Ningami (Bleach)

What is a "Ningami"?
Ningami is a sub-race of human beings that are born with latent shinigami powers and can manifest a zanpakuto. These humans are so rare that only a handful of people know that they exist. If left alone, the likelihood that they will manifest their powers is extremely low, but should they have a close hollow encounter or an encounter with a decently strong shinigami, there’s a high chance that their powers will awaken. While they are generally weaker than true shinigami, they share many of the same abilities and can perform the duties given to soul reapers, such as performing konsou on souls or cleansing hollows. Many shinigami who know of them call them Niseripa (偽リーパー) or false reaper.

There are also a handful of humans who know about their existence and seek them out in order to learn how a human being can obtain the powers of a death god. This usually does not end well for the ningami and they usually end up being killed or kept as test subjects. Shinigami are generally aggressive toward them, as well.

The very first ningami was a man named Ruchi Isseki, a human who lived in Karakura Town about 150 years earlier. His powers were awakened after he attempted to save a young spirit, which he believed to be just a human girl, from a hollow. He was attacked by the hollow and his powers awakened. Unfortunately for him, there was a squad of shinigami nearby who witnessed the whole thing. After informing their captain of this, the shinigami were ordered to bring the man to the Soul Society where he became a test subject for the 12th division. He died three days later and they learned nothing from his torture.

He was forced to report this to the head captain and he was furious at the news. It was then ordered that, if someone should come across another ningami, they were to be brought straight to him and nowhere else, nor were they to be killed. While most of the shinigami agreed with this decision, there were many who weren’t happy. For one, the 12th division wanted another subject to test and prod, and many of the lower-ranking shinigami were offended by the very idea that a human being could possess the same powers as them.

Known Ningami

 * Winchester Jen
 * Sears Draken
 * Ruchi Isseki
 * Hinata Kai

Where did the term "Ningami" come from?
The term "Ningami" was something I (TheRainRogue) thought up when trying to come up for the name of a new race within the Bleach universe. I'm not saying I'm the first to think of it, but I haven't seen it used anywhere else. Ningami takes "nin" from the word Ningen (人間, human) and "gami" from the word Shinigami (死神, death god/soul reaper).