Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, with five days on and two days off…
Over a hundred years…
Rounding it up, that is nearly thirty thousand seeds!
Although each seed only absorbed the spiritual energy that unconsciously drifted from a soul body, many tiny streams make a mighty ocean.
Accumulated over time, the rate of spiritual energy accumulation would be terrifyingly fast.
‘When that time comes, I won’t be cultivating alone.
The entire Gotei 13 will be aiding my cultivation!’ At this thought, the corners of Makoto Senju’s mouth curved upward, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Seeing this, Seinosuke Yamada sensed Makoto Senju’s joyful and relaxed demeanor.
Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “Senju, are you really that happy about joining Squad 4?” Makoto Senju was slightly taken aback, but he quickly responded with a firm expression.
“Of course.
Saving lives and helping the injured is my dream.
Ever since the day I entered the Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy, I have hoped to join Squad 4 and become an honorable and great Soul Reaper…” Pausing briefly, Makoto Senju looked at Seinosuke Yamada’s somewhat cold, sharp face and added, “Right now, I feel like my dream is within arm’s reach.
How could I not be happy?” “Hmm…” Seinosuke Yamada nodded, then remarked acidly, “Then you’re celebrating a bit too early.” ?
Makoto Senju stared at him.
Amused by Makoto’s choked, stunned expression, Seinosuke smiled and asked, seemingly to himself, “Makoto Senju, you’re absolutely sure you want to apply to join Squad 4, correct?” “Yes.” “Good.
Wait here for a moment.
Once we finish recruiting the rest of the graduates, we’ll talk in detail.” With that, Seinosuke immediately went back to the busy work of recruiting the other graduates.
Seeing this, Makoto took the opportunity to say goodbye to Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, while thoroughly reprimanding them for taking matters into their own hands.
Granted, it was precisely because Ikkaku and Yumichika had tried to abduct Makoto into Squad 11 that he had accidentally gained the chance to plant a Forest Seed inside Kenpachi Zaraki.
Nevertheless, Makoto still condemned their actions in no uncertain terms, making it clear that if they ever pulled something like this again, he would definitely retaliate—so they shouldn’t say he hadn’t warned them.
As for parting with Makoto, Ikkaku seemed quite reluctant, claiming he would definitely visit Makoto at Squad 4 whenever he had the time.
Knowing Ikkaku’s personality all too well, Makoto didn’t doubt his words for a second.
With Ikkaku’s weak-but-eager-to-fight nature, once he officially joined Squad 11—which was packed with combat-obsessed maniacs—it probably wouldn’t be long before he was carried into a Squad 4 hospital room on a stretcher.
Yumichika, on the other hand, didn’t say much, merely expressing a hint of regret.
However, the slightly ambiguous look in Yumichika’s eyes made Makoto subconsciously tense up.
But since Ikkaku and Yumichika still had to recruit a batch of graduates on Kenpachi Zaraki’s behalf, they quickly got busy themselves.
Amidst the slow, agonizing deliberations of the graduates across the venue, the initial squad selection process took over an hour to conclude.
Immediately after, the representatives from each squad led the graduates out of the venue to begin their internal squad evaluations right within the Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy.
However, Seinosuke had no intention of lingering at the academy.
He directly led the eighteen graduates, including Makoto, out of the Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy and into the Seireitei.
The Seireitei was the ruling and military center of the entire Soul Society.
Separated by a towering, pure-white wall, the chaotic and impoverished Rukongai lay on the outside, while the breathtaking Seireitei stood within—the very place the Soul Reapers of the Gotei 13 were sworn to protect.
Once Seinosuke led the graduates into the Seireitei, he spent the entire walk introducing them to the layout of the inner districts, the location of each squad’s barracks, special designated areas, and various taboos.
“Excuse me, Senior Yamada…” As Seinosuke spoke eloquently, a rather timid, hesitant voice chimed in from among the graduates.
“Is it really alright to tell us all this beforehand?
Does this mean we’ve already passed Squad 4’s evaluation?” “Of course!” Seinosuke glanced back at the tall graduate with the eye-catching, silver-gray short hair, then looked down at the roster in his hand.
“Isane Kotetsu, right?” “Yes, Senior Yamada,” Isane Kotetsu quickly replied.
“Mhm.
Indeed, as of today, you are all officially members of Squad 4,” Seinosuke said.
“Ah?
But…
but haven’t we skipped the squad evaluation?” Isane Kotetsu asked, somewhat flustered, “If our Kaido and medical skills aren’t up to par, wouldn’t that negatively impact the patients?” “That kind of thing doesn’t matter at all…” Seinosuke shook his head and said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter even if you don’t know Kaido at all.
Squad 4 is already quite short-handed when it comes to body-carrying duties.” In an instant, Isane’s face turned pale, and the expressions of the other graduates soured as well.
After all, eighteen graduates had applied to join Squad 4 this time, and most of them had been captivated by Captain Unohana’s gentle demeanor, hoping to serve under her.
But…
carrying corpses?!
Diligently practicing Zankensoki every single day wasn’t for the sake of carrying corpses, damn it!!!
Within moments, almost all of the graduates’ faces darkened, their eyes brimming with resentment as they stared at Seinosuke.
After all, with the exception of an oddball like Makoto Senju, who was genuinely passionate about Kaido and medicine, the vast majority of Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy students focused most of their energy on Zankensoki—the four basic combat arts of a Soul Reaper: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kido.
As for Kaido, it was merely a special branch of Kido and was not a major evaluation subject at the Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy, making up only a tiny fraction of their grades.
Consequently, a significant portion of the students barely mastered more than the most basic Kaido—perhaps just enough to perform emergency hemostasis to stop bleeding.
Even among these graduates who had applied to join Squad 4, most of them lacked confidence in their Kaido skills.
Now, after being shut down so thoroughly by Seinosuke, several of the graduates began to withdraw into themselves.
Even Makoto had to admit that Seinosuke’s venomous nature was impossible to hide, unleashing indiscriminate tongue-lashings at almost every turn.
‘Perhaps…
the reason Squad 4 is short-staffed every year has a lot to do with having such a sharp-tongued lieutenant…’ Makoto couldn’t help but complain inwardly about Seinosuke.
‘If Sosuke Aizen were the lieutenant, with his seemingly flawless gentleness and approachability, there’s no way Squad 4 would ever be short-staffed.’