Shino Academy

After Old Man Yama finished his speech, he departed amidst the reverent gazes of the students, though Hongjiang felt these people were actually looking at Kyoraku Shunsui and Ukitake Jushiro.

Logically, Old Man Yama should have been the figure students admired most, but at Shino Academy, the status of the headmaster was subtly higher than that of the Captain-Commander, making students feel the gap between them wasn't all that vast.

Speaking of the headmaster position, although Shino Academy was the only Soul Reaper academy in Seireitei, given Yamamoto's strength and status, this title was truly superfluous, perhaps even slightly diminishing his stature.

After all, in the Seireitei of this era, the Soul Reapers capable of holding key positions were mostly from middle-ranking noble backgrounds or higher, and these families with long histories possessed their own dignity and heritage; to them, Shino Academy was somewhat redundant, and even a threat to their status.

In fact, when Yamamoto founded the academy, the majority of the high-ranking nobles were opposed to it. At the time, Yamamoto even proposed unifying the secret arts of all noble families to make Shino Academy a true cradle for top-tier Soul Reapers.

That proposal naturally could not pass, and of course, Yamamoto was not naive enough to fight to the death to see it realized. The emergence of new things requires compromise and concession, and this was the upper limit Yamamoto set for himself—a vague, ethereal ceiling.

In the end, the noble factions led by the Five Great Noble Families reached a consensus with Yamamoto: Shino Academy would teach all existing, publicly available Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Flash Step, and Kido used by Soul Reapers.

As for the unique secret arts possessed by the noble families, those remained personal assets; whether to make them public was entirely up to each family, and no one was permitted to interfere.

To establish the academy's status, both sides also agreed that Shino Academy would be the only path to entering the Gotei 13, though this excluded high-level talent—and the so-called high-level talent referred to the various noble families of Soul Society.

Perhaps this was a compromise, but in Yamamoto's view, it was the best possible situation at the time.

His original intention was not to weaken the strength of the nobles; he believed that with the development of the academy, the initially resistant nobles would eventually join in voluntarily, and the addition of gifted nobles would make the academy even stronger. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Facts proved this to be true; with a healthy atmosphere and a large number of students, the number of talents emerging from the academy was naturally far greater than those from individual noble families acting on their own.

It started with low-ranking nobles and commoners joining, then later, middle-ranking nobles occasionally entered to study, and by now, almost all middle-ranking nobles attended the academy, bringing it one step closer to Yamamoto's expectations.

However, if you thought the academy was already powerful, you would be dead wrong. As of now, the high-end combat power within the Gotei 13 still mostly came from the high-ranking nobles and the Five Great Noble Families, and they almost never had the experience of studying at the academy.

"Reiatsu level four!" a middle-aged Soul Reaper wearing a black training uniform said with a smile. "Commoner background, make sure to study hard from now on~"

At the same time, the surrounding students whispered in small groups.

"A commoner with level four? Is there some mistake?"

"His name is Kao, Kao Susumu, right?"

"That's the name. Truly impressive; he's probably on par with the heirs of the high-ranking nobles."

"Seeing that smug look on his face is really annoying!"

After the entrance ceremony came the Reiatsu level test, which would divide the new students into Jun Class and Yo Class based on the results.

Clearly, this boy with level four Reiatsu, green eyes, and red hair from a commoner background would enter the superior Jun Class, which sparked dissatisfaction and jealousy among the noble-born youths present.

Some even shouted things like, "Get lost, you peasant."

These words fell on Kao's ears as if they were songs of praise, causing his already lifted head to tilt back a few degrees higher.

Almost everyone watched him with gazes of envy or malice, which made Kao feel proud; this feeling of being the center of attention was unprecedentedly wonderful.

Kao held his head high, his gaze sweeping over the crowd like a king looking down upon his subjects. Suddenly, he saw three people, three people who were yawning—it was Hongjiang and his two companions.

Kao frowned. Were they pretending to ignore him? The pretentious, affected mannerisms of the nobles and their pathetic pride really annoyed him. He would see what level they were soon enough!

The three being stared at were completely unaware, chatting idly.

"Why aren't we the first to test? We could have slept for a while longer."

"Probably because the testing follows the roster, and we're at the very end."

"And why are we at the end?"

"That's a good question~" Hongjiang rolled his eyes and said irritably, "Because we were digging a hole last night, we were late today. Because we were late, we're at the end of the roster. And the reason we wanted to finish early to go to sleep is also because we were digging that hole last night!"

Hearing this, Yoruichi showed a rare look of embarrassment. She patted Urahara on the shoulder and poked Hongjiang's arm, trying to appease him. "I know I was wrong, don't blame me~~~"

"Ew~ talk properly!"

"The hole is already dug! How about we go fill it in another day?"

"That's actually a great idea!" Urahara, standing to the side, seemed to perk up, clenching his right fist as if he had made an important decision. "Let's find a time to go fill it in."

"So we're giving up on the secret base?"

"Are you angry? Yoruichi was just joking, don't take it to heart!"

Urahara waved his hand, grinning as he said, "No, no, I just think that base is too far away. We can find a new spot and dig another one!"

"Ha~ dig another one?" Hongjiang asked with his mouth agape in shock. "Where?"

"The closer the better, for example... here?" Urahara pointed at the ground beneath their feet.

"Heh," Hongjiang gave a dry laugh. Digging a secret base under Shino Academy? Are you sure you aren't joking?

Even Yoruichi wouldn't agree to this, right? After all, this was Shino Academy, one of the key locations in Seireitei!

"That's a great idea, Kisuke!" Yoruichi's eyes lit up as she patted Urahara excitedly. "Tonight, let's do it tonight. We'll dig a new base here, and this time I'm definitely going to lay down floor tiles!"

Alright, Yoruichi agreed to it. She actually agreed to it!

Hongjiang clutched his head with both hands, feeling like he was going crazy watching the two of them discuss it so intensely. He wanted to pretend he didn't know them—no, he wanted to cut ties with them entirely!

"Isn't it a great idea? Right, Hongjiang?"

A great idea? Heh. A great way to die, maybe?

"You two aren't just digging a hole anymore, you know?" Hongjiang said weakly, supporting his head. "You're digging your own graves!"

"Do you mean we should change locations?"

"I mean don't change anything anywhere!" Hongjiang snapped.

After much hardship and persuasion, Hongjiang finally managed to suppress the crazy ideas in Yoruichi and Urahara's heads. When they finally decided to leave the secret base as it was, he was so moved he almost cried.

At the same time, it was their turn to test their Reiatsu levels, and the eyes of the entire venue were now fixed upon them!