Chapter thirteen

Kuukaku marched down the hallway towards the room where she had left the red head to wait and she carried one of the orbs that helped concentrate and create a barrier of spiritual energy. This was the best way she could think of to see if he had any kind of control over his reiatsu. She'd also ask to see if he could suppress the little bit of reiatsu he had. After that... Kuukaku grinned. She got to take him to her sparring room and beat the crap out of him. Finally, she'd get the revenge she had been waiting for.

She finally arrived to his door and she promptly flung the door open, grinning down at the red head who was looking ready to pass out from boredom. She flung the orb at him and grinned wider when he fumbled a little bit before he caught it.

"Can you focus you reiatsu into there for me?" Kuukaku asked as she leaned against the wall. Sasori picked up the orb and stood a fair distance away from his things he had brought with him on this visit.

"And what is the point of this?" Sasori asked with a brow raised.

"To create a barrier of reiatsu around yourself. This will test the degree of control that you have."

"Right."

Sasori looked down at the orb and closed his eyes. He focused on his energy, making his chakra expand. He channeled it through the orb and when he opened his eyes he was met with a light blue glow of the barrier and the stunned face of the woman in front of him.

"Is that it?" Sasori asked haughtily.

Kuukaku scowled, but she was actually impressed. She knew that he would probably succeed in this exercise and she also knew that he had a great deal of control over his reiatsu, but she hadn't expected him to be able to do it so perfectly, so quickly. Maybe on the second or third try, but not on the first when he could barely suppress his reiatsu, letting it leak everywhere when she first met him.

"Well, you've showed me that you have impressive control, but can you supress your spiritual signature to make it unnoticable?"

Sasori stopped supplying the orb with his energy and tossed it back to the Shiba. She caught it, the smirk back onto her face.

"Very well."

Sasori figured that this wouldn't be any different than hiding his chakra and it seemed as if he was right. He felt his presence recede from the room and retreat into himself. His form was brimming with tightly coiled energy. It definitely took a lot more out of him than it would normally, but he was still able to manage it.

Again, Kuukaku was fairly impressed especially with the skill that he showed on the first try. She wondered how he was able to know what to. Especially since he had no frame of reference for the skills. Perhaps he had the skill to do these things while he was still alive? It seemed unlikely that he had any reiatsu while still mortal, it was a very rare occurence after all, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he had done this before.

"Well, alright then," she said, a little annoyed that he had been able to complete the exercises without a hitch, but she had kind of been expecting it, "Now let's see how good you can fight in hand-to-hand combat, no reiatsu allowed."

Sasori raised a red eyebrow but still followed the excited Shiba into a dojo room of sorts. It looked just like any other dojo that Sasori had seen in his past life. Walking to the center of the room, Kuukaku lowered her stance by a bit, holding her hands sideways in front of her. Sasori stepped forward and mimicked her position, eyes examining for any muscle movement to indicate what she was gonna do, when, and where. Kuukaku appeared to do the same. After a few seconds of blank staring, the two of them charged at each other.

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Panting heavily, the two of them laid on the mats of the dojo next to each other, arms spread apart. The match was even, but Sasori had been stronger by just a little and tripped Kuukaku. In the middle of her fall, Sasori punched her face to the ground. Thus, how she collapsed on the mats. Sasori, slouched over, soon fell on the mats from exhaustion. Because of the two of them being even in strength, the fight had dragged on for 18 hours. Sasori had made a mental note to train his body even harder to expand his endurance and strength later after this.

"You...seriously...are...ruthless...kid..." Kuukaku said between gasps of much needed oxygen.

"Like...you...aren't...?" Sasori countered.

Kuukaku didn't even have enough energy to smirk at that. Sasori however, pushed himself up from the ground. Though it took awhile, he even stood up, though still bent over like a dead zombie, with his arms limp in front of him.

"Guess you won the fight, kid." Kuukaku closed her eyes, her panting decreasing rapidly. Sasori's posture straightened more as he inhaled the oxygen that his lungs so desired.

"What about your friend?" he asked.

Kuukaku smirked, "What friend? You seriously think I'd befriend some bastard in there after what happened to the Shiba clan? You're crazier than I thought, kid."

Sasori growled, nearly going over there and kicking the Shiba's digestive system apart, but he refrained from doing so.

"So how will I get there?" his gaze bore holes in the woman.

"I'll give you directions."

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Sasori looked up at the large gate in front of him. Kuukaku had told him that the giant, Jidanbo, that guarded the gate wouldn't be able to let him pass without any clearance from the Shinigami, but if he specified that he wanted to go to the Shinigami Academy than he would be given a temporary pass that would allow him to go to the academy to take the entrance exams. If he passed he would be given a permanent pass that would allow him to come and go from the Seireitei to the Rukon district without any problems. Although, if he didn't pass, he would be asked to leave.

Sasori was feeling pretty confident that he would pass, but first things first. He looked up at the giant that was looming over him.

"Good morning," Sasori greeted with all the courtesy that he could muster, getting the feeling that he didn't want to piss this guy off.

"Good morning," the giant returned the greeting, looking pleased with the encounter. Sasori took this as a good sign. "Do you have a pass?"

"No," Sasori told him.

But when he saw the giant begin to pick up his axe he quickly added, "But I'd like to be taken to the Shinigami Academy."

Jidanbo rested the axe back down and looked down at the tiny red head curiously.

"To the academy?" he repeated. "Well alright. Just wait here and I'll get someone to escort you. There's nothing much going on today so there should be a lot of people with some free time to spare."

Sasori nodded and watched as the giant to signaled for the gate to be opened. Once this was done, he spoke shortly to one of the Shinigami inside and another one came out, looking for the person who had requested clearance to be escorted to the academy.

"Name?" the bored looking man in black robes asked.

Sasori studied the man for a second, noting that he looked like some kind of cross between a samurai and a monk.

"Sasori. No surname." Sasori told him.

The Shinigami raised an eyebrow at this. Even the people who didn't have clans usually made up a name for themselves, but whatever. It wasn't like it was necessary exactly. Plus he doubted such a gangly looking kid would even make it through the entrance exams, but they were required to give everyone a fair chance at entering the academy.

"Alright," he said, turning and motioning to the other that he should follow. "Come with me. See you later, Jidanbo."

"See ya, Kegami. Good luck, Sasori," Jidanbo said.

Sasori nodded at the oddly polite giant and trailed after the other. This part had gone smoothly. Now he wondered how well he would do on the exams. Either way it should prove to be interesting for him.

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Sasori looked up at the large school before him and could honestly say that he was impressed. The entire city was very sterile looking, a direct contrast to the grunginess of the Rukon district. He couldn't recall seeing anything like it while in his own world as well. All in all, it actually looked like what a utopian heavenly society should look like, even though Sasori knew better than that.

"Hurry up!" the brown-haired, plain-looking Shinigami named Kegami called to him and Sasori realized that his pace had slowed.

He quickened his pace, now walking directly behind the other and Kegami rolled his eyes before taking him through the front gates.

The courtyard was similar in design to the rest of the city, white, clean-looking, utilitarian. They passed through it quickly and arrived at what Sasori assumed was some sort of administrative office.

"We have one for an entrance exam," Kegami said to another shinigami that was sitting at a desk.

This shinigami had the 'teacher' air about her, her hair was neatly pinned back into a bun and she peered at the two of them from over a pair of square shaped spectacles.

"Name?" she asked, pulling out some forms and an ink brush from one of the drawers in her desk. Kegami turned his head to look at Sasori and raised an eyebrow that said 'well?'

"Sasori."

"Surname?" she asked, her nasally voice a little grating on the nerves.

"None."

Her eyes flicked up, but any surprise that might have been there passed too quickly for wither of the men to see and she continued.

"The next available time for the test is in thirty minutes. You will be tested on your capacity of spiritual energy and your ability to manipulate it. You will also be tested on general knowledge and your skill in hand-to-hand combat as well as swordsmanship so that we know what you're capable of and where we should place you."

"Are there any questions?" she finished reading from the paper in front of her and gave the red head an unimpressed look, one similar to all the others he had been recieving since he had stepped through the west gate.

"No," Sasori answered promptly, his stare matching hers.

"Very well then," she said. "Sign here and when you're finished you may step through that door over there. You'll be called in when the proctors are ready."

Sasori stepped forward and took the brush that was being handed to him. He signed his name quickly, with little flourish and set the brush back down onto the desk.

Kegami saw that there was no point in wishing the stoic young man any luck, so he waved goodbye to the other shinigami and he left. Sasori spared him a glance before he walked over to the door that the woman had indicated and opened it.

He was met with stark white room, another door on the other side and the walls lined with benches. He sat down on the one closest to the door he had just came through and prepared himself to do the one thing that he despised most. Waiting.