Several days later.
The captains and lieutenants of each division were gathered in the 1st Division's courtyard.
Sora stood in the center of the courtyard.
Yesterday, Kirio Hikifune had stepped down from her position as captain of the 12th Division.
Immediately after her resignation, Sora applied to Head Captain Yamamoto to become the new captain of the 12th Division.
Yamamoto promptly summoned the other captains to conduct Sora's captain proficiency test.
According to the rules of the Gotei 13, a candidate could become a captain after passing a test supervised by three or more captains.
The turnout today was high; all the captains and lieutenants had come.
Katori Sora was taking the captain's test, so he would certainly be showing his strength.
Everyone was curious about the power of the man who had killed the King of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan.
The captain's test had three parts.
First, the ability to use Bankai.
Second, to fight one of the captains and gain the approval of the supervising captains.
Third, to prove one's ability to handle a captain's duties, which was generally judged by one's past service record.
The captains all knew that Sora had mastered Bankai, so the first requirement was passed instantly.
The third requirement was also no problem. With a record including Honorary Director and Vice-Director of the academy, as well as Lieutenant of the 4th Division, Sora was naturally qualified for the position.
Therefore, he now only needed to fight one of the captains and gain the approval of the supervisors to become the captain of the 12th Division.
Kenpachi Kuruyashiki was itching for a fight, eager to try.
He also specialized in swordsmanship and had long wanted to cross blades with Katori Sora.
Beside him, Retsu Unohana's eyes were also shining brightly.
However, she had train her temperament for many years and now had a certain image to maintain.
With so many miscellaneous people around, she was reluctant to reveal her true nature here.
Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake looked relaxed; they were here for the show.
The last time they had seen Katori Sora display his power was when they were studying under Yamamoto. It had been a long time, and they were very interested in his performance today.
"I wonder who the Head Captain will have Katori-kun fight."
Jūshirō Ukitake glanced at Kenpachi Kuruyashiki beside him. He could feel the intense fighting spirit and thought it would probably be him.
"Why not let me do it? I've been looking forward to a match with Katori-kun for a long time."
Kenpachi Kuruyashiki said with a smile.
"Heh, old man Yama probably wants to do it himself, but with so many people here, he might have to uphold his image as Head Captain and feel embarrassed to personally bully a junior."
Shunsui Kyōraku's tone was lazy.
"Shunsui Kyōraku, you will test Katori Sora's strength."
Yamamoto suddenly spoke.
"Huh? Me?"
Shunsui was stunned. He had come here with the intention of just watching, but he didn't expect the old man to pick him.
"Is there a problem?"
Yamamoto's sharp gaze fell upon him.
Shunsui quickly looked at the others, hoping someone would bail him out.
"Captain Kyōraku's abilities are very interesting. It would be nice to see him fight Katori-kun!"
Kenpachi Kuruyashiki stroked his chin.
Seeing Shunsui fight Sora now wasn't a bad alternative.
If he himself got the itch to fight, he could just go to Sora's dōjō for a match. Since Sora would be a captain, no one could say he was picking on a subordinate.
"I'm looking forward to it as well."
Retsu Unohana said with a pleasant smile.
Jūshirō Ukitake snickered on the side. This was the price for running his mouth!
"No problem... sigh, I'm just fated to work hard."
Shunsui reluctantly walked up to face Katori Sora.
"Captain Kyōraku, please be gentle with me."
Sora said with a smile.
"You go easy on me. Let's just make it look good!"
Shunsui didn't want to try too hard.
"Shunsui Kyōraku, this is a captain's proficiency test!"
Yamamoto warned sternly.
"Alright, alright, I'll take it seriously..."
Shunsui was helpless. With so many people watching, it would be difficult to slack off.
"The winds of flowers are乱, the flower god weeps, the winds of heaven are乱, the heavenly demon laughs, Katen Kyōkotsu." Shunsui released his Zanpakutō, which transformed into a pair of large, cleaver-like dual swords. "Let's begin, Katori-kun."
Sora nodded slightly, his left hand brushing over his blade, which quickly turned black.
The next moment, Sora's figure vanished from the spot.
Shunsui immediately spun his dual swords, creating two tornado-like gusts of wind.
Swoosh—
Sora's figure appeared outside the wind barrier.
"Whew~ Good thing I anticipated that!"
Shunsui said with a grin.
He hadn't reacted after seeing Sora's movement; instead, he had started with a move designed to push an opponent back.
Just then, a turbulent flow of spiritual pressure and arcs of lightning erupted from Sora's back.
Zzzzt—
His 'Shunkō: Raikiri' form activated instantly.
Sora's figure seemed to disappear into a flash of lightning.
Lightning and turbulent spiritual pressure gathered at the tip of his foot. A flash of light, and he kicked apart the tornado-like gusts!
"What!!!"
Shunsui was astonished and quickly raised his dual swords to block.
Thud—
Sora's kick landed on the swords, but Shunsui didn't move an inch.
"Tricky..."
Sora stared at the figure in the air, his eyes narrowing slightly.
His power had been nullified. Shunsui hadn't taken any real damage.
Sora knew this was the ability of Shunsui's Zanpakutō.
"Confusing, isn't it?" Shunsui said smugly. "Why don't you guess what's going on~"
Shunsui's Zanpakutō was a rule-based ability. If you couldn't figure out the rules, it was very difficult to defeat him.
Just before blocking the attack, he had done only one thing—
He had jumped, making his position slightly higher than Katori Sora's.
"What could this ability be? I'm really curious..."
Sora pretended not to know.
"Then take a guess~"
Shunsui slashed down from above.
Zzzzt—
A Z-shaped bolt of lightning flashed, and Sora instantly appeared behind Shunsui.
Seeing Sora disappear, Shunsui sensed trouble and quickly shouted:
"Gray!"
The next moment, Shunsui felt a powerful push from behind.
"BAM—!"
Shunsui slammed into the ground.
"My back is about to break!"
Shunsui complained.
If he couldn't change the rules of the game at any time, that one blow would have seriously injured him.
Katen Kyōkotsu could turn children's games into reality. Anyone who stepped into its spiritual pressure range was forced to participate, and all rules were set by Katen Kyōkotsu.
Shunsui also had to obey the rules, but as the master, he had the right to change the game at any time.
"'Takaoni', the one who is higher up wins," Sora said, continuing,
"'Irooni', the one who cuts the correct color wins."
'Takaoni' and 'Irooni' were the two game rules Shunsui had used.
Under the 'Takaoni' rule, the person in the higher position had their attack power greatly increased.
Under the 'Irooni' rule, you had to call out a color name first. The attack would only be effective if it hit a part of the opponent's body corresponding to that color; otherwise, the attack would be nullified.
Shunsui had just used the 'Irooni' rule, shouting 'gray', to nullify Sora's attack.
He was wearing a pink haori, and there was no gray area on his back at all.
Sora's attack had landed on the pink haori and was naturally nullified by the rule.
"Ah... how does Katori-kun know about 'Takaoni' and 'Irooni'? When did I ever tell you about them?" Shunsui looked troubled, unable to recall when he had revealed these abilities.
"Captain Kyōraku tends to talk a lot when he's drunk," Sora chuckled.
He made up an excuse based on Shunsui's drunken behavior.
When Shunsui got drunk, his desire to talk increased dramatically.
"Drinking is my downfall!!!" Shunsui had no reason to doubt it and sighed. "Sigh... I wonder how much I've revealed. Now I don't even have an intelligence advantage!"
With Katen Kyōkotsu's abilities, if he had an intelligence advantage, Shunsui was quite confident he could make Katori Sora stumble.
However, since Sora knew his abilities, it was difficult for him to use the rules to gain the upper hand.
"White!" Shunsui suddenly swung his sword.
Katori Sora had no gray areas on him, so Shunsui changed the 'Irooni' rule.
Sora wasn't wearing his dōjō haori today, only his Shihakushō, which was mostly black.
If he called out black, it would be the easiest to hit.
But under the 'Irooni' rule, the size of the color's area affected the attack's power.
The larger the colored area, the less damage taken.
And vice versa.
So, to maximize his attack's power, Shunsui had to aim for the most difficult place to hit, the color with the smallest area.
On the Shihakushō, only the sash and inner lining were white. The area covered by white was very small.
If Shunsui could hit the white area, he could inflict massive damage on Sora!
However, Sora knew the rules well and was prepared.
Sora quickly retreated, dodging the slash.
"I was waiting for you to retreat!" Shunsui suddenly thrust his sword towards the shadow on the ground.
Due to the current lighting, when Sora moved, his shadow shifted towards Shunsui.
"'Kageoni', the one whose shadow is stepped on loses."
Sora smiled faintly and also thrust his own blade into the shadow on the ground.
Squish—
A black blade appeared in Shunsui's abdomen.
"This is..."
Shunsui was horrified. He had lost under the 'Kageoni' rule!
In 'Kageoni', as long as you step on your opponent's shadow, you can attack them directly through it.
"It seems you forgot, Captain. My Zanpakutō's ability is to control shadows," Sora said.
Shunsui looked down and realized he hadn't stepped on Sora's shadow at all.
Sora's shadow had moved on its own!
And his own shadow had shifted under Sora's feet.
"So that's how it is..." Shunsui gave a bitter smile. "Katori-kun, you were deliberately waiting for me to use 'Kageoni'!"
For rule-based abilities, an intelligence advantage is especially important.
Once the opponent knows the rules, they might find a loophole and use it to counter you.
His Katen Kyōkotsu could change rules based on games, which was already a very strong rule-based ability, but Sora still managed to seize an opportunity.
"Old man Yama, this should be enough, right!"
Shunsui turned and shouted towards Yamamoto.
"I'm seriously injured! If I don't get treatment soon, I'm going to die in the 1st Division barracks!" Shunsui clutched the wound on his abdomen, his face contorted in pain, looking miserable. "You don't want your dear student to die here, do you!"
Sora's eye twitched. He clearly hadn't struck a vital point.
Shunsui's injury wasn't nearly as severe as he made it out to be, and his combat ability wouldn't be significantly reduced.
Yamamoto's face darkened, his eyes looking like they were about to shoot fire.
How could he not see the true extent of Shunsui's injuries?
Shunsui just didn't want to put in any more effort!
"Enough. Let's end it here! Do any of the captains have doubts about Katori Sora's strength?"
Yamamoto spoke.
Sora had just injured Shunsui so easily, which was enough to prove his strength.
Moreover, Sora had recently killed the King of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan. This test was merely a formality.
Yamamoto also didn't want to see his wayward student continue to make a fool of himself here.
"I believe Katori Sora's strength is sufficient to serve as the captain of the 12th Division."
Retsu Unohana said.
The exchange between Sora and Shunsui hadn't lasted long, but she could see that Sora's fundamentals were on a completely different level than before.
Unohana had previously thought that Sora's Shunpo and Hakuda were his weaknesses.
Now, those weaknesses had been shored up.
He was skilled in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kidō, and his healing abilities were no weaker than her own.
"A ripe fruit, so tempting..."
Unohana's smile was gentle, but if one looked closely, they would see a terrifying passion in her eyes.
"Katori-kun's strength is great, sufficient to be the captain of the 12th Division."
Kenpachi Kuruyashiki praised. "His speed is incredible, and he's very experienced in battle. He handled that excellently."
"I think so too. Even if Shunsui and I went all out, I'm afraid we couldn't defeat Katori-kun."
Jūshirō Ukitake sighed.
Sora's advantage in speed could put him in an unbeatable position.
Shunsui was able to land a hit on Sora because of his game rules.
Ukitake felt that if he were to face Sora, he would be almost entirely on the defensive, with a very low chance of winning.
"I also acknowledge Katori Sora's strength. In that case..."
Yamamoto paused. "Katori Sora passes the captain's test with a unanimous vote."
"Effective immediately, the position of captain of the 12th Division will be filled by Katori Sora!"
Chōjirō Sasakibe carried a tray and placed it on Yamamoto's desk.
Yamamoto stood up, picked up the tray, and walked over to Sora.
On the tray lay a white fabric, adorned with the square "twelve" insignia.
This was the captain's haori of the 12th Division.
"The burden of the 12th Division is now yours. I hope you will not forget your original intentions and will achieve great things in the 12th Division."
"Rest assured, Head Captain. I will bear the responsibilities of a captain and contribute my strength to protect the Soul Society!"
Sora picked up the captain's haori and draped it over his shoulders.
From this day forward, he was Katori Sora, Captain of the 12th Division!
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