul Reapers' Enemies?

"Captain Aizen, sir, I'll take this guy to get treated first!"

Captain Aizen smiled and waved her off.

Only then did the homeroom teacher step behind him, rubbing his hands together as he spoke in a low voice:

"Sorry for the trouble, Captain Aizen. This batch of students is a little unruly, and you've had to put up with them."

"Not at all." Aizen turned slightly and smiled warmly again.

"This batch of students is full of energy. When I have some free time from my division duties, I'll come by and talk with them more."

"It's better for children to be lively."

"Yes, yes..." The homeroom teacher's fierce-looking frame was hunched over now, and he looked every bit the lackey.

It couldn't be helped. The difference in their status was simply too great.

"Then I'll take my leave."

First Division Barracks.

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, captain-commander of the Gotei 13, sat at his desk, reviewing various documents for July.

He scanned the documents one by one, then stamped them.

Occasionally, he picked up his brush and made a few notes on them.

When he came to this year's new student enrollment forms, he suddenly spoke:

"Another year, another class of new students. Come to think of it, it has been a long time since I last taught any disciples."

Chōjirō Sasakibe, the First Division lieutenant who had been standing beside him the whole time, bowed respectfully and replied:

"If you had the time and were willing to visit the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts, Captain-Commander, I imagine the students would be too happy to eat."

"Wouldn't those children be too frightened to eat instead?" Captain-Commander Yamamoto replied. He looked back at the enrollment list in his hand and said:

"Twenty-six this year. Not bad at all."

"Yes. In previous years, there were only a dozen or so," Chōjirō Sasakibe replied.

Suddenly, he noticed that something seemed off about the captain-commander.

The two fingers holding the paper seemed to be gripping it too tightly, crumpling it.

He frowned slightly and asked, "Lord Genryūsai, is something wrong?"

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai set down the paper, lifted his head slightly, and closed his eyes.

After about two minutes, he slowly spoke. "Chōjirō, do you know how many great noble clans there are in Soul Society?"

Chōjirō Sasakibe replied at once, "There are Four Great Noble Clans in Soul Society."

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai lowered his head again. Beneath his long, graying eyebrows, his eyes opened, revealing a pair of dark pupils as he looked once more at this year's enrollment list for the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts.

His gaze finally settled on the name "Tokoyo Misao."

He spoke softly:

"No. In the beginning, Soul Society had Five Great Noble Clans."

"What? But..." Chōjirō Sasakibe instinctively wanted to object.

When he was young, he had studied at the dojo Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai had founded and had followed him for nearly a thousand years, yet he had never heard that Soul Society had Five Great Noble Clans.

Even after the private school was rebuilt as the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts, it had the family crests of the various noble clans and taught some history.

Yet the name of a fifth great noble clan had never appeared in the textbooks.

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto parted his lips slightly, his voice somewhat distant:

"Even I had almost forgotten they existed."

Chōjirō Sasakibe was curious too. He took two steps forward and followed Captain-Commander Yamamoto's gaze to the new student enrollment list, murmuring:

"Tokoyo?"

"Yes, that's right." Captain-Commander Yamamoto seemed to weigh his words before continuing, "Tokoyo is one of the oldest noble clans in Soul Society."

"I only heard about them once. I never actually met them."

He stopped there, thinking back on what he had heard about the Tokoyo clan.

Each of Soul Society's Five Great Noble Clans had its own duty, and the Tokoyo clan's duty was to watch over Hell.

He had heard it from others a long time ago, when he was still young, but had never seen it for himself.

Now, someone named Tokoyo had appeared in Soul Society and enrolled in the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts.

Could something have gone wrong in Hell?

At that thought, Captain-Commander Yamamoto immediately spoke:

"Chōjirō, order the Twelfth Division to step up monitoring of the space between the three worlds."

"Have the captain of the Thirteenth Division send more personnel to the World of the Living and increase patrol frequency."

"If anything is discovered, report it immediately."

"Yes!" Chōjirō dropped to one knee as he replied, and his figure vanished the next moment.

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai rose and walked slowly to the edge of the corridor, gazing at the setting sun.

He couldn't help recalling the major incident in Soul Society decades ago, which had greatly weakened the Gotei 13 and cost it far too many outstanding people.

There had been many suspicious aspects to that incident, and several key figures had fled to the World of the Living and remained missing to this day.

Now, the Tokoyo, one of the Five Great Noble Clans that had not appeared in Soul Society for over a thousand years, had suddenly surfaced.

Could it be a sign of something?

Should I make contact?

He narrowed his eyes and watched the sun sink slowly. In an instant, night enveloped the whole of Seireitei.

It seemed as though the whole of Soul Society had been swallowed by darkness.

Torches along the streets and the lanterns carried by patrol members were lit, their faint clusters of light piercing the darkness.

Captain-Commander Yamamoto turned, returned to his desk, and sat down to resume reviewing documents.

No matter what happened, Soul Society would be fine.

Because the sun would always rise.

Chapter 6: Who were the Soul Reapers' enemies?

The training grounds at the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts, one week later.

Ōunabara Gengorō stood at the front, surveying the students before him. His expression was serious as he spoke:

"Over the past few days, we've taught you all the rules of Seireitei and the duties of a Soul Reaper.

From now until your test one month from now, we'll focus on teaching you how Soul Reapers fight Hollows and enemies."

His wording was interesting: he had distinguished Hollows from enemies.

The sharper students immediately grasped what he meant.

Izuru Kira muttered, "Aren't Hollows the Soul Reapers' enemies?"

Renji Abarai scratched his head. "Don't tell me those punks in Rukongai count as enemies too?"

Momo Hinamori chimed in, "What enemies are there besides Hollows?"

The students' whispers grew louder, but Teacher Ōu seemed to have no intention of stopping them.

At that moment, Rukia suddenly asked Misao, "Do you know who the teacher means by enemies?"

Misao replied evenly, "So none of you were listening in class these past few days, were you?"

Several of them turned to look at Misao at once, puzzlement in their eyes.

Weren't the enemies mentioned in the classroom lessons over the past few days all Hollows?

The most important duty of a Soul Reaper was to maintain the balance of the three worlds, go to the World of the Living to guide the lost souls of the dead, and purify fallen souls—in other words, Hollows.

So Hollows should have been the only ones they fought.

Misao glanced at them and said:

"A Soul Reaper's first priority is to protect the Soul King and Seireitei. So anything or anyone that threatens Seireitei is an enemy of us Soul Reapers."

"Well said!" Teacher Ōu suddenly roared.

"In the lesson three days ago, you were told very clearly that a Soul Reaper's highest duty is to protect the Soul King and Seireitei.

So whether it's a Hollow or some other being, as long as it threatens Seireitei, it's an enemy of the Soul Reapers."

Teacher Ōu looked at Misao with a trace of admiration and couldn't help thinking:

This new student didn't look like he was paying attention in class, but he's the only one who grasped the essence of the classroom lessons.

Unfortunately, his innate Rei'i is too low, only a paltry nineteenth grade. He won't achieve much in the future.

Still, he has the right mindset. If he can reach around the fifteenth grade before graduation, I'll recommend him for a lowest-ranked Seated Officer position.

The salaries of Seated Officers and ordinary Soul Reaper squad members were entirely different.

With a Rei'i of only the nineteenth grade, it was impossible to attain a Seated Officer position.

It could be said that Teacher Ōu thought very highly of Tokoyo Misao.

He cleared his throat and continued, "There are four basic ways for Soul Reapers to fight."

He held up four fingers, lowering one with each term he named.

"Kidō, sword strikes, Shunpo, and Hakuda. Together, they're known as the Four Soul Reaper Combat Skills."

"We'll start with Kidō, since I have some skill in it myself."

"As for Hakuda, Shunpo, and sword strikes, other teachers will teach those."

Tokoyo Misao was a little surprised. Normally, the Four Soul Reaper Combat Skills were referred to as Zankensoki.

But the teacher had put Kidō first. It seemed to have something to do with his personal preference.

Teacher Ōu paused for a moment, then continued his explanation:

"Kidō is one way to use Spiritual Power. It can bring about many changes in Spiritual Power.

Among the students here, some have a Rei'i Grade as high as eleven, while others are at the lowest, grade nineteen."

As soon as he finished speaking, the students looked at Rukia and Tokoyo Misao respectively.

Rukia had the highest Rei'i Grade in the class, and even in the entire year, while Tokoyo Misao had the lowest.

Teacher Ōu clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to him, and continued:

"But as long as your Rei'i Grades haven't reached grade ten or higher, the gap between you hasn't reached the point of despair.

As for what a despairing gap brings... after experiencing Captain Aizen's Reiatsu at the start of school, you should all understand.

In any case, having Spiritual Power without being able to use it is meaningless.

Now I'll teach you Hadō, a branch of Kidō."

As he spoke, he turned sideways to face a row of targets standing at the far end of the training ground. He extended his right index finger, pointed it at the central target, and recited softly:

"Silent fang that rends the heavens, frenzied breath that coils around the air, gather at my fingertip and pierce all things."

"Hadō #1: Shō."

With a bang, a blast of air burst from his fingertip and became a shock wave.

It struck the target twenty meters away, sending it flying and splitting it apart in an instant, splinters scattering through the air.

When he was done, he looked back at the students and clapped his hands:

"All right, your turn."

"Huh? That's it?" Renji Abarai's eyes widened. He had no idea what had just happened, or how to use Kidō.

But Teacher Ōu had already left, just like that, leaving all the students at the training ground.