"Everyone, please line up here to take your Zankensōki assessments in order!"
A man with glasses perched on his nose, who looked every bit an old research professor, wore a haori as he led a group of Shin'ō Academy teachers in shihakushō to assess the students one by one.
"Phew..."
With a head of fluffy curls, Sōgo Shihoin sat on a bench looking thoroughly displeased as he watched the other students take their assessments. After taking Old Man Yama's power-limited Shakkahō head-on with his face, Sōgo Shihoin had acquired a stylish hairdo-one that could have landed him a cameo as the protagonist on the Gin-effing-tama set next door.
"Please don't be angry, Lord Sōgo."
Shaoling Fon sat beside Sōgo Shihoin, gently trying to persuade him.
"I'm not angry!"
Sōgo Shihoin answered with a thoroughly displeased expression.
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto was only doing it for your own good!"
Shaoling Fon truly had no idea how to persuade him, so she could only recall what her mother had told her when her father's harsh training had brought her to tears.
"That rotten old geezer was doing it for my own good?"
"If he weren't the Captain-Commander, and there weren't so many people here, I'd have beaten him up already!"
Sōgo Shihoin waved his arms, looking as though he were declaring how strong he was.
"I know! I know! Lord Sōgo! You're invincible!"
Shaoling Fon felt that the person before her was a child, while she was the parent Yoruichi had sent to babysit him.
"The next student to be assessed is Sōgo Shihoin..."
"Um, would student Sōgo Shihoin please come over for his class placement assessment?"
A teacher in shihakushō looked around, calling loudly.
"Lord Sōgo, it's your turn to take the assessment."
Hearing the call, Shaoling Fon immediately reminded Sōgo.
"Not going."
Sōgo Shihoin answered without hesitation.
"But Lord Sōgo, since you're already here, why not go over and give the assessment a try? Besides, no matter how you do, there's no harm in trying, is there?"
Leaning close to Sōgo Shihoin's ear, Shaoling Fon laid it out for him.
"Good point. Then I'll go over and casually show off my strength, so everyone knows what invincible means!"
After hearing Shaoling Fon's words, Sōgo Shihoin stood up and declared loudly without restraint.
"That kid's pretty cocky, huh?"
Sōgo Shihoin's voice made the students at the assessment site frown.
"I remember him. The Captain-Commander carried him here this morning..."
"Who knows which family's young master he is!"
"I think the examiner just said his name was Sōgo Shihoin... He must be a young master of the Shihoin Family, one of the Five Great Noble Clans, right?"
The students still waiting their turns folded their arms across their chests and stared at Sōgo Shihoin as he swaggered toward the examiner. They wanted to see just how much strength this man possessed, after causing so many incidents on the very first day and even becoming the only student in the academy's history to create the legend of being "escorted" to school by the Captain-Commander.
"Zankensōki! 'Zan' refers to Kendō, 'ken' to Hakuda, 'sō' to Shunpo, and 'ki' to Kidō. These four disciplines are indispensable subjects for Soul Reapers, as well as their signature abilities. Are you ready for the assessments ahead, Young Master Sōgo Shihoin?"
Although the person assessing Sōgo was a Shin'ō Academy teacher, he still followed Soul Society's rules and treated Sōgo, who came from the Shihoin Family, with the utmost respect.
"No problems here!"
Sōgo Shihoin nodded lightly at the examiner, indicating that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his current condition.
"Good. The first assessment is 'zan'! Please take out your Asauchi, Young Master Sōgo!"
The examiner's eyes lit up as he continued.
"Here it comes?"
"The true strength of a young master from Soul Society's Five Great Noble Clans!"
"I want to see just how much those stuck-up noble brats are worth!"
The students who had enrolled from Rukongai intended to use Sōgo Shihoin's performance to learn just how strong the children of Soul Society's nobility were!
"A child of the Shihoin Family!"
"The last child of the Shihoin Family to graduate from here was a genius among geniuses!"
The Central Spiritual Arts Academy's current acting dean watched Sōgo Shihoin with interest. He still remembered how astonishingly talented the girl named Yoruichi Shihōin, who had graduated a century ago, had been. He believed that, as another child of the Shihoin Family, Sōgo should not fall far short of Yoruichi. After all, across the whole of Soul Society, this was his first time seeing someone take Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's Shakkahō with his face and emerge unscathed. In terms of spiritual bodies alone, he, Gorō Ninomiya, was willing to call Sōgo the strongest!
"..." At this moment, with everyone's eyes upon him, Sōgo Shihoin fell silent. Then he frowned at the examiner and said, "Um, I don't have one of those Asauchi things..."
"Well..."
"What's going on?"
The students who had been watching Sōgo Shihoin were caught so off guard by his words that they could not react for a moment.
"Is this kid here to be a comedian?"
Gorō Ninomiya slipped and nearly fell from the second-floor viewing platform. He really had to hand it to him. What did a child of the Shihoin Family mean by saying he had no Asauchi? Had he forgotten to bring it? Or was it something else...?
"Bring up a brand-new Asauchi!"
The examiner's mouth hung slightly open. After a stunned pause, he instructed the people behind him.
"Yes..."
Before long, a brand-new Asauchi was handed over.
"Here you are..."
The examiner personally placed the Asauchi in Sōgo Shihoin's hands.
"Ah! No... I meant I can't use an Asauchi. It'll break."
The instant Sōgo Shihoin gripped the Asauchi, an excessive amount of Spiritual Pressure surged into it. Before the Asauchi could form a connection with Sōgo Shihoin's soul, it snapped in two with a crack.
"Ah..."
"This really is the first time something this strange has happened."
"Then please demonstrate your Hakuda skills!"
"You only need to last ten exchanges against our teacher to receive an A grade."
As he spoke, the examiner pointed toward the ring behind him, where the Hakuda teacher was already waiting for Sōgo Shihoin to step up.
"No, he'll die. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back and will scatter that spiritual body that isn't even at lieutenant level with one punch. If you want to test my Hakuda, please find a captain!"
Sōgo Shihoin "took a close look." Upon seeing the teacher in the ring, he shook his head helplessly. He had no intention of killing anyone.
"Well..."
The only reason the examiner had not lost his temper yet was that Sōgo's surname was Shihoin.
"How about this? Let's test your Kidō!"
"Come over here and cast the strongest Kidō you've learned!"
The examiner gently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and forced a smile at Sōgo Shihoin, then led him to a shooting range filled with targets.
Beside Sōgo and the examiner, a group of other students were shooting at targets. From time to time, cries such as "Hadō #4: Byakurai!" and "Hadō #12: Fushibi!" rang in their ears.
"My strongest Kidō? Are you sure?"
Sōgo Shihoin frowned and asked the examiner for confirmation. If he used the strongest Kidō he had learned here, the entire venue would be blown apart, and probably few people would survive.
"Of course! Please rest assured. Our facility's design is nearly perfect. Your Kidō won't cause the slightest damage, even if you go all out."
To prevent Sōgo Shihoin from coming up with some other strange excuse to avoid the assessment, the examiner left himself no room to backtrack.
"All out?"
"Have you ever seen me go all out?"
Hearing the examiner's words, Sōgo Shihoin frowned and asked.
"Uh..."
Sōgo Shihoin's question left the examiner utterly awkward, with no idea what to say in reply.
"Forget it. Since you want to see it so badly, I'll show you a little of my strength!" Without waiting for the examiner's response, Sōgo Shihoin continued, "You just said I could use my strongest Kidō, right?"
"Please feel free to demonstrate your strength!"
The examiner answered firmly.
"All right!"
"Limit of the thousand hands, honored hands unable to touch the silent darkness, heavenly archers beyond reflection, the road upon which radiance falls, the wind that fans the embers, gather together without hesitation, obey that which I indicate. Light bullets, eight bodies, nine paths, heavenly scripture, swift treasure, great wheel. Gray turret, draw your bow toward the distance, vanish in radiant purity..."
As Sōgo Shihoin chanted, and his terrifying Spiritual Pressure slowly rose, the smile finally froze on the examiner's face.
"Hadō #91: Senju Kōten Taihō!"
Sōgo Shihoin did not follow the examiner's instructions and fire at the targets in the venue. Instead, he fired at the ceiling over the entire venue.
Boom!
Countless rays of light covered the assessment hall's ceiling. Then, following a series of explosions, the students successfully caught sight of Soul Society's blue sky and white clouds.
"I told you this place wasn't sturdy, didn't I? Good thing I didn't use Five Dragon Destruction..."
Sōgo Shihoin raised his head to "look" at the clear sky and gave a sunny smile.
"Ah..."
The examiner stared in panic at the vanished ceiling of the one-hectare training ground, utterly dumbfounded.
(End of chapter)