It was a few weeks after Torin's battle with Kenpachi, with both Byakuya and Kenpachi switching their votes, and Konamura backing the majority, Mayuri had no choice but to back down, albeit grudgingly, and Torin's proposal was unanimously passed.

The squad intergration was going well so far, new and better formations were being made, and three man cells became a standard unit. Eache member of each cell was from a different squad, with rare exceptions, and each covered a different aspect of the group's combat. A common combination was 11th for offense, 3rd for defense, and 5th for support, just as Torin had initially suggested, but other combinations were working as well.

"All right, show me what you got" Torin said to the cell before him, before each cell was deployed they had to pass the inspection of a captain on their compatibility and teamwork.

An 11th divisioner charged with his shikai, a double edged broadsword. He slashed at Torin furiously, but couldn't seem to land any of his blows.

"A strong offense" Torin observed "and defense?"

Torin drew his sword and slashed at the 11th divisioner, but his blade bounced off a sphere of wind, courtesy of the 3rd divisioner's shikai. Torin smiled as the 11th divisioner took advantage of the opening this created to slash at him once more. Torin could tell that a lesser for would get badly hurt here, and was tempted to let it hit, but he had a thousand more teams to test today, so he couldn't be that nice. Torin used shunpo to back off, he was about to announce the team's passing, when a circle of kunai connected by electricity sparked into life around him

"what's this?" torin said in surprise. Then the kunai knives began to glow brightly, and a split second later the entire circle was struck by a large bolt of lightning.

Torin appeared a short distance away, his clothes slightly burnt. He looked around for the 5th divisioner who had laid that trap, but she appeared above him and unleashed a hailstorm of electrically charged kunai down at him.

Torin swung his sword, and a shockwave deflected all the kunai and barreled into the woman like a rocket.

Torin turned and parried the 11th divisioner's slash, he was wielding a shortsword now, much to Torin's surprise. The 3rd divisioner appears slightly above the 11th and slashed with his sword, a half length katana with a cloud shaped hilt. A wave of slicing wind blew towards Torin.

"that's enough of that" Torin said as he pushed the 11th divisioner away, planted a kick into his stomach to send him crashing into the 3rd, and destroyed the wind slash with a strike of his own.

"You three pass" Torin said "a spectacular performance, what are your names?"

The 3rd divisioner spoke first "Sentaro, currently unseated member of your squad Captain Torin" he said, he was skinny, with jet black hair and brown eyes. His reiatsu wasn't much to speak of, but the young man radiated determination and unrealized potential.

The 11th was next "Boris sir, also unseated, of the 11th squad" he said, he was a large man, taller than Torin, and bulkier too, he also had black hair, but he had blue eyes.

The 5th walked up, clutching her stomach "Keiea, 10th seat, 5th division" she wheezed, she was an average height and size, with red hair and blue eyes. She was pretty good looking too, but thankfully she wasn't trying to seduce Torin like so many other women looking for a fast route into wealth.

Torin noted the three names "You'll be at the west gate, congratulations; we're sending the best teams there. Work on your individual skills, that's about all the advice I can give, as far as teamwork goes you've all got it down"

The team nodded enthusiastically, then went to their new post, high-fiving each other and laughing.

Torin walked over to a table where Kira sat handling paperwork. "Kira, make a note to watch Sentaro, he's weak now, but young and determined, I bet he'll go far, and that shikai isn't shabby either, also pass a recommendation to the squad 5 about Keira, her skills need some work, but her tactics are flawless"

Kira nodded "yes sir, what about the one from squad 11?"

Torin shook his head "it's hard to tell, his shikai seems versatile since it can shift between weapons like that, but he's still young too, and he doesn't have a particularly impressive aura, he may yet prove talented though"

Kira nodded and made the notes "shall I call in the next team?"

Torin sighed and nodded in agreement. Every team with a squad 11 member in it demanded that he be the tester because he was the one who beat kenpachi, and so while the other captains had relatively light workloads, Torin hadn't had a break in three days.

The testing continued throughout the day and into the night, as well as for most of the enxt day, but eventually it was done. Deployments and patrol routes took another two days to do, and Torin nearly went insane doing the paperwork on days 4-7, but after a week of tireless work, the squads were integrated and redeployed.

-Torin's quarters-

"Well that went well" Torin said, he was in his quarters, Rida and Aurora were there as well, and they were having a celebratory dinner.

"I'm not sure, there are still some of us without approved teams" Rida said "I'm still trying to work out who to work with."

Torin shook his head "that's a minority, most of the squads have teams, and due to new recruiting there will always be some people without a team. It's a minor issue, as for you, Captains are usually teamed with their Lieutenants and one other, but the squads without captains and my squad lieutenant will be a team, so you and Aurora are my team. We know each other best after all" he explained.

Rida blinked "well that's good" he said "aren't we a bit below your level though? A team should consist of people of roughly the same strength"

Torin shook his head again "its true, you aren't captains, but Aurora is a Lieutenant, and her kido backs up my lack of skill there. As for you, I talked to Ukitake, you can expect a promotion soon."

Rida stood up so fast he tripped over his chair "what!? What do you mean?" he asked

Aurora was surprised as well "Rida is becoming a Lieutenant?" she asked

Torin nodded "I don't know if you've noticed Rida, but your shikai has gotten stronger every time you've released it, and you still don't know the names of your abilities, which make them 10 times stronger once learned. Ukitake reckons that if you achieved bankai you might be captain class by virtue of your zanpakto alone. Of course this will be a long term goal but…"

Torin was cut short by Rida jumping in the air and shouting "Yahoo!"

After Rida calmed down, which was several minutes later, Torin continued "You're going to have to train hard Rida, but if you do… well with the enemy we face Ukitake says you may get the same training I did"

Before Rida got excited again Torin added "but this news isn't all good Rida, there's a very specific reason this is being considered"

Aurora and Rida, both of whom had been celebrating, fell silent "what happened?" Aurora asked.

"Simply put… hueco Mundo is in flames, Aizen's armada didn't get along with the enemy, and they've been at war." Torin said "and what's worse, it appears Aizen is losing…"