Murata looked at the young man sat in front of him. They were in one of the training dojos that wasn't in use on that particular day. He had point blank refused to give any name other than Kyuzo, arguing his family name was irrelevant now. Start with the basics.

"Why do you want to become a shinigami?"

"I don't. I was just brought here."

"Just brought here?"

Bare minimum information; "Yes" Kyuzo answered. Murata let it go.

"Do you know what a shinigami does?"

"Not really"

"Do you know about Soul Society?"

"No. I was alive 2 days ago"

This piqued the instructors' interest. Recently dead, brought to the academy by a taichou. "I've been instructed to test you in the four disciplines of a shinigami. Hand-to-hand combat, swordsmanship, flash steps and kido. Do you know what all of them are?"

"What's kido?"

"That is our magic system; focussing reiatsu into offensive and restrictive spells"

"Never heard of it, doesn't sound too difficult."

The instructor was even more interested now. The youth seemed to have barely any reiatsu and didn't know what kido was, yet he was supposed to test him in flash steps. Why was a taichou so interested in him? "Well let's get started then. First I would like to focus on your reiatsu levels, so I can determine the form the rest of the test should take. Increase the amount of reiatsu you are putting out as much as you can"

Kyuzo was unsure of how to proceed. He could release his control, but he knew there would be a subconscious limit on it. Would the teacher be able to tell? He shrugged inwardly, and stood up. Murata was watching intently as he started pushing aside the control. Kyuzo felt the strange energy flowing around him, and his senses grew outwards, like a gossamer fine net they settled on everything in the immediate area and relayed everything to his brain as accurately as if he was running his hand over every square inch of the room. He pushed aside the torrent of information, keeping only what was relevant, which was the instructor in front of him. In a few other dojos, and in some of the classrooms and lecture theatres and on the practice grounds and in the dormitories, heads turned towards the source of this unfamiliar reiatsu. Those students who were skilled enough to sense reiatsu wondered which teacher was demonstrating what. Every one of the instructors felt the disturbance, and didn't recognise it. In the dojo, Murata looked at the youth. He was impressed. This level of reiatsu was significant; easily enough to be a seated officer in the Gotei 13, and it was still under control. He'd been dead for two days and was this skilled at reiatsu control…

As she strode out the gates to the Shinigami Academy, intending to go to her Division headquarters and write a report on the entire episode for the soutaichou, she heard a familiar voice greeting her; "Good Morning, Sui Fong-taichou." She turned to the speaker. He was resting against the wall by the gate. She nodded a greeting; "Ukitake-taichou," and continued walking. He walked alongside her. The white haired man spoke again; "You fought him?" He caught the glance that Sui Fong had cut him and shrugged. "Kuchiki told me." She had tensed up, but upon hearing his explanation relaxed slightly. "We fought, yes. He seemed to have a zanpakutou when I arrived, but didn't use it at all, though it did look like he was capable. He still fought well." Ukitake considered this. "How high will he get?" She answered without hesitation "Seated. Not disciplined enough to be any higher." There was no doubt in her voice. "I see." The conversation seemed to be drawing to a close when they both felt the reiatsu spike coming from the academy. "Is that him?" Ukitake asked as they both stopped and looked back towards the walls. "Yes." Even from a distance Ukitake was impressed. He stood and felt the reiatsu wash over him for a few minutes, not noticing Sui Fong leave. "Interesting," he murmured to himself, "only a seated officer eh?"

"You can stop now" Murata said, and as he had expected, the flow of reiatsu immediately dropped to the mere trickle it had been before. "Do you know how to fight?" The guarded response came, "I can hold my own". The instructor rose to his feet and took up a guard; "So show me." Ordinarily Kyuzo preferred to examine his opponents' technique before attacking, then finding an opening and landing a blow inn some important location. It seemed like the point of this exercise was to determine his own offensive capabilities. Bearing this in mind he took up a position opposite the man called Murata, considered his options, and launched into an attack. A couple of punches, both swept aside, a kick aimed to the side of the ribs, forcibly driven back by a two-handed block, a leg sweep, deftly jumped. And they were facing off again. Kyuzo attacked again, feinting to his left and aiming a blow to the chest as he came back, and following with another aimed at the abdomen. Neither connected as his opponent backed off, but there was the opening he needed; the slight drop in the guard as he retreated. This man was nowhere near as good as the taichou he had fought in the real world. He lunged towards the instructor, checking his speed at the last moment, a couple of high kicks, ducked as expected, and elbow, blocked as it was supposed to be, and then he ducked to his right, launching an uppercut he never expected, nor wanted to land. And there was the opening again. He didn't miss it this time and shot the heel of his palm into the instructors' solar plexus, which sent him back a few paces.

"Good. You didn't miss the opening." The tone of the instructors' voice made it clear that this part of the test was over. "Since you've never done any kido or had any teaching, any testing would be pointless. You seem to know what flash steps are, can you use them?" Kyuzo knew what the teacher meant; the speed moving technique. Since seeing Sui Fong use them in their fight in the real world he had a better idea of how to do them. He still thought they were wasteful, and that there was a much more efficient way of moving through the flash space, but that would have to wait. For now he simply jumped to the other side of the training room, behind the teacher. Murata merely blinked as he felt the rush of air of a flash step past him. "There are 6th years who can't step that well…." He thought to himself. "Well it's clear you know how to use flash steps, and that just leaves swordsmanship. You know about shinigami and zanpakutou?" The youth walked back to the middle of the room and replied "A bit."

"Names? Release states? What?"

"I know every shinigami has a zanpakutou, and that zanpakutou have names. I've never heard the term 'release states' before."

"Okay. Every shinigami does have a zanpakutou, and it is part of their soul. Each one is unique, both in appearance and in abilities. A zanpakutou is usually carried in its sealed form, like mine is now" At this the instructor hefted his own sword, a regular looking katana with an oval hilt guard. "But to properly use the powers and abilities, it has to be released. This release is called shikai, and is generally triggered by a short phrase as well as the name of the zanpakutou. With me so far?" Kyuzo nodded, thinking hard about this shikai concept.

"There is a second release, which only the most powerful of shinigami obtain, which is obtained by completely subjugating the spirit of the zanpakutou. Most students obtain shikai by the time they leave the academy, but bankai is far beyond the reach of most of them; it takes years of training to first materialize the spirit of the weapon, and many more years to master it. Of course the power a bankai grants its wielder is great, about ten times more than the shikai. So swordsmanship is taught in two ways at the academy; first there are lessons on using the powers of a zanpakutou and obtaining shikai, and secondly there is classic swordsmanship. Clear?"

Kyuzo nodded again. "As a general rule, most students obtain their zanpakutou after a couple of years, and spend the remainder of the time trying to learn the name, and the shikai that comes with this. Have you ever fought with a sword?"

"No, but I know how to."

"You had lessons when you were alive?"

Kyuzo shook his head. "I just know…." It wasn't very convincing, but ever since he had first drawn the blade in his room, he'd know how to use it; the knowledge had flown into his consciousness and reared its head like instinct whenever it was required. He had felt it when the shinigami had come to collect him from the real world. Despite never using the sword, his body had naturally moved into the right posture. Thinking back to it now, the attack he would have used materialized in his head; holding the scabbard at his left side where it would sit were it through his belt, left hand just below the hilt, attacking an enemy on his right first. In his minds eye he visualised the attack; drawing the blade in a wide, powerful slash, and following through with the scabbard in his left hand. The pros and cons of the attack scrolled through him unbidden; fast, powerful, opening the slash leaves covered by the scabbard follow through. He blinked out of the thought. The teacher was speaking again.

"Alright then, pick a sword from the racks on the wall and spar with me."

Kyuzo saw the racks the teacher was indicating, and involuntarily shuddered at the thought of using a sword not his own. "Can't I just use my zanpakutou?" he asked.

"If you have a zanpakutou, then where is it?" the teacher questioned laconically, raising one eyebrow at the same time. He watched as the student (for he was sure the boy would be admitted to the academy) put out his left hand. When it was stretched right out to his side, at shoulder height, fingers just about poking out the end of the baggy sleeve that covered the arm, Kyuzo snapped his fingers and murmured something that the teacher didn't here. Murata saw what was happening; the first part to appear was directly in the hand, but before long the handle had extended forward, and the body of the blade and scabbard had grown out. He was curious about the strange crystalline design on the scabbard; it wasn't like any zanpakutou he had ever seen, as they all had scabbard which resembled wood; it looked like the boy was holding a sword in a reverse grip in his left hand, the slight curve indicating the blade was pointed outwards.

Drawing his own blade, the teacher walked to the center of the room and took up a standard ready stance, both hands on the hilt and blade out in front of him. "So show me what you can do." Kyuzo had been expecting the increase in his reiatsu to come when he summoned Edge, and was ready for it. Again the instructor wanted him to do the attacking, and it seemed the opening in their fist fight was deliberate. But he was a lot more confident in his ability to fight with the blade. Even when it was sheathed, he could feel the desire to fight emanating from it. The markings on his hands burned with the desire to fight, but he didn't feel the pain. He turned sideways on to the instructor, and brought the weapon to his side. He knew what he was going to do. He knew how to do it, and he could guess what the result would be. Coiling slightly within himself, he closed the distance to the opponent quickly. At the right distance he nudged the blade loose from the scabbard with his left thumb, his legs stopped moving, all the momentum from his movement transferred to the blade as it left the scabbard. For added measure he put some reiatsu into the strike as well. The two blades met as the instructor tried to block the attack, but it was too much even for him. His block swept aside, he saw the scabbard coming towards him and involuntarily flinched slightly as it stopped millimetres from his temple. It was a blow that would have at least dazed him, if not rendered him unconscious had it landed.

He took a few steps back, and watched Kyuzo ease out of a fighting stance, his sword lowered to his side. To say that was impressed was an understatement. That attack had completely defeated him, and in a real fight he had no doubt that he would lose. "That is a very unorthodox fighting style." Kyuzo shrugged; "It's all I know." Murata wanted to question further, but knew he should bring the testing to an end.