In the classroom of the Konoha Shinobi Academy, students sat in straight rows as they looked at their sensei.
The sensei was a chunin who adjusted his glasses and began calling out names for attendance in a loud voice so that everyone could hear it.
"Obito Uchiha," he said first.
"Hai!" Obito shouted back right away.
"Asuma Sarutobi," the sensei continued without pause.
"Hai," Asuma answered.
"Kurenai Yuhi," the sensei called next.
"Hai," came a gentle reply from Kurenai. She did not notice the smile that Asuma gave to her.
The sensei looked down at his list again. He paused for a second before saying the next name. "Shunsui Kyōraku."
No answer came. The classroom stayed completely quiet. A few students turned their heads, looking around curiously. They were pretty sure that they had seen Shunsui come to Class today.
The sensei's eyebrow started to twitch as he said the name again. A thick vein popped out on his forehead as his patience ran out. He took a deep breath and shouted much louder this time. "Shunsui Kyōraku!!"
From the far back corner of the classroom, a slow and sleepy voice finally drifted out. "Hai..."
Every head in the room turned at once. There, leaning against the desk with his legs stretched out, was a nine-year-old boy who looked completely out of place in a shinobi academy.
He wore a loose pink kimono that was way too girly for him. A wide straw hat sat low on his head, covering his eyes completely.
It was obvious he had been napping because his arms were still folded on the desk like a pillow. Slowly, he lifted his head just enough for the hat to tilt back a little. His eyes stayed closed, and his face showed nothing but boredom and tiredness.
The sensei stared at him with a glare that could melt metal. "Kyoraku! Sit up straight when your name is called! This is an academy, not your personal bedroom!"
Shunsui let out a long, tired breath. He moved his body a tiny bit, but he still slouched. "Sorry about that, sensei. It won't happen again," he said with a yawn.
His words sounded polite, but everyone could tell he did not mean them at all. He tugged the brim of his straw hat down lower and rested his head against the wall again, ready to sleep some more.
The hat was not just a fashion choice. It was something that also made it hard to notice his closed eyes.
Obito leaned toward Asuma, "That guy is as strange as ever. He still wears that Pink kimono even when I called him Miss Shunsui? What boy even wears pink? Why did he even get promoted to our class A?"
Asuma gave a quiet laugh. "Well he has always been like this. I heard that he did not want to become a shinobi. But people say his chakra is off the charts for someone his age so he was forced to join the shinobi academy and he is pretty good in Taijutsu so he was promoted to our class this year."
Kurenai looked back for a moment,"He does not seem interested in being a shinobi at all. It is kind of sad."
The sensei shook his head hard, trying to control his anger. 'He is as lazy as always,' the sensei thought to himself. 'Maybe a genin team would do him good. Dangerous missions and a strict jonin leader might finally get rid of that laid-back attitude and laziness. He has too much talent to throw it away by sleeping and wasting it.'
Shunsui felt all the eyes on him, but he ignored them completely. He sighed again, softer this time, and let his mind wander. He closed his eyes fully once more and tried to drift back into his nap.
Everyone thought that he was wasting his talent but he knew that if it came to a fight, he can give even a seasoned jonin a run for his money. Yes, he might be a kid and overconfident in his abilities but he knew that he was not.
Shunsui Kyōraku was different from every other child in the academy. While most kids dreamed of wearing headbands, throwing jutsus, and becoming heroes, Shunsui wanted nothing to do with any of it.
He was not born in this world the normal way. He had memories from another place called Earth, a life that ended and then started again here in the body of a baby.
The name he had back on Earth did not matter anymore. What he did there, who he knew, none of it carried over. In this life, he was simply Kyoraku Shunsui, an orphan boy in Konoha.
People might hear his name and think he had all the powers of the famous captain from Bleach.
Sadly, that was not the case. He had none of the original Kyoraku's memories. No soul-based powers flowed through him. He could not fire hado blasts or bind enemies with bakudo. He had no reaitsu to crush people with just it's pressure.
But one thing was similar with him from his Bleach counterpart: his zanpakuto, Katen Kyokotsu.
The sword was real. Whenever he wanted, he could call it into his hand. And that opened various possibilities for him.
He might not be a shinigami but he had their strongest tool with them. And most importantly he could use its abilities freely.
More than that, he believed his chakra reserves matched the huge amount of reaitsu his counterpart once had. His chakra pool was massive, far bigger than any other person his age.
And that meant he was not someone ordinary and in this world, being not ordinary meant attention. And getting attention in this world meant being sent to train as a soldier and then sent to death.
Because of that giant chakra, nobody let him live quietly. Something that academy examiners that had visited the orphanage had noticed and despite his protests of not wanting to become a shinobi, they had sent him to the academy to become one.