His footsteps never faltered even as his hearing picked up on the wave of hushed whispers his entrance had caused. He continued his walk – though it was more akin to a prowl – across the now nearly silent mess hall until he arrived at his destination.

Those present broke into even more whispers as they all noticed where he had stopped.

Inclining his head, he queried in his distinguished tone,

"You sent for me, Kayaba-sensei?"

Blinking up at his favorite student, Kayaba Jun broke out into a wide and slightly manic smile, which only served to further the interest of all the spectators and eavesdroppers. In an overly cheerful tone, which he knew would annoy his student, he responded,

"Yup, Kuro-chan, there's somebody who wants to meet you."

Ignoring the muffled chuckles of the other teachers seated at the teacher's table, he fought down the scowl that threatened to break across his face, managing to suppress it into a brief grimace of irritation instead. And judging by the sudden twinkle in his infernal teacher's eyes, the expression had been noticed.

Finally just sighing at the exasperating man-child, he simply said,

"Then lead the way, Kayaba-sensei."

Pouting at not getting a more noticeable reaction from the irritated boy, Jun rose to his feet and began to make his way out of the hall, making sure to delay their exit by avoiding the straight path towards the door, and instead weaving this way and that in between the various tables. With his back to the steadily angrier younger man, he didn't bother to hide his slowly widening smile as increasingly potent waves of harmful intent began to emanate from somewhere behind him.

Just as he felt that his tag along was about to reach his limit, he suddenly vanished with a burst of speed, causing some of the younger students to yelp in shock as they completely lost track of him. Swiftly refocusing on the teen that had been left behind, they only just had time to take in the slightly evil glint in his eyes before he too vanished in an even greater burst of speed, moving so fast that the doors at the exit slammed into the wall seconds after he had departed.

Turning his head as he felt a sudden presence near him, he allowed his satisfaction to show as he took in the surprise cast to Jun's face at finding out that he had been beaten to his office.

With a nearly hidden smug smile, he stated,

"Ah, you're finally here, Kayaba-sensei."

Twitching as the teen dug the knife in deeper, he pouted and prepared to complain about being mocked, when the door to his office slid open and the visitor stepped outside.

As he saw his student's eyes widen in visible surprise when the person's white haori became apparent, he decided that that was payback enough.

Though she was one of the fastest women alive, she never bothered to stop herself from showing up late for things like this. Besides, if anyone asked, she would just flash her eyes at them and blame it on Kisuke.

Pushing the door open, Yoruichi tried to avoid drawing attention to herself as she made her way to her designated place in the lineup of captains. A small trickle of sweat running down her face in the suddenly too warm room let her know that the old geezer with his closed eyes was focused on her, even though he seemed to be sleeping.

With a wide grin on her dark face, she flounced into line and opened her mouth to begin making excuses when she was cut off by the sound of the Captain Commander's cane hitting the floor.

Pouting as she subsided, she turned her focus on the old man as he began to speak,

"This captain's meeting has now begun. The main thing for us to discuss is the upcoming Academy Graduation."

The captains of the Third, Fifth, Eighth, and Thirteenth divisions perked up in visible interest, causing the captain of the Sixth, Kuchiki Ginrei, to chuckle in amusement.

Ignoring the antics of his captains, Yamamoto continued, no doubt getting to the part that actually was of interest,

"This year, we have someone graduating after only one year…Kurosaki Ichigo."

A scoff from Yoruichi had a few captains turning their eyes to her, just as she commented,

"He's still going on about that? Honestly, the boy is a Shiba if I ever saw one."

Having heard something about what Yoruichi was talking about, Ukitake Jūshirō merely shook his head at her words, before turning his attention back to his former master.

"At this point, I will trust that those captains who want to, have already made offers to Kurosaki, as well as any other students set to graduate this month."

Seeing that there were no objections to his words, he moved on to the next item on the agenda; the other squad assignments.

Ichigo sighed in weary amusement as he once more heard the whispers of the students who had gathered to watch the last part of the Graduation exams for the advanced students.

Since the students on the advanced track were few in number – a mere five – the Academy had seen fit to allow all the students spectate, along with the Captains and their lieutenants who had deigned to attend.

They had just completed the Zanjutsu and Hakuda portions of the exam, hence the whispering and pointing currently going on.

Honestly, Ichigo thought to himself, if they had wanted the matches to last longer than fifteen seconds they should have put me up against someone higher than a sixth seat.

Sighing once more as he heard the announcement for the beginning of the Hohō part of the test, he stepped forward with the rest of the advanced students – the second youngest of whom was in Year Four.

Lining up and facing the podium upon which the Captain Commander sat, flanked by every captain in the Gotei 13 except one, they awaited their instructions for the next test.

Ichigo allowed his eyes to rest on a spot to the side just as, with a subtle pulse of reiatsu, they all found themselves facing the purple haired Goddess of Flash.

On the podium, Kyōraku, who had noticed the direction of Ichigo's focus, raised an eyebrow in interest as he leaned forward to better observe the orange haired prodigy. Beside, him, his best friend and his lieutenant also mirrored his action, though he believed that Kaien's scrutiny was more as a result of the uncanny resemblance between himself and the First Year student.

With a slightly frightening grin on her face, Yoruichi held up five blue ribbons and one orange ribbon, before she began to speak into the suddenly silent exam arena,

"Each of you will be given one of these blue ribbons and you will pin it to your lapel. I will do the same. The goal of this test is simple: The timer will start counting down from 10 minutes, during which time, you will attempt to steal my ribbon from me. However, if you lose your ribbon, you are out. Likewise, if the timer runs out before any of you succeed, then the exam is over. You will be graded on your mastery of Shunpō and the sheer ability you demonstrate during this exercise. You are not allowed to attack anyone in this arena during the course of the exam. Other than that, all bets are off. Now, if there are no more questions, come forward and receive a ribbon then take up a starting position anywhere in the arena."

Once all five ribbons had been received and pinned to their lapels, Yoruichi turned to the Captain Commander, who slammed his cane into the ground, starting off the counter, and subsequently, the exam.

In a flash of orange and black, Yoruichi was gone from their fields of vision, before she materialized next to the participant in Year Four. His eyes widened as he threw himself back, cutting it so close that her fingers brushed against his own ribbon.

With a cackle, she vanished again, and taking that as their cue, four of the students blurred into respective Shunpō, trying valiantly to catch up to the Second Division Captain.

Chuckling at his best friend's antics, Kisuke turned his attention back to the arena floor once his hearing picked up on whispers coming from the students spectating.

He felt his eyebrows rising in surprise as his eyes landed on a calmly standing Kurosaki Ichigo.

The whispering got so loud that it drew the attentions of some of the participants to his stationary form, causing two of them to nearly run into each other as they flitted about in pursuit of their target.

Yoruichi, who had never lost sight of the orange haired teen suddenly materialized beside him with one hand resting casually on his shoulders while the other thrust towards his ribbon.

Just as she was a hair's breadth away, he suddenly disappeared from his standing position, moving so fast that only the captains and lieutenants present could follow him…moving so fast that the Fifth year student who had been charging from behind couldn't halt in time.

With a jerk, the student tripped over her feet as she fought to prevent a collision with Yoruichi.

She needn't have bothered.

Just as her head would have impacted against the captain's ample chest, she felt a butterfly soft touch on her own chest, before she finished falling.

Into the sudden silence, Yoruichi raised a blue ribbon and said,

"Better luck next time girlie."

With a dejected slump in her shoulders, the ribbon-less student made her way out.

And then there were four.

The biggest of the four remaining students, a Fifth Year boy named Tsubaki Kenichi, narrowed his eyes as he watched his girlfriend leave the arena. Focusing on the now stationary Ichigo, he allowed a momentary flash of rage to mar his features before he smoothed it out.

Up on the podium, Kaien narrowed his eyes and turned to his Captain who cut him off,

"I saw it, Kaien, but there is nothing to be done just yet."

Gritting his teeth, Kaien subsided as he watched the match resume. Though the kid had kept on denying it, Kaien and everyone back home were pretty convinced that Ichigo was a Shiba, even if he couldn't remember his family; and Shibas always protected their own.

Ichigo, who had been following Yoruichi's progress with his keen eyes, suddenly twisted to the side as a gust of wind blew past him.

Focusing on the source of the disturbance, he met the livid eyes of the Fifth Year male student. Sighing as he interpreted the anger mixed with jealousy he saw there, he prepared to defend himself.

The spectators, noticing what was happening, immediately focused on the two as both Ichigo and Kenichi began to flit from place to place, seemingly playing their own special form of keep away.

Ichigo slowed himself down enough for Kenichi to think that he was keeping up, and just as he felt a hand brush his shoulder, he suddenly black flipped while in the middle of a flash step, leaving him facing the visibly startled Kenichi for an instant, before physics reasserted itself and Kenichi blew past him.

Landing lightly on his feet with his back to the now stationary Fifth Year boy, he raised a blue ribbon, causing the crowd to break up into cheering and Kenichi to growl as he looked down to his ribbon-less chest.

Raising his eyes, he met the mocking gaze of the Second Division Captain, who magnanimously bowed him towards the exit.

With ill grace, he stomped his way out of the arena.

And then there were three.

With only three minutes left on the clock, Yoruichi stepped things up, causing a slight amount of fear in the other two participants when it became apparent that she had not been taking things seriously before.

In two minutes, she added two more ribbons to her collection, leaving only Ichigo in the running.

As one, they turned to face each other across the field, prompting everyone watching to keep silent as the two sized up the other.

With a smirk, Yoruichi cocked her hips and said,

"I'll tell you what. Just because you have managed to last so long, let's make this interesting… One shot; we move towards each other at the same time and try to steal the other's ribbon in one shot."

The spectators were completely silent as Ichigo considered her suggestion, before he nodded his agreement.

Everyone watching just about held their breath as the two leaned forward in preparation, before suddenly launching forward at some unseen signal.

In a fraction of a second, they had each traversed the arena, leaving them now standing with their backs to each other where their respective opponent had once stood.

As one, they both slowly turned to face each other.

A smile suddenly broke onto Yoruichi's face as she held up a blue ribbon, causing the students to groan in disappointment as it became clear she had won.

Before they could begin to applaud Ichigo for his effort, a smirk suddenly blossomed on his face, before he too raised his hand, causing Yoruichi's eyes to widen as she took in the item he was holding.

It was not a ribbon.

Just as the spectators were getting confused, they all received their answer as her purple hair was suddenly let down in the absence of the ribbon she had used to keep it back.

After a moment of shocked silence, the crowd of students burst out into raucous cheers, surging to their feet as they all laughed at Ichigo's mischievous act. Most of the captains didn't even bother hiding their smiles as they saw Yoruichi's stunned face.

Beside his grandfather, Kuchiki Byakuya allowed a pleased smile to grow on his face as he thought to himself,

Justice

On the podium, blue eyes observed the smug orange haired boy as the crowd continued to cheer him on.

It is nice to see, their owner mused, that he can still have fun.

Ichigo watched his fellow student go up against the next gauntlet as he too awaited his turn.

Even now as they were on the final part of the exams – the Kidō test – he could feel the eyes of some of the captains and their lieutenants on him. He didn't have to look to know that Kaien was one of the one's watching him.

Well, he could hardly say anything about it, given his performance during the Hohō portion of the exam.

Dragging his focus back to the arena, he watched as Kenichi intoned incantation after incantation as he destroyed the various targets in the shooting range. Though he wasn't doing too badly, it was clear for all to see that Kidō was not his strong suit – an opinion further strengthened by the fact that it was no secret that Kenichi wanted into the Eleventh.

Finally, his exam ground to a close as he panted out the last incantation for a Hadō #31, leaving only a few scorch marks on the last target since he was out of energy.

Now, it was Ichigo's turn.

Steeping out and walking to the center of field where he stood facing the row of targets arrayed at the end of the arena, Ichigo took in a deep breath as he waited for the signal to start.

Up on the podium, Urahara Kisuke turned to the Captain Commander with a silent question in his eyes.

With a grunt, the old man slammed his cane on the ground, garnering the attention of all present. With his gravelly voice, he spoke, plunging the whole arena into chaos with his words,

"As it has rarely been done in the past, a request has been made for this participant to be judged on the most advanced level for this test. Kurosaki Ichigo, are you ready?"

With a respectful bow towards the old man, Ichigo's gaze snapped up as another slam of the cane marked the beginning of his test, as well as served to quiet the explosion of voices his announcement had caused.

Immediately, a lone target sprang up in front of him, followed by one directly behind him, and then two more on either side, making it look like he was the center of a compass with its four cardinal points marked by targets.

With a suddenly focused gaze, he began, his voice ringing clear and strong through the air,

Hadō #4: Byakurai

For a split second nothing seemed to be happening and people began to wonder why Ichigo had not taken the appropriate stance, before, with a sudden spike of reiatsu, a lightning bolt exploded from the air in front of his chest.

It was not alone.

Eyes widened across the stands as three more bolts of lightning leapt away from him, two to either side, and one behind him.

With the boom of thunder, they each struck their targets and pulverized them, leaving only small chunks of stone.

Immediately, without wasting any time whatsoever, eight targets sprang up; four where the destroyed targets had once stood, with four more occupying the intercardinal points.

While the spectators were still reeling from his actions, he began a new incantation,

"Ye Lord, mask of blood and flesh, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and Pandemonium. Upon this sinless wall, march on to the South! Hi Rendan #1" (Fire Barrage No. 1)

Four red balls of fire sprang into existence around him with each one facing one cardinal direction. Then, four similar blue balls of energy materialized, pointed in the intercardinal directions.

With a roar of sound, the four red balls were launched towards their respective targets, while a burst of searing blue flames exploded from each of the blue balls, also unerringly aimed towards their own targets.

Once the resulting explosion and sound died down, all that were left of the targets were molten rock and shards littered about.

By this point, the crowd was going wild as Ichigo displayed never before seen Kidō combinations on such a powerful scale, while up on the podium, some Captains were only just regaining their composure after witnessing his prodigious talent.

Quiet returned as the damaged targets were removed from the arena, only to have confusion spark up as only one target rose up at the end of the field, facing Ichigo.

Before anything could be said, the human shaped mannequin raised its flat arm and pointed it at Ichigo.

The tense silence was shattered as a surge of lightening leapt at the orange haired student.

Immediately, Ichigo acted.

His left hand came up with his palm facing the approaching attack, and then a large spinning disk of condensed reiatsu flared to life, easily negating the attack. Meanwhile, his right hand also came up with his first two fingers pointed at the target. Wordlessly, a replica of the attack which had been launched at him – though on a far more powerful scale – exploded from his fingertips, screeching across the distance between the two of them.

A second before it would have hit, a stone wall suddenly sprang up before the target, shielding it from the approaching attack.

The spectators watched on, wondering what Ichigo would do.

He did not disappoint.

Abruptly stretching his pointed fingers apart, everyone watched as the formerly single beam of lightening split into two slightly thinner ropes, which then proceeded to execute sharp turns an instant before they would have hit the wall.

Once they had cleared the wall, the two lightning bolts veered back on target, slamming into the mannequin in an explosion that forced many to turn away lest they be blinded.

As they all regained their sight, many brows furrowed in confusion as they saw that the target was still standing, having only a few scorch marks as evidence of the attack.

Observing this, Ichigo's eyes narrowed and the silence of the arena let everyone here his flatly spoken words,

"Sekkiseki"

With dawning understanding, the students watching turned their focus back onto the target as it lowered its arm from its previous attack position.

Before anything could be said, seven other similarly shaped targets sprang up once more in the same formation Ichigo had already defeated.

However, this time, they all raised a hand and pointed it at Ichigo, whose eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

While some of those watching leaned forwards in worry, all eight targets launched various attacks at Ichigo; a few balls of fire, a lightning bolt or two, and one ball of destructive energy.

As the eight attacks neared his position, Ichigo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then clasped his palms together at chest height.

Immediately, a ball of gently pulsing blue reiatsu sprang up around him, leading many to wonder at what kind of shield it was.

It was not a shield.

In unison, the eight attacks arrived at the boundary of the ball, where they all suddenly slowed down, and instead of continuing on their paths, began to curve in the direction of the sphere's surface.

Gasps of awe sounded as each of the eight attacks completed a half circumference before there was a sudden surge of reiatsu that had them leaping out of the sphere. Because of the symmetry of the attacks, once they all left the sphere, they were headed in the direction they would have been in if Ichigo had never been present to intercept them…towards the targets. So, the attack from the north was headed towards the target to the south, and so on and so forth.

With a tremendous boom, all the attacks met their targets at the same time, causing an explosion so violent that the ground was left shaking for a few seconds after it had died down.

As soon as the dust cleared, someone whistled in amazement as the smoking stumps, where seven of the eight targets stood, were revealed.

Murmurs of interest spread through the crowd as it became clear that, although the target made of Sekkiseki was damaged, it was not yet down for the count.

However, a steady buildup of reiatsu had everyone once more focused on Ichigo, who had his eyes closed as his chanted something under his breath.

Raising his head, his eyes snapped open just as he thrust his right arm forwards, biting out,

Hadō #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō (Dragon-Striking Heaven-Shaking Thunder Cannon)

Many flinched as the air in front of Ichigo's outstretched hand went supernova. A giga-beam of devastation-made-form roared out of Ichigo's hand, leaping the intervening distance in the blink of an eye.

As before, a wall sprang up to intercept the attack, but unlike before, this wall merely ceased to be as the attack passed through the space where it had once existed, leaving only the memory of ash to tell its tale.

Most of the captains, well aware of how destructive that attack could be, were about to intervene to protect the students, when Ichigo beat them to it.

A wave of darkness sprang up around the target the instant the beam of power struck, and before the amazed eyes of many, Ichigo completed a full-powered Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin)with no incantation.

Once the ground had stopped shaking, and the roaring had died down, the black box vanished into thin air.

Exclamations of disbelief cut through the air as the sight cleared to reveal the still intact target with a huge rectangular crater around it. Before people could go too crazy, however, the target slowly started disintegrating before their eyes, until the last of it blew away as dust on the wind.

As eyes turned to watch the now panting orange haired student, a bell rung out, signaling the end of the exam, and with a cheer that shook the very air, the students jumped to their feet in applause.

Once all of the furor had died down, and the other four candidates had taken up positions on the pockmarked field, the Captain Commander rose to his feet, prompting everyone else to quiet down and pay attention.

In his gravelly voice, he began,

"Earlier in the month, each of you would have spoken to a handful of the captains here, most likely about offers of positions within their individual squads. I am sure you know that you were expected to think on each of those offers and decide by today. Now, you will each step forward to the captain whose squad you decided on, and you will receive your assignment. We will begin from the back."

With his head held high, the Fourth Year student made his way unerringly towards the Captain of the Seventh Division, who nodded at him and said,

"Fourteenth Seat"

As the crowd applauded the assignment, the newly instated Shinigami moved to stand behind his new lieutenant and settled in to wait.

Next, the female student in Year Five stepped forward to stand before Kyōraku, who smiled kindly at her and said,

"Twelfth Seat"

Next up was Kenichi, who swaggered to a stop before the Eleventh Division Captain, Kenpachi Kiganjō, who merely grunted out,

"Thirteenth Seat"

With a grumbled out thanks, he made way for the next person, another Fifth Year student who stopped before Jūshirō. With a kind smile, the white haired captain said,

"Eleventh Seat"

Beaming at his new captain, the newly instated Shinigami made his way to stand behind Kaien, who took the chance to ruffle his hair.

Finally, all eyes rested on Ichigo who had been calmly gazing at the floor.

Raising his head, he took in the arrangement of captains, noticing that the Captain Commander stood in the center, with the odd numbered captains on his right, and the even numbered ones on his left.

Steadily, he made his way forward, causing many to whisper in amazement as he walked straight towards the ancient Captain of the First division. At the last moment, he swerved to the right and came to a stop before the female captain standing in front of him.

The silence caused by Ichigo's abrupt change in direction allowed everyone to hear her words as she said,

"Congratulations, Kurosaki-fukutaichō"

And before the crowd could gather their senses enough to react, he bowed and replied,

"Thank you, Unohana-taichō"

Some background for this one. In this universe, Isane was killed by a Vasto Lorde who snuck into soul society (causing Unohana to remind everyone of why even the Captain Commander did not dare to cross her). Enter dimension traveling Ichigo whose interest now lies in doing the impossible with Kido. While the Shibas are scrambling to bring him into the fold, Unohana just sneakily draws Ichigo into her own division and becomes something of a mentor to him. Things progress from there.