Chapter 12 Extra change

AN: This chapter will be about changing the Seireitei and the Gotei 13, there will be no fights, no drama, no romance, no adventure, nothing but Ichigo ordering this and that. Thus this chapter may look short, or unnecessary to a minority of you, but trust me it is.

Morning

Slam!*

The doors of Yamamoto's office busted wide open, with Ichigo's kick high in the air.

" You! " He pointed to the person he was looking for. " You don't mind if I borrow him, do you? "

" Oh, don't worry, there isn't anything planned today, I can manage on my own. "

" Good, grab something to write on and follow me, this is gonna take a while. "

Poor young Sasakibe was confused as to what just happened. He turned to his superior wordlessly asking questions but the only answer was. " Well, on you go. "

Catching up to reality, the lieutenant was hit with the fact that the Shogun himself was asking for his assistance. He grabbed a ton of paper and a pen and ran out of the office, leaving one or two papers floating down.

Yamamoto, with half bandages left on him, continued his paperwork as if nothing important happened at all without a care in the world. As the leader of an army adaptation was useful, so yeah he got used to the illogical and unexpected actions of the Shogun.

The lieutenant of the first ran amidst the other members of the newly formed Gotei 13, hitting a few people by accident.

" Sorry. I'm sorry. *Bump* My bad! So sorry. Excuse me could I just- could you let me through? I just need- please- wait, ahhhhh! "

And being pulled by the current of Shinigami going in the opposite direction.

Finally, he squeezed out of the mass, with only half the papers left in his hands, hoping that it would be enough to satisfy the needs of the Shogun.

" Oh shit, I forgot! "

Remembering that someone of great importance was waiting for him, he flash-stepped as fast as he could and arrived at the platform where they were about to build the rumored portal leading to the living world, the Senkaimon. Right now it was a flat area with only a few stacks of yellow bricks ready to be used.

The Shogun was waiting in the middle of the place. Sasakibe stopped by Ichigo's right. Ichigo slowly turned his head from left to right and concluded by staring at nothing forward.

" Take notes. "

Remembering his duty Sasakibe took a pencil and placed his hands on the top of the sheet.

" Make three Senkaimon instead of one, twice the original planned size. "

Without asking why he wrote every word with the speed of a veteran and experienced paperwork skills.

The Shogun continued. " The arcs around the platform, replace their materials and construct with the ones similar to the Senkaimon, don't put the Dangai mechanism inside, call them the Minor Senkaimons. Make three larger white Senkaimon and call them the Main Senkaimon, and do the reverse, put the mechanism in them, and use the planned materials. "

" …Main…Senkaimon…materials. " The lieutenant looked up only to notice that his superior was already behind him leaving the place.

Sasakibe followed up. " Hum. Sir, Kurosaki, Shogun, sama- "

" Call me however you want. Right now I'm just here to change some things, not to order others. But please do call me properly whenever I'm in a serious mood. "

" …Kurosaki-sama? " Sasakibe tried.

" Yes? "

" Well- Oh sorry. " Sasakibe kept getting distracted and bumped into someone. The Shogun was going near the First but wasn't going for it.

" Why do you want those changes? Especially for the Senk- Main Senkaimons? "

" In the future, the Main Senkaimons will become a path around our universe only, a way to travel and communicate thus the need to change its size. However, the Minor Senkaimons will be portals leading to a battlefield for a massive group and different locations at the same time thus the large quantity, all of this beyond our universe. "

" What do you mea- "

" That's classified. "

The gray-haired man sealed his lips, it was already enough to be told the function of those Senkaimon, although he didn't understand anything he just heard.

As they stopped the youngest identified the environment. Their current location was at the base of the giant hill, before them they were, just in time, finished stairs.

Ichigo seemed to be staring at the base, not at the hill but rather the material. " 9 pm, I want you and Yamamoto here alone, keep this a secret. "

He mentally noted instead of physically. Whatever it will be, it must be of great importance.

" Alright. " Ichigo walked back to another destination in mind, the lieutenant followed him. " While we walk, tell me about the laws of Soul Society. "

Sasakibe thought about the book he read, but… He stopped and bowed down as low as he could. " Pardon me, Kurosaki-sama. " He couldn't remember most of it. He barely finished the god damn dictionary.

" It's alright, go fetch the book, I can wait here. " He answered, crossing his arms.

In astonishment, Sasakibe looked up body still parallel to the ground. " But how could I- "

" If you don't want to waste my time you better hurry. " He interrupted in a non-aggressive tone.

Sasakibe disappeared like a ghost.

Ichigo just chuckled. He was used to this so he knew how to skip the all 'how I could possibly do that to you' formalities.

A few seconds later the lieutenant was back with a book with the thickness of an actual foot and the length of a forearm. Sasakibe opened the book and held it with one arm while holding a pencil to write. He spoke to clarify where he would write. " There are plenty of copies of this book, moreover it would help me to note the change you want below the law that you speak of. "

Ichigo nodded. " Alright. " He turned back and continued to walk. " What are the most important laws set by C46? "

" Oh um well… " The silver-haired Shinigami licked his finger and turned many pages. " Ah, there. The first one is… " He spoke the first one, then the second, and continued onward. Although he wanted to stop because the more he spoke the more the face of the Shogun lost his smile and sharpened his brown eyes.

Until he had enough. " Stop. " There was no smile at all.

Sasakibe jumped at the tone in his voice, he sealed his lips, sweat and fear rolling down his face, but he continued to walk behind Ichigo.

" Change them all. "

The youngest slowed down by the confusion but immediately picked up his pace. " Why? "

" Because some of them don't leave the affected party a chance at all and force them to abide by the rules. What if they didn't have a choice? What about their circumstances? "

" But- pardon me but, we can't be lenient on everyone. "

" And we can't be merciless to everyone. All I just heard are laws against the guilty, but I didn't hear any that protected the innocent. We need to be strict on criminals and merciful on the victim, else if people caught wind that we were strict on anyone, a child for example, then we will have the citizens against us, if we show that we are just and fair then they will see us in a better light. And right now we really need that as they only see us as barbarians who established themselves as the government. "

As the word got through his head, Sasaskibe thought of how the animosity against the Shinigami was not something to be ignored and if not taken care could ignite a civil war. Something the majority of the Shinigami that came from the Rukongai didn't want, but something the citizens feared would happen.

" Did Yamamoto tell you about the example I gave him? "

" Yes, he told me."

Ichigo looked back staring at him. " As his lieutenant, I'm sure you have seen something similar. "

He looked down a bit ashamed. " I can't say that I haven't. " The Rukongai was like a battlefield with no sides, only the means to survive and to kill without anything stopping anyone.

Ichigo looked forward. " Then you can see that while we carry the law, it does not mean that we are not in the wrong. "

Sasakibe looked away. " You're probably rig- "

" And just because I am the Shogun doesn't mean I am always right. It is better to acknowledge others and say 'I might be wrong, I might be right' than to force others without listening and say 'I am always right'. If you are wrong, then you learn something and you become better, but if you're always right then what's the point of peace, of evolution? "

In those words, Sasakibe understood why Yamamoto said that the Shogun was wiser than any other. " Then what kind of change would you like to make? " Back to the topic.

A manipulative smile made itself known on Ichigo's face. " Above all laws, this one will apply to the C46. "

Sasakibe swallowed, wondering what he would write that would affect those bastards.

" If all captains and the CC are against an order from the C46 then it will be for the Captains and CC to change the order for whatever matter it is about. The same can be said if they request something and the C46 denies them, they can also cancel a denial. "

Now Sasakibe wrote that with pure bliss. This manipulating smile was here because the Shogun was going to separate the Gotei 13 from C46 so that those mummies would be incapable of controlling the Shinigami to their liking.

As they continued to walk, Sasakibe wrote and went through pages more times than he could remember. But the results were as follows.

The Gotei 13 has control of the Academy, the Kido Corp, and the Onmitsukido, they obey the Soul King and the Shogun but are not controlled by the Central 46. The Central 46 has for objective to always strive towards the life of the Rukongai and has to keep the nobles in check and obey the Soul King and the Shogun but is not controlled by the Gotei 13.

The Central 46 and the Gotei 13 are both judges, jury, and executioners when going through a fair trial. If one of those forces is fully against the other's judgment, a debate will be held with all the Captains and the six judges. If both forces are fully against each other, the SK or the Shogun will be called to be a tie-breaker after hearing both opinions.

All matters related to the Living World will be taken care of by the SK or the Shogun. That law is not permanent.

Both of those forces will have a mission to strive for the betterment of the Rukongai, meaning protection, health, a suitable living, etc. C46 more than the Gotei 13.

The rest of the laws will be discussed between the Shogun and the Kuchiki.

In the eyes of someone like Sasakibe who lived in the Rukongai, those laws would change everything, and they were fair. Aside from the SK and the Shogun, nobody had an advantage.

" Kurosaki-sama, what- "

" We have arrived. "

The young lieutenant completely forgot that they had a destination and were not walking aimlessly. They were greeted by the sight of wide-open doors leading to a brand new Academy. It is after all the first structure to be built and finished. Today there were no students or teachers or staff, the place was empty. Nevertheless, they entered it and walked in quiet corridors.

Now Sasakibe was more than curious. The Academy. The Shinigami industry. What could be changed?

" The most important. "

The silver-haired fellow looked at the orange-haired fellow, who was already looking at him.

' Did he just- '

" Yes, I did. " Ichigo turned forward, leaving a stunned Sasakibe behind. Fortunately, the young man got his mind back on track and caught up to him.

His superior entered a classroom, went to the front, and looked at the many seats where the students were supposed to be.

" Strength. "

" What? " Asked a confused lieutenant.

" To make sure that we never become weak, we either keep our strength constant or we aim for further heights. " After answering, Ichigo went to the very back of the classroom and started his long explanation while randomly walking between the seats.

Sasakibe noted for a very, very long time, and this was the result.

Nothing changed about how people will be judged regarding their abilities. What changed was after that.

The first year will introduce the four Shinigami arts and physical training, the second will introduce the Seireitei and the mission a Shinigami must do as well as politics and history, and the third will introduce battle training to prepare the students of the danger they will be facing. The first three years are for basic training and information, the other three years will be spent for advance training and for the students to choose a squad and train depending on the squad. Why that was there Sasakibe suspected that the rumors about the divisions having different functions are true.

Furthermore, for the last year, classes will be sent to four different missions with unseated officers difficulty, one on each season, and the students are expected to fail the two or three missions and in the end, will be helped by their guide, they will be secretly overseen by many seated officers to evaluate them and in case something goes wrong. It was to make sure that the students wouldn't rest on their laurels and would see what awaits them if they didn't take their mission seriously.

After that the Shogun changed the training program so that after graduating each student must gain their Shikai, mastery over it is not accounted, they need to possess decent abilities in all the four arts, up to the forties for Kido, enough Kaido to stop bleedings, some hand to hand combat in case they lose their weapons and a good Shunpo.

Unfortunately, this kind of requirement is currently impossible, so the difficulty of the program will be raised slowly so that in less than a millennium, possibly a minimum of 6 centuries, those requirements will be met.

What is very surprising is that the Shogun took into account those who have talents or are prodigies. Whatever they excel at they will receive even harder training in this domain, rendering those geniuses on equal standing to their comrades in terms of hard training, making it impossible to skip a year but they won't be held back either. Same for those who have problems, they will receive help.

The reason why the Gotei 13 control the Academy is that all the students cannot use their social standings, meaning any noble child that uses his family for his own benefits will be punished and said family will be punished as well depending on the severity of their action. Also, when the students obtain Shikai they can ask for help and will be guided to a full-fledged Shinigami that have similar abilities or weapons and will be taught basics and or given advice before forging their own fighting style.

Even more is that after the first year, students are allowed to have small jobs given by the Gotei 13 to earn pocket money, like cleaning, cooking, and helping in the Rukongai, things like that.

And lastly, the Shogun added a competitive spirit to the students, giving them some motivation he said. A top 13 in power and knowledge for all years for those that want a certain squad to pay them some attention and duels are authorized from the second year to last as long as a teacher is overseeing the fight. Probably to replace bullying.

The way the Shogun said it makes it seem as if he just thought of that on the spot.

" And… done. "

" You can take care of the groundwork now. "

Sasakibe looked up from his notes. " Really? You don't need me anymore? "

The Shogun came up to him and patted his shoulder while speaking. " That's a lot of work to do, furthermore I have some work of my own. " He went past him, opened the door, and before going out of the classroom he looked at the confused lieutenant. " Well? On you go. " And left.

As Ichigo continued to walk, he heard a lot of noise behind him.

Specifically, he heard some running and yelling. " Make an appointment with the Principal, the Kido members responsible for the Senkaimon, and a representative of the C46. And get me four cups of coffee! NOW! " And he saw a Hell Butterfly passing him, flapping his little wings.

Ichigo kept his smile.


Noon

The doors opened.

" I'm back. "

Yamamoto looked up from the only paper left on his desk. Ichigo walked in. " I hope Sasakibe was of great help to you. By the way, where is he? "

" Oh, he was very helpful, and don't worry he's doing the homework I gave him. I need another thing to change but I didn't want to give your lieutenant too much work. "

" But of course. " Opening a drawer and taking a blank sheet and setting the other one aside, the Captain Commander readied himself.

But he sharpened his attention when the Shogun dropped his smile. " From the 20th seat to the third seat, the Shinigami is to be evaluated on his skills respecting the squad's function with some decent experience on the battlefield. They must also have a decent mastery over their Shikai and started training for Bankai. However, the lieutenant and Captain positions can only be evaluated on leadership, ability, and experience. The lieutenant must have obtained his Bankai and the Captain must have a decent mastery over it. "

" But what if- "

Ichigo left him no chance to speak. " The lieutenants, and any other officer, need to be able to handle their division without a Captain. We cannot just put anyone just because we're missing a Captain, it would only weaken all of the Gotei 13. If some Captains want someone to be a Captain they must meet the requirements first before allowing them. "

Yamamoto contemplated and he could see that it would be beneficial for them in the long term. He sighed. " I understand. "

Ichigo nodded and continued. " To become a lieutenant, one must go on a solo mission of mid-lieutenant difficulty with one objective, while also being secretly supervised by a Captain of another division or myself if I have the chance. This objective will challenge their abilities and their capacity to survive and adapt. The results should be a gain of experience and a change of perspective regarding their view of power, responsibility, war, and so on. The Captain can only interfere if the candidate is dying or about to be killed. After passing or failing the test they can rest for a necessary period of time, set by the Captain of the 4th after being examined by said Captain so that they could rest, heal and ponder on what they lived through. "

Even as he wrote this, the Captain Commander worried over the difficulty of the test, trail would be a better term to describe this. Again, he saw the benefits in the long term, but now? Now it was too early, they were not ready and, if Yamamoto understood correctly, they had yet to travel to another world. Heck, they didn't even go to the living world yet…

But the warrior inside of him was excited. With these conditions the lieutenants would be experienced fighters beyond his expectations, even surpassing the old Divisions.

" One last thing. "

The leader forgot his duty and the presence of his superior. He looked up from his notes, waiting for Ichigo to finish.

" Teamwork. "

Ichigo left the word sink and waited for Yamamoto to guess what he wanted.

It didn't take half a minute for the youngest of the two to widen his eyes a bit in understanding. " You want the squads to work together. " The only response he got was a nod and silence, so Yamamoto guessed Ichigo wanted more. With more time to think he got to formulate his answer. " To have better understanding, teamwork, and companionship, the Shinigamis must work together not just among their division but also between other divisions, the Gotei 13 will then achieve perfect unity. "

Ichigo's smile widened a bit. His new student was already mentally evolving. " Correct. While some divisions have a domain of work of their own it doesn't mean they cannot receive help from the others, there will also be missions that don't specifically require a certain squad and ones where a specific group of individuals with different skill sets is needed. "

The example wasn't meant to be noted but Yamamoto did nonetheless because it was a good example.

" That is all. " Ichigo turned and started to walk towards the wall at Yamamoto's left. " I'll let you take care of all of this and I'll see you tonight. " He waved before disappearing within the shadows on the wall.

As he looked at the fading shadows he had to ask himself. " What did he mean tonight? "

The doors of his office opened and his lieutenant came back with two other officers, all supporting a large weight of papers that was slammed on his desk.

The two officers left and his lieutenant put one hand on one of the three stacks, lowered his head to the level of his Captain Commander and he pointed at him. " We have a secret meeting at 9pm. "

The words didn't register at first because Yamamoto noticed something else instead.

" How many cups did you have? "

Sasakibe didn't change his tired expression or the position of his finger.

" ...7 or 8? I lost count. "

The shogun might become their death.


9pm, Base of the Sokyoku Hill

Right on time.

The Lieutenant and his Captain Commander were waiting, watching the starless sky, and behind them stood the Sokyoku Hill. The few memories people had contained a night with many stars. Why didn't the Soul King replicate them? No one knew.

Although Yamamoto had the simple idea to ask his new teacher later. It was a teacher's duty to help the student after all.

Also, Sasakibe had enough rest.

" Not too cold? "

Already used to the non-existential presence of the Shogun, only one of them casually looked behind while the other quickly turned in surprise.

Ichigo waved at them to follow him as he began to walk around the mountain. They followed him with questions on their mind but no doubt could be felt in their steps. As they walked they went past the pavement and into the small forest area. The two youngest gazed upon a double wooden door that wasn't in the schematics. The oldest opened the doors and traveled within a tunnel leading down to a place that wasn't there before and couldn't have been built in less than a day by one normal soul.

A massive cave with light that came out of nowhere welcomed them. Spreading their senses the depth of this place was wide enough to fill a large group of people.

" This is a secret training ground. I will lead people there so that they can train in secret or alone, mostly for Bankai, and my permission to either use it or to tell someone about it is needed. But in the future, the reason to use it would vary even more and I'll probably allow Captains and lieutenants to use it. "

They looked in wonder. The ceiling was so high up, that the land was filled with hills. And Yamamoto, having sharper senses than his lieutenant, swore he could hear the sound of water somewhere.

" But that's not what we're here for. "

" WHAAAAAT?! " Said the two pure Shinigami.

How could that be possible? There was a huge underground training that was built in less than half a day, meant for Bankai training, capable of resisting multiple Captain class fighters. And that was not the reason for their presence here!?

The Shogun went back towards the tunnel, and they followed him before looking at the vast space one last time. They didn't get very far, Ichigo stopped one step away from the tunnel at the right and lifted both of his hands.

He performed a hand sign.

" I shake my hand to the dark that holds the secret in this territory. "

His voice echoed, a small breeze lifted his haori. Then another hand sign.

" I pray to the earth that hides the treasure below human life. "

A white kanji 鍵 that stood for Key appeared in front of him the size of his palm. Then the last hand sign.

" I bow to the shield that protects civilization from the foreign heavens. Let me come to you, let me praise you, and open the door for me so that I could meet you. "

As if coming to life, the darkness at the end of the tunnel spread everywhere, absorbing the earth but stopped at the corners, never entering the big room or passing the one using whatever this Kido was. He never canceled his hand sign.

Complete darkness. Like there was a hole leading to the abyss.

The Shogun separated his hands and with his right, he closed it on the kanji and reopened it to place his palm on the wall to his right.

For two seconds nothing happened. Then on the right and left, a series of torches fixed on an invisible wall lit up some staircase carved in stone leading down in a spiral.

Ichigo left his palm off the wall, the kanji was glued to it. He was the first to go in before looking at the two others. With a smirk he said. " Pretty nice, huh? " Then he started his descent.

The faces of the observers were jaws wide open, arms hanging and loose, and eyes wide open with one similar thought in mind.

' That was some cool Kido. '

Yamamoto made it to the top of his list to ask him to teach him that.

Not wanting to get left behind they followed him deep into the unknown.

They continued downstairs for a while until their feet landed on a camel platform made of stone. The torches stopped at the end of the staircase but one small electric blue light could be seen not far away. It came from an orb on a round pedestal holding it at a height of 5 meters. As they walked closer to it the two normal Shinigami noticed that the orb was larger than it seems, with a radius of 4 meters at least. And that the light was small and dim within the orb.

" Everyone thinks that there will be a barrier around the Seireitei that will protect. " Ichigo said, looking at the orb.

The two others knew that there was more, after witnessing so much they just knew that the Shogun had more in reserve.

" This orb will maintain the barrier but the barrier has more than just physical protection. It can stop dimensional travel that is not recognized, anything other than the Senkaimon will be sent back to the location of the departure. "

Sasakibe was amazed at the tool before him, it was obvious that it was the Shogun that built such a tool. The mechanics behind it must be complex, too complex for any Kido master or scientists within their ranks.

But Yamamoto knew that there was more so he didn't look surprised at all and waited for bigger news.

He didn't have to wait for long.

" All structures within the barrier and registered in the orb will be automatically reconstructed. "

Now that was some big news.

By curiosity and still amazement, the silver-haired man asked. " Would anything be rebuilt instantly? "

Ichigo answered while shaking his head. " No. " He turned his back to the orb and looked at the others. " The time it takes to rebuild depends on the damage. But I'll give you an example. Imagine if the Seireitei was laid to ruin. "

They couldn't help but be afraid of how it would come to that.

" It would take a year for everything to be fixed back. "

In the life of a soul, a year was nothing, and this man was saying that this sphere could fix whatever damage happened. There was just no way to describe this.

" Is that why the orb is not fully lit, because the Seireitei has yet to be finished? "

" Good observation, my student. Yes, if a new building is added it needs to be finished and registered. The orb can only fix the infrastructure, doors, walls, pillars, and ceilings. However the furniture is not registered, it either changes or is moved all the time. "

" How does it work? " The lieutenant was just too curious and in desperate need to understand.

" The world is made of Reishi and the Seireitei is like a puzzle with each structure as a piece. Every time a wall is destroyed a piece of the puzzle is moved out of place, the orb then sets it back. "

It sounded simple. But they knew that making a structure a 'piece of a puzzle' was not. The time, the knowledge, the number of tests, they couldn't imagine all of it.

" The only structure that cannot be fixed is the Senkaimon. The mechanisms and the connection to another world or to the void aren't made of Reishi. The arcs will be there but they will be empty, the Kido will need to be placed again. Plus, if the structures are erased or change in their physical state then they cannot be restored. For example, if the wood were to burn and reduce to ash it won't be put back together. "

The Captain Commander noticed something. What if the Senkaimon was destroyed while being used. " Sensei, if- "

" Any allies going out of the Soul Society will arrive at the destination they were supposed to go, any enemies going in will be considered as not a Senkaimon and will return to the place they came from. If someone were trying to open a Senkaimon in an emergency they would arrive somewhere in the 50th district. "

Yamamoto closed his mouth, everything was secured.

" It's still gonna cost you a lot. "

Sasakibe asked first. " How so? "

" Furniture, food, clothing, resources like water and wood, etc. All of these changes every now and then, it changes types and places. If we lose a storage house, the house gets repaired but what was inside doesn't. "

" Aaah. " Even after getting an answer, the lieutenant was curious enough, he really had a lot of curiosity, to ask other minor questions.

" How vast is the room? "

" Not much, a few meters. "

" But we can't even see the walls or the roof or how deep it goes. " Sasakibe went to like at the side of the platform to take a look.

Bonk*

The poor fella took a few steps back, hands on his nose.

Ichigo turned his body to him with a dumb face with a dumb smile as if he was answering an obvious question in a jovial tone. " The walls are just painted in black obviously. "

" … "

That face and answer took them by surprise. But Yamamoto understood that in the future he was allowed to ask simple questions like that.

" Now that you don't have anything else to ask, let's get back up. I am going to teach you both the Kido to have access to this place. "

' Yes! '


3 hours later, Captain Commander's office

The doors of the office opened.

A normal-looking Ichigo came in first, walking towards the desk, followed by two dead-tired-looking Shinigami.

" Continue to try this Kido, don't worry about any failure you won't suffer any backlash. "

Incapable of communication, they gave an answer sounding more like a growl. They slowly walked to the only couch in the room.

Ichigo turned back to them, ignoring the state of his subordinates. " That will be all for today, I haven't finished my tasks yet so I will come back later. " He opened a Gargantua behind him and jumped in. " Goodbye! " And he was gone.

That was the cue for the two others to drop dead on the couch in undescribable positions.

Yamamoto thought of the same thing at noon.

The Shogun will be their death.

To Be Continued

" Forgot to tell you: Comments with as much detail as possible. "