I'm in Bleach, starting with Unlimited Blade Works.

"If I remember correctly, this year's students should be your classmates, Rukia."

"After these years of study, you are capable enough to handle some dangers."

"I'd like you and your fellow trainees to participate in this year's squad selection. What do you think?"

Rukia was momentarily stunned upon hearing Erin's words.

So many years have passed already?

I don't think I know many people from my own cohort.

The only person she missed was her childhood friend, Renji Abarai, with whom she had spent over a decade in Rukongai.

"Teacher, Renji, he..."

"Oh, that kid who has some fighting talent."

"His abilities are quite good; he ranked in the top three in this graduation assessment."

"If you agree to participate in the squad selection with them, he might be more popular than you."

Knowing who Rukia was asking, Erin smiled and teased Rukia.

"Huh? Why?"

Isn't it obvious?

Seeing that Rukia was a little confused, Erin didn't play games with her and explained directly: "Generally speaking, the squad members who go to select team members are almost all elite Grim Reapers."

"Most of these people were born in Rukongai, so they naturally have a favorable impression of Shinigami born in Rukongai."

"You did not participate in the graduation assessment, but you jumped the queue to enter the squad selection."

"In their eyes, you are just a second-generation noble with a noble background in Seireitei, someone who used family connections to get into the Gotei 13 for a prestigious position."

"Such a person, if he does not have enough strength, will be ostracized by the other Shinigami in the division."

In Soul Society, the talents of the nobles of Seireitei are indeed stronger than those of most ordinary people born in Rukongai.

However, since the Shinigami Academy recruits students from the entire Soul Society, with such a large pool of students in Rukongai, there are occasionally some talented commoner Shinigami who rise to prominence.

For over two thousand years, the commoner Shinigami born in Rukongai, now part of the Gotei 13, have gradually come to rival the noble Shinigami.

Currently, the captains of the five divisions—Gin Ichimaru (3rd Division), Sousuke Aizen (5th Division, Aizen's clone), Sajin Komamura (7th Division), Kaname Tōsen (9th Division), and Mayuri Kurotsuchi (12th Division)—are all commoner Shinigami.

In fact, ordinary Grim Reapers do not completely reject noble Grim Reapers.

After all, nobles possess a lineage, and they can learn many things that ordinary Shinigami cannot learn at the Shinigami Academy.

Those noble Shinigami who entered the Shinigami Academy and trained alongside the commoners of Rukongai were very popular.

After all, who wouldn't like a friend who shares cultivation tips and combat tricks?

Those like Rukia, who don't attend the Shinigami Academy but instead choose to skip the queue to join a squad, are the ones who face rejection.

In Erin's memory, it seems that Rukia was placed in the 13th Division by Byakuya Kuchiki, who used his noble status to place her there, where she could participate in combat but the intensity of the fighting was not very high.

Furthermore, to prevent Rukia from undertaking dangerous missions, Byakuya Kuchiki took an extra precaution: prohibiting Rukia from serving as the head of the 13th Division.

Therefore, Rukia's only task is to go to the human world and become a Shinigami stationed in a certain city.

In the present world, no Hollow has descended for over two hundred years.

With Rukia's strength, small Hollows and most medium-sized Hollows are no match for her. Carrying out missions in the human world can not only increase Rukia's combat experience, but also ensure Rukia's safety, achieving multiple benefits at once.

It was precisely because of Byakuya Kuchiki's arrangement that Rukia was seen by most of the Shinigami in the 13th Division as a piece of trash who could only enter the division by relying on her family.

Therefore, Rukia was actually bullied quite a bit by others when she was in the 13th Division.

Of course, this bullying was just a tacit way for these Shinigami to exclude Rukia.

After all, Rukia is a noblewoman, and a member of the Kuchiki family, the most powerful noble family at the top of Seireitei.

It wasn't until the vice-captain of the 13th Division, Shiba Kaien, learned Rukia's name that he reached out to her out of a sense of kinship as one of the four great noble families, allowing Rukia to spend a relatively comfortable period of time in the 13th Division.

"With Byakuya and me in the Sixth and Eleventh Divisions, you definitely won't face any difficulties."

"But it's different in other squads. If you don't have anyone looking out for you, some Shinigami will use all their power within the rules to make things difficult for you, isolating you within the squad and making it impossible for you to move an inch..."

"So, Rukia, have you decided whether to participate in the squad selection with the graduates, or to use my connection with Byakuya to join the 6th or 11th squad?"

"No, teacher."

"The problems you mentioned are all due to my lack of ability."

"Moreover, right now, I seem to be looking forward to them making things difficult for me."

"Oh?"

Erin raised an eyebrow. Was this something Rukia would say?

When did Rukia start hoping someone would make things difficult for her?

Seeing the teacher's surprised look as she looked at her, Rukia felt a rare moment of shyness.

After all, this act of deliberately showing weakness to invite trouble seemed a bit too "insidious" to Rukia.

So, fearing that her teacher might misunderstand her, Rukia quickly explained to Erin, "Teacher, it's not what you think..."

"After practicing data-driven swordsmanship for some time now, I feel that if I want to continue to improve my swordsmanship, I need to collect more intelligence data."

"I feel bad for bothering other people to spar with me and for me to collect their information."

"But if it's those Grim Reapers who come to provoke me, I have no qualms about gathering intelligence on them."

The more Rukia practiced Data Swordsmanship, the more she realized how terrifying it was.

At the same time, she also learned that intelligence data is also a powerful force.

From Rukia's current perspective, personal information is a very private matter.

Once she has collected all the information on a Grim Reaper, as long as the opponent's strength is not too far beyond hers, they have absolutely no chance of winning against her.

However, if one wants to improve one's swordsmanship, one must collect more information and data, using this information as resources to transform one's swordsmanship.

"No, Rukia, you don't need to feel guilty."

In fact, Erin could guess Rukia's thoughts without Rukia needing to explain.

After all, Rukia is different from him.

As someone who possesses the Reality Marble: Unlimited Blade Works, Erin is essentially a super database, having accumulated countless swordsman combat experiences.

Comparing Rukia and Erin's data-driven kendo is like comparing the sorghum sticks used by elementary school students in the 1990s to learn math to the supercomputers of the future.

"Data-driven swordsmanship is a swordsmanship that relies heavily on intelligence."

"The more intelligence you gather, the greater your advancement will be."

"When your database can support you in analyzing most of a person's information in an instant, your data swordsmanship will have reached a minor level of mastery."

"Ah."

Rukia nodded.

As a disciple of Master Erin, he joined Master Erin's school a year later than me. However, Junior Brother Toshiro joined the 10th Division three years ago and I heard that he has now become the third seat of the 10th Division.

Unlike other people who cut in line, Toshiro Hitsugaya is very popular in the 10th Division.

Despite his youthful appearance and formidable strength, Toshiro Hitsugaya, as Captain Erin's disciple, has lived up to everyone's expectations.

Chapter 222 Meet again

Even Shiba Isshin, the captain of the 10th Division, admitted that it might not take a hundred years for Hitsugaya Toshiro to become a stronger person than himself.

Even now, Toshiro Hitsugaya's strength is second only to Isshin Shiba in the 10th Division.

Rangiku Matsumoto, the vice-captain of the 10th Division, has now become the second biggest slacker in the Gotei 13 after Erin, the captain of the 11th Division.

She handed over almost all the team affairs to Toshiro Hitsugaya, and spent her days either having banquets with the members of the Women's Shinigami Association or drinking with a few drinking buddies at izakayas.

Toshiro Hitsugaya is currently in the 10th Division, holding the position of the third seat while doing the work of a vice-captain.

If Hitsugaya Toshiro hadn't been in the 10th Division for so short a time and hadn't been so inexperienced, Matsumoto Rangiku probably wouldn't have been able to keep her position as vice-captain.

……

At the Shinigami Academy, seventeen or eighteen boys dressed in black shihaka uniforms stood tall and proud, accepting the envious glances from their younger schoolmates, in the very center of the academy's sports field.

Looking down from above, amidst a sea of ​​white, those dozen or so black dots stood out starkly.

The Shinigami uniform—this is an outfit that only true Shinigami are qualified to wear.

Shutara Senjumaru of the Zero Division completed the Zero Division's test by creating the Shinhaso (Soul Armor), thus becoming one of the four great generals of the Zero Division.

Like Asauchi, the Shinigami's Shinigami armor is also closely related to the Shinigami, providing him with a certain level of defense.

Furthermore, after the Death Knight's armor is damaged, the Death Knight can consume spiritual power to restore it.

The fact that these dozen or so people could wear the Shinigami uniform proved that they had successfully passed the graduation test and become true Shinigami.

Each graduate was surrounded by many younger students who asked them about the assessment process.

The teachers at the Shinigami Academy did not stop the students from making a ruckus.

Each graduating class that successfully becomes a Grim Reaper serves as the greatest inspiration to the students who follow.

However, they couldn't let the students keep surrounding the dozen or so graduates. When they felt that the time was about right, the teachers immediately stepped forward and began to maintain order on the playground.

"Alright, students, hurry back to your classrooms and stand in line. The Shinigami from the Gotei 13 are coming to recruit members soon."

After hearing the teachers' words, the students stopped bothering the group that had become true death gods, and returned to their respective classrooms, looking up at the people in the center of the playground.

These are their role models.

Everyone hopes that this time next year, they will be one of the people wearing the Shinigami uniform.

At 10:00 AM, the Shinigami of the Gotei 13, who had come to the Shinigami Academy to recruit students, finally entered the campus amidst the students' anticipation.

To everyone's surprise, among the Shinigami who came to recruit students for the Shinigami Academy this time, there were actually three captains.

Captain of Division 6, Byakuya Kuchiki.

Captain of the Eighth Division, Kyoraku Shunsui.

And the captain of the 13th Division, Jushiro Ukitake.