Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Blade and I
Chapter 1: The Blade and I
"As expected of the Seireitei. Truly deep pockets."
Uchiha Yato held the piece of paper in his hands, clicking his tongue in marvel.
"To think a mere acceptance letter to the Shin’o Academy would be imbued with Kido, making it nearly impossible to destroy."
The letter, roughly the size of two adjoined palms, featured intricate patterns embroidered with silver thread. The division flowers of the Gotei 13 intertwined in a stunning display.
The Shin’o Academy’s motto was engraved at the very top:
[Do not seek beauty in battle.]
[Do not seek virtue in death.]
[Do not consider only your own life.]
[If you wish to protect the One King and Five Nobles, you must slaughter every last enemy lurking in the shadows of the leaves.]
In the exact center of the notice lay the youth’s personal information:
[Uchiha Yato. Origin: East Rukongai, District 62.]
[Upon examination: Uchiha Yato possesses excellent Reiatsu, a resilient soul, and satisfactory moral character.]
[You are hereby admitted as a new student to the Shin’o Academy.]
[Reporting Location: West Rukongai, District 1, Junrinan - Hakudomon.]
[Reporting Time: Within half a month of the issuance of this notice.]
In the upper right corner sat a portrait of Uchiha Yato. It depicted a boy of around fourteen or fifteen, with black hair and pitch-black eyes. He had a lean build and a faint smile playing on his lips—a remarkably handsome face.
"Finally made it in... To be honest, for someone from the Rukongai, the cultural portion of the entrance exam is a massive pain to study for."
Yato sighed, tossing the letter aside as he lay back, resting his head on his crossed arms.
Inside the rather shabby hut, the boy savored a brief moment of peace.
Having reincarnated into the world of Soul Reapers, he had put in an excruciating amount of effort to pass the Shin’o Academy exams, never allowing himself a single moment to slack off. Honing his physique, saving up money to buy books, and working odd jobs to feed himself—it was even more exhausting than his senior year of high school in his past life.
Fortunately, East Rukongai’s District 62, ’Hanagare’, had just enough baseline law and order to scrape by. It wasn’t a lawless wasteland overrun by vicious criminals like ’Zaraki’ or ’Inuzuri’. It was also lucky that he had been a battle-tested veteran of the exam-oriented education system in his previous life. Yato could handle this level of intensity.
As for why he had crossed over into the Bleach world, Yato couldn’t even be bothered to overthink it anymore.
And as for why his surname was "Uchiha"...
"Eh? Why’d you throw your acceptance letter away? You worked so hard to get it~"
A teasing, feminine voice suddenly chimed right next to his ear. Yato didn’t turn his head, nor did he even open his eyes:
"What, am I supposed to frame it?"
"Hehe, you could tattoo it on your body."
"Who tattoos something like that? If I’m getting ink, it should say ’Everything for the Seireitei’. Maybe Old Man Yamamoto will see it and immediately groom me as the next Head Captain."
"Great idea! I’ll tattoo it on you while you’re sleeping tonight."
The girl who had appeared out of nowhere joked with a tone of utter familiarity.
She, too, had black hair and black eyes. Her long hair cascaded straight down to her waist. She had a beautiful face, but in stark contrast to an elegant, noble-lady appearance, her choice of attire was fiercely imposing—she wore a skin-tight black combat suit beneath crimson, Sengoku-era lamellar armor, and she carried a massive, peculiar gunbai fan strapped to her back.
Even in the Soul Society, this style of dress was considered an absolute antique.
As she admired the portrait on the acceptance letter, she reached out and poked at Yato’s face, occasionally parting his lips to inspect his teeth as if appraising a horse.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. As expected. When it comes to real handsome guys, they always look better in person than in pictures."
"So I count as handsome?"
"Duh." The girl rapped Yato on the head in dissatisfaction. "Is there an ugly Uchiha in our family?"
"Thanks."
"So, when are you getting married? A lot of girls look at you with sparkling eyes. How does the saying go again? Oh, right—’To restore the glory of the Uchiha, it is our inescapable duty!’"
"Stop messing around..." Yato, well-accustomed to the girl’s eccentric way of speaking, sighed. "Seriously though, the cultural exam is ridiculously hard. If only my Rei-i class were a little higher. I heard they’d let you skip the exam and enroll directly."
The girl shrugged, causing her crimson armor to clatter slightly with a pleasant, rustling sound.
"Rei-i Class 12 is pretty impressive, you little genius."
"You really have a knack for coaxing kids." Only then did Yato finally open his eyes, a profound gleam flashing across his pitch-black pupils. "When I went to pick up my acceptance letter, I ran into the procession of Squad 12. I overheard a name... Kirio Hikifune."
He paused, then continued:
"So, I need to revise the timeline again. Right now, it’s the era before Kirio Hikifune gets promoted to Squad Zero. But it probably won’t be more than a few years before she heads to the Soul King Palace."
A reincarnator’s greatest advantage was foresight regarding major events. However, Soul Reapers easily lived for hundreds of years, and the original story’s timeline was always incredibly vague. Moreover, since Uchiha Yato originated from the Rukongai, gathering information was exceptionally difficult.
Knowledge was hoarded by the few. In this world, Soul Reapers and Nobles were indisputably the upper class, while the residents of the Rukongai could rarely ever breach their inner circles.
This was exactly why Yato repeatedly lamented how difficult the cultural exams were. In the higher-numbered districts of the Rukongai, finding even a single bookstore was nearly impossible. Studying and gathering intel was an arduous ordeal.
The walls forged from Sekkiseki represented far more than just a physical barrier.
Luckily, pinning down the approximate time period wasn’t too hard.
—Right now, they were roughly one hundred and twenty years before the start of the main plot.
The girl’s eyes lit up. She was just about to speak when her beautiful brows suddenly furrowed.
"Someone’s coming."
Her hand brushed against the flame-patterned gunbai on her back, a half-smile forming on her lips. "Carrying quite a few things, too... Hmph."
Uchiha Yato stood up and patted the girl’s shoulder, silently signaling her not to worry.
A knock came at the door, and the visitor walked in carrying bags big and small.
"Yato, my boy, truly impressive!" The middle-aged man spoke with a jovial laugh as he took a seat across from the youth. "It’s been ages since our Hanagare district produced a new student for the Shin’o Academy! Lord Horiuchi was absolutely thrilled."
"Just dumb luck. I barely scraped by with a passing grade," Yato replied modestly, accepting the gifts from his guest as they fell into casual conversation.
The middle-aged man was a smooth talker, making the atmosphere quite harmonious.
Strangely, however, the guest only looked at Uchiha Yato from start to finish. As for the girl, she seemed like an entity from another dimension entirely, completely invisible to his eyes.
The truth was, in the vast expanse of the Soul Society, only Yato could see and sense her.
The girl in the crimson armor merely cast a fleeting glance at the visitor before sitting down on the tatami mats, curling up and hugging her knees. She quietly watched Yato, unable to suppress a soft smile.
For a sentient being, remaining unseen, untouched, and unheard by the entire world—condemned to an eternity of isolation—was undeniably the most terrifying form of torture.
But thankfully, there was one person bound to her in life and death, sharing her destiny.
That one person was her entire world.
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