Atau Rindo

Rindo is polite, mild-mannered, and especially fond of animals. He spends time among the wildlife kept around the Seventh Division's grounds and is sufficiently absorbed by them that Iba has to remind him about his responsibilities. His behavior fits the division's longstanding emphasis on sincerity, compassion, and duty.

Rindo is deaf and communicates through sign language. Rather than expecting everyone around him to understand it, he has learned to read lips and responds patiently when others cannot interpret his signs. His interactions with Iba suggest that his captain is accustomed to communicating with him this way.

His demeanor changes sharply in combat. Rindo does not hesitate once an enemy has been identified as a threat, and his first demonstrated attack is brutally efficient. The contrast between his affection for animals and his willingness to tear hostile creatures apart makes his fighting style particularly striking.

As a Gotei 13 lieutenant, Rindo is an accomplished Shinigami, although the full extent of his abilities has not yet been revealed. His Zanpakutō is particularly unusual: its name and conventional release command remain unknown, and Rindo activates its demonstrated abilities without speaking.

Rindo draws the characters meaning "give birth" on the blade with his fingers and then uses sign language to indicate an animal. His Zanpakutō responds by producing an attack corresponding to that creature. When he signs "hawk," the blade separates into numerous hawk-like entities that swarm their target.

During the Konsō Reisai mission in the Human World, Rindo uses this ability against the creatures emerging from Hell. His summoned hawks rapidly tear through one of them, demonstrating that the technique can inflict severe physical damage on spiritually powerful targets. No Bankai has been revealed for him.

Rindo is introduced twelve years after the end of the Quincy conflict as the lieutenant serving beneath the now-Captain Iba. His first appearance establishes part of the Gotei 13's new generation of officers alongside other Shinigami who assumed senior positions following the war.

He joins the lieutenants sent to the Human World as part of the preparations for Ukitake's Konsō Reisai. The ritual requires them to capture a Hollow in the Human World before the ceremony, bringing Rindo into contact with Ichigo Kurosaki and several familiar Gotei 13 officers.

The mission is disrupted when strange creatures identified as Jigoku no Gaki emerge from Hell. Rindo immediately enters combat, revealing his Zanpakutō's animal-summoning ability as the confrontation exposes the larger disturbance connecting Soul Society with Hell.

Tetsuzaemon Iba is Rindo's captain in the Seventh Division. Their interactions are informal enough for Iba to reprimand his lieutenant for spending time with the division's animals instead of focusing on his duties, while also accommodating Rindo's use of sign language.

Ichigo Kurosaki meets Rindo during the preparations for the Konsō Reisai in the Human World. Rindo is among the newer Gotei 13 officers whom Ichigo encounters during these events.

Jūshirō Ukitake is the former Thirteenth Division captain whose Konsō Reisai brings Rindo and the other lieutenants to the Human World, though the two are not shown to have had a personal relationship.