Disclaimer: I, do not, own bleach. Not before, not now, not ever.

Okay, so, technically, the exams start this chapter, but I don't like writing really long chapters.

Chapter 24: What's The Point Of Exams? Part 2

Ichigo woke up with a start, as his alarm beeped.

He looked at the time- 7:00. What? Isn't it still a little early?

He blinked. Oh, yeah. It's the graduation exams today.

Katsura turned around in his bed and looked at Ichigo.

"Good luck, Ichigo." he said blearily.

"I'll need it- my partner's Ayasaki." Ichigo said unhappily.

Katsura laughed and went straight back to sleep.

"Yeah, yeah." Ichigo grumbled. "You can sleep now, but you'll go through this in 5 year's time!"

1010101010

Ichigo walked through the hallways, reviewing possible questions for the written test in his head.

Um, let's see... the chant for the Hado #33 was...

Ichigo sighed and walked quickly to the rotunda, where everyone who was taking the test was supposed to gather at 7:30.

He entered the rotunda, where he was promptly shocked by the riduculous amount of people.

I didn't know that there was that many 6th years!

Now that he thought about it, there was many more classrooms for 6th years than other years.

I guess that the amount of people who can become shinigami has gone down, he thought, recalling the giant line of spirits who wanted to become shinigami at the start of the year.

"Eh hem." said Sougo-sensei, the principal, into a microphone.

The room quieted down a little.

"Please find your zanjutsu sensei, then stand in line there." Sougo-sensei yelled- into the microphone, resulting in a high-pitched screech coming from it.

All the students crouched down and covered their ears.

"Eh hem." the principal said again. "Find your zanjutsu sensei, then stand in line there."

There was an amount of hustling and bustling as all the students tried to find their teachers. Around 5 minutes later, everyone was in the proper place.

"Okay. Today, before we start the exams, we will be having a speech from Captain Abarai, of the 5th division." Sougo-sensei spoke into the microphone.

"Captain Abarai?" asked Sougo-sensei.

Renji, huh? I doubt his speech will be that good. Ichigo thought. Renji, let these academy students have their illusions about what a captain is like.

"Uh, yes." Renji grabbed the microphone, and placed a piece of paper on the podium.

You haven't even memorized your speech? Ichigo thought.

"Um, so I'm the Captain of the 5th Division, Abarai Renji." Renji said.

He glanced down at his paper. "When I was in the Academy, the graduation exams were much easier to pass."

That explains why he passed!

"While my zanjutsu skills were pretty good, my kidou skills weren't exactly perfect." Renji continued.

"More like, your kidou skills sucked!" Ichigo grinned and called out.

The students around Ichigo stared at him in shock. They were probably thinking something like, As expected of Kurosaki Ichigo.

Renji looked around and his eyes fell onto Ichigo. "Shut up, Ichigo!"

There was a lot of muttering among the skeptics who thought that Ichigo wasn't really Kurosaki Ichigo.

Usually, I wouldn't do something like this, but who cares? They're all going to find out at the graduation ceremony, anyhow. Ichigo thought.

"Anyways, " Renji said. "Even if you don't pass, don't worry about it! The rate of students who pass is going down every year, anyhow."

That fills us with so much confidence. Ichigo thought.

"So, try your best, and try not to die! You probably won't die, as the death rate is going down each year too." Renji continued.

Are you trying to make us give up? Ichigo wondered.

"Good luck!" Renji grinned and left the stage.

All the students had sweat-drops.

You definitely ruined their illusions, Ichigo thought.

"Anyways," Sougo-sensei picked up the microphone. "Let's start the exams!"

There was some cheering.

"Yoshimori-sensei's students, go to room A225." Sougo-sensei said. "Shishio-sensei's students, go to room A213."

Some of the students started to leave the rotunda.

"Kudou-sensei's students, go to room A207." Sougo-sensei continued.

Ichigo and his classmates left the rotunda.

1010101010

Ichigo stepped into the room A207 and sat down at one of the worn-down desks.

"Oi! You idiotic students!" the examiner stepped into the room.

Ichigo looked up.

"We're going to be starting the written test. The written test will be in three parts." the examiner slammed down a pile of paper on his desk.

"The first part is history, the second part is kidou, and the third part is zanjutsu." the examiner called out. "We couldn't think of any questions for hohou, so there isn't any questions about that."

The class sweat-dropped. Should an examiner be saying that?

"No talking, no cheating." the examiner continued. "If we hear you talk, you get an big fat 0 on your test. And although we can't fail you on this test, anyone who fails such a simple test should go through the Academy again."

The class relaxed at the prospect of a easy test.

"Okay, I'm going to hand out the tests now." the examiner retorted.

Ichigo looked down at his test and skimmed through it.

6 pages, huh? Two for each part. Ichigo thought.

"Okay. Start!" the examiner cried.

1010101010

Ichigo opened the booklet.

Part 1. History.

1. Who are the Vizards?

2. Why were Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi exiled from Soul Society?

3. Name two former captains.

4. What sort of experiments was Aizen Sousuke doing?

5. Why did Aizen Sousuke want Karakura Town?

6. When Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends broke into Soul Society, who did he fight first?

7. Explain what are Arrancar.

8...

Ichigo continued to answer the questions easily. The examiner was right- this is really easy. Well, then again, it's much easier since I experienced most of these questions.

Ichigo flipped to the next page.

Part 2. Kidou

1. Name the two types of kidou.

2. How many different kidou spells are there in all?

3. Write down the chants for:

a) Hado #1: Sho

b) Bakudou #39: Enkosen

c) Bakudou #32: Okasen

d) Hado #9: Horin

e) Hado #21: Sekienton

4. Write down the name of the kidou for the following chants:

a) Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!

b) Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain.

c) Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!

d) Walls of iron sand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end.

e) Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!

5...

Ichigo bit his pencil. Some of these questions were a bit difficult, but I think I got most of them right. Kidou is always going to be my worst subject.

He flipped the page to the last part.

Part 3. Zanjutsu

1. What are the two types of zanpakutou releases?

2. Scenario: You are stuck in the living world. Back-up is at least an hour away. You are surrounded by ten hollows, left and right, up and down. There is no escape. What do you do?

Ichigo grinned. Let's see...

A: I destroy them all with a Getsuga Tenshou.

Ichigo had to resist the urge to laugh.

1010101010

The examiner collected all the tests and put them into a machine.

Ichigo put up his hand. "Um, what's that?"

"That marks the tests. It was made by the 12th division." the examiner said. "Your marks should appear on that screen."

The screen blinked on. Yagami Raito- 100

"The marks are shown from best to worst." the examiner explained.

Kurogi Ichirou- 99

Hatake Sakura- 95

Ichigo looked at all the names. It seems like most people got a B, more or less.

Ayasaki Shinichi- 65

The class snickered, and Shinichi turned red.

The examiner clapped his hands. "Okay. The next part of the exam is in room A231."

"Dismissed!" he cried.

The class stood up and headed towards the room A231.

1010101010