+2.5 intel

Since Kaito had finished the book about arrancar he decided that the only natural book to follow that up with would be to understand the basic structure and abilities of the shinigami, a race which he was apart of. "Since the power of arrancar is one that has evolved from the addition of shinigami powers...to understand this fusion would be easier if I understood both how hollow and shinigami function as separate entities" he realized. There was also another reason that Kaito wanted to look into the shinigami structure asides from being able to gain a more through understanding of the arrancar race, but at the same time he wouldn't want to confirm it before having actual information. Unlike the book of Aizen's coup and the strength of his militia, the arrancar, Kaito could very easily gain access to information about shinigami without having to do any sneaking around. With his next actions decided, Kaito decided that to head towards the library, but as he was walking there he tried to imagine what the applications of this knowledge would be and mostly about the hunch he had.

Once he reached the library he gave a small wave to the librarian at the front desk and immediately headed to the back where he knew he would find substantial information about the shinigami race since it was only used for officers with serious research to do. After a couple of minutes of walking around and looking at the rows of book that continued to descend in a downward and upward direction, Kaito finally came across the book that he had been looking for in certain respect. "This should do nicely" he said confidently as he brushed the dust of the book with the utmost care as if his gentleness with the book would ensure that its tattered edges would remained unscathed by the ravages of time. He opened the book titled "Knowledge of Shinigami" before he had even reached the entrance of the library because he was so interested in the development of the knowledge that he had so recently attained. The book opened with the sentence, "Shinigami are a race of spiritual beings that act as enforcers and spiritual guides who all share similar supernatural powers..." At this Kaito wrinkled his nose a little and rolled the bamboo blowpipe from the left side of his mouth to the right side out of annoyance, "For a book reserved for seated officers, this starts off with a rather broad opening statement" he thought.

"Shinigami are souls that have supernatural powers...", again Kaito reacted to the reading in the book, but this time it was in a more reflective manner since he had never thought of his strength as a shinigami as being supernatural, especially when compared to his captain. Focusing back onto the book Kaito continued to reading the introductory pages about shinigami, "As such, their bodies are composed of spiritrons or in other words spirit particles, instead of atoms. This means that just like most other types of spirits, they can only be seen by other spiritually aware entities, which excludes most humans...". By this point in time, Kaito was now at the front desk and the librarian was looking at him strangely without him noticing, but she called out his name so that he would stop and check out the book he was holding. He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that. I guess I got a bit carried away" he tried to explain to lady while rubbing the back of his messy head in a nervous fashion. Once he finished with entire check out ordeal, the young shinigami stepped out into the sunny weather as was normally the case within the confines of the Sereitei and opened the book once more.

Tracing where his reading spot with his finger, Kaito continued his keen interest in the shinigami race, "...nevertheless, they are quite capable of influencing their environment. When souls with exceptional spiritual energy train their bodies, they reach the level of shinigami. The most talented of them become affiliated with various organizations like the Thirteen Court Guard Companies and the Stealth Force", Kaito smiled at this. It reminded him of the way in which he had been inducted into the Shinigami Academy, but it also made him think about the rough experiences that he had to have before he got to the point of becoming a shinigami let alone a ranked official within the Gotei 13. Shaking away these thoughts, Kaito returned to the book once more, "Sometimes, a shinigami is born among the the residents of the Rukongai, and in some rare cases from Seireitei. Shinigami are the personification of death. Their job is to send spirits to the Soul Society a.k.a the afterlife in order to maintain a balance of souls between it and the material world, and to exorcise evil spirits." While Kaito was aware of all these things he was glad the book went into through details laying out the duties of the shinigami along with the abilities that they maintained because of the demands that are placed upon them. He thought back to his graduation when Kaiyo, a lieutenant of the Gotei 13 was asked what shinigami were and she gave an answer that was less than ideal, especially in the eyes of the teacher of whom Kaito was trying to get a recommendation from.

Turning to the next page Kaito saw that the book quickly became interesting as it began where touching upon the things that he was more interested in, "Chapter 1: Powers of the Soul Reaper" he read in big bold letters across the top of the page. "Shinigami possesses supernatural abilities such as: Longevity, Enhanced Endurance, and Reiryoku", the book explained, "The following traits will be explained in the paragraphs below, but as a side note it is important to realize that the magnitude to which these traits are exhibited are all based upon the strength of the soul". Kaito wasn't sure whether or not the book meant the physical ability of the soul or the strength of the soul's convictions since he had seen times when sheer will power overcame strength. Sighing he put the book down deciding that he had enough reading for the day and that he would take a nice nap in his bed before either the lieutenant or the captain got a hold of him which he knew would be trouble if it happened. As he laid on his bed, the black-haired, young soul stared out of the window of his sleeping quarters staring out into the sky, "I wonder whether there are lines in this world that cannot ever be blurred..." he wondered aloud just as he nodded off to sleep.

+2 to Intel

(Intel please. Thank you judges.)

Since Kaito had fallen asleep as he was going down the long, boring list of combat abilities that a shinigami like himself had at his disposal, he decided that it would be alot more fun if he simply started off with the two most interesting one: zanjustu and especially look into the zanpakutou in general. The reason that looking into zanpakutou was suddenly very important to him was because he hadn't been able to release or even communicate with his zanpakutou despite all the growth he had undergone since his graduation from the academy. Sighing Kaito decided to wake up dazely from his sleep as he normally did so that he might actually learn something that would be worth his time so that he would be considered a dropout as a shinigami as well. Groggily sitting up in his bed, Kaito rubbed his eyes as he noticed a group of female shinigami staring into this room in the windowsill and he immediately became self conscious about the order that his room was in so he thought about moving to clean up. After giving it much thought, Kaito determined that he didn't care that much about how his room looked; at least not to the point where he was going to get up and clean himself simply because a group of girls decided that it was observation time at the zoo.

Ignoring the young girl's and the tender loins, Kaito got up from his bed making his way to the kitchen since he was determined to do something that would wake him up from his groggy stupor that seemed to not even want to let him go about the necessary business. After staring into the mirror above the sink blankly for about 15 minutes, Kaito finally worked up the nerve to splash the cold, but troublesome water on to his face so that he could wake up and go about the day as he had planned to. Shaking his face and hair while flinging little droplets of water everywhere, Kaito managed to rouse himself to a somewhat alert level of consciousness, "I wonder if those girls are still there..." he absentmindly thought as he wiped his face of the excess moisture. Letting his male curiosity get the better of him, the young shinigami stepped out his bathroom door quietly as he attempted to get a glance of the windowsill to see if any of his previous visitors where still there, but they weren't. "Geez...girls are creatures of such short attention span..." he thought complainingly to himself, "...I mean I wasn't gone that long where they needed to just run off and forget about me..." he immaturely said out loud.

Once he finally got himself clean, Kaito scanned the room for the book which he had been reading about the classification of himself and the rest of the people that he had come to get to know rather well despite his inclination to embrace the idea of solitude. After a bit of rummaging through his mess of a room, Kaito finally found what he was looking for as he dropped into this bed with a sigh, "It seems as if the more I understand this book, the less I understand about the actual shinigami the book talks about" he lazily wondered. Snapping out of the daze with a jerk, Kaito flipped to the page where he could see the chapter about combat styles using swords and the like, especially the usage of a zanpakutou was what he was looking for. He flipped through the endless, yet somewhat meaningless descriptions of other things that he already had an understanding up until he reached a page where in bold letters it was titled, "Zanjustu: the cutting technique". "Swordsmanship, better known as zanjustu among shinigami is the most used form of combat among shinigami. As the name suggests, it involves using a zanpakutou and its various special abilities to attack an opponent. In addition to its basic form, each zanpakutou has two enhanced forms which are shikai and bankai which change the sword's form to unlock its potential and that of its user..." the book started off saying.

Although these were all things that Kaito knew already he felt a bit excited to be reading about an art that he, himself hadn't really become proficient in so in a way he was also trying to look for a means to get stronger than his current level was at. "There are many levels of mastery in this art as there is with anything in the world of combat, but the three main recognized levels of mastery are: Master swordsmen, Expert swordsmen, Expert swordsmen, and the last level being those considered to be Swordsmen specialist" the book explained. Kaito had heard people say these terms many times when talking about other shinigami in the academy and he also heard that in order to become a captain, one had to attain the level of "Master swordsmen". Glancing at his zanpakutou he wondered whether or not he would be able to achieve such a thing the way he was; Kaito was sure that his laziness would not only prevent him from connecting with his zanpakutou, but he wouldn't be able to become a captain. Once he realized that he was actually worrying about not becoming a captain, Kaito laughed because he remembered that he didn't care about such titles anyway; it wasn't what he was looking for so it didn't have any place in his life.

"Master Swordsmanship Specialists vary greatly by power and technique. The criteria for a master is simple; one must have masterful skill in swordsmanship above all else. The attainment of this level of skill is a testament to the wielders power and determination..." the book stated which began churning wheels in Kaito's head. "I wonder what level I would fall at then..." he thought to himself as he continued to read before another thought popped into his head as he remembered a friend of his, "I wonder what level Kaiyo-san would be at?" he wondered. Shoving the distracting thoughts out of his head, Kaito began to focus on the book once again, "Most Captains are masters, since as the heads of the their divisions, they are the true military power of Soul Society..." even though Kaito wasn't bothered by the reference to captains once again he felt his eye twitch at the word. "...as use of the Zanpakutō is the Shinigami's primary form of combat, it is preferable to have mastered skill in order achieve the rank of captain though mastery is not excluded to them or even to shinigami..." the book finished its explanation on master level swordsmen with those words. Kaito looked over at the dresser where his own zanpakutou lay, soaking in the sun, but yet still silent to him as if they were two friends who were having an ongoing argument and this made Kaito sigh, "What troublesome people I get involved with..." he muttered out loud with his chin in his hand.

Wow.. Almost maxed out Intel, +2!!!!!

(Intel please. Thank you judges for your help.)

It bothered Kaito that he wasn't sure how his own ability with a sword would measure up to those who were considered to be master swordsmen, but he had already begun hearing rumors that he was at least considered to be at the same level as that of a weaker captain. He wasn't necessarily proud of that, but it was always something that he had thought about since the first day that one of his subordinates had brought it up to him, "I guess I should continue reading about the different classes to see where my own fighting skill falls under..." he decided. "An Expert swordsman is highly skilled using their Zanpakutō while sealed or in its Shikai. Most lieutenants are experts, since they must know Shikai and have mastered it to a degree, so as to be promoted..." the book went on to explain. The way that it was phrased in the book bothered him a little in that he wasn't sure whether or not he fit into that category, but then he looked and saw that there was more to be read in the description. "This applies also to some higher seated officers as well and in some cases to captains who even though possibly having attained their Bankai, don't commonly engage in swordsmanship as their desired form of combat...", even this answer didn't quell Kaito's worries about his level of fighting ability.

Although Kaito was reading so that he would be able to gain better insight into the fighting capabilities of shinigami and how their abilities related to that of the arrancar that he had done a complete disection of, the young soul couldn't help but personalize his findings. "If I am truly to become strong enough to find that reason..." he began to think to himself, but he quickly shook his head so that he could return his focus back to the information that was in the book rather than becoming lost in his own thoughts. "Swordsmanship specialists are those that specialize in the use of swords during combat. Someone of this level has to have basic skills in swordsmanship as well. All seated officers of the Gotei 13 have to possess at the very least this level of skill..." the book added drearily. This made Kaito fall out of the chair that he was reading the book in as he thought about the implications of what the book was saying to him, "Man...so I'm at the lowest possible level of zanjustu...how annoying..." he pouted. Shrugging his shoulders in acceptance, Kaito decided that it was time that he quite worrying about things that weren't in direct relation with him achieving his goal which made him brighten up very quickly.

He was done studying the most common form of shinigami combat, but he was sure that there was more to shinigami than simply their sword fighting capabilities so he turned the page to look up the alternative methods of combat that he was sure existed. The first form of alternative combat for shinigami that Kaito stumbled upon was kido which he himself was fairly proficient in and he had actually expected to be reading upon this particular subject next anyway. "Kido is the technique that Shinigami use to focus their Spiritual Energy into magic spells of various powers. These spells serve a wide variety of uses such as healing, defense, or combat..." the book began to chapter. Eager to see what else he could learn Kaito pressed on reading, "Each spell is graded on a scale from 1 to 99, the latter being the most powerful and the most difficult to perform. To use Kidō, a Shinigami must recite the specific incantation for the spell, which is often long and requires a few seconds to speak...". The young shinigami was sure that this wasn't the case all the time because he had performed kido without incantations on various occasions, but he had never figured out how he had managed to pull such a thing off.

As he began to read the next subtitle he smiled because he realized that this would provide the answer to the question that he was currently wondering about, "This weakness can be negated by Shinigami capable of using Eishohaki, a technique that releases Kidō without a spirit chant. While it decreases the time needed to release the Kidō, it drastically weakens the spell...". Kaito noted what the book said about the use Eishohaki which explained why he was able to perform kido to a much higher degree when he recited the incantation rather than if he simply went without using it which was the faster method. "While it does weaken the spell...if one were to master kido to a high level and obtain the ability to use high level kido then it wouldn't matter if Eisohaki was used or not..." the young shinigami inferred as he continued to thumb through the pages. His suspicions were confirmed as he looked into the degrees of interference that Eishohaki had upon the use of a spell when the book stated, "While anyone well versed in Kidō can use this technique, it is most effective when done by a skilled practitioner, otherwise the spell could utterly fail. The most skilled experts are capable of using this technique to amazing effect". Nodding his head as if in approval of the books statement Kaito closed the book feeling as if he had learned enough for the day from the reading and he would much rather do something more along the lines of sleeping now that his reading had been done.

+2.5 Intelligence