Chapter Summaries

Kyōsuke Kuchiki demonstrated extraordinary Kidō talent and learned that his grandfather hoped he might become the next Kuchiki Clan head, but Kyōsuke refused the position. Byakuya told him he would enroll at Shin'ō Academy that day, where he could begin learning to wield a Zanpakuto.

• Kuchiki Ginrei praised Kyōsuke's Kidō talent and suggested he might be better suited than Byakuya to lead the Kuchiki Clan someday.
• Kyōsuke rejected the idea of becoming clan head because he did not want the responsibilities.
• Kyōsuke asked whether anything special was happening, and Byakuya said Shin'ō Academy was accepting new students.
• Byakuya told Kyōsuke that Kuchiki Ginrei had asked him to take Kyōsuke to enroll at the academy.
• Kyōsuke realized his grandfather wanted him to obtain a Zanpakuto and build connections at the academy.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki arrived at the Shin'ō Academy to take its entrance test while Byakuya Kuchiki watched from the guests' pavilion. The test revealed Gin Ichimaru's exceptional Reiatsu, leaving the observers impressed as Kyōsuke still awaited his turn.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki agreed to attend the Shin'ō Academy and traveled there with Byakuya Kuchiki.
• Byakuya Kuchiki joined Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, Chōjirō Sasakibe, Jūshirō Ukitake, and Shunsui Kyōraku at the viewing platform.
• Young nobles mocked Kyōsuke Kuchiki for seeming to lack Reiatsu, but he dismissed them and stayed in the waiting area.
• Candidates took the Reiatsu test, and most Rukongai applicants failed or barely qualified.
• Gin Ichimaru lit the spirit markers with his immense Reiatsu and received a result of 10th-class Reii.
• Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai and the other observers praised Gin Ichimaru's talent, while Shunsui Kyōraku suspected Kyōsuke Kuchiki was a genius too.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki stunned Shin'ō Academy’s entrance exam with Third-Class Rei'i and captain-level Reiatsu, eclipsing the other students and drawing the captains’ attention. He returned home after the test, while Shinji Hirako and Sōsuke Aizen discussed the powerful Reiatsu they had sensed.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki calmly took the Reiatsu test and unleashed a wave of power that overwhelmed everyone at the testing grounds.
• The spirit markers stopped at the seventh, and the recorder announced that Kyōsuke had Third-Class Rei'i.
• Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Jūshirō Ukitake, Shunsui Kyōraku, and Byakuya Kuchiki reacted to Kyōsuke’s extraordinary talent, while the students who had mocked him slipped away.
• Kyōsuke thanked the test recorder, left the platform, and went home, thinking about the strength he needed to protect his family and the Kuchiki Clan.
• At the Fifth Division barracks, Shinji Hirako asked Sōsuke Aizen about the captain-level Reiatsu, then considered going to see the new student himself.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki began Shin'ō Academy classes and easily handled the first-year lessons, then joined his classmates for their first Kidō practice. When he formed a Shakkahō without an incantation, his Captain-level Reiatsu compressed it into a terrifying, nearly black sphere, and the instructor warned him not to move.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki received an Asauchi and joined Special Class 1, where Gin Ichimaru was also assigned.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki coasted through the first-year curriculum while continuing to practice the Heaven Communicating Talisman Art.
• Gengorō Ōunabara introduced the students to Kidō and instructed them to try the incantation for Hadō #31, Shakkahō.
• Gin Ichimaru successfully produced and fired a Shakkahō, impressing Gengorō Ōunabara.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki raised his hand without reciting the incantation and formed a blazing, nearly black sphere of compressed Reiatsu.
• Gengorō Ōunabara recognized the danger of Kyōsuke Kuchiki’s Shakkahō and shouted for him not to move.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki’s unchanted Kidō blasted a huge depression into the academy grounds, alarming the students and teacher. Sōsuke Aizen arrived to observe the class, and Kyōsuke stayed as Aizen prepared to demonstrate his Shikai.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki fired Hadō #31 without an incantation, blasting a huge depression into the ground while leaving the Sekkiseki intact.
• Gin Ichimaru privately reflected on Kyōsuke’s overwhelming talent and admitted that it put him on guard.
• The academy teacher asked Kyōsuke to avoid using Kidō at school, then ended practice and sent the students to study Shunpo.
• Sōsuke Aizen arrived and examined the damage, deciding Kyōsuke’s power deserved closer attention.
• The academy teacher brought the students back to the classroom for Aizen’s Shikai demonstration, and Kyōsuke followed them inside.

Sōsuke Aizen demonstrated Kyōka Suigetsu to the academy class, while Kyōsuke Kuchiki secretly used Vision-Obscuring Incense to avoid its hypnosis. After Kyōsuke declined Aizen’s invitation to join the Fifth Division, he confronted Gin Ichimaru about seeing his enemy without being able to take revenge, leaving Gin shaken and denying he understood.

• Sōsuke Aizen released Kyōka Suigetsu, filling the classroom with mist and confusing the students.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki used Vision-Obscuring Incense to blind himself before the release took effect, then restored his sight after Aizen dismissed the Shikai.
• Sōsuke Aizen invited Kyōsuke Kuchiki to join the Fifth Division, but Kyōsuke declined, saying he would join the Sixth Division as a member of the Kuchiki Clan.
• Sōsuke Aizen left the classroom as students crowded around him to ask about joining the Fifth Division.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki noticed Gin Ichimaru and asked how it felt to see his enemy without being able to take revenge.
• Gin Ichimaru jolted and denied understanding what Kyōsuke Kuchiki meant.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki revealed to Gin Ichimaru that he knew about Gin’s revenge against Aizen and recruited him as an ally to gather information. Three months later, Kyōsuke demonstrated his newly awakened Zanpakuto, Dijiang, before Byakuya questioned his interest in joining Aizen’s Fifth Division.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki told Gin Ichimaru that he could help him get revenge and explained that Aizen’s Kyōka Suigetsu placed anyone who saw its Shikai under Complete Hypnosis.
• Kyōsuke briefly blinded Gin with mysterious script and persuaded him to follow his plan, agreeing to control Gin’s infiltration of Aizen and receive information through him.
• Three months later, Kyōsuke demonstrated Dijiang’s Shikai, which amplified his abilities and let its blade erase space, though he planned to conceal the latter power.
• Gin Ichimaru tested Kyōsuke with Shinsō, but Kyōsuke deflected the attack before they went to the academy reception room.
• Byakuya Kuchiki visited the academy as staff discussed letting Kyōsuke and Gin skip grades, then asked Kyōsuke whether he really wanted to join Aizen’s Fifth Division.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki and Gin Ichimaru skipped ahead to sixth year and entered the seated officer competition, drawing the attention of captains and senior Soul Reapers. Gin challenged Kyōsuke, and as their fight began, Gin unleashed Shinsō while Kyōsuke reached toward it with his bare hand.

• Byakuya Kuchiki encouraged Kyōsuke after his Shikai awakened and wished him luck in the seated officer competition.
• Teacher Ōuna allowed Kyōsuke and Gin to skip ahead to sixth year and compete for seated officer positions.
• Captains and Grand Kidō Chief Tessai Tsukabishi gathered to watch the competition and see what Kyōsuke could do.
• Gin defeated his opponent easily, then chose Kyōsuke as his next challenger, and Kyōsuke accepted.
• Gin attacked with “Shoot to kill, Shinsō!” and Kyōsuke reached toward the speeding blade with his bare hand.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki defeated Gin Ichimaru with unfamiliar Kidō that he appeared to have created himself, leaving the spectators and captains stunned. After the match, Tessai Tsukabishi admitted he could not identify Kyōsuke’s spells, and the venue remained shaken by the display.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki blocked Gin Ichimaru’s spear with a golden barrier formed from mysterious characters.
• Kyōsuke unleashed Tenfold Thunder Path, blasting through the arena’s Sekkiseki and the academy wall as Retsu Unohana and Shunsui Kyōraku rescued Gin.
• Kyōsuke revealed that a second golden barrier had protected Gin, declared himself the winner, and asked whether anyone else would challenge him.
• Kyōsuke apologized for damaging the arena and remarked that the Sekkiseki seemed brittle, prompting stunned silence from the spectators.
• Tessai Tsukabishi told Jūshirō Ukitake and the others that he had never seen or heard of Kyōsuke’s Kidō and praised his extraordinary talent.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki won First Seat in the seating tournament and was assigned to Class A with Gin Ichimaru for Konsō field training in Karakura Town. As the students prepared to travel through the Senkaimon, Kyōsuke waited with his classmates to begin the training.

• Tessai Tsukabishi praised Kyōsuke Kuchiki’s talent for creating Kidō and said it surpassed that of anyone he had seen before.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki took First Seat after his opponents forfeited, while Gin Ichimaru took Second Seat.
• Gengorō Ōunabara awarded the badges, and Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai closed the seating tournament.
• The academy placed Kyōsuke Kuchiki and Gin Ichimaru in Class A and assigned Kyōsuke to Karakura Town for Konsō field training.
• Gin Ichimaru accepted the role of class captain and divided the training areas after Kyōsuke declined the job.
• The next day, Kyōsuke Kuchiki waited beside the Senkaimon with his classmates before they entered the World of the Living.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki entered the World of the Living for a Konsō field exercise, cleared his assigned area, and attacked a mysterious fissure with Dijiang’s Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Incantation. Nearby academy students then saw a Gillian emerge from the fissure and freeze them with its Reiatsu as it prepared to fire a Cero.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki followed a Hell Butterfly through the Senkaimon and arrived in Karakura Town with his classmates.
• He performed Konsō on several samurai, purified a Demi-Hollow and two Hollows, and cleared his assigned area.
• A powerful Reiatsu surged from a black fissure in the sky, and Kyōsuke Kuchiki released Dijiang and fired the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Incantation at it.
• A group of academy students gathered nearby when the fissure widened and a Gillian emerged.
• The Gillian’s Reiatsu paralyzed the students, and it formed a red sphere of energy to unleash a Cero.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki saved the Soul Reaper students by destroying a Gillian with a single lightning attack, revealing that his strength had reached Captain-level. When two more Gillian emerged from the still-open rift, the students tried to support him, but their attacks barely scratched the Hollows.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki’s lightning shattered the first Gillian’s mask and killed it, saving the Soul Reaper students.
• Gin Ichimaru identified Kyōsuke as their rescuer, and the students realized the vast gap between his talent and theirs.
• Kyōsuke warned the students that the danger was not over as the black rift in the sky grew more solid.
• Two Gillian descended, and Kyōsuke told everyone to move back before confronting them.
• The trainee Soul Reapers attacked the Gillian with Shikai and Kidō, but their strikes left only shallow wounds that quickly healed.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki unleashed his Shikai and amplified Kidō to restrain one Gillian before it could fire its Cero. As he left the immobilized Gillian contained, Gin Ichimaru attacked the second one.

• The trainees realized the Gillians had ignored them because they were focused on devouring Kyōsuke Kuchiki.
• A stationed Soul Reaper arrived, saw a Gillian preparing a Cero, and feared the students could not be saved.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki released Dijiang, causing his Reiatsu to overwhelm the Gillian’s presence.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki amplified Six Rods Prison of Light and pinned the Cero-preparing Gillian in place.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki judged the Gillian contained, and Gin Ichimaru engaged the other Gillian with Shinsō.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki used the Gillian as bait to lure out a hidden Adjuchas, a far stronger Hollow that threatened Gin Ichimaru and the Soul Reaper trainees. The Adjuchas emerged and targeted Kyōsuke, while the others faced despair at the sight of it.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki and Gin Ichimaru killed the free-moving Gillian, while Kyōsuke kept another Gillian bound for his plan.
• Kyōsuke struck the bound Gillian with Thunder Method, drawing out a hidden presence through a black rift.
• Kyōsuke blocked the newcomer’s Bala with Dankū, and Gin Ichimaru recognized the attacker as more dangerous than a Gillian.
• The Adjuchas emerged from the rift, and Gin Ichimaru ordered the trainees to flee.
• Kyōsuke explained that he had deduced a higher-level Menos Grande was directing the Gillians, while the Adjuchas declared its intent to devour him and the others.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki protected the exhausted Soul Reapers from the Adjuchas’s overwhelming Reiatsu and intervened when it targeted Gin Ichimaru. He wounded the Hollow in a high-speed clash, but its High-Speed Regeneration restored its severed arm as Gin led the others away.

• The Adjuchas unleashed its Reiatsu, knocking out several Soul Reapers and leaving Gin Ichimaru and the others struggling to move.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki released his Shikai and shielded his teammates with his Reiatsu, allowing Gin Ichimaru to order them to retreat.
• The Adjuchas pursued the retreating group and appeared in front of Gin Ichimaru, but Kyōsuke Kuchiki arrived in time to protect him with Kidō.
• Kyōsuke Kuchiki outpaced the Adjuchas with Shunpo and severed its arm, but the Hollow regenerated it with High-Speed Regeneration.
• Gin Ichimaru thanked Kyōsuke Kuchiki with a look and led the remaining trainee Soul Reapers away, while Kyōsuke Kuchiki continued facing the Adjuchas.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki overwhelmed an Adjuchas in Karakura Town while Gin Ichimaru and the Soul Reaper trainees watched. With communications and defenses failing, Kisuke Urahara sent Sōsuke Aizen to lead a rescue team, leaving Aizen smiling with apparent anticipation.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki kicked the Adjuchas through the air and battered it until it could only curl up and rely on High-Speed Regeneration.
• Gin Ichimaru realized he had been lucky to survive his earlier challenge to Kyōsuke, while a stationed Soul Reaper reported the Adjuchas attack to the Research and Development Institute.
• Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi learned that the Adjuchas was still present, and the stationed Soul Reaper told them Kyōsuke was beating it nearly to death.
• Kisuke tried to warn the Soul Reapers not to engage, but powerful Reiatsu disrupted communications, so he contacted the other captains for support.
• The Research and Development Institute asked Fifth Division lieutenant Sōsuke Aizen to take a team to Karakura Town, and Aizen finished his page before answering with a pleased smile.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki faced an Adjuchas that summoned dozens of Gillians to overwhelm him, while Gin Ichimaru watched in alarm. Kyōsuke raised a Dankū against their Ceros and prepared to wipe them all out before they could use Negación.

• Sōsuke Aizen learned that Captain Hirako was away and secretly hoped Kyōsuke would survive, then gathered Soul Reapers to head for the Senkaimon.
• Kyōsuke recovered enough to fire an amplified Byakurai at the Adjuchas, which dodged and unleashed a piercing roar across Karakura Town.
• The Adjuchas’s roar opened dozens of rifts and brought Gillians into Karakura Town, where their arrival devastated buildings and threatened the Soul Reapers.
• Gin Ichimaru feared Kyōsuke was outnumbered, but Kyōsuke cast a high-level Dankū to shield himself from several Gillians’ Ceros.
• Kyōsuke resolved to destroy the Gillians in one attack before they could use Negación, while the Adjuchas taunted him and prepared to recover for a sneak attack.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki combined two high-level Hadō into an overwhelming attack after the Dankū barrier collapsed. He burned the gathered Menos Grande to ash and left the Adjuchas badly scorched and stunned.

• The Adjuchas taunted Kyōsuke Kuchiki while hiding among the Gillians, but Kyōsuke calmly prepared to kill them all.
• Kyōsuke released Dijiang and began reciting the incantations for Raikōhō and Sōren Sōkatsui as the Menos Grande attacked the Dankū barrier.
• Gin Ichimaru and the other Soul Reapers realized Kyōsuke was preparing a Twofold Incantation, but the battered Dankū collapsed just before he finished.
• The Adjuchas led the Menos Grande in a charge, and Kyōsuke instantly unleashed lightning and flames that paralyzed and engulfed them.
• Kyōsuke's flames burned the Gillians to ash and scorched the Adjuchas, which cried out in disbelief and questioned who Kyōsuke was.

Kyōsuke Kuchiki defeated the Adjuchas and the attacking Menos Grande, then welcomed the survivors and left the Hollow’s remains as a challenge to whoever orchestrated the attack. When reinforcements arrived, he recognized Sōsuke Aizen’s presence as confirmation of his suspicions.

• Kyōsuke killed the Adjuchas after it tried to escape, raising his Heaven Communicating Talisman Art proficiency to 95%.
• Kyōsuke inferred that someone had arranged the Hollow attack and considered what to do with the Adjuchas’s remains.
• The surviving Soul Reapers thanked Kyōsuke, while Gin Ichimaru reflected on the vast difference in their strength.
• Gin asked why Kyōsuke had not purified the Hollow, and Kyōsuke said the corpse was a challenge to the person behind the attack.
• A Senkaimon opened, and Retsu Unohana, Kiyōnosuke Yamada, Sōsuke Aizen, and other Soul Reapers arrived as reinforcements.
• Kyōsuke took Aizen’s arrival as confirmation that he was connected to the attack.

After Kyōsuke Kuchiki purified the Adjuchas corpse, Retsu Unohana recognized his extraordinary strength and went with Gin Ichimaru to search for injured trainees. The group found the battlefield covered in Hollow dust, and Gin revealed that Kyōsuke had killed at least several dozen Gillians.

• Kyōsuke Kuchiki destroyed the Adjuchas corpse by purifying it, preventing Aizen from taking it for research.
• Retsu Unohana sensed danger in Kyōsuke and felt an urge to fight him, but returned to her usual composure and checked whether the trainees were hurt.
• Retsu Unohana led her squad to treat the injured Soul Reaper trainees and search for those who had fled across the battlefield.
• Retsu Unohana identified the black powder covering the ground as Hollow dust and estimated that at least a dozen Gillians had died there.
• Gin Ichimaru corrected her estimate, saying the dust came from at least several dozen Gillians, leaving the squad members doubtful that Kyōsuke could have killed so many.