Though both Unohana and Rangiku could be described as "blessed with abundance," with Rangiku arguably even more so, the key difference lay in Unohana's sheer strength. As the former most powerful Kenpachi, she not only had ample healing power, but more importantly—she could truly hold the fort.
Among all the Soul Reapers in Soul Society, Unohana's strength ranked near the top. There weren't many who could take her down.
Squad Four didn't demand high combat abilities from its members, but there was one thing absolutely required—proficiency in Kido .
Kido was divided into:
Hadō: offensive spells,
Bakudō: restraining and binding spells,
Kaido: healing and recovery spells.
Compared to Hadō and Bakudō, which most Soul Reapers used, Kaido was far less common. Partly because it was a niche branch of Kido, and partly because there were very few numbered Kaido spells to begin with.
Wanting to join the Squad Four of his dreams, Yecheng had made a point of studying Kaido while at the Shin'ō Spirit Academy, so he was quite confident in this application.
"Minamiya Makoto. Sixth-year graduate of Shin'ō Spirit Academy. Average to above-average grades. Zanjutsu—above average. Hakuda—below average. Shunpo—below average. Kido—above average.
Based on your Kido proficiency, you meet Squad Four's recruitment standards. Are you sure you want to join Squad Four?"
The person in charge of recruiting for Squad Four this time was a tall, slim woman with silver-gray short hair and a very delicate face—Isane Kotetsu.
She was specifically described as tall because at 187 cm, she had a commanding presence—even compared to most men.
Fortunately, this lifetime's Yecheng was also quite tall and good-looking, so although he couldn't exactly look down at Isane's… assets, at least he wasn't dwarfed by her.
At this point in time, Isane wasn't yet the vice-captain of Squad Four. She was likely still new to the squad herself, which explained why she'd been sent to handle recruitment duty.
Most other squad recruitment stations had several Soul Reapers present, but Squad Four's booth had only Isane by herself—either because she was being isolated, or because her colleagues were deliberately dumping the work on her.
It wasn't uncommon for seasoned employees to bully newcomers in the workplace, especially someone like Isane, who had just graduated and came across as timid and meek.
"Yes, I want to join Squad Four and become an outstanding member of the healing corps. Is there any kind of assessment I need to go through?"
Seeing Yecheng's firm expression and confident tone, Isane was genuinely happy.
Just as Yecheng suspected, Captain Unohana had sent Isane and two other squad members to handle this year's recruitment. But the other two dumped the work entirely on Isane under the excuse that, since she had just graduated from here, she was more familiar with the Academy.
Each year during recruitment season, few graduates expressed interest in joining Squad Four.
Compared to a combat squad like Squad Eleven, Squad Four seemed "safe"—but also easy to mock.
After all, they had trained to become Soul Reapers to fight Hollows. Hiding out in the backlines doing logistics work and hanging around with women all day? Telling that to your friends and family would be incredibly embarrassing.
These were fresh graduates, still full of pride and ambition. They hadn't yet been beaten down by reality and genuinely believed that, with their "potential," they'd soon rise through the ranks, become captains, earn big salaries, and be constantly surrounded by pretty girls.
Squad Four had far more female than male members. And the men who did join were often ridiculed by their peers.
That's why those lofty, wide-eyed graduates generally opted for Squad Eleven to stand out—or, at least, chose other "retirement" squads like Squad Three or Five that still carried a shred of pride.
And let's be clear—just because Squad Four was a medical unit didn't mean it was risk-free. Being a battlefield medic was extremely dangerous.
Even if you were protected in the backlines, focusing on healing someone left you vulnerable to sneak attacks.
In recent years, Squad Four had suffered a steady decline in new recruits, to the point where there was now a manpower shortage. Captain Unohana had specifically told them to make sure to recruit a few members this year.
"No formal assessment is required for now. As long as your Kido and spiritual pressure meet the baseline, you're good.
After all, mastering Kaido is no easy task—even many senior squad members still haven't learned it."
Kaido was the healing branch of Kido. The principle was to restore the target's internal spiritual pressure while infusing them with the healer's external spirit energy, thereby repairing injuries and restoring reiatsu.
Though classified as Kido, Kaido required extraordinary control over one's own reiatsu to master.
Isane didn't know whether the other squads had formal tests, but for Squad Four, just getting applicants was already a blessing—there was no room to be picky.
Besides, she had just reviewed Yecheng's stats. He wasn't top of his class, but he was more than qualified to join Squad Four.
A few other female students had expressed interest earlier, and remembering her captain's directive to lower standards slightly, Isane had considered letting them in. But in the end, she'd rejected them.
Why? Because although their other scores were decent, their Kido and spiritual pressure didn't make the cut. And those were non-negotiable for Squad Four.
You didn't have to be able to fight, but your Kido had to be good enough to perform Kaido. Your spiritual pressure also needed to be stable. Otherwise, you'd collapse before even finishing a healing spell—how could you be a reliable medic then?
"Isane, how's the recruitment going? Will we be able to fill this year's vacancies?"
Just as Yecheng was accepting the form from Isane, ready to fill it out and officially join Squad Four, a gentle voice came from just outside the recruitment station. A slender, graceful hand lifted the curtain, revealing the speaker to both Yecheng and Isane.
The visitor was a beautiful woman with a calm, gentle aura. She wore her long black hair parted in the middle, a white captain's haori over a pale cherry-colored inner robe.
Her noble, elegant presence was the very picture of a traditional Yamato Nadeshiko.
Yet the moment Yecheng laid eyes on her, every pore in his body involuntarily tensed in fear.
Even at the very moment the other person appeared before him, Yecheng instinctively placed his hand on the hilt of the Zanpakutō at his waist—without even realizing it.