Chapter 4 - Entrance Exam

Itachi took one more look around before continuing his way further inside the first district. As Itachi walks through the district, he feels the gaze of many people on him. Itachi ignores it and keeps walking down the main road of the district. Up ahead he sees a huge, multiple story building with golden roofs in the distance. As Itachi gets closer he sees a giant courtyard with a multitude of people walking through the pathways. The entire area was the size of a small town. He sees a sign above the gate that says "Shin'ō Academy.

Itachi arrives at the gate of the academy and observes the many students from the academy traversing the school grounds with their white and blue or red shihakusho. He sees a particularly large gaggle of students grouped at one side of the courtyard. Itachi makes his way through the unorganized crowd and sees various people not in uniform holding orbs of varying brightness. Itachi senses a great amount of reiatsu being exerted from this area.

"This orb must be related to the entrance test." Itachi muses as he spends a few more moments spectating the exam before finding the nearest sign up stand. He makes his way over to the sign up stand. He stands behind an examinee as the line slowly dwindles.

As he awaits his turn, a group of examinees make their way over. There were three people, A young man dressed luxuriously was in the center. He was walking over with his hands behind his back with two other young men following closely behind. He had an arrogant and proud look on his face as he strode over. He looked at some of the examinees in line as a hint of mockery flashed across his eyes.

"Hmph, every piece of trash thinks they can join the academy." He ruthlessly stated as he stared at the common class examinees. The examinees had no choice but to hold in their anger as they saw the Kenseikan in his hair and knew this was someone from one of the four great noble families. The young noble saw their faces and laughed.

"A bunch of gutless worms actually think they can become shinigami!" He walked past the examinees. The nobleman made his way to the front of the line and looked back at the line before completing his sign up. As he looked back, he noticed the person behind him with an expressionless face with cold eyes and noticed that he had even worse garbs than some of the common folk.

"What's your name?" He asked with a slight hint of ridicule. To the noble's dismay, Itachi ignored him and walked to the front to start his sign up papers. The young noble was fuming inside seeing he was actually ignored by this beggar trash.The instructor hands Itachi an orb. At first touch, Itachi doesn't notice anything remarkable about the orb. It was a pale blue, nearly transparent sphere that was a bit on the heavy side.

"Go wait for the rest of the examinees to receive theirs." The proctor instructed.

As the proctor continued handing out the orbs, the young nobleman stared at Itachi with anger in his eyes. Itachi ignored him and walked over to the side and studied the orb in greater detail.

Once the final examinee received his orb, he joined the others in the line and awaited the proctor's instructions. The proctor got out of his seat and walked over to the examinees. He cleared his voice and began speaking.

"This exam is to test your reiatsu potency and control. You are to pour your reiatsu into this orb. If you are able to light the orb, you pass. Do you have any questions?"

A few of the examinees raise their hands.

"Good! No questions! We can begin!"

Itachi channels his reiatsu and focuses it into the orb, letting a steady stream flow into it. The orb glows brilliantly and the proctor writes a few notes down. A few moments later the proctor concludes the examination. "Okay that is enough!"

Itachi stops pouring his reiatsu into the orb. The orb dims down and returns to its original color. The proctor goes in order of the examinees.

The proctor walks to the nobleman and gave him his score.

"Kuchiki Daiki. Pass, Class 1." He nodded approvingly "Well done."

"As expected of someone from the Kuchiki clan." The proctor thought in his head.

Daiki looked at Itachi with scorn in his eyes. "This is the level between us." He thought in his head.

"Uchiha, Itachi. Pass, Class 1. Well done."

"Amazing... such a talented individual comes from that barbaric district." The proctor thought.

A trace of shock appeared in Daiki's eyes as he stared at Itachi.

"What?! He's on the same level as me?! How can that be?!" He thought to himself as he gritted his teeth.

"Pass, Class 2"

"Fail, please try again next time"

"Pass, Class 3"

Daiki's followers also passed and ended up in class 3.

…

The proctor finished evaluating the rest of the examinees then handed each person who passed an identification slip with their name and class designation.

"Take this and go into the main building. Then go to hall B and pick up your equipment and class information. After you finish, go to hall A for your orientation. That is all."

The proctor dismissed the passing students and sent them on their way. Itachi takes his slip and makes his way towards the main building. As he is walking, Daiki suddenly appears in front of Itachi.

"Hey! Don't get ċȯċky just because you were lucky enough to be chosen for Class 1. Make sure you remember your place!" Daiki said with a cold look in his eye before turning around and leaving.

"Itachi!" A voice calls out from behind. Itachi turns around to see it is Itsuki running towards him.

"How did your exam go? I couldn't see you very well because everyone in the crowd is too tall for me…"

"I passed." Itachi replies.

"Awesome! What class are you in? I'm in Class 1! Pretty good right?"

"Class 1."

"You too? That's great! We get to be in the same class!" Itsuki said with a wide grin.

Itachi simply smiled and nodded.

"You are picking up your uniform too right? Let's go together!" Itsuki said

"Very well." Itachi gave a quick response.

"Hey by the way, who was that fellow that was talking to you? Itsuki asked

"No idea." Itachi gave a calm reply as he continued his way over.

Itsuki paused for a second and didn't ask any further questions. Both Itachi and Itsuki continued through the courtyard towards the main building. The duo finally made it to the main hall. Itsuki looked around before asking a student for directions towards Hall B. The student pointed to the left side of the building. Itsuki thanked the student and the duo made their way towards the hall. Upon reaching hall B, they saw a small line that led to a counter. The two waited in line for a few minutes before they arrived at the front.

"Identification slip please." The receptionist asked.

Itachi handed over his identification slip. The receptionist looked it over then looked at Itachi head to toe before making her way over to a back room. Several moments later, she came back out with a folded blue and white shihakusho, and a small book.

"The book has all the class descriptions and who your instructor will be. It will also provide the location of various training grounds and facilities accessible to you as a class 1 student. You will receive one shihakusho for now. If it's torn or damaged, please come back here to receive a replacement." She handed itachi the items before yelling out "Next!"

Itsuki walks up to the receptionist and receives his shihakusho and book while Itachi waits for him. After he receives his materials, the two of them make their way towards hall A.

The duo arrive at the lecture hall. The two look around the room at the many rows of desks that were lined up in a stairway style cascading format much like an opera theater. Itachi and Itsuki find a couple of empty seats next to each other and sit down. They wait several minutes as the hall fills with new students. A few minutes after the hall is full, an old man wearing a black shihakusho with white robe over it makes his way to the podium in the center of the hall. Upon seeing this man a few discussions in the room quieted down. He waited for a few moments before yelling "Silence!!!". The remaining talking students immediately shut up, bringing the hall to a silence.

Good morning! On behalf of Academy founder Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto and Chief Instructor Gengoro Onabara, it is my great pŀėȧsurė to welcome you all to Shinō Academy. I'm delighted to see those of you who made it past the entrance exam. I hope you will discover over the next six years the opportunity the academy provides to nurture, educate, and train the future shinigami of the Gotei 13. The next few years of your life will be filled with challenges and opportunities. We at the academy hope you find your path and excel in becoming a fine shinigami.

The instructor continues his speech for another half an hour before he dismisses the students to their respective classes.