Rukia was deep in thought; the orange haired boy's reiatsu had to be reported to her captain. She was walking through her division's barracks, not noticing shinigami running towards her small frame.

One of the shinigami shouted "Passing through!" to which Rukia hadn't responded, only to respond after being knocked down by several excited shinigami. All but one running towards the exit "I have to apologize Miss Kuchiki, we shouted out but you haven't budged and stopping a herd of excited shinigami is difficult." He bowed before running after his colleagues.

"Just because I'm unseated doesn't mean you can just run me over…" she mumbled, a vein appeared on her forehead. She brushed herself off and made way to her captains office.

It was one of the few days that he came to visit his Division. He was terminally ill and had to rest most of the week, leaving most of the chores to his 3rd Seats. She stepped in front of her captain's office door and knocked lightly; receiving an 'Enter' from her captain she opened the door and took a seat in front of his desk.

Her captain was the renowned white haired captain Ukitake; he was always caring and considerate to his subordinates. She was grateful that her brother put her into the care of a great captain.

He looked into her worried eyes "Something wrong, Rukia?"

"Yes and no, sir." She returned to her Kuchiki way of talking "During my time in the living world I had to Konso a soul of a peculiar high school student…" her eyes revealing regret; she stopped thinking how to explain the event.

"Tell me everything." Ukitake said with concern for his subordinate.

Rukia calmed down "Is it possible for humans to have reiatsu comparable to captains?" she looked away from her captain, worried about his reaction.

Ukitake sat frozen, quickly coming back to his senses "It is most unlikely that a human could poses such immense reiatsu, even if there were humans like that our information department would've found out before they even knew themselves." He said reassuringly, smiling at the sight of Rukia; she nodded nervously and smiled back.

She stood up from her seat and made way to the door "But there are always errors in the system and mistakes can happen, there could be some humans with that sort of reiatsu…"

Rukia turned to see her captain looking out the window "…You never know what you might find in the living world, that's why we always have positioned shinigami; to keep an eye on suspicious behavior and mysterious reiatsu." Ukitake turned to face Rukia with a smile "You must be exhausted, go take your long awaited break."

He left no room for questions as he turned to face his paperwork. As she left the office Ukitake frowned at the thought 'What did she discover? I haven't heard of any human with considerable reiatsu since our last substitute shinigami… I hope Kyoraku has some answers.'

Rukia was relieved; it must've been her inexperience with immense reiatsu. She always controls her reiatsu and keeps it in control. Byakuya had taught her that nobles always fight fair and with respect for the enemy, never to allow themselves to burst out reiatsu. She strolled towards her home only to hear a commotion near the shinigami academy, noticing she had time until her scheduled dinner she decided to see what was happening.

She noticed that the highest ranked individuals, the first class, which the Shinigami Academy had to offer, were defeated, growling at the new student. It was a surprising sight to behold.

~Minutes earlier, Shinigami Academy~

The main proctor introduced Ichigo to the class; most of them had hate in their eyes, glaring at Ichigo. "He is four months too late!" one of the students shouted, others following suit "Most of us had high amounts of reiatsu; I can't feel any coming from him!" shouted another.

The barrage of insults had been stopped by a glance of the proctor "I wasn't going to just let him waltz in here and join the first class without proof." He looked at Ichigo with a maniacal grin "He's going to prove to you guys that he is worth."

It had been a month since Ichigo became an apprentice shinigami. The proctor left him no room to rest for the past month, constantly on his feet fighting real shinigami in a one on one environment.

'So this was his great plan, make me fight the whole class to prove myself worthy.' Ichigo scowled at the proctor.

The shinigami instructor nodded "And who is he going to fight out of my class?"

The proctors grin widened when he noticed Ichigo's scowl "I know for a fact that he defeated a single student isn't going to be enough. So why not make him fight the whole class?" his words igniting the fires of competition, filling the classroom with eyes of bitterness and hate.

"Of course, you won't use real Zanpakuto; all of you will be given wooden practice Zanpakuto. We don't want more wounded than there already are." The proctor snickered at the thought.

Ichigo narrowed his sight, he had to fight again. He hadn't recovered yet to his full potential and now he had to fight a whole class of apprentice shinigami.

He didn't like using different weapons then his Zanpakuto 'Sorry Zangetsu, looks like today's not the day.' His Zanpakuto was already getting bloodthirsty from all the ice cold glares, slightly annoyed at the thought of not being able to fight them 'Oh come on, you wouldn't even have to enter Shikai state to beat these lowlifes!' White Zangetsu growled.

They entered the outer courtyard; it was designed like an arena with benches on the elevated ground. Some spectators already arriving, they were invited by the proctor. He wanted to publicize Ichigo's immense potential and transfer him into a squad as soon as possible. Souls with Ichigo's potential aren't suited for academies, they are suited for battlefields. He invited loads of unseated members as well as some seated members. The few that came early attracted more shinigami; causing a cascading torrent of new Shinigami onlookers. The proctor smirked as his plan worked, causing the instructor to tilt his head, he didn't understand what the proctor was so happy about.

"I never knew what was going on inside your head; I guess that's why you're best suited to be a proctor, Teiki." The instructor smiled.

"That's the best for the both of us, Shino." Teiki grinned maniacally.

The first class stood in front of Ichigo, they shot him death glares as they got into battle positions. Ichigo simply sighed; he had no intention of aggravating them. He just wanted to progress through the academy like any other shinigami before him.

Ichigo narrowed his sight, there were twelve of them and they stood in two rows. Nine of the twelve had considerable reiatsu that could prove problematic in a real fight, but this was no real fight. They had to fight with wooden Zanpakuto, in which they couldn't infuse reiatsu giving Ichigo the odds he needed.

The first row charged from the front, their speed was impressive as the crowd began cheering. The second row decided on a slow attack, they spread out and slowly surrounded Ichigo.

"Shino, what did you teach your students first?" Teiki asked, smiling at the sight of the growing crowd.

"Well I taught them to inspect their enemy and evaluate their reiatsu, why?" Shino looked at Teiki, only to be answered by Ichigo's reaction to the attack.

Ichigo prepared himself with a single breath, dodging several attacks, his eyes focused on his opponents. He parried an attack from an excited shinigami, he overextended from the group. Ichigo used it to his advantage: as their blades collided he used more force, causing the excited shinigami to trip and fall on his classmate who was just about to attack Ichigo again. Before they managed to stand up Ichigo swung at them, he hit their shihakushō tearing a slight bit of their black cloth off.

Shino watched in shock, turning to see a grinning Teiki "The only thing I taught him was to 'think'. Everything else was taught to him by his Zanpakuto."

Shino's eyes widened at the thought "You brought me an apprentice shinigami who can communicate with his Zanpakuto?!"

Causing Teiki to laugh "Oh he can communicate alright… But that isn't even close to the level he achieved in the month I had him in my training hall."

"You aren't implying that he achieved Shikai, are you?" Shino asked in fright, there were always prodigies in every generation, but this must have been a joke.

"His Zanpakuto is strict and overprotective; it wants Ichigo to be safe. What is the easiest way to make sure someone is safe in a world of battles?" he looked towards Ichigo "The easiest and most simple way is to give them power!"

Shino couldn't believe Teiki's words; no Zanpakuto gives one power that easily.

Teiki turned to Shino, his face was completely serious "As I said the only thing I taught him was to 'think', it was his Zanpakuto that taught him the most important things in battle; one of them being sight." He turned back to Ichigo's fight. Ichigo had his eyes peeled on the enemy; he'd taken out all of the opponents except one, the first class' top student.

~Three weeks earlier, Training Hall~

Ichigo was practicing meditation when all of a sudden he was sent to his inner world. It was now filled with skyscrapers that reached far beyond the clouds. It was sunny and warm, the complete opposite of how it looked like on his last visit.

Both Zangetsu's were awaiting Ichigo's arrival. Ichigo smiled warmly as he walked towards White Zangetsu, who stood closer than Black Zangetsu. Ichigo came to a stop when he was met with the sight of White Zangetsu drawing a sword.

"Today's lesson: Fighting!" White Zangetsu shouted as he dashed towards Ichigo. He reacted quickly drawing his own Zanpakuto to counter White Zangetsu.

"This again? I thought we were done with fighting…" Ichigo pouted as he parried several strong attacks.

White Zangetsu laughed maniacally "We are still far away from being done fighting." He brought his weapon up and swiftly cut Ichigo's chest.

"Today our job will be to teach you the essentials of combat." Said Black Zangetsu his voice was stern, like a teachers.

"Let me guess, I have to figure it out myself?" Ichigo said more like a statement than a question.

To which White Zangetsu laughed and nodded "But you better figure it out fast, I'm not going to go easy on you like last time!" was all he said as he swiftly closed the distance between himself and Ichigo.

~Present, Academy courtyard~

Ichigo smiled at his opponent, both of them panting "This was a good fight…" his strength slowly fading. He couldn't yet tap into his, now sealed, reiatsu. His Zanpakuto regulated its flow, so that Ichigo wouldn't die overexerting too much reiatsu. He had to finish this quickly or he would faint before defeating his last opponent.

The top of the class smirked to Ichigo's remark "I still don't understand how I can't even sense your reiatsu…" his defensive stance not faltering, leaving no openings.

Ichigo noticed his impenetrable stance; there was only one thing that could break through such a stance: shock.

~Two weeks earlier, Training Hall~

Ichigo was meditating, his Zanpakuto regulating Ichigo's reiatsu. He was in his inner world again, listing to black Zangetsu's lessons.

"If your enemy has a strong offence, defend with a stronger defense. If your enemy has a strong defense, attack him with an even stronger offence."

"But what if the enemy's defense is unbreakable and perfect?"

"Good question Ichigo, there is only one way to break an unbreakable defense…" Black Zangetsu turning to face White Zangetsu who jumped in front of Ichigo in an instant, scaring Ichigo half to death "…It's fear, shock and terror. If you, by chance, manage to catch your enemy off guard then you can break any defensive stance." Ichigo nodded as he punched his, now maniacally laughing, Zanpakuto.

~Present, Academy courtyard~

"That's because my Zanpakuto is selfish and keeps all my reiatsu to himself." Ichigo smiled. His opponent shocked with the news of Ichigo knowing his Zanpakuto's name, it was only for a moment but enough for Ichigo. He dashed at his enemy, his uppercut strong, knocking his opponent's weapon away; making his opponent yield.

"If he truly has achieved Shikai, then he has no place here. Seireitei hasn't had someone with this strong reiatsu in a while; I felt his reiatsu through his Zanpakuto." Shino sighed, Teiki always brought special cases to his class to test them, it was bothersome but it always made his class work even harder, so he allowed it.

"Where did you find this one?" Shino eyed Ichigo "One of the captains asked me that, if by chance I get a special case, I would send the case to him. I'll have him under the Captains special tutelage."

Teiki nodded before flash stepping next to Ichigo "You did well; you will be given special tutelage that will make you stronger, not like these weaklings." Teiki said harshly.

Ichigo frowned at his remark "I have no fun defeating someone weaker, but even if they are weaker, it doesn't give you the right to bad mouth them." Ichigo turned to face the first class' top student, helping him stand "You fought well, don't let this discourage you, I hope to fight you again when we're both true shinigami."

The class' top student was confused at first, but quickly nodded as he shook hands with Ichigo "I hope so too!"

The crowd went completely nuts as they saw the new student show respect to a defeated foe.

Rukia joined in the crowd late, all she got to see was the duel 'He defeated the enemy using shock… And here I thought he was just another stubborn and brainless teen.' Rukia thought while clapping at the display of 'respect for your opponent' that is taught to shinigami and nobles. 'He definitely has a future as a shinigami.' Rukia didn't notice that it was the high school student she had Konso'd a month ago, she was too far away. She simply brushed off his hair color as something 'the kids' did these days.

She smiled as she noted this to be the perfect story to tell her brother during dinner.

Ichigo followed the proctor out of the Academy courtyard and into Seireitei. Ichigo thought that his new teacher would be someone who worked in the Academy "Where are we headed?" Ichigo asked as they turned the corner.

"We're headed to your new instructor. You see, he has a lot of free time nowadays and I think he slacks off too much. You will be taught by him, so respect him and show him that you're interested even if you aren't!" Teiki said harshly.

Ichigo simply nodded, he wanted to learn more about shinigami, since all that had been shown to him was quite something. His knowledge of shinigami was narrow, they fought monsters called hollow, because of a hole in their chest, they used Zanpakuto to fight and they don't care about Rukongai, at least most of them don't. He wanted to get a better impression of them before becoming one himself.

Ichigo moved his hand towards his Zanpakuto's hilt, he had to leave the blade in the Academy throughout his fight "Good to have you back, Zangetsu" Ichigo whispered softly, continuing to smile as White Zangetsu threw a tantrum and Black Zangetsu sighed at the sight.

As they were walking through the narrow streets of Seireitei, Ichigo noticed a peculiar shinigami. Black hair and short, with familiar looking violet eyes. He frowned as his brain gave all its processing power to figuring out who this person was. He was thinking for what seemed minutes, the familiar shinigami already out of their sight, nothing came to his mind. He brushed it off as they came to a stop in front of, what seemed to be some wooden barracks, which had the insignia 'Hope' inscribed into its doors.

"This are the 13th Division Barracks and in here should be your new instructor, he is a master of all the arts you'll have to learn to become a true shinigami." Teiki said with a grin. Ichigo nodded and followed Teiki who simply opened the doors and entered.

They were greeted by weird looks and some bows. Ichigo didn't understand that shinigami from other Divisions need special permits to enter another Divisions Barracks.

They were swiftly stopped by the Captain loving 3rd Seats, not that they would ever publicly admit that they admire their captain wholeheartedly. They both held their hand out and looked at the trespassing shinigami, only to receive "We're in a hurry" from Teiki, who couldn't care less about stupid permits.

Teiki simply passed by the glaring 3rd Seats, Ichigo quickly following suit. They walked through the barracks, being eyed by every shinigami. To say they were slightly suspicious would be a lie, they were extremely suspicious; Ichigo had his scowl plastered on his face and Teiki's maniacal grin was brought out at the sight of glaring shinigami.

"Why aren't they stopping us?" Ichigo asked, confused why they weren't yet halted on their way.

"They currently don't have a lieutenant and since we didn't care about the 3rd Seats…" Teiki snickered at the thought "…The only one with the power to stop us is their Captain. Normal shinigami aren't allowed to order other shinigami." Teiki laughed at the stupid power system. Ichigo nodded and decided not to pry; it seemed as if the lieutenant's disappearance had disrupted the stable order of the Division.

They came to a door; on it was the Divisions insignia and 'Ukitake'. Ichigo tilted his head, not noticing that Teiki already entered the office.

Teiki was fast to talk, noticing the frown on the captain's face "Shino said that you needed a special case, Captain Ukitake" Teiki bowed before turning around and signaling Ichigo to enter "Here's your special case, he has no idea how to use Kidō as well as Hakuda and Hohō, and his Zanjutsu could use some work." Teiki smirked.

Ukitake raised an eyebrow "So you're giving me a fresh shinigami, who hasn't attended the Academy. May I ask why?" his voice was harsh, the complete opposite of his usual caring voice.

"He would show you, but since it's really destructive…" he turned to face Ichigo; he was sheepishly smiling and scratching the back of his head "… We can't do it indoors." Teiki deadpanned.

Ukitake nodded "I suppose we could take this conversation to the training fields." Ukitake stood up from his seat and flash stepped out of the office, Teiki and Ichigo follow suit.

The 13th Division training fields were enormous, the Captain already poured himself some tea by the time Ichigo and Teiki arrived "Go ahead and show me you amazing power." Ukitake smiled warmly, his mood changed with only a single sip of his tea.

Ichigo nodded, placing his hand on the Zanpakuto hilt, Ukitake noted that most shinigami have to draw their blades before entering Shikai. Ichigo's eyes glowed white with a speck of red. Before Ichigo called forth his Shikai, Teiki shouted "Go full power on this one, it won't hurt anybody.

To which Ichigo nodded and focused 'Zangetsu, what do you think about the full power idea?'

'I say we show them who the maddest and baddest Zanpakuto is!' White Zangetsu shouted.

'Once in a while I don't mind shining like the moon itself.' Black Zangetsu said calmly, with a hint of excitement.

Ichigo smirked "Cast aside fear; Zangetsu!" Ichigo exploded with reiatsu, pushing Teiki to the ground. The pressure was immense and could be felt all over Seireitei and the force behind could be sensed even at the 13th Division Barracks.

Ukitake was pleasantly surprised when he felt the reiatsu, only to be frozen when the dust cleared 'Dual blades?!' was the only thing that was on his mind 'Different colors and designs, I've never seen something like this!' Ukitake thought with wide eyes.

Ichigo felt a magnitude times faster and stronger 'We have been keeping an eye on your reiatsu and it seemed to grow larger to more you meditate or exercise.' Ichigo's eyes widened at the thought 'It can grow even larger?' Ichigo noticed Teiki gasping for air, trembling from head to it was probably enough of a presentation, he released his Shikai state, again allowing Teiki to breathe normally.

Ukitake walked closer to Ichigo "I will train you but there is a hook..." Ichigo narrowed his sight "…You become my lieutenant." Ichigo raised an eyebrow "This training will take a long time and afterwards you won't feel the same, are you prepared?" Ichigo nodded, smiling at his new teacher.

Teiki almost cried, finally one of his shinigami got promoted higher than the 9th Seat.

"Very well, we will leave tomorrow. Since your reiatsu is so immense we will enter the 1st Divisions training grounds."

"They are completely sealed off and will allow you to release your whole power without any drawbacks." Ukitake said seriously "From today on…" Ukitake snickered, he hadn't asked for his new lieutenant's name.

Ichigo noticed his new Captains embarrassment "Ichigo." He smiled warmly at his Captain.

"From today on, Ichigo shall be the new lieutenant of the 13th Squad. Your office is right next to mine, it has all essentials that a hardworking lieutenants should have, including a bed." Ukitake smiled at Ichigo's warm smile. "Just don't let anyone see you enter it, you aren't qualified to become a lieutenant yet and it might cause chaos in the Division."

Ichigo nodded before leaving for his long awaited rest.

Ukitake turned to face Teiki "That wasn't his full power; he looked exhausted when he entered my office. Did you forget that with training, rest is the most important part?" Ukitake raised an eyebrow while looking at Teiki's embarrassed face.

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