After the spiritual power test, the newly enrolled students were divided into two groups. One was called the Jun Class, and the other the Yo Class.
New students with spiritual power levels of three or below were placed in the Reserve-Group, meaning they were being prepared to join the Gotei 13. In other words, they were the Gotei 13's reserve force.
Those above level three naturally went into the Quasi-Group, meaning they were prospective members of the Gotei 13. After six years of study, these students would automatically enter the Gotei 13.
Of course, anyone whose spiritual power reached level six could apply to graduate at any time and join the Gotei 13.
Although everyone in the Quasi-Group was destined to join the Gotei 13, the treatment students received varied enormously depending on their level.
If your spiritual power was only level four, some squad captains might look down on you. That meant you couldn't join the squad you wanted. For example, the so-called Head Captain's squad, Squad 1: people at level four definitely couldn't get in.
But if your spiritual power was level five, the doors of every squad would be open to you, and you could choose whichever one you wanted to join.
Level six was different again. Every squad would be eager to have you and would actively invite you to join. On the surface, that might seem like the same treatment level-five students received, but in reality, the difference was enormous.
For starters, after joining a squad, level-five students had to start at the very bottom, just like level-four students, and live in the communal barracks. They could only challenge a Seated Officer after a year of training.
Although the Gotei 13 held authority equal to that of the Five Great Noble Families, that authority was actually in the hands of each squad's captain, lieutenant, and top five seats. This showed just how important the right to challenge a Seated Officer was.
Those with level-six spiritual power, on the other hand, had the right to challenge any seated officer at any time from the moment they joined.
Even if they failed, the captain would personally train them. That meant that, unless you were completely hopeless, you were bound to amount to something. This wasn't written down anywhere, but it was an unwritten rule within the Gotei 13.
So people like Hongjiang and Yoruichi, who had reached level six upon enrollment—oh, and Urahara, who was nearly at level six too—should have been sent straight to the Gotei 13 for the joining ceremony. Keeping them at the Spiritual Arts Academy was purely demoralizing for everyone else.
As a result, Hongjiang felt waves of chill coming from behind him as they walked. The other students were glaring at him with envy, perhaps even admiration, though there wasn't much of that.
After the spiritual power test, their destination was the Sword Chamber. It sounded like a place for swordsmanship lessons, but it wasn't. The swordsmanship classroom was one thing; the Sword Chamber served a different purpose.
"Come for the sword, welcome the sword. Sword Chamber, open!" the instructor leading them chanted loudly. A faint white light appeared on his hand as he pressed it against the enormous stone lock on the Sword Chamber's door.
The lock dropped to the ground with a thunderous bang. The tightly shut doors of the Sword Chamber slowly swung inward, and a fierce aura surged out at once, making everyone's robes whip in the wind.
The doors didn't open all the way, leaving a gap only about a third as wide as the entrance. Even so, six or seven people could pass through side by side.
"Don't crowd or run around. Stay right behind me!" the instructor called over his shoulder before entering first. The others hurried after him.
The inside of the Sword Chamber was very dark. There was only a brick path as wide as the gap in the door, and both sides of it were pitch-black. Perhaps countless treasures lay hidden there, or perhaps it was a bottomless abyss where anyone who stepped in would die. No matter how curious they were, the instructor's authority kept them from straying.
At the end of the path stood a vast, empty, circular stone platform, large enough for all the new students from both the "Jun" and "Yo" Classes to spread out across it.
Once everyone was standing on the platform, the candles along the path they had taken went out one by one, from nearest to farthest. Darkness surged in like a tide, swallowing the way back to the outside world and leaving only the lonely circular platform beneath their feet.
"You can only enter the Sword Chamber once in your life," the instructor said. Then his voice rose another notch. "So open your eyes and look carefully!"
Light—no one knew where it came from—slowly spilled out of the stone platform, sweeping away the surrounding darkness.
The path they had come along did not reappear. Now the platform was surrounded by a boundless lake as smooth as a mirror, its surface studded with long swords. There seemed to be more than a hundred of them.
"Zanpakuto are a Soul Reaper's best friends, and the mark of a Soul Reaper," the instructor's voice rang out at just the right moment. "But you aren't Soul Reapers yet, and these aren't Zanpakuto."
"They're called Asauchi. They have the potential to become Zanpakuto."
"Now, listen to the voice in your hearts and choose one." The instructor's voice grew louder and louder, tinged with sacred reverence. "The moment it becomes a Zanpakuto is the day you become a Soul Reaper!"
Amid a chorus of excited shouts, the new students on the platform flushed with excitement and rubbed their hands together as they descended from the platform. They wove between the Asauchi standing in the lake, searching for the Zanpakuto they believed would become the strongest.
There were exceptions, though. Hongjiang and the other two were still standing on the platform, their expressions calm.
It wasn't that they weren't excited about getting a Zanpakuto. In fact, even though all three of them were considered geniuses by their respective elders, when they first received their Asauchi, they had been just as excited as any other child.
That was right: all three of them had received Asauchi long ago. In fact, their Asauchi had already become Zanpakuto not long before.
Before the Shino Academy was established, the presentation of an Asauchi had been the most important part of the Gotei 13's joining ceremony. That custom had remained unchanged to this day.
The Asauchi at the academy were actually only lent to the students, since the earlier they bonded with one, the better. After graduating from the academy, if they managed to join the Gotei 13, the loaned Asauchi would be formally bestowed upon them and become truly theirs.
Of course, that was only how things worked on the surface. In reality, the top powers in the Seireitei had the right to bestow Asauchi independently. Some high-ranking nobles, Head Captain Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, and—needless to say—the Five Great Noble Families could all do so. They controlled nearly half of the Seireitei, so of course they could bestow Asauchi on their own.
So Yoruichi, Urahara, and Hongjiang already had their own Zanpakuto. In truth, they were already genuine Soul Reapers; they just hadn't joined the Gotei 13 yet.
They knew that choosing another Asauchi now would be pointless. A Soul Reaper couldn't have two different Zanpakuto, after all. That was why they looked so calm.
They knew this, and their families knew it, but no one else did—not even the instructor standing with them on the platform.
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