The area was sparsely decorated, merely a patch of uneven ground, a small spectator's stand at one side, and another table placed at the other side. Nanao had been informed of the specifics of the area, and she knew that the table was where the leaders would be seated. This spot gave them the best possible view of the area. It helped that they had a bulletproof glass layer between them and the actual field. Safety measures were not to be compromised, especially when the safety officer in question was one extremely paranoid Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

It was an open space, simple and quick to set up. The few members who had helped out in the setting up had left once the leaders had arrived, and once the others had arrived. Another last minute check had been done courtesy of the subordinates of one supremely paranoid Kurotsuchi Mayuri. Nanao could see why this was a small event. A small scale event was much easier to handle, much easier to control. Much easier to ensure the safety of. And it made the new members feel better to. That one she could personally vouch for.

The new members arrived in cars, minivans, motorcycles. Not many of them, actually. About say, forty? Including all those who had recently appeared, Kaien accompanied by a lady who she had not seen before, Sentarou, Kiyone, Soi Fong, Yamada, Tatsufusa. And most of the leaders were there as well. Kyouraku and Ukitake, Kuchiki, Urahara, Yoruichi, Zaraki, all the big shots, all the heads were there. None of their adjutants were though. The organization did have to continue running even on Assessment Day.

Assessment Day had two main purposes. The first was to initiate and test the new members, ensuring that they were capable of keeping up with the harsh demands of yakuza life, namely, self-defense at worst. This allowed for them to be assigned to both divisions and sectors, as it was on the field that character was truly shown. The second was for older members who requested transfers to more physically demanding sectors to be tested. Older members who wished to be promoted were also assessed on that day. The organization of fighting groups, or divisions, as they would call it, was a little different from the typical sectors of the organization.

While the sectors were mostly administrative in nature, it was clear that when it came to combat, the lawyers were not necessarily useless, and that the Recruitment team was not all pure power. (Granted, they were mostly pure power, but that was irrelevant.) Assessment Day gave the recruits their first divisional assignment. Depending on their skills, they would enter under two main groups, Ranged and Melee, which were split into divisions depending on how they wanted it organized.

Both Kyouraku and Ukitake were proficient in both sets of skills, hence their role as leaders. Most others were proficient in both, but having preference for one type over the other. Melee was split into Long and Short, the Long Weapons headed by Madarame Ikkaku, the Short Weapons headed by Ichimaru Gin. Zaraki fit happily in the middle, though he was often found wherever there was action.

Ranged was split into Lockdown and Backup. The former was headed by Urahara Kisuke, and the latter by Kuchiki Byakuya. Nanao knew that the one she wanted to get into was Lockdown. Backup was the firepower in case something went wrong. In case a deal soured and guns were fired, Backup would move in, providing the cover for Melee to quickly mop up the mess. Definitely not her area.

Lockdown was stakeout duty, locking down an area to ensure that it was safe. It was composed of snipers, and sharpshooters. It was a rifles-only area. If it had not been a rifles-only area, it would have been what she would have aimed to join. However, she was still aiming to join this. Perhaps she might be able to persuade Urahara-senpai to give her a chance. Chewing her lip nervously now that no one was looking at her, she knew that she had an uphill task ahead of her. Because of the rifles-only nature of Lockdown, she was going to have to impress, and impress well to be able to get in.

It seemed that the others were equally nervous, the normally chatty Kaien now sitting there quietly, his trident-esque weapon leant against his shoulder. Nemu was as quiet as usual, but Nanao could sense the uneasiness in the air. And the recruits seated a few benches away were completely silent. Completely silent. There was no flamboyant clothing, no gaudily dressed to impress brat. Everyone was here with a purpose, to get where they wanted to be, and that was it.

Melee tryouts kicked off without a hitch, the newer members sparring off with a selected few older members who had previously applied for either promotion or transfer. Nanao sat with Kaien, Nemu and Sentarou at the benches, awaiting their turn, which they had been informed to be after most of the newer members were done. Something about not wanting to be unfair to the recruits, according to Ukitake-senpai. Unsurprisingly, most of the new members were struck down within the first five minutes, and a bored Zaraki Kenpachi instead turned his eyes towards a few of the remaining recruits.

Kyouraku-senpai was looking as relaxed as he had been, Urahara completely uninterested as he tinkered away with his toolbox, Unohana and her crew on standby, wrapping cold compresses around wounds, patching up small cuts. Most of the leaders looked on interestedly, no doubt wanting to grab the chance to nab the best of them all into their own divisions.

Kuchiki Byakuya looked furious. Knuckles whitened as he gripped the armrests of the wooden chair. Nanao followed his gaze to a rather short girl, a pure white sword in her hand as she sparred away with one of the older members. Shockingly enough, the heavily tattooed man fell to the onslaught. "Kuchiki Rukia, pass!" Quite a few of the leaders looked incredulously at him, and his facial expression soured even further.

Yoruichi sidled over to Nanao, who was sitting nervously at the sides, flipping the K40 up and down in her hands. She could still remember her initiation day. It had been a breeze for her, who had been trained in combat since she was young. It was going to be different for Nanao who had only a week's worth of practice to fall back upon. Then again, the week had been extremely fruitful, which Yoruichi knew via the security cameras. She had watched, very happily, as progress had been made.

In any case, she could tell which division Nanao was aiming for. It was obvious. A girl like her would never fit in under Kuchiki, where people like Shunsui with his Pancor Jackhammer, and Ikkaku, whenever the bald guy joined Ranged, with his Uzis. She was definitely aiming for Kisuke's Lockdown. But then there was the issue of Lockdown being rifles-only. Or at least, no one had applied for Lockdown and did not use a rifle. No one, except for Ise Nanao. This was going to be interesting, no?

Most of the remaining recruits were easily handled by the members seeking even higher promotions, except for two. One was an orange-haired punk with a huge sword, which technically was not a sword but a knife because it seemed to only have one cutting edge. The other was Kuchiki Rukia. And Kuchiki Byakuya looked pissed off. Very pissed off, even though Nanao could not quite fathom why he should be angry if his relative (and frankly, she had no idea what kind of relative Rukia could be to the man) had made it so far into the Melee tournament. Even the leaders were looking interested, and the happy glint in Ukitake's eye seemed to mean something.

The recruit next to Nanao on the Ranged bench merely glared back at the orange-haired weirdo when said weirdo grinned in his direction, pushing his rimless glasses a little higher on the bridge of his nose. She was not quite so sure why she decided to talk to the recruit, possibly because she was desperate to not think about her own assessment. That was probably it. "You know him?"

"By him I assume you mean Ichigo?" Specs guy turned slightly in her direction. "Yes, unfortunately, I do know him. He's the one who dragged me into this after all."

"So you are not here out of your own will, then?"

"I am defying my father's wishes by being here, but no, I wish to be here. You'll be surprised what you can learn just by listening in to Ryuuken's phone calls. Things are happening, and although he won't take a side, I'd prefer to. Same with Ichigo. His father doesn't know what he's doing." A slight pause. "It is rude of me not to introduce myself. Ishida Uryuu, although just Ishida is preferred. Pleased to meet you."

"Ise Nanao. Same to you." They both fell silent as Ikkaku leapt into the ring. Ichigo was the only one left standing, looking very pleased with himself. Rukia had been batted out by some other older member earlier on, and was sitting on the other side of the field, watching the proceedings with a half-frightened, half-amused look, though how she pulled that off, Nanao had no idea.

The fight was brief. Extremely brief. A few hits, and Ichigo was down. The kid had the reflexes and the speed, but he did not seem to have had any training, that huge knife thing that he was waving around just being smashed into his opponents. No class whatsoever. Ishida, on the other hand, did not look impressed, or even remotely smug, just watching as Ichigo limped off to the side.

Ranged tryouts for the recruits began, and Ishida shot her a questioning look as she did not get up and follow the rest of them, instead still sitting on the bench with Kaien and the others. Tryouts were simple, really. Two different types of tryouts, with the recruits allowed to apply for both types. The first was speed shooting. Speed shooting gave the recruits thirty seconds to pound as many rounds of their choice, using guns of their choice, into targets fifty meters away.

A few minutes later, the targets were brought down, the scores assessed, and they moved on to accuracy. It was a set of three targets per person, three shots per target, and depending on the type of gun used, the recruits were grouped into different groups with different ranges. The wannabe snipers were lead off to a position further behind by a scowling Kurotsuchi, where the targets of four hundred meters, five hundred meters and eight hundred meters had already been set up. The others were then grouped into rifles and handguns.

Rifles were at two hundred, three hundred and six hundred meters, and handguns were at sixty, eighty and a hundred and ten meters. This was what Nanao was nervous about. She had never fired the K40 at such a long distance before, and there had been no chance for practice. However, judging from the looks on the recruits faces, none of them had ever had the need for, or the chance to fire their handguns or rifles at such ranges before. This was Japan. Space was money.

The results, or at least from where she was seated and what she could see, were disastrous. For one, the targets looked relatively unscathed, and secondly, Kuchiki Byakuya, and Urahara Kisuke had exchanged looks at least five times, looking gradually more disappointed every time. Until Ishida stepped up to the plate with his rifle. Nanao could not quite see what model it was, and even after she had seen it, could not quite match the shape to the model.

A confident smirk on his face, three rounds found themselves smack bang in the middle of the targets, in the inner circles of all three of them, including the five hundred meters target. Previously, in the speed firing round, he had emptied an entire clip into the inner and second circles of the fifty meter target. Nanao felt her hopes die a little, as he lowered his rifle, staring right back at Urahara, who looked all too pleased.

And then, the recruits were all done, and they were called up, to get ready. Up first was Sentarou, who easily handled most of the members, crashing when he met with a savagely happy Kurotsuchi, who disarmed him in three strokes. Kiyone did exactly the same, also disarmed by the same paranoid scientist, who Nanao would admit was not as wimpy as she had initially thought. Isane was likewise brought down, though the fight had been remotely more interesting. Tatsufusa did not even make it nearly that far, incapacitated by a particularly vicious member wielding a lance.

Hisagi, Kaien and Izuru handled their opponents with ease, finishing off quickly, and each putting up a good fight against Ikkaku. However, the bald man was not the adjutant of Zaraki for nothing, and they were quickly overwhelmed, but not after a few successful hits and exciting matches all around. Nanao did not feel any better. Thank goodness she had not attempted to pass her assessment using a dagger. She would not have lasted a minute, not at her standard.

Soi Fong provided a good fight for Yoruichi, after sweeping the floor with the others who had attempted hand to hand combat. However, even she was defeated after a minute or so. Nemu did not do too well, brought down within seconds.

And poor little Hanatarou, who looked glumly at his set of throwing knives and then over at the target. His area of expertise was unique enough to not have a class suitable for use. She could see that most of the group looked interested at the prospect of throwing knives in action, and boy, were they not disappointed. Every knife flew to its target, striking it with a thud, the handles swaying slightly from side to side from the impact.

And then it was her turn. Stepping up to the range, she took in a deep breath. None of the others had opted to use guns, and so if she did well, there was a high possibility of her getting into Lockdown. Calming herself down, she lifted the K40, whispering a quick prayer. She aimed, altering her stance a little, checking for wind, adjusting for the drop which would be because of the distance traveled, crossed her mental fingers, and fired.

Inner circle. Good shot, if a little low and to the left. Adjusting slightly, another shot rang out less than a second later, before a third joined it, three shots punching a hole through the X. She breathed a slight sigh of relief, before preparing for the next target. Surprisingly, she found this easier, as the first shot hit its mark, her body adjusting to the larger distance automatically. The second and third shots were a little to the left of the middle perfect first, the second more so than the third, forming a horizontal line.

Nanao was proud of herself, or would have been, had her heart not been pumping so rapidly, and the level of adrenaline so high. The third target would be pushing at the limits of the K40, which was and had been a reliable so far. Praying that she would not be let down, another three shots found themselves in the target. She had not aimed or adjusted after her initial stance, merely trusting herself to go at it, three shots consecutively, only adjusting minimally to cope with recoil, which technically, was not really adjusting.

This time, it was not a continuous hole, but rather, three holes. One right on the X that had her speechless with disbelief, and the other two the exact same distance to either side, five centimeters away from the middle hole. Nanao was stunned. But pleased. Very, very pleased.

She had turned heads, this one, mused Yoruichi as after the second set of targets, all eyes on the field had been on her. Bya-kun looked annoyed, as she had not even tried out for his division proper, having not done the speed shooting test, while Kisuke looked to be on cloud nine. He had gotten that rifle boy earlier, and was about to get this one as well. And oh… yes. She did have good instincts. Yoruichi knew when a shot was by aiming, as was rifle boy, and when the shot was by instinct, which by right, should have been brought about by experience. However, knowing Nanao and her severe lack of experience, this was talent. This was good.

Sitting back down on the bench next to a much more relaxed Kaien, a few of them came over and clapped her on the back, congratulating her on great shots. Not too sure how to react to their congratulations, she merely smiled and thanked them, dredging up memories of their own fights, which somehow seemed so long ago, and complimenting them on good points that she had noticed.

The scores were being tallied, divisional and sectoral assignments being quickly worked out, when it happened.

First, they felt the heat, the force of the shockwave throwing them backwards over the bench, crashing into the logistics set up behind. Those who were still seated where stunned, staring blankly at the platform.

And then, it rained metal.

Shrapnel from the setups, the targets designed to puncture and tear easily. The fragments rained down upon the stands, screams and yells echoing all around. They scattered, running for cover. Kaien grabbed the nearest person to him, Sentarou, and they ran, grabbing and shaking the stunned ones out of their stupor.

Behind them, the leader's tentage was engulfed in fire, dust thrown up into air only obscured by the thick black smoke rising up from the previously white surface.

One word flashed into Nanao's head, just as a segment of pipe came crashing down on her.

Bomb.