Recaps

Xuanxin told Captain-Commander Yamamoto he wanted gradual reform, and Yamamoto agreed to discuss the plan with Kyōraku and Ukitake. Meanwhile, Aizen accepted the Tsunayashiro Clan’s offer of access to the Great Spirit Book Gallery and met its envoy in secret.

• Xuanxin argued that Soul Society should pursue gradual reform, and Yamamoto invited him to bring Kyōraku and Ukitake for a proper discussion.
• Yamamoto warned Xuanxin to behave himself in public, leaving Xuanxin confused before he departed.
• Aizen studied the stolen notebook but found it lacked the core theory he needed, while a hidden watcher observed him.
• A Tsunayashiro Clan agent delivered a letter offering Aizen secret access to the Great Spirit Book Gallery in exchange for serving as the clan’s outside proxy.
• Tokinada judged the clan head’s plan reckless but chose to wait for the elders to fail.
• Aizen rejected the safer option of telling Shihoin Genshin and went alone to meet the Tsunayashiro envoy in an abandoned Rukongai warehouse.

Aizen infiltrated the Great Spirit Book Gallery, learned the truth about the Soul King, and resolved to surpass the limits of a Soul Reaper while hiding his ambitions from Shihoin Genshin. The next day, Xuanxin met Sajin Komamura and agreed to support him when he entered Shin'ō Academy.

• Aizen accepted the Tsunayashiro Clan's mission and used its jade slip to enter the Great Spirit Book Gallery.
• Aizen discovered that the Soul King was a mutilated captive and decided to break the limits of a Soul Reaper, overthrow the existing order, and take the throne himself.
• Aizen recognized Shihoin Genshin as his future opponent but chose to remain a good student while they each pursued their plans.
• Captain-Commander Yamamoto introduced Sajin Komamura to Xuanxin and said he intended to recommend him for Shin'ō Academy.
• Xuanxin welcomed Komamura's admission and promised to watch over him, warning that he might face prejudice from other students.

Xuanxin assured Captain-Commander Yamamoto that his envisioned new order would include every race, and Yamamoto accepted him as the successor who could lead Soul Society’s future. Later, as Temporary Soul Technology neared completion, Yoruichi learned her father had a baby son and tried to hand him her responsibilities, only to be rebuked by Shihoin Seigen.

• Captain-Commander Yamamoto asked whether Xuanxin’s new order would include outcasts like Sajin Komamura, and Xuanxin declared that all souls would be born equal.
• Captain-Commander Yamamoto praised Xuanxin as a better successor, then chased him out when he asked for lunch and risked provoking a kendo match.
• Sōsuke Aizen’s daily exposure to Xuanxin’s ideals shifted his thinking toward creating a better world rather than simply destroying the old one.
• Kirio Hikifune’s Temporary Soul Technology neared completion, while Kisuke Urahara contributed to the research and began envisioning a vessel that could conceal Reiatsu.
• Yoruichi learned that Shihoin Seigen had fathered Yushiro Shihōin Sakimune and proposed giving the month-old baby the clan headship and her captaincy, but Seigen refused and defended the childhood he had given her.

Kirio Hikifune left Soul Society to join Zero Division as the Gotei 13 underwent a changing of the guard. Sōsuke Aizen began his plan to build a new order in Hueco Mundo and tried to place Xuanxin under Kyōka Suigetsu’s hypnosis, but Xuanxin looked away at the moment of its release.

• Kirio Hikifune departed for the Soul King Palace aboard the Tenchūren, while new captains including Shinji Hirako, Kensei Muguruma, and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi took their posts.
• Aizen decided to create a new world in Hueco Mundo to compete with Xuanxin’s reform of Soul Society.
• Aizen asked Xuanxin to guide him in releasing his Zanpakuto so he could prepare for a Fifth Division Seated Officer examination.
• Xuanxin sensed danger but agreed to meet Aizen in the 11th Division’s underground dojo.
• Aizen released Kyōka Suigetsu, but a sudden burning pain made Xuanxin look down and miss the blade’s shifting light.

Kisuke Urahara recruited Mayuri Kurotsuchi to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, while Sōsuke Aizen secretly hypnotized the Gotei 13’s upper ranks and sought allies. Aizen approached Kaname Tōsen, whose friend was suffering under Tsunayashiro Tokinada’s household, and began questioning Xuanxin’s reforms.

• Kisuke Urahara brought Mayuri Kurotsuchi out of the Maggot's Nest and offered him a position as his second-in-command at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.
• Kisuke Urahara considered how to transcend the limits of Shinigami and began investigating the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows.
• Sōsuke Aizen used supposed requests for guidance to hypnotize nearly every member of the Gotei 13's upper ranks with Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Sōsuke Aizen chose Kaname Tōsen as a potential ally because he was naturally immune to Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Kaname Tōsen sensed his friend's despair in Tsunayashiro Tokinada’s household, where she endured cold treatment and humiliation despite surviving.
• Sōsuke Aizen approached Kaname Tōsen and began criticizing the limits of Xuanxin’s efforts to curb the nobles.

Sōsuke Aizen recruited Kaname Tōsen and secretly pursued a way to break the boundary between Soul Reapers and Hollows, eventually discovering a starving girl in Rukongai who appeared to carry a fragment of the Soul King. He prepared to extract it while maintaining an alibi in the Fifth Division, as the operation to capture the girl began.

• Aizen persuaded Kaname Tōsen to follow him by promising the strength to change Kakyō’s fate and achieve true justice.
• Aizen built a secret laboratory with the Tsunayashiro Clan’s support and abducted spiritually gifted souls to fuel his experiments.
• After his research stalled, Aizen searched Soul Society for a fragment of the Soul King and detected an ancient, higher-dimensional presence within a golden-haired girl in Rukongai.
• Aizen confirmed that the girl likely carried a severed part of the Soul King and designed a Reishi extractor, despite knowing its use could destroy her soul.
• Aizen arranged for Kaname Tōsen to deliver the extractor and the girl’s location to three low-ranking Soul Reapers, then stayed at the Fifth Division barracks to establish an alibi.
• While Aizen worked beside Shinji Hirako in the captain’s office, the operation to capture the girl began in Inuzuri, the seventy-eighth district of Rukongai.

Shihoin Genshin rescued a starving Rangiku Matsumoto from three Soul Reapers attempting to extract her Reishi, though the attackers killed themselves before he could interrogate them. He found a Tsunayashiro Clan crest on their device and carried the unconscious girl away, while a silver-haired boy hurried back to the alley.

• Three Soul Reapers sent by Kaname Tōsen pinned the starving Rangiku Matsumoto down and prepared to use a Reishi Extractor on her.
• Shihoin Genshin sensed the group, rushed to the alley, and overwhelmed the three Soul Reapers when they tried to flee.
• The three Soul Reapers bit poison capsules and died before Genshin could question them.
• Genshin found a Tsunayashiro Clan crest on the extractor and ordered his recruits to take the device to Captain Urahara for analysis.
• Genshin carried the unconscious Rangiku away, and a thin, short silver-haired boy hurried back to the alley.

Gin Ichimaru followed the Shinigami who had taken Rangiku and was brought back to Seireitei, where Xuanxin arranged for both of them to receive help. Xuanxin gave Kisuke Urahara a Tsunayashiro Clan device to analyze, while Aizen learned his operation had failed because Xuanxin had intervened again.

• Gin Ichimaru tracked the Shinigami who took Rangiku, bluffed his way into their group, and was brought before Xuanxin.
• Xuanxin saw through Gin's act but brought him to Seireitei, arranged a guest room and meal for him, and carried the unconscious Rangiku to the Fourth Division.
• Retsu Unohana admitted Rangiku for treatment, and Xuanxin took a sealed Reishi extractor bearing the Tsunayashiro Clan crest to Kisuke Urahara for analysis.
• Xuanxin warned Kisuke Urahara to keep ethical limits in his research, and Kisuke assured him that he had his own boundaries.
• Kaname Tōsen told Sōsuke Aizen that the mission had failed, the three operatives had taken poison, and Xuanxin had seized the extractor.
• Aizen recalled that Xuanxin had also disrupted his earlier plan and wondered whether the repeated interference could really be coincidence.

Rangiku Matsumoto woke in the Fourth Division infirmary after Xuanxin rescued her, and Yoruichi inspected the girl before confronting Xuanxin at home. Yoruichi arranged a day off for them both and kept Xuanxin occupied overnight, leaving him exhausted the next morning.

• Rangiku Matsumoto woke in the Fourth Division infirmary, where Yoruichi examined her and then left without questioning her.
• Retsu Unohana watched Yoruichi leave and remarked that some rules were better left for Yoruichi to handle herself.
• Yoruichi confronted Xuanxin about rescuing Rangiku, but his joking explanation softened her jealousy.
• Yoruichi ordered Soi Fon to tell Captain-Commander Yamamoto that she and Xuanxin were taking the next day off.
• Yoruichi challenged Xuanxin to bring Rangiku home the following day, and Xuanxin emerged from the residence the next morning exhausted.

Xuanxin struggled to avoid Retsu Unohana after realizing she had developed a possessive interest in him, while Yoruichi appeared to share an understanding with her. The chapter ended with Yoruichi arranging a home and living expenses for Rangiku Matsumoto and Gin Ichimaru in Seireitei.

• Xuanxin fled the Fourth Division dojo after Retsu Unohana revealed her predatory interest in him.
• At the captains' meeting, Xuanxin watched anxiously as Yoruichi Shihōin and Retsu Unohana exchanged knowing smiles instead of fighting.
• Shunsui Kyōraku mistakenly admired Xuanxin for supposedly keeping the two women in harmony, while Captain-Commander Yamamoto stopped lecturing him and increased the force of their sparring sessions.
• After Rangiku Matsumoto recovered at the Fourth Division's General Infirmary, Yoruichi gave Gin Ichimaru keys to a Seireitei house and promised them monthly living expenses.

At the captains’ meeting, Kisuke Urahara sought approval to have Hollows captured alive for a secret experiment, and Yoruichi and Xuanxin backed his request. Captain-Commander Yamamoto was about to reject the proposal when their support changed the room’s response, leaving his decision unresolved.

• Kisuke Urahara proposed that patrols capture Hollows alive and deliver them to the Twelfth Division for research.
• Several captains reacted warily because capturing Hollows alive was dangerous and uncommon.
• Captain-Commander Yamamoto began to object to Urahara’s proposal.
• Yoruichi and Xuanxin stepped forward and declared their support for the experiment.
• The other captains dropped their objections, and Yamamoto struck his cane down as he considered the proposal.

Xuanxin’s sword spirit, Musashi, appeared in the real world and challenged him to a spar to help him break through his bottleneck. Their duel began in the Shihoin Clan’s secret training ground, drawing the attention of Retsu Unohana.

• The 11th Division efficiently captured Menos Grande, while Xuanxin felt his swordsmanship and Reiatsu had reached a bottleneck.
• Musashi appeared before Xuanxin and drained his Reiatsu to manifest within a small domain, then proposed a spar.
• Xuanxin went to the Shihoin Clan’s underground training ground, where Yoruichi Shihōin entered and discovered that Musashi was his sword spirit, Shinmen Musashi-no-Kami, Fujiwara Genshin.
• Musashi and Xuanxin took matching stances and unleashed intensely compressed sword intent, which Retsu Unohana sensed from the Fourth Division.
• Musashi and Xuanxin began a fast, blade-to-blade duel, with Musashi using Niten Ichi-ryū while Xuanxin resisted her storm of attacks more effectively than before.

Xuanxin continued his duel with Musashi in the Shihoin Clan’s secret training ground, where his refined swordsmanship impressed her before Retsu Unohana arrived. After Musashi teased Xuanxin about his relationships, he resumed their second round, and the chapter ended as he released his Shikai to face her overwhelming assault.

• Xuanxin countered Musashi’s attack with a precise strike that nearly reached her throat, earning her praise for his swordsmanship.
• Musashi sensed Retsu Unohana outside the training ground, and Yoruichi agreed to let her enter.
• Retsu Unohana joined Yoruichi at the edge of the training ground and promised to keep Xuanxin’s secret.
• Musashi teased Xuanxin about the Reiatsu he shared with Yoruichi, embarrassing him and the two women.
• Xuanxin and Musashi resumed their duel, and Xuanxin released his Shikai as Musashi launched a powerful attack.

Xuanxin and Musashi continued their training duel, trading advanced Kidō and Bankai techniques as Musashi revealed the advantages of compressing her Wisdom King manifestation. Musashi pushed Xuanxin to the edge of his limits and prepared to end the lesson with one final strike.

• Xuanxin trapped Musashi with Rikujōkōrō and attacked with Sōren Sōkatsui, but Musashi blocked the flames with her transparent, improved Dankū.
• Musashi explained that she had modified Dankū herself, prompting Yoruichi to wonder whether Genshin was secretly as flashy as his sword spirit.
• Xuanxin cast Kurohitsugi, but Musashi shattered it and summoned a Wisdom King phantom; Xuanxin responded by activating Bankai, Rikudō Gorin, Kurikara.
• Xuanxin initially gained the advantage with his enormous six-armed Wisdom King, but Musashi compressed her own manifestation into a Reishi cloak and overwhelmed him with speed and powerful strikes.
• Musashi stopped the fight when Xuanxin neared his limit, then fused her long and short Zanpakuto into a single blade for a final strike.

Musashi told Xuanxin that a life-or-death battle with Retsu Unohana could break his bottleneck, and Xuanxin agreed to face her. After he recovered, they asked Captain-Commander Yamamoto for permission to fight in a remote part of Rukongai, and he began describing a desolate area near Zaraki District.

• Musashi suggested that Xuanxin break through his bottleneck by fighting Retsu Unohana in a genuine battle for survival, and Unohana eagerly agreed.
• Yoruichi accepted that she could not risk killing Xuanxin, while Xuanxin solemnly agreed to rely on Unohana.
• Musashi drained Xuanxin's remaining Reiatsu before leaving to explore Seireitei, and Xuanxin passed out; Unohana healed his wound and told Yoruichi she would await his challenge.
• Yoruichi took Xuanxin home, and Soi Fon relayed Seigen's warning that Yoruichi should exercise restraint, prompting Yoruichi to angrily protest.
• After several days of recovery, Xuanxin and Retsu Unohana asked Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai for permission to hold a breakthrough battle in Rukongai, and he named a barren desert north of Zaraki District.

Xuanxin and Unohana began their deadly duel in a remote desert, immediately unleashing their Bankai instead of following the measured stages Komamura expected. Unohana’s blood sea and relentless healing pushed Xuanxin onto the defensive as she urged him to fight without hesitation.

• Yoruichi, Urahara, Shunsui, Ukitake, Komamura, and other spectators gathered to watch Xuanxin and Unohana’s duel, while Aizen secretly observed from the sandstorm.
• Unohana appeared in her old 11th Division haori and warned Xuanxin that she would not hold back; Xuanxin accepted the challenge, and both released overwhelming Reiatsu.
• Unohana activated Bankai: Minazuki, covering the desert in corrosive blood, while Xuanxin answered with Bankai—Six Paths and Five Rings, Kurikara.
• Unohana attacked Xuanxin’s vital points, using the blood to corrode their bodies and her Kaidō to instantly heal her own injuries.
• Xuanxin’s Reiatsu dwindled as he struggled against Unohana’s suicidal, relentless fighting style, and she urged him to stop hesitating and strike harder.

Xuanxin awakened in the Fourth Division after defeating Retsu Unohana in their duel and refusing to kill her, declaring that her life now belonged to him. He found his old Captain's Haori folded beside his bed.

• Xuanxin compressed his Wisdom King manifestation, growing faster and denser as he counterattacked Retsu Unohana.
• Their brutal fight pushed Xuanxin to the edge of death, and he grasped a new sword technique inspired by Musashi's strike.
• Xuanxin defeated Retsu Unohana in their final clash but spared her, saying he would not allow her to die.
• Xuanxin and Retsu Unohana both collapsed, and the captains and lieutenants rushed them to the Fourth Division for emergency treatment.
• Xuanxin woke in the Fourth Division and noticed his old Captain's Haori folded on the bedside cabinet.

After waking from his battle with Retsu Unohana, Xuanxin recovered, discovered that his Reiatsu had become liquid, and received a lesson from Yamamoto about concealing his strength. He spent a comfortable month on leave while Yoruichi and Retsu handled the 11th Division’s work, leaving him to practice calligraphy and play as a cat.

• Xuanxin awoke in the hospital, learned Retsu Unohana had recovered, and found that his Reiatsu had transformed into a dense liquid state.
• Yoruichi and Retsu told Xuanxin they were covering the 11th Division’s work during his long leave.
• Kisuke Urahara and Sōsuke Aizen each became more convinced of their research after witnessing Xuanxin’s breakthrough.
• After his discharge, Xuanxin visited Yamamoto, who taught him to restrain his strength and assigned him calligraphy practice.
• During his leave, Xuanxin practiced calligraphy and played as a white cat with Yoruichi’s black cat, while Marechiyo Ōmaeda’s workload worsened.

After returning from vacation, Xuanxin and Yoruichi resumed their duties while forbidden experiments and promising students advanced in the background. Kisuke Urahara summoned them to his secret laboratory, where he admitted that an experiment had produced something he could no longer control.

• Soi Fon woke Xuanxin and Yoruichi, who had turned into cats to avoid the noise and sleep through their captains' meeting.
• At the meeting, Xuanxin noticed Retsu Unohana's changed appearance and healed scar, while Yoruichi regarded her as a rival for Xuanxin's affection.
• Xuanxin's breakthrough encouraged Kisuke Urahara and Sōsuke Aizen to pursue their forbidden experiments, while Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto began showing exceptional talent at Shin'ō Academy.
• Yoruichi received Kisuke Urahara's urgent message asking her and Xuanxin to meet him at the secret base late that night.
• At the laboratory, Xuanxin and Yoruichi found the room wrecked, and Kisuke admitted that a dangerous experiment had created something he could not control or harm.

Kisuke Urahara revealed that his experiment had created the Hōgyoku, a conscious and indestructible object that could break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows. Xuanxin agreed to keep it under watch, then privately asked Musashi why she wanted him to take it and learned it could help him reach his next step.

• Xuanxin and Yoruichi discovered a glowing sphere in Kisuke Urahara’s isolation chamber, and Kisuke identified it as the Hōgyoku, a dangerous creation with a faint consciousness.
• Kisuke explained that the Hōgyoku had formed when he combined an unusual soul fragment with concentrated Hollow and Shinigami Reiatsu, and that he could not destroy it.
• Yoruichi attacked Kisuke for creating the Hōgyoku, then Xuanxin tried to destroy it with Mumyō but failed.
• The Hōgyoku floated toward Xuanxin and tempted him, but he resisted and proposed keeping it in a portable isolation chamber under their watch.
• After Kisuke left to build the chamber and Yoruichi departed, Xuanxin summoned Musashi and asked why she wanted him to keep the Hōgyoku.
• Musashi told Xuanxin that the Hōgyoku’s power could serve as the foundation for his next step.

Xuanxin and Yoruichi guarded the Hōgyoku until Kisuke Urahara created tiny cubes that completely sealed its Reiatsu, and they wore the cubes as matching accessories. When Aizen noticed the matching bracelet and pendant, he assumed they were ordinary tokens exchanged by the engaged couple.

• Xuanxin cleaned the damaged underground base and fell asleep in cat form, then woke the next evening when Yoruichi arrived with food and took over the watch.
• Xuanxin and Yoruichi established a day-and-evening guard rotation while Kisuke Urahara worked on a portable container to seal the Hōgyoku's Reiatsu.
• Three days later, Kisuke Urahara demonstrated cubes that swallowed the Hōgyoku and prevented any Reiatsu from escaping; he also explained that the cubes could serve as communication devices.
• Xuanxin made a bracelet from a cube containing the Hōgyoku, and Yoruichi wore a matching pendant as a decoy.
• At the captains' meeting and afterward in his office, Xuanxin wore his bracelet openly; Aizen noticed it and then spotted Yoruichi's matching pendant, mistaking them for couple's accessories.

Xuanxin advanced his noble reforms while Aizen grew more suspicious and the Hōgyoku slowly fed Musashi’s power to him. When Hollows surged in Hueco Mundo, Yamamoto ordered a Gotei 13 expedition and assigned Xuanxin’s 11th Division to lead the vanguard, leaving Aizen watching the preparations.

• Aizen recalled sensing Xuanxin’s Reiatsu underground and wondered what he had encountered before deciding to accelerate his plans.
• Musashi gradually absorbed energy from the Hōgyoku and broke it down to safely strengthen Xuanxin.
• Xuanxin and Yoruichi presented the nobles with a treaty imposing greater duties and penalties while funding scholarships for Rukongai commoners; the Shihoin and Kuchiki Clans approved it.
• Xuanxin watched familiar figures rise through the Gotei 13 as Soul Society remained peaceful until the First Division’s alarm announced a Hueco Mundo uprising.
• Kisuke Urahara reported an explosive increase in Hollows and Menos Grande, prompting Yamamoto to order an expedition and send Xuanxin’s 11th Division as its vanguard.
• Aizen secretly watched Xuanxin and Yoruichi inspect supplies as the expedition assembled.

Xuanxin’s expedition to Hueco Mundo continued while Aizen and Kaname Tōsen triggered the Hollowfication of several captains and framed Kisuke Urahara. After learning of the crisis in Soul Society, Xuanxin halted the expedition and used his Bankai to erase a vast force of Hollows.

• Xuanxin led the 11th Division through the Senkaimon, repelled an ambush by low-level Hollows, and established a fortified camp near the gate.
• Kensei Muguruma discovered evidence that Shinigami were behind the Rukongai soul disappearances, but Kaname Tōsen stabbed him and injected him and Mashiro Kuna with a substance that began their Hollowfication.
• Gin Ichimaru secretly witnessed Tōsen’s betrayal, while Aizen’s mist trapped Shinji Hirako and the rescue team and caused them to undergo Hollowfication.
• Kisuke Urahara tried to stabilize the affected captains, but Central 46 arrested and condemned him; Yoruichi Shihōin rescued him, Tessai Tsukabishi, and the eight unconscious Visored, then fled Soul Society with them.
• Aizen failed to find the Hōgyoku in Urahara’s laboratory and concluded it had gone to the World of the Living with Yoruichi’s group.
• After receiving news of the Hollowfication, Urahara’s arrest, and Yoruichi’s defection, Xuanxin ordered his force to assemble, activated Bankai, and annihilated numerous Hollows, Gillians, and several Adjuchas with one strike.

Xuanxin returned to Soul Society after swiftly clearing the Hollow horde in Hueco Mundo, then confronted Central 46 over its treatment of Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi. He suppressed Yoruichi’s arrest warrant and gave her the Hōgyoku so she could help the Hollowfied captains, while he stayed to protect the Shihoin Clan.

• Xuanxin’s sword strike wiped out the Hollow horde in Hueco Mundo, and he led the 11th Division back to Seireitei.
• After returning, Xuanxin heard Soi Fon’s account of the cases against Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi, then entered Central 46 and stopped the nobles from carving up the Shihoin Clan.
• Xuanxin ordered Soi Fon to punish a noble who insulted him and forced Central 46 to cancel Yoruichi’s arrest warrant, replacing it with an investigation.
• Yoruichi told Xuanxin that the Hollowfication Incident’s culprit remained unknown and that the Hōgyoku might be needed to cure the afflicted captains, so they exchanged their Hōgyoku containers.
• Three days later, Yoruichi reported that the Hollowfied captains were stabilizing, returned the Hōgyoku, and left to help Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi while Xuanxin stayed with the Shihoin Clan.

Yoruichi gave Retsu Unohana and Soi Fon matching cubes and secretly tasked Soi Fon with keeping potential rivals away from Xuanxin. During martial law, Xuanxin led security operations across Seireitei, and the chapter ended with the Gotei 13 filling several vacant captain positions while the Second Division appointment remained unresolved.

• Yoruichi visited Retsu Unohana and left her a cube, then gave Soi Fon a matching cube and ordered her to drive away anyone who pursued Xuanxin.
• Captain-Commander Yamamoto declared martial law and placed Xuanxin in command of the 11th and Second Divisions, with authority over Seireitei security and arrests.
• Soi Fon noticed Retsu Unohana wearing a cube like her own and grew distressed as Unohana and Xuanxin exchanged knowing looks.
• Xuanxin's patrols arrested noble clans that released deathsworn, exposing their past misdeeds and earning support from ordinary citizens.
• Aizen persuaded Kaname Tōsen to join his vision of a world without darkness while criticizing the limits of the Captain-Commander's actions.
• Gin Ichimaru, Sōsuke Aizen, Sajin Komamura, Kaname Tōsen, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi took vacant captain posts, but Shihoin Seigen refused to become Second Division Captain in Xuanxin's place.