"Oh?"
Dainaihara Gen'ichirō furrowed his brow. He didn't really believe Gaoyu could have discovered some kind of genius.
He knew Gaoyu fairly well. He was a hardworking kid, but he wasn't especially talented. What kind of genius could he possibly have found?
Gaoyu didn't say much. He simply had Toshiro stand in front of Dainaihara Gen'ichirō.
"Is it this child?"
Dainaihara Gen'ichirō asked, puzzled, when he saw Toshiro Hitsugaya. He couldn't see anything unusual about him.
Seeing this, Gaoyu pressed Toshiro's Yutang and Tianshu acupoints. These were the locations of the Soul Locks and Spirit Sleeps, the most important points for a Soul Reaper.
Since Toshiro hadn't been able to control his power before, Gaoyu had sealed his Spiritual Pressure. Now that he had released the seal, the Spiritual Pressure within Toshiro immediately burst forth.
Dainaihara Gen'ichirō's pupils dilated in an instant!
This...
Could such powerful Spiritual Pressure really belong to a Rukongai resident who had never undergone Soul Reaper training?
It was simply unbelievable!
He had never trained before, yet his innate Spiritual Power was already this terrifying?
Dainaihara Gen'ichirō grew excited in an instant.
"Good heavens, unbelievable! You really had never trained before?"
"With Spiritual Power this powerful, why didn't you come to become a Soul Reaper sooner?"
"I didn't know I had Spiritual Power before," Toshiro Hitsugaya said softly.
"That can't be. People with Spiritual Power feel hunger, unlike Rukongai residents who only need to breathe and drink water."
"..." Toshiro fell silent for a moment, then said, "Because Grandma told me only children feel hunger."
"I see." Dainaihara Gen'ichirō nodded earnestly. Then he looked at Gaoyu and said, "Gaoyu, you did well."
"Next, I'll take..."
He looked at Toshiro Hitsugaya. Even now, he didn't know the boy's name.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya," Toshiro said briefly.
"Good. Toshiro, please come with me for your assessment!"
Look at that. Talk about preferential treatment.
After all this time, he was still just "Gaoyu," but the moment Dainaihara met Toshiro, he was "Toshiro." Tsk, that was the special privilege of the talented.
"Then I won't keep you from your work, Sensei."
Gaoyu was about to leave when he suddenly noticed that Toshiro Hitsugaya's favorability toward him had reached 80!
Gaoyu was overjoyed!
That meant he could permanently acquire Toshiro's "Kirin Child" ability right away!
In other words, he had gone from an incompetent nobody to a genius in one fell swoop!
Fantastic!
Gaoyu suppressed his excitement. He hadn't expected the first permanent ability he acquired to come from Toshiro.
The guy really was the type who was cold on the outside and warm on the inside. He usually acted cool, and the Zanpakuto in his hand was the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto. But once he accepted you, he would sincerely treat you as a friend.
He might not show it on the surface, but deep down, he would care about you a lot.
That was why Toshiro Hitsugaya's favorability toward him had jumped straight from below 60 to 80!
Wonderful, wonderful! As he watched Dainaihara Gen'ichirō take Toshiro for his assessment at the academy, Gaoyu left Shino Academy, brimming with excitement.
He still had patrol duty to take care of.
As soon as he walked out, he activated the Kirin Child ability.
That's right, this ability was actually an active skill. Whatever he wanted to do, activating Kirin Child would make him a genius at it.
He had thought it would be a passive skill like Star Chaser, one that let him surpass his limits.
Using Kirin Child even consumed Spiritual Pressure, but that small cost was nothing compared to the talent it gave him in return.
The previous night, he had poured half his Spiritual Power into Black Sun. But after activating Kirin Child, he felt himself recovering the Spiritual Power he had spent in no time at all.
At this rate, wouldn't he be able to become a seated officer, a Vice-Captain, or even a Captain whenever he wanted?
Gaoyu was thrilled. He decided he would start training properly as soon as his patrol was over.
When he reached Rukongai, he figured he had nothing else to do, so he simply sat down outside White Road Gate and struck up a conversation with Jidanbō.
Another day spent slacking off.
By dusk, Gaoyu leisurely headed home.
Renji and the others were still there that evening, and they had even brought Toshiro along!
"How's it going, Shiro-chan? Did you pass the entrance exam?"
Seeing Toshiro standing with Hinamori, Gaoyu greeted them.
"It's unbelievable! Toshiro scored an astounding Sixth Level Spiritual Pressure on the entrance exam. Simply unbelievable!"
It was Kira who spoke. He had always thought he was a genius, but now he had truly realized there was always someone better.
"The last person to enter with Sixth Level Spiritual Pressure was Vice-Captain Shiba of the Thirteenth Division. But Vice-Captain Shiba came from a prestigious family—one of the Five Noble Clans of Soul Society."
Renji couldn't help adding, "Like the Kuchiki Clan, they're one of the highest-ranking noble families in Soul Society!"
The descendants of noble families generally had higher Spiritual Pressure, especially those of the Five Noble Clans, who were exceptionally likely to produce powerful individuals with extraordinary Spiritual Pressure.
That was why they were so shocked. Toshiro Hitsugaya wasn't a noble.
Gaoyu chuckled. "That's only natural. I told you before, Toshiro has incredible talent. But Spiritual Power alone doesn't mean everything. He still needs to work hard at Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo."
To use an analogy, Spiritual Power was like internal energy—the source of power.
Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo were like martial arts techniques, the basic ways of using that energy.
A Zanpakuto was like a supreme martial art and a power amplifier, a way to enhance your energy and unleash it at maximum power.
Having strong internal energy was certainly good, but it was useless if you didn't know how to use it.
Sometimes, refined techniques could make up for a gap in internal energy, unless that gap was truly enormous.
That was why Aizen said, "A Soul Reaper's battle is a battle of Spiritual Pressure." It was only because his own Spiritual Pressure surpassed that of other Soul Reapers by so much.
Gaoyu couldn't teach them how to cultivate Spiritual Power, so all he could do was teach them the basics of Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo.
"That's the end of my lessons for tonight. After this, I'm going to be busy."
Gaoyu addressed the four of them:
"From now on, you need to study hard at Shino Academy and aim to become seated officers soon after you graduate. Don't end up like me, still an ordinary Soul Reaper even now."
"Senior Gaoyu, are you really just an ordinary Soul Reaper?"
Kira couldn't help asking, "Why do I feel like you're even more impressive than the teachers I've met?"
Before you continue