The Masters

The Masters are a group of Shinigami who hold yearly tournaments in order to decide the next batch of students that they will take on in order to pass on their teachings. The teachers are all very unique individuals who have their own quirks and strange tendencies about them. While on the outside they appear to be nothing but simple buffoons, the truth is that they are each very formidable warriors.

Disciples
The Disciples of The Masters are all winners of previous yearly tournaments who have demonstrated a particular trait in themselves that allows access to higher tiers of training. Upon becoming a disciple, a different master may take on one or more students in order to train that particular student(s) in a way that strengthens their natural fighting styles. Very rarely does a student fail in their training as the Masters believe that everyone has a hidden potential locked away inside of them and only when a student starts down the path of darkness, visible through a Master's Mind's Eye, that a student is denied from furthering their training.

Students
The Students of The Masters are not necessarily those taught by the teachers themselves, but instead those who participated in the recnt tournament every year. To be picked for the tournament, one must display remarkable ability or be personally recommended by one with great fame, such as what happened to the majority of the Hama Alliance members. Those in the tournament proceed through a week of rigorous training in order to make sure everyone is close to same level of fighting ability, all the while the teachings of Tenretsu Seijaku-ryu and Mushin are being secretly drilled into them. The overall winner from each annual tournament is selected to become a disciple of one of the Masters and go on a two year training session with Hibiki Sumeragi, although this year's winner Haruki Satonaka, the top five to join him in the training as per the winner's request.