Chapter 1

The Kido Tournament!

Soul Reaper combat is built on a foundation of Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido. One cannot improve if they are lacking in any of these disciplines.

With that in mind, this time we shall aim to strengthen our Kido skills! The squads and their respective leaders have already been decided by lottery, so hurry to your groups!

The first round will be the Hado test! You will compete to see who can shoot down the most targets within the allotted time.

There will be some slightly tricky obstacles along the way. I want to see you all work together and aim for a high score. Are you ready?

Y-Yes!

Kido Tournament Round 1, Hado–Begin!

Hado 33: Sokatsui!

Man, we've been relying on Lieutenant Kotetsu this entire time. Our Hado hasn't been hitting any marks, huh, Ikkaku?

Shut up! Since when does Squad 11 fight with Kido anyway?

I-I'm doing just fine! Now calm down and focus on your incantations. That's an order!

Um, sorry.

Urgh, and we still have those tricky obstacles or whatever to deal with! Damn it!

I've been waiting for you.

Lieutenant Ise! Hold on, are you supposed to be one of these tricky obstacles?

Precisely. Soul Reapers skilled in Kido, like myself, were selected to obstruct competitors.

I get it now. At least we're good at fighting, eh, Renji? Let's do this!

Yeah!

Time's up. Good work. The first round has concluded. Though, it would appear you two stopped gaining points partway through.

Cheer up! If anything, it was you two occupying Lieutenant Ise that allowed me to focus on the targets.

But still...

Still what?

The bonus targets were all shot out before I could get to them. Given that, I can't really imagine we scored all that well.

Bonus targets? Oh, you mean the ones with Kisuke's face on them, right?

Now that you mention it, their faces were all shot out. Gotta wonder why they chose Kisuke, though.