Bleach: The Afterlife Saga

*Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. All the characters mentioned in this story, with the exception of OCs, are the property of Kubo Tite.


Chapter 9 Shinigami Academy

"I must become a Shinigami once again?" asked Ichigo. He looked at Kyoraku, at the other two captains, and finally at Rukia and Renji. Their faces were all telling him the same message.

"But what if I don't want to become a Shinigami? The only reason I became a Substitute Shinigami in the first place was to save my family. Now that my sisters are safe in Rukongai, I don't see why I should become a Shinigami again," said Ichigo. Kyoraku pondered Ichigo's words. He confided with his fellow captains before he allowed Byakuya to respond.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, do you know what becomes of souls in Rukongai who possess vast amounts of uncontrolled spiritual power?" asked Byakuya. Ichigo shook his head. "We kill them. Those who cannot control their powers become a danger to Soul Society. The Central 46 cannot tolerate anyone with significant spiritual power who is not under the banner of the Gotei 13."

It took Ichigo nearly a minute to comprehend his words.

"Do you understand Kurosaki Ichigo? If you continue running around Rukongai with your spiritual powers unchecked we will be forced to kill you, especially if you use those powers to kill other Rukongai citizens." Byakuya's last words were clearly directed at Ichigo's exploits during his time in Rukongai.

"So...if I stayed in Rukongai, I'd face the death penalty because I possess reiatsu?" asked Ichigo.

"It's not that simple I'm afraid," said Ukitake. "Nor is it as harsh as the impression Captain Kuchiki gave you. All we are saying is that a person with spiritual powers as great as yours belongs in the Seireitei. If you stayed in Rukongai, your mere presence would cause undue influence on the people around you." Ukitake's words made Ichigo think of the effect his spiritual pressure would have on Yuzu and Karin.

"There is one more qualification to my previous statement," said Kyoraku. "We are not saying you absolutely must become a Shinigami. We are only saying you must undertake the training to become one. If you complete the training, you'll be admitted as an average member of one of the thirteen Imperial Court Guard Squads. If you fail, the only consequences are that your powers will be sealed and you will be allowed to return to Rukongai."

"I finally get what you mean Kyoraku-san," said Ichigo. "You're saying I don't have to become a Shinigami right now, I just have to do the training to become one. That sounds a much more acceptable situation. I thought I was going to resume my duties as a Substitute Shinigami again." Ichigo's words caused Kyoraku and Ukitake to burst out laughing, as did Rukia and Renji. Only Byakuya was able to restrain himself, but even he saw the funny side.

"My word you really are a funny guy Kurosaki-san," said Kyoraku. "The whole 'Substitute Shinigami' title was actually something we made up to allow you to keep using your Shinigami powers, as we thought you might prove useful to us. Otherwise, your powers would have been sealed. In fact, Old man Yama was going to seal your powers once Aizen was defeated because your services would be no longer required."

Ichigo took in the words he heard from Kyoraku. So back then I wasn't a legitimate Shinigami all along. They were just using me as a tool to defeat Aizen. Me losing all of my spiritual powers must have been a bonus for them. When he realized the great irony of the whole situation, Ichigo also started laughing.

"Aha, ha, ha, I finally get the joke Kyoraku-san," he said. "Are you saying that this time I can finally become a full fledged Shinigami with all the privileges I deserve?"

"Of course!" exclaimed the Captain Commander. "If you're gifted enough you might even become a captain one day!"

"Alright. I accept your offer. I will become a Shinigami once again. Just tell me what I need to do." With that the acceptance meeting had been concluded. Byakuya, Ukitake and Renji left the Captain Commander's office and returned to their barracks. Rukia was allowed to stay behind for a while longer.

"Well, I guess this is a temporary goodbye for now Ichigo," said Rukia. She kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck in your training. I'll come visit you at the Academy and your sisters in Junrinan when I have the time to do so."

"Thanks a lot Rukia," said Ichigo with a smile. He watched as she left the barracks.

"Now then Kurosaki-san, there is someone who I would like you to meet," said Kyoraku. "He is the person who will assist you in enrolling in the Shino Academy." The Captain Commander opened a secret door on the wall behind the desk and motioned Ichigo to follow him. Ichigo found himself in a private study room filled with tons of bookshelves. But his attention was completely focused on the person who was sitting down on a couch at the opposite corner of the room. His appearance was unmistakable. No one in Soul Society or the real world dressed like him.

"Urahara!" exclaimed Ichigo. He couldn't believe his eyes. There he was, the eccentric owner of a black market shop in Karakura Town, still dressed up in a green coat, a slouch hat and wooden sandals.

"Yo it's good to see you Kurosaki-san!" Urahara grinned. "I'll be taking care of you from now on." Ichigo looked at Kyoraku again and saw the Captain Commander had a sly grin on his face as well.

"Are you telling me Urahara is the head of this Academy now?" asked Ichigo.

"Yup. The Central 46 requested that he be appointed as the new Headmaster," said Kyoraku. "Well then, I'll leave the rest to you Kisuke."With that, Kyoraku left the private study room. Urahara motioned Ichigo to follow him.

"Come now Kurosaki-san," said Urahara. "I suppose the Sotaicho and the other captains have already explained some things to you, but I will explain to you about the rest you need to know." As he spoke he led Ichigo out of the first division barracks towards the bottom of the Senzaikyu tower.

"I assume the Sotaicho told you the reason why you must become a Shinigami again."

"He sure did. Though Byakuya's words got me the most. I guess when faced between a choice of either becoming a Shinigami or death, I'd rather choose the former," said Ichigo. Urahara gave a small chuckle.

"Captain Kuchiki is famous for using harsh words but what he said was roughly correct. The Soul Society, and the Gotei 13 in particular, has many absolute rules. The rule about all souls with spiritual power being required to undergo training at the Shino Academy is one of them. Every single Shinigami in the Gotei 13 has studied at the Academy since it was founded some 2,100 years ago. The Academy also trains the Onimitsukido and the Kido Corps too, so depending on how you go, you might not enter the Gotei 13 when you graduate."

By now Urahara and Ichigo had arrived at the rear end of the Senzaikyu and were heading north.

"Uh Urahara-san, can I ask you other questions about the Academy?" asked Ichigo.

"Of course you can. You may ask me about everything."

"How long would I be expected to stay at the Academy for?"

"The standard curriculum at the Academy is taught over a six-year period. However, there have been a few exceptionally gifted students in the past who have completed the entire course in a much shorter span of time. Two in particular, Shiba Kaien and Ichimaru Gin, completed their training in less than two years. Both were regarded as geniuses."

"I see." Ichigo had heard little about Shiba Kaien other than he was the deceased brother of Ganju and Kukaku, and the former 13th division lieutenant. But having fought with Ichimaru during the final stages of the Battle for Fake Karakura Town, he could understand why that person might have been called a genius.

"Um, Urahara-san, how many students are at the Academy?"

" Let me see..." pondered Urahara. "I honestly have no idea exactly how many students are studying at the Academy at any one moment, but there are roughly around four hundred students enrolled as part of the first year intake for any one year. The later years have generally fewer students as many tend to drop out. In terms of the number of classes per year level, the first year intakes are generally divided into four classes of one hundred students each."

"And, is there any selection process that will determine which class I will be assigned to?" asked Ichigo.

"There is. You'll see when we arrive at the front entrance, but after your enrolment details are verified you'll have to pass through a brief selection exam that will determine the cohort that you'll be assigned to. Each cohort is ranked according to the grades they score in the selection exam, with most of the high achievers assigned to the first class."

"Uh-huh. Sounds like this Academy is pretty similar to the high school I went to in the real world," said Ichigo.

"I guess you could say that," Urahara smiled. "Now, one final word of advice before we arrive at the Academy. You should use an alias when you make your enrolment. Your real identity is far too well known. There are many students in the Academy whose parents are members of the Gotei 13 squads whom you fought during your assault on Soul Society to rescue Kuchiki-san. They would have almost certainly heard of the orange-haired Ryoka who dressed like a Shinigami. In addition, there are probably a few first timers here who come from the outer districts of Rukongai. They might have heard about the 'Strawberry Ronin' who defeated an infamous bandit warlord."

"Oh right, I get what you mean. But what about my hair Urahara-san? Even if I call myself by a different name, somebody would be bound to recognise me by the colour of my hair."

"You're right I hadn't thought about that." Urahara took out something from his pocket. "Here's something that will completely dye your hair. Just select the colour you want, press it against your scalp, and your hair will instantly turn into a different colour."

Ichigo looked at what Urahara had given him. It kind of resembled a syringe. He put it in his shirt pocket.

After about an hour of walking, Urahara and Ichigo finally arrived at the front entrance of the Shino Academy. Ichigo looked up and beheld the main building of the Academy in awe. The building was mostly rectangular in nature with one central portion and two wings on either side. Though the side potions were covered with flat roofs, the central portion of the building was topped with an immense, pavilion like structure with four dragon shaped horns located at all four corners of the highest roof. The grounds of the Academy were surrounded by a ten-foot high stone wall that ran for hundreds of yards. In the middle of the wall, directly opposite the central portion of the main building, was a large gate topped with a pavilion like roof.

As Ichigo followed Urahara through the front gate, he beheld a courtyard that was packed almost to the brim with people. A large number were dressed in white shirts and red and blue trousers. A fair number of others were dressed in the clothes of nobility. The rest were wearing clothes similar to what Ichigo was wearing.

"Wow, there are so many people here," said Ichigo.

"It just so happens that today is the beginning of the new Academy year," said Urahara. "Many old students have returned from their summer holidays whilst a large number of students are enrolling for the first time. This is where I must leave you. You'll have to make do with the enrolment process on your own."

"That's fine with me Urahara-san." Ichigo watched as Urahara walked towards the front entrance of the main Academy building. Those who were wearing the Academy robes noticed him pass by and rushed to greet him. Ichigo found it amusing that Urahara had already become a much-admired headmaster.

"Alright, now where do I have to go to get enrolled," said Ichigo to himself. He walked around the courtyard and mingled with the other people for a few minutes before he heard a voice on a loudspeaker.

"All first year students are to report to the desks outside the main entrance immediately," it said. Ichigo wondered what it meant by main entrance, but when he saw a crowd of people rush forward he decided to join them. In the distance Ichigo could make out a long line of desks, behind which sat people dressed in grey robes. He guessed that they must be teachers, or at least the people in charge of enrolment.

Ichigo stood in the line with the other first time enrollers. As he waited for the line to move he thought about the last advice Urahara had given him. Disguise myself as somebody else huh? He conceded that it was probably a good idea. He took out the syringe device in his pocket, selected black as the ink colour, and plunged it into the top of his head. Ichigo gasped in pain for a brief moment before the ink quickly took effect. In an instant his trademark orange locks were gone, replaced with jet black hair. Now then, what should I call myself? Ichigo considered that his surname probably wasn't that well known so he decided to keep it. For his fake name, Ichigo thought back to something Rukia had said to him whilst he had been a Substitute Shinigami.

"You remind me of him. The one whom I admired. If your hair were a little longer and black in colour, you'd look almost identical." Ichigo guessed that Rukia must have been referring to her former lieutenant, Shiba Kaien. Kaien, huh, that's not a bad name to call myself, Ichigo thought.

At last it was finally Ichigo's turn to undergo the enrolment process. He sat down on a chair beside a middle-aged woman with big glasses.

"May I have your name please?" she asked in a squeaky voice.

"Um, Kurosaki Kaien," answered Ichigo. To his delight, the woman promptly recorded it down. He answered about two dozen more questions, most of them mundane in nature, such as his place of residency, his family history, and any connections he might have with current members of the Gotei 13. Ichigo answered them in a way that drew no suspicion at all about his former past. When the questioning was finished, the woman handed Ichigo a transcript with all the answers filled in, and directed him to enter the main building and head to the left.

Ichigo entered the main building and followed the directions as he was told. He eventually found himself standing outside what appeared to be a large examination room. A teacher inspected his enrolment application, found all the details on it acceptable, and admitted Ichigo into the room. Ichigo was directed by another teacher inside to a table roughly in the middle of what must have been about five hundred odd seats. Ichigo sat down on his seat and inspected the examination script book in front of him. Huh, this looks a lot like the exams I had for my final college years, Ichigo thought.

When every single first time enroller had been admitted into the examination hall, the teachers gave the signal for a fifteen minute reading time. Ichigo inspected the questions the examination paper asked and was surprised to find most of it consisted of literacy and numeracy questions. Of the questions that bore no relation to anything he had studied in the real world, Ichigo thought he had a good grasp of most of them, as they were questions relating to the general nature of the Soul Society, Seireitei and the Gotei 13.

The teacher soon commenced the examination and set a time limit of three hours. There were more than three hundred questions in the exam in total but Ichigo breezed through most of them. The literacy and numeracy questions were easier than the questions he had encountered in his final high school exams. The only questions Ichigo stumbled upon were ones that asked about the relation of Soul Society to the other realms. He thought that such questions were mainly theological in nature and would probably have stumped most other candidates.

After the exam ended, the candidates handed in their papers and were ordered to go to the other end of the main building. When he got there, Ichigo saw a group of teachers standing in a room. Each of the teachers appeared to be holding round spheres that Ichigo thought were familiar. Then he remembered. Those look like the Reishaku cores that Kukaku-san used to launch the cannon ball into Seireitei! As he watched the candidates in the line in front of him, he saw what this test was about. Each candidate placed their hands on the round spheres. A second later, their bodies were surrounded by glowing spheres of energy. Some of the spheres were large and well defined; others were tiny or had awkward shapes. A few of the hopeless candidates could not produce a sphere at all.

"Please put your hands on these spheres and concentrate all of your Reiyoku," said one of the teachers when Ichigo finally got to the front of the line. Ichigo placed both hands on the sphere and remembered the trick Ganju had taught him. Imagine my hands falling into a void...

The teachers all gasped in astonishment when Ichigo produced a sphere of energy that was nearly ten foot in diameter, and furthermore, was actually stable for nearly a whole minute. Of all the students who had their spirit energy levels tested, none of them could maintain a stable sphere for more than a few seconds before it dissipated.

"You may take your hands off now, um, Kurosaki-san," said the teacher as she glanced at Ichigo's enrolment form. Ichigo removed his hands from the sphere. Hmm, these Reishaku cores drain spirit energy, he thought when he realized his reiatsu was a tad lower than before.


After both selection exams had finished, Ichigo waited out in the courtyard with the other candidates as the results were processed. The processing took only an hour, before two teachers came out of the main building's entrance carrying a large noticeboard. After they placed it on the ground to the left of the entrance, the teachers ordered all of the candidates to inspect the noticeboard, for it contained the names of all the candidates who had been successful in gaining entrance to the Academy, with the corresponding classes they had been assigned to. When it was Ichigo's turn to read the noticeboard, he was surprised to see he had achieved the highest results out of all the candidates. As a consequence, he had been assigned to the special accelerated class. Ichigo quickly jotted down his student number.

The teachers directed all successful enrolling students to report to the Academy's uniform office on the second floor of the building. There each student received their standard Academy Shihakushos. All students got a white kosode shirt but their hakama, or trousers, differed depending on their gender. Males got blue trousers, the girls got red ones. Once he got his uniform, Ichigo got dressed into them in the change rooms nearby. He carried his peasant clothes and his sword with him as the teachers subsequently directed him out of the main building and to the student dormitories towards the rear of the Academy campus.

When Ichigo got to the entrance of the student dormitories, he was asked to state his name and student number, which happened to be 'A 1515'. After he stated his number Ichigo was given the number of his dormitory room, along with a set of keys. He was then directed to find his dormitory room, place all of his belongings inside the room and report to the Academy's main assembly hall.

Ichigo tried to follow the instructions given but it took him some time to locate his dormitory room. He had to walk up three flights of stairs and travel to the opposite end of the dormitories before he found it. When he opened the door and entered, Ichigo was disappointed by the size of the room. There was little more than a bed on the ground and a study desk. He discovered that the bathroom was shared with the room right next door to his room. God I hope I don't get an unpleasant neighbour, Ichigo thought. He placed his peasant clothes and his sword beside the bed before he locked the room.

Upon returning to the main Academy building and arriving near the assembly hall, Ichigo was given a stack of textbooks, a notebook, and a felt-tip pen by a few teachers sitting outside the hall. Ichigo was then ordered to take a seat inside. He quickly found a seat near the back rows and plonked the stuff he had been given under the seat. He sat in his seat for a while as the remaining first year students filled the hall. Once every first year had been accounted for, Ichigo watched with interest as Urahara, dressed in more formal looking robes, walked to a podium at the front of the assembly hall. Ichigo was stunned however, when he saw the person who was standing behind the headmaster. What the hell? Yoruichi-san? She's at the Academy too? Ichigo thought. He decided to ponder it some other time, for Urahara began his introductory speech to the freshmen.

Ichigo paid scant attention to the majority of Urahara's speech, as it was mainly about matters Urahara had already told him before. It was only the end part of the speech that Ichigo listened in closely.

"Remember, we at the Shino Reijutsuin, the Shinigami Academy, have a proud history stretching back for more than two thousand years," addressed Urahara. "Countless skilled Shinigami of the Gotei 13, Onimitsukido officers, and Kido Corps members have passed through these hallowed walls. We expect each of you to continue that proud legacy!" Those last words seemed to mark the end of the speech. Ichigo was relieved that the entrance ceremony was finally over. Alright, now the real work finally begins, thought Ichigo.


Notes: I hope the content of this chapter will address some of the questions that a few reviewers have asked, such as whether any of the students at the Academy would recognise Ichigo. Most of the details regarding the structure and processes of the Shinigami Academy were taken from the Bleach Wiki.

PS: Keen readers might note the significance of the '1515' reference. :)