"O, King! Mask of flesh, all creation, flap your wings, things that bear the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon the wall of dreams, stand but upon it!"
"Hadō #33 - Sōkatsui!"
In Soul Society's Spiritual Arts Academy Training Grounds, Ito Makoto aimed at the dummy in front of him and shot out a pale blue spiritual energy flame—a fully incanted Sōkatsui!
"Rumble!"
The pale blue, highly concentrated spiritual energy flame directly blasted the special dummy from the Technological Development Bureau into charcoal, and even the ground near the dummy was blown into a large pit, with sparks flying all around the Training Grounds!
The Kido instructor nearby, seeing this, swallowed and thought to himself:
"Is this real? This Squad Member is too over-the-top!"
Then he cleared his throat and solemnly declared, "Ito Makoto, intermediate Kido score: Excellent!" At the same time, he cast a look of admiration at him!
"Did I still use a bit too much force?" Ito Makoto was speechless. In fact, he had held back on this Sōkatsui. It looked like a fully incanted release, but in reality, he had tightly controlled his spiritual pressure. The power displayed just now was only the level he would achieve if he abandoned the incantation.
He just didn't expect this so-called special dummy from the Technological Development Bureau to be so fragile.
"Is this Makoto-Nii? Not only is his Zanjutsu formidable, but I didn't expect his Kido to be so impressive too. He's truly beyond reach!" After Ito Makoto finished his test, Hisagi Shuuhei, who was nearby, ran towards Ito Makoto with a surprised expression.
"Ito-Nii, you're really too strong! I originally thought I had a lot of talent as a Shinigami, but compared to you, I feel like I'm really far behind!"
From another direction, the petite Matsumoto Rangiku, who already had a very striking figure, also came over.
"You two are also great! You need to have confidence in yourselves, little Hisagi and little Rangiku!" Ito Makoto encouraged them with a smile.
At the same time, he extended both hands and affectionately ruffled Rangiku and Hisagi's heads.
"We'll work hard!" Hearing Ito Makoto say this, the little girl and the little boy replied in unison. Then, both of them confidently went to take their Kido test.
Watching them leave, Ito Makoto yawned idly, while smiling and glancing, intentionally or unintentionally, towards the white-haired young man hiding his presence outside the Training Grounds, only daring to peek at Matsumoto Rangiku from a distance.
"Oh dear, I've been discovered! What monstrous spiritual perception!"
In a corner southwest of the Training Grounds, Ichimaru Gin, who had been hiding far away to secretly watch Matsumoto Rangiku, also realized he had been discovered by Ito Makoto. He immediately narrowed his eyes, smiled slightly, and vanished from the spot.
It had been about five months since Ito Makoto joined the Spiritual Arts Academy.
In the first month of enrollment, Ito Makoto, Matsumoto Rangiku, and Hisagi Shuuhei had already skipped to the second term. Now, all three of them had skipped to the third term.
This is why the three of them had such a good relationship, because in the class they were currently in, besides the three of them, everyone else was an old student who had studied for three years.
Although the Spiritual Arts Academy has six terms from enrollment to graduation, one term per year for a total of six years, it is clearly not necessary for everyone to complete all six years.
...
"Ito-Nii, there's a hot pot restaurant that opened in the South District of Rukongai, Area Three. They say the food is amazing, and my scholarship just came through, so let's go together!"
After class, Matsumoto Rangiku and Hisagi Shuuhei excitedly invited Ito Makoto to have a meal together.
"I still have something to do, you two go ahead! I'll treat you next time!"
Ito Makoto smiled and shook his head, politely declining the invitation from the young boy and girl.
Then he headed straight for the West District of Rukongai, Area Eighty, the most chaotic place in Soul Society.
Walking down a dirty and messy street, he saw sewage and excrement casually discharged, and various kinds of garbage piled openly on the street.
Ito Makoto covered his nose and mouth, intending to quickly leave the area using Shunpo, when suddenly a figure darted out from the side.
He was dressed in ragged clothes, with a sallow complexion, sunken eyes with heavy dark circles, and held a chipped dagger in his hand, glaring fiercely at Ito Makoto.
"Kid, leave all your valuables, and your food. Oh, and leave that clean robe too, that fabric is so good it must be worth a lot of money!"
Upon hearing this, Ito Makoto showed a look of surprise, looking at the half-dead man in front of him. He didn't expect the other party not to even recognize his Spiritual Arts Academy uniform, and even funnier, he actually wanted to rob a Shinigami trainee!
He didn't want to waste any more words with him and just released his spiritual pressure for a moment.
As soon as his spiritual pressure was released, the emaciated middle-aged man was directly knocked unconscious. Ito Makoto glanced at the scrawny man lying on the ground like a dead dog, shook his head, and left directly.
Such a weakling didn't even qualify to be killed by him! It was like his previous life, walking on the road, he wouldn't causelessly step on insects on the pavement!
It wasn't his first time in this place, but almost every time he came, he encountered such a situation.
The last few districts of Rukongai didn't even have a single source of clean water, and the concentration of spiritual particles was the lowest.
In contrast, the so-called nobles in Seireitei, who did not engage in production, controlled over eighty percent of Soul Society's resources, enjoying the highest spiritual particle concentration and best environment in all of Soul Society.
So now, Ito Makoto could roughly understand Aizen and Tosen's intentions.
"Indeed, where there is injustice, there is resistance!"
After walking through several desolate streets, Ito Makoto finally arrived at his destination, a desolate open space.
Two figures dressed in soul reaper uniform were already waiting ahead. One had narrow eyes and a shiny, bald head, while the other had smooth, medium-length hair, a feather decoration over his right eye, and a neck guard.
It was Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika.
"Yo, little Ito, you're late again!"
Ayasegawa Yumichika yawned while running his hand through his hair.
"I'm truly sorry, Yumichika-senpai, I encountered some things on the way so I was delayed."
Ito Makoto explained with a smile.
"Alright, enough chitchat, let's begin!"
At this moment, Madarame Ikkaku, who was nearby, already seemed a bit impatient. He actually took out an Asauchi from the package behind him and threw it to Ito Makoto, then drew the sword from his waist and charged towards Ito Makoto with a smile on his face!
The Asauchi he threw to Ito Makoto was borrowed from another Eleventh Division Squad Member, because Ito Makoto had not yet graduated and thus had not been formally granted an Asauchi.
Therefore, Madarame Ikkaku could only use a wooden sword when fighting him, but both parties felt that it wasn't satisfying enough.
So, every time they sparred afterward, Madarame Ikkaku would first borrow a sword from other Squad Members and then secretly give it to Ito Makoto, to facilitate a real sword fight with him.
However, this behavior was clearly against the rules. Granting an Asauchi to an ungraduated Squad Member without permission was explicitly forbidden by Central 46, which is why the two chose the West District of Rukongai, Area Eighty, far from Seireitei, as their sparring location.
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