Everyone Makes Their Debut

"Damn it, damn it!" Yoruichi flew into a rage at the Shihōin Clan estate.

She didn't know why Ten Unohana was growing more and more distant from her. Was it really just because she hadn't trusted him? But hadn't Ten kept things from her too? Why? What Yoruichi didn't know was that it wasn't because Ten didn't trust her. He simply didn't want her to suffer alongside him, and that was why things had turned out this way.

And so, amid their mutual misunderstandings, several days passed in the blink of an eye.

At the Fourth Division,

"Little Ten, you're going to Shin'ō Academy today. Be careful!" Retsu Unohana said to Ten.

Ten tugged at his Shin'ō Academy uniform. He had always dressed impeccably, and suddenly wearing the school's cheap clothes made him extremely uncomfortable.

Hearing Retsu, Ten nodded and said, "I'll be fine. Well, that's it. I'm off, Mom."

With that, he used Shunpo to hurry to Shin'ō Academy.

In a classroom at Shin'yō Spiritual Arts Academy,

"All right, everyone's here now. Let me introduce myself. My name is Tessai Tsukabishi, and I'm the current vice Kidō chief of the Kidō Corps. Now, students, please introduce yourselves as well."

Ten looked at Tessai, who already had the makings of a middle-aged man, and thought, What's going on? Why is Tessai showing up now? By rights, Yoruichi and Kisuke Urahara have only just started studying at Shin'ō Academy. How has Tessai already completed his training? Could it be that Tessai lacked talent and remained the vice Kidō chief the whole time, only improving slightly by the time the story began?

"Student? Student!" Tessai interrupted Ten's thoughts.

Ten looked at Tessai and said in a low voice, "What is it?"

Tessai thought, He really is hard to get along with. But the Captain-Commander ordered me to stop Ten Unohana from killing indiscriminately at the academy.

With that thought, Tessai said, "Please introduce yourself."

Ten planted one hand on the desk, flipped himself over, and used Shunpo to appear on the lectern in an instant.

Standing on the lectern, Ten looked down at the students below.

He folded his arms across his chest and said, "My name is—Unohana... Ten!"

With that, he ignored everyone's reactions and used Shunpo to return to his seat.

The students had heard about Ten killing someone a few days ago. They didn't dare discuss it loudly, and only whispered among themselves.

Tessai smiled wryly as well.

Seeing this, Ten curled his lip and said, "A bunch of cowards."

Hearing that, Tessai was alarmed. This is bad!

Sure enough, a young calf knew no fear of the tiger. One hot-blooded student couldn't stand Ten's contempt and stepped forward.

"Who are you calling a coward?" A mob character, unable to put up with Ten's contempt, stepped forward and shouted.

Ten crouched slightly and said, "Who do you think?"

The moment he finished speaking, Ten shot forward. His Zanpakuto had appeared in his hand at some point, its tip aimed straight at the mob student's head.

"Dankū!"

Clang! Crash!

Ten looked at the Dankū he had shattered in midair, then turned to Tessai.

Tessai said, "You can't kill him."

Ten looked at the mob character, who had collapsed on the floor in terror, and said, "Tch. You don't have the strength, yet you still stick your nose in."

As he spoke, Ten used Shunpo again to return to his seat, and his Zanpakuto had vanished as well.

Only then did Tessai slowly suppress the storm raging in his heart, though his body was still covered in cold sweat from the fright—

That was Dankū!

Although casting it without an incantation had reduced its power, Ten had only delivered a casual slash!

The number eighty-one Kidō had been shattered in a single blow!

Taking a deep breath, Tessai said, "All right, who would like to introduce themselves next?"

"Ah, I'll go! My name is Shinji Hirako... the hira as in flat. The ko as in Ono no Imoko. The shin as in real XXOO. The ji as in spicy mentaiko... Shinji Hirako... like that..."

As he spoke, Shinji Hirako, who had long, straight golden hair, wrote his name on the blackboard.

Ten looked at Shinji's name, written the right way round on the blackboard, and thought, Shinji Hirako? Looks like he hasn't achieved Shikai yet. He isn't writing the four characters of his name backwards.

"My name is Kensei Muguruma."

"La la la la, I'm Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi."

"That's great, pfft-hahahahahahaha! Call me Love Aikawa!"

"Byakuya Kuchiki."

After half a day of introductions, those were the only people Ten remembered. Of course, they were also the only ones who had appeared in the original story.

Please disregard the other students.

Because in Ten's mind, those mob students were already dead. If they didn't die at his hands, they would be killed off for some other reason.

But Ten hadn't spotted Yoruichi or some of the other people from the original story.

Strange. Why haven't I seen Yoruichi, Aizen and the others? Could it be that they haven't enrolled yet? Ten wondered as he walked home.

"Bastard, which class are you in?" Yoruichi's voice came from behind Ten.

Ten didn't want Yoruichi dragged into his plans. That would be bad for her.

So, without turning his head, he said, "Tessai Tsukabishi's class."

Yoruichi felt bad about Ten's attitude, but there was nothing else she could do.

She could only follow him to the Fourth Division.

"Little Ten, and Yoruichi, you're back," Retsu said with a smile as she looked at the two of them.

Ten nodded.

Yoruichi hurriedly said, "Hello, Mama Hana!"

Retsu smiled and said, "Mm, how was school?"

Ten said, "I met a few interesting people."

Retsu asked, "Who?"

"Shinji Hirako, Kensei Muguruma, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and Love Aikawa all have good potential. There's also Byakuya Kuchiki of the Kuchiki Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Clans. But what puzzles me is why Yoruichi isn't in my class. My class should be made up of the most gifted students in all of Seireitei, right?"

Hearing Ten's words, Retsu smiled and nodded. "You're right, Little Ten, but there's another reason for Yoruichi." Ten nodded and said, "I'm tired, so I'm going to rest. Mom, please look after Yoruichi."

Yoruichi opened her mouth but said nothing.

Only after Ten had entered his room did Retsu say to the dejected Yoruichi, "I'll say it again! Yoruichi, if you want Little Ten to be genuine with you, you should support him unconditionally. And Yoruichi, one more thing—you don't have much time left."

Yoruichi hurriedly said, "I'm willing to support Big Brother Ten. I don't want him treating me like this."

Hearing that, Retsu nodded, rose, and entered Ten's room. Before long, Retsu came back out alone.

Seeing the expectant look in Yoruichi's eyes, Retsu sighed and said, "Yoruichi! Sigh, Little Ten is doing this for your own good too. Before long, you'll be able to follow him, and then everything will become clear. It will be very hard when that time comes. Actually, Little Ten didn't want me to tell you any of this. He was afraid you'd be in danger if you got involved, but I told you anyway. Yoruichi, bear with it a little longer. Things will get better soon."

After saying that, Retsu left, leaving Yoruichi at a loss.

The next day

At Shin'ō Academy, in Ten's class

"Today, I'll explain how Soul Reapers fight. Soul Reaper combat is divided into four disciplines: Zankensōki."

Listening to Tessai, Ten yawned in boredom. Retsu had taught him all of this long ago, which was also why noble students were stronger than commoner students.

After all, one was trained from childhood, while the other started partway through life. Although Soul Reapers from Rukongai, such as Aizen, were very powerful in the original story, they were god-tier geniuses drawn from a vast population.

Clatter!

"Yah!"

Thud!

Hearing the shouts from outside, Ten's heart tightened.

He quickly used Shunpo to leave his seat.

Just as he moved away,

With a tremendous boom, two figures smashed through the wall.

The classroom was instantly thrown into disarray.

Ten's seat had taken the brunt of it. Looking at the spot where he had just been sitting, now reduced to rubble, Ten stared at the two people still hidden in the smoke after crashing through the wall and said coldly, "I don't care who you are or what your status is. Explain what happened before I lose my temper. Otherwise, whatever happens, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Big Brother Ten, it's me, Yoruichi. I'm sorry."

Yoruichi's embarrassed voice came from the smoke.

At the same time,

"Who the hell are you?!"

An extremely arrogant voice rang out, and a slipper-clad foot kicked toward Ten along with it.

"Hmph, you don't know what's good for you." Ten snorted coldly, grabbed the foot by the ankle, turned, and threw its owner back out through the hole in the wall.

Boom—

The person smashed through countless obstacles, trailing a long cloud of dust, before being stopped by a fat woman.

"Huh?" Ten looked at the fat woman in puzzlement.

The woman herself was ordinary enough, but her clothes were not—

A Gotei 13 captain's uniform.

The Twelfth Division captain, Kirio Hikifune? Ten thought. It looks like she's already created the Temporary Soul. But come to think of it, Soul Candy is already out, so naturally its core technology, the Temporary Soul, has been developed too.

"Ah! How dare you hit me! I'll kill you!" The woman the fat woman had stopped roared and charged forward, drawing her Zanpakuto at the same time.

"Ah!" "She actually drew her Zanpakuto!" "This is serious!"

Those were the voices of most of the people present. Only a small number who didn't have Zanpakuto whispered among themselves, envious of those who did.

Unlike the others, who were shocked, Ten was surprised because the woman he had thrown was none other than Hiyori Sarugaki, the violence-prone member of the future Visored.

But what shocked Ten most wasn't that. It was the students and teacher in the class outside—they were Aizen and the others whom Ten had been looking for all along.