Although everyone knew he would eventually leave the division he joined and enter the First Division, the time he spent in a given unit would still become a deep bond.
With that bond, once Toshiro Hitsugaya became Captain-Commander, he would certainly take special care of the division he had once belonged to, and the Captain-Commander's care was an extremely substantial benefit for any division.
Setting everything else aside, the budget, leave, recruitment slots, and so on alone were enough to tempt every captain.
While the captains were talking among themselves, the graduation ceremony began.
In the auditorium of Shin'o Academy, hundreds of soul candles burned beneath the dome like a golden galaxy. The hems of the graduates' white uniforms swept across the bluestone floor, making a neat rustling sound.
The headmaster walked up to the podium with a wooden cane. The old man's spiritual pressure was like an ancient, settled pool, instantly silencing the noisy hall.
The headmaster spoke calmly.
"The gates of the Gotei 13 are open to you today. From today onward, within three days, fill out five application forms and rank them according to your wishes. These five applications will determine which division you join.
"Remember, each division has different requirements, but there is no hierarchy among them.
"Of course, even after filling out your applications, the division you ultimately join may not be one of the five you listed.
"That is because you failed to be selected. The First Division will then independently assign the division you are to join.
"That is all you need to keep in mind. Next, the captains of the twelve divisions will come onstage one after another to introduce their divisions. You may choose which unit to join based on the captains' explanations."
The headmaster's speech was concise and forceful. It had no depth whatsoever, only important information.
As soon as he finished, he walked offstage with his cane, leaving the podium to the others.
After the headmaster stepped down, by order, the captain of the Second Division should have gone up to speak, but at that moment, a large man suddenly stood and walked toward the podium.
He was tall and burly, over two meters in height. Among the crowd, he looked like a small mountain, giving off an intense sense of pressure.
Even now, he still carried his Zanpakuto on his shoulder, without the slightest air of a captain. His gaze swept over the room before finally locking onto Harry and Toshiro Hitsugaya.
"I'm the captain of the Eleventh Division, Kenpachi Zaraki. I came here for only one reason, and that is...
"Hey, your names are Harry Potter and Toshiro Hitsugaya, right? Come on, join the Eleventh Division. Let's slaughter each other together.
"Here, I can give you the ultimate battle experience and the fastest speed of strength improvement. If you can cut me down, then I wouldn't mind letting you have this captain's seat for a while."
Kenpachi Zaraki did not deliberately strengthen his spiritual pressure, but he also did not deliberately restrain it. Everyone closest to him felt a powerful pressure. Even the teachers of Shin'o Academy were forced to bend slightly under it.
Toshiro Hitsugaya was extremely uncomfortable with Kenpachi Zaraki's attitude. He glanced at Harry beside him, whose expression remained calm, and could not help muttering under his breath,
"What a beast."
But Harry smiled and said, "His talent is no worse than yours. In terms of spiritual pressure, he may even be stronger. If you want to become stronger, perhaps you could join the Eleventh Division."
Hearing Harry's words, Toshiro Hitsugaya was immediately stunned. He looked Kenpachi Zaraki over carefully again, no longer daring to underestimate him.
Others did not know, but he knew Harry's true strength.
Even his own talent was only "not bad" in Harry's mouth.
For Harry to praise someone's talent in spiritual pressure, one could imagine just how outstanding it was.
Kenpachi Zaraki's words were still echoing beneath the dome when Mayuri Kurotsuchi, captain of the Twelfth Division, let out a piercing sneer. His eyes narrowed into slits.
"That man's speeches are always so empty. No wonder the annual death rate of his division members is three times that of the other divisions."
The other captains all heard the Twelfth Division captain's words, but none of them reacted.
At that moment, Shunsui Kyoraku tilted his head back and took a mouthful of wine. The liquor flowed down his chin and into the collar of his flowered kimono. He shook his gourd and suddenly asked with a smile,
"I wonder whether Captain Unohana has any interest in recruiting these two newcomers?"
Some of the captains who had only recently become captains looked at Shunsui Kyoraku in confusion. They did not know why he had suddenly mentioned Captain Unohana.
Captain Unohana was such a gentle person, and her division was the Fourth Division. Its main duty was to heal the members of the other divisions. How could she possibly strengthen two students who were clearly more suited for combat?
But what they did not expect was that Captain Unohana's reaction was completely different from usual.
Unohana's eyes were half-closed, and within them was a light that felt utterly unfamiliar to the other captains. That light made them feel cold all over.
That terrifying feeling was something they had only ever felt when facing the Captain-Commander.
"Perhaps. They are both such good children, after all," Unohana said, still smiling gently.
Shunsui Kyoraku made a sound and said no more.
But in his heart, he made up his mind. Even if he had to let both geniuses join the Eleventh Division or the Twelfth Division, he absolutely could not let them join the Fourth Division.
Otherwise, in a few decades, the Gotei 13 would definitely descend into chaos.
After Kenpachi Zaraki went back down, the next to take the stage was Soi Fon, captain of the Second Division.
Unlike Kenpachi Zaraki, or rather, unlike most of the captains, she did not want Harry and Toshiro Hitsugaya to join her division.
The reason was the same as with the Sixth Division. The Second Division was firmly controlled by the Shihoin clan. Aside from the subordinate nobles of the Shihoin clan, it could not fall into anyone else's hands.
The Sixth Division was controlled by the Kuchiki clan, and likewise, it was impossible for them to give the captain's position to anyone else.
Whether to protect their own interests or to avoid giving the two geniuses no room to grow, neither of them wanted the two to join their divisions.
After that, Isshin Shiba, captain of the Tenth Division, went onstage to speak. His goal was the same as the other captains, to win over Harry and Toshiro Hitsugaya.
As one captain after another took the stage to speak, the atmosphere in the entire venue became strange.
Although none of the captains talked about the various advantages of their divisions, near the end, they always offered the two students all sorts of additional, enviably generous conditions.
And those two students were sixth-year Harry Potter and first-year Toshiro Hitsugaya.
This scene made the many students start discussing among themselves.
"No wonder twelve captains came to this year's graduation ceremony. In the past, at most one or two captains would come. After all, the captains' status is so transcendent. How could they possibly care about graduating students like us?"
"It's because of Harry and Hitsugaya... The captains actually all want them."
"Did you hear that? Captain Zaraki said that if they cut him down, they could become captain... If it were me, I probably couldn't even withstand his spiritual pressure. Are those two really valued so highly by Captain Zaraki?"
"Oh my god, did Captain Aizen smile at Harry just now? And Captain Kyoraku actually made a promise too..."
"That's not all. Look at Captain Unohana's gaze. It's like she's looking at some rare medicinal herb!"
"They... all these captains look so terrifying. Are they going to fight each other over Harry and Hitsugaya? If the captains really start fighting, will we get caught up in it?"
"If only I could be valued by so many captains too..."
The entire auditorium was like a cold pool into which a red-hot iron ball had been thrown. The surface seemed calm, but underneath, envy, jealousy, and awe were surging.
The students' gazes moved back and forth between Harry, Hitsugaya, and the captains.
They all knew that this moment was probably the closest they would ever be to those two.
After graduation, they were highly likely to be directly promoted to seated officers, perhaps even third seats, while the rest of them would have to start as ordinary Soul Reapers.
It really made people envious.
After all twelve captains finished their speeches, the students returned to their dormitories and submitted their applications.
In the end, Harry still chose to join the Tenth Division. This was not because of Rangiku Matsumoto's seduction. The main reason was that he had discovered that something seemed to be wrong with the Tenth Division captain.
He would soon be leaving his post.
Before that happened, perhaps Harry could challenge Captain Shiba and directly make himself captain of the Tenth Division.
Of course, under his suggestion, Momo Hinamori ultimately joined the Tenth Division together with him.
As for Toshiro Hitsugaya, under Harry's suggestion, he joined the Thirteenth Division.
Through his observations over these six years, Harry had discovered that there seemed to have been some enormous conspiracy behind an incident that had happened decades ago.
Moreover, he believed that the several captains and lieutenants who had defected back then were very likely not dead. There was a high probability that they were hiding in the World of the Living.
If Toshiro Hitsugaya could join the Thirteenth Division, then he could stay in the World of the Living for long periods of time and help Harry investigate information about those captains and lieutenants.
If those captains and lieutenants could be subdued, they would become a tremendous force for Harry.
As expected, after seeing Harry's application, the Tenth Division immediately approved it. He successfully joined the Tenth Division.
Inside the Tenth Division captain's office, Captain Isshin Shiba, Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, Harry, and Momo Hinamori were all present.
Staring at the handsome, tall young man before him, Isshin Shiba felt incredibly happy.
The Shiba clan was also one of Soul Society's four great noble clans, and almost every generation had one captain serving in office.
But because of their identity as one of the four great noble clans, each generation of the Shiba clan could only have one captain. That was because if the Shiba clan had two captains, Soul Society's balance would be broken, and certain people did not want to see the fallen Shiba clan rise again.
Yet Isshin happened to have an exceptionally talented nephew, the previous genius who had possessed sixth-class spiritual might as soon as he entered the academy.
With this nephew's ability, he could have taken on a captain's position long ago. However, precisely because Isshin, his uncle, was already a captain, he could not become the second Shiba clan captain.
So he still had to make way for his nephew, Kaien Shiba.
Aside from that, Isshin himself no longer wanted to serve as captain. He wanted to go to the World of the Living and have some fun.
Soul Society had not changed in thousands of years. It was far too boring. He did not want his life to be imprisoned here.
Therefore, at some point, he would absolutely resign from his captain's post, or else leave without saying goodbye and simply vanish from Soul Society, fleeing to the World of the Living.
But he also had feelings for the Tenth Division. After he resigned as captain, the Tenth Division would have no one capable of carrying great responsibility and becoming the next captain.
Rangiku Matsumoto's strength was not up to standard. She was still far from being captain-level, and the others were even less qualified.
Once he left, the Tenth Division would fall into the awkward situation of having no captain, which was something he did not want to see.
So after Harry appeared, he ordered his lieutenant to do everything possible to win Harry over and try to make him join the Tenth Division.
And his lieutenant had actually been reliable for once, truly getting Harry to join the Tenth Division.
In that case, after he left, Harry would be able to become the next captain of the Tenth Division before long. At that point, he would be able to leave for the World of the Living and enjoy himself with a clear conscience.
Isshin Shiba suddenly slapped Harry on the shoulder. The force was so great that the surrounding air shook. He grinned, showing white teeth, while the stubble on his chin looked dark green-black under the sunlight.
"Kid, not bad! Rangiku didn't lie to me. You really do have good judgment. Your current strength is already enough to be a lieutenant, maybe even a captain!
"The captain's seat of the Tenth Division will be saved for you. Once you've fully matured, I'll immediately resign. When that happens, you'll be the next captain of the Tenth Division."
Isshin Shiba's reaction was exactly the same as Harry had predicted.
Harry smiled and answered, "Captain Shiba, I'll work hard."
Isshin Shiba nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "I know you're strong. You should already have lieutenant-level strength, right?"
In truth, Harry's strength was among the strongest even among the captains. However, he could not expose his strength now. Otherwise, if Soul Society became wary, it would become even more difficult for him to devour this world.
He scratched his head as if a little shy and answered, "Probably. I don't know the specifics either. After all, I've never fought a lieutenant before."
Hearing Harry's words, Isshin Shiba's eyes lit up. He immediately looked at Rangiku Matsumoto beside him, raised his eyebrows, and said,
"Rangiku, do you want to spar with Harry and see just how strong he is?"
Rangiku Matsumoto refused without the slightest hesitation. "Huh? Captain Shiba, what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly. Oh right, Harry, don't forget to have drinks with me after work."
Isshin Shiba shook his head helplessly, then suddenly thought of his nephew. Perhaps he could have him fight Harry and see exactly how strong Harry was?
Of course, his nephew's current strength should already have reached captain level. He did not think Harry would be a match for his nephew.
But what he wanted was precisely for Harry to be defeated by his nephew. Geniuses were always proud. A single failure could temper his disposition.
After that, the great Captain Shiba would personally instruct Harry. Under his guidance, wouldn't Harry grow to captain level even faster?
Isshin Shiba felt that he was extremely clever.
Over the next few days, one piece of news spread throughout Soul Society, Toshiro Hitsugaya and Harry Potter had both become third seats of the Tenth Division and the Thirteenth Division.
In addition to that news, another piece of information also spread widely.
One week later, Lieutenant Kaien Shiba would duel Third Seat Harry.
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