Chapter Summaries

Ichigo Kurosaki was caught in a Hollow attack and rescued by Tayuya of the Land of Shadow, whose wristguard awakened his Spiritual Power. After they defeated all five Hollows, Ichigo asked Tayuya to explain the strange world he had stumbled into, but she admitted she knew little herself.

• Ichigo Kurosaki saw five Hollows pursuing Tayuya and was dragged to safety by her.
• Tayuya revealed she was a student at the Ninth School of the Land of Shadow, while Ichigo demanded to know what the Hollows were and how to stop them.
• When the Hollows found them, Tayuya summoned the Three Ghosts and gave Ichigo a black iron wristguard that awakened his Spiritual Power.
• Ichigo transformed, wielded a massive blade, and helped Tayuya and the Three Ghosts defeat all five Hollows.
• After Tayuya dismissed the Three Ghosts, Ichigo asked her to explain what had happened, and she said she did not know much either.

Jin and Orochimaru arranged for Tayuya to meet Ichigo Kurosaki, an Origin candidate, while Aizen noticed the outsiders and grew interested in them. After Tayuya asked Ichigo for help and explained how to control his Spiritual Pressure, she followed him home and was mistaken for his girlfriend.

• Jin told Orochimaru that Ichigo was an Origin candidate and that Aizen was also a target to observe.
• Aizen watched Tayuya through Soul Society's surveillance system and recognized her as an outsider with unusual power.
• Tayuya explained the Three Realms and the Land of Shadow to Ichigo, then asked to stay at his house while she tried to reconnect with her people.
• Tayuya warned Ichigo that his bound wristguard could only be removed by cutting off his arm, then showed him how to draw his Spiritual Pressure back inside.
• Ichigo brought Tayuya home, where Isshin mistook her for Ichigo's girlfriend and fought with him while Karin and Yuzu questioned Tayuya.

Tayuya moved into the Kurosaki household and Ichigo’s class, while Isshin and Kisuke investigated her unknown powers and the other outsiders appearing across the realms. After Ichigo killed a Hollow at school, an observer reporting him to the Seireitei was pierced from behind.

• Tayuya paid Isshin with gold coins to stay at the Kurosaki house, and Ichigo gave up his room after she threatened to take back his wristguard.
• Isshin and Kisuke discussed Tayuya’s unfamiliar power and the recent appearance of similar people in the Soul Society and the World of the Living.
• Tayuya used a Memory Injector to become a transfer student and declared herself the class boss, alarming Ichigo and his classmates.
• A Hollow appeared at school, and Tayuya sent Ichigo to fight it so ordinary people would not see her powers.
• Ichigo killed the Hollow and returned toward Tayuya, while an afro-haired observer contacted the Seireitei and was pierced through the chest by a bone.

Kimimaro found Tayuya and, under Orochimaru’s orders, abducted her after defeating her and Ichigo Kurosaki. He left Ichigo unconscious with a black stone that could take him to the Land of Shadow, while Kisuke Urahara watched and recognized the danger.

• Orochimaru ordered Kimimaro to bring Tayuya back without killing anyone who tried to stop him, and told him to give a teleporter to anyone who interfered.
• Ichigo Kurosaki and Tayuya fought another Hollow, then encountered Kisuke Urahara, who questioned them about the Land of Shadow and secretly observed them.
• Kimimaro confronted Tayuya and announced Orochimaru’s order to take her back for questioning.
• Ichigo attacked Kimimaro to protect Tayuya, but Kimimaro crushed his sword and knocked him down.
• Tayuya summoned the Three Ghosts, but Kimimaro pierced them and Tayuya with bone projectiles, then defeated Ichigo again when he charged back in.
• Kimimaro left the black stone beside the unconscious Ichigo and carried Tayuya away, while Urahara emerged and examined the stone.

After Kimimaro took Tayuya to the Land of Shadow, Ichigo Kurosaki begged Kisuke Urahara to train him so he could rescue her. Over three days of brutal training, Ichigo grew rapidly stronger but failed to discover his Zanpakutō’s name, and Urahara brought a deadly strike down on him.

• Ichigo Kurosaki woke at the Urahara Shop and learned from Kisuke Urahara that Kimimaro had taken Tayuya to the Land of Shadow.
• Urahara revealed that a black stone left behind by Kimimaro could open a passage to the Land of Shadow, but warned Ichigo that he was too weak to rescue Tayuya.
• Ichigo begged Urahara to teach him to become stronger, and Urahara began training him in the shop’s vast underground wilderness.
• Urahara discovered that Ichigo’s wristband fused his body and soul, then attacked him to force him to regain his Soul Reaper powers.
• Ichigo fought Urahara for three days, rapidly improving his Spiritual Pressure, combat skills, and Shunpo, but he still could not find his Zanpakutō’s name.
• Urahara shattered Ichigo’s sword and unleashed a powerful Zanjutsu strike at him, while a voice beside Ichigo called him useless.

Ichigo Kurosaki gained access to both sides of Zangetsu’s power, triggering Hollow White to take control before Kisuke Urahara stopped him. Ichigo joined Urahara and the Visored on a journey to the Land of Shadow, where Orochimaru prepared to use Tayuya to draw him in and investigate the secret of the Origin.

• In his inner world, Ichigo Kurosaki met Uchiha Jin, who offered him Zangetsu’s two powers, and Ichigo chose both.
• During training with Kisuke Urahara, Hollow White took over Ichigo, but Urahara broke the Hollow mask and restrained him.
• Urahara expanded the teleportation device and assembled the Visored to travel with Ichigo to the Land of Shadow.
• Hiyori Sarugaki challenged Ichigo, and Shinji Hirako stopped their fight before the group entered the portal.
• In Empty City, Orochimaru revealed that he had trapped Tayuya to lure Ichigo there and study the Origin’s secret.

Ichigo Kurosaki and the Visored arrived in the Land of Shadow’s futuristic New City and began seeking information about Orochimaru. As Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako headed for a library, the city announced an invasion and activated its defenses, while Orochimaru prepared a hostile reception for them.

• Ichigo Kurosaki and the Visored emerged into New City, where Kisuke Urahara confirmed they had entered another world and sent the group out in pairs to gather information.
• Ichigo Kurosaki asked Sakumo Hatake about Orochimaru and learned that he was the Ninth Legion commander and a famous scientist stationed in Empty City.
• Sakumo Hatake recognized Ichigo Kurosaki as the Soul King Candidate, while Ichigo and Yoruichi set off toward Empty City.
• Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako discussed investigating the Land of Shadow and decided to seek information at a library, while Shinji warned Urahara not to become another Aizen.
• Orochimaru used living creatures and screens to track Urahara and Hirako, and New City issued an invasion alert and activated its defenses.
• Orochimaru watched as Urahara and Hirako approached a man waiting for them, whom he said was not in a good mood.

Tobirama Senju fought Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako, who escaped through a Garganta after confusing him with their abilities. Meanwhile, Ichigo Kurosaki was surrounded by the Fifth Legion while trying to save Tayuya, and its masked member prepared to fight him.

• Tobirama Senju attacked Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako, striking Shinji with a water technique before the Visored used their abilities against him.
• Tobirama Senju trapped the two in darkness and attacked with water needles, but Kisuke Urahara shielded Shinji and opened a Garganta for their escape.
• Tobirama Senju suspected that people from Root Source Star had used the citywide broadcast system.
• Ichigo Kurosaki refused to stop after the Fifth Legion surrounded him and demanded to know where he had gotten his wristguard.
• The masked Fifth Legion member told Ichigo Kurosaki to go back and threatened to kill him if he continued.

Ichigo Kurosaki awakened a new form of Dark Power and defeated Haku’s ice dragons, but then learned that Sakumo Hatake was an enemy and that Chako planned to challenge him for his Legion Commander position. Chako teleported Ichigo and Yoruichi away as the contest over the position began.

• Haku trapped Ichigo Kurosaki in Demonic Mirror Ice Crystals and repeatedly overwhelmed him with ice attacks, leaving him near death.
• In his inner world, Uchiha Jin explained that Ichigo’s power came from Zangetsu and Dark Power, and told him that darkness became what he believed it to be.
• Ichigo accepted darkness as embracing all and unleashed Dark Zangetsu, destroying Haku’s ice dragons and mirrors with one slash.
• Sakumo Hatake arrived, and Haku addressed him as the Legion Commander of the Tenth Army, revealing that Sakumo was Ichigo’s enemy.
• Chako confronted Sakumo over the Legion Commander position, declared her intent to seize it, and teleported herself, Ichigo, and Yoruichi away.

Chako revealed that she wanted to become a Legion Commander and proposed using Ichigo Kurosaki to stir up conflict in the Land of Shadow. Ichigo agreed to help her in exchange for rescuing his captured friends, while Yoruichi prepared to train him to achieve Bankai.

• Kakuzu confronted Sakumo Hatake, who dismissed Chako's challenge because he believed himself strong enough to keep his Legion Commander position.
• Chako took Ichigo Kurosaki and Yoruichi to her former training ground and explained that she sought to compete for a Legion Commander seat.
• Chako told Yoruichi and Ichigo that their companions had been captured, escaped, or gone into hiding across the Land of Shadow.
• Ichigo agreed to help Chako win the Legion Commander position so she could arrange his friends' release, though Yoruichi distrusted her promise.
• Yoruichi told Ichigo that he needed to master Bankai to grow strong enough to save his friends, and Ichigo accepted the dangerous training.

Ichigo Kurosaki began Bankai training with Yoruichi, but the Tenshintai materialized Uchiha Jin instead of a conventional Zanpakutō. Jin explained that Ichigo’s power was already fused with him and offered a faster path to growth: fighting on the brink of death.

• Ichigo Kurosaki woke beside Yoruichi, learned her identity, and agreed to train for Bankai within three days.
• Yoruichi used the Tenshintai to materialize Ichigo Kurosaki’s Zanpakutō, but the device crumbled and Uchiha Jin appeared with Chako bowing to him.
• Yoruichi identified Jin as Ichigo Kurosaki’s target to subdue, but Ichigo Kurosaki and Chako said defeating him was impossible.
• Jin explained that Ichigo Kurosaki’s Zanpakutō power was already fused with him, so Ichigo Kurosaki could master Bankai by developing his own power over several years.
• When Ichigo Kurosaki said he could not wait years to rescue Tayuya and the captives, Jin advised him to fight under deadly pressure to force his power to grow.

Ichigo Kurosaki fought his inner shadow for seven days and awakened Bankai, defeating Dark Ichigo. With Yoruichi and Chako, he prepared to rescue the prisoners in New City and find Orochimaru to save Tayuya.

• Jin summoned Dark Ichigo, who fought with the same strength and speed as Ichigo Kurosaki but overwhelmed him with his desperate resolve.
• Yoruichi challenged Jin in her Shunkō battle form, but he defeated her and left her unconscious while the two Ichigos continued fighting.
• After seven days of battle, Ichigo Kurosaki awakened Bankai and defeated Dark Ichigo with a black-and-red Getsuga Tenshō.
• Jin returned to Ichigo Kurosaki's body, and Yoruichi and Chako explained that New City had been moved to another space.
• Chako told Ichigo Kurosaki and Yoruichi to begin by rescuing the fighters imprisoned in the Fifth Legion's prison, then find Orochimaru and save Tayuya.
• Ichigo Kurosaki slung his sword across his back and set out with Yoruichi and Chako.

Tobirama Senju explained that a Legion Commander challenge was underway in New City and ordered the Fifth Legion to put on a show while the city’s defenses remained active. Yoruichi challenged him to a fight, while Ichigo Kurosaki attacked Kagami Uchiha in the prison to free the Visored members.

• Tobirama Senju told Yamato that the strange situation in New City stemmed from a Legion Commander challenge and said the Fifth Legion would not change.
• After an explosion in the city, Tobirama Senju sent Kagami Uchiha to guard the prison and told him to abandon it if necessary.
• Yoruichi appeared before Tobirama Senju and challenged him, leading to a chase through the air as she evaded his Flying Thunder God techniques with Shunpo.
• Ichigo Kurosaki broke into the prison and asked Kagami Uchiha to release the Visored members.
• Ichigo Kurosaki attacked Kagami Uchiha with Dark! Getsuga Tenshō, but Kagami Uchiha blocked it with his Oyamatsumi phantom mountain.

Yoruichi learned that Tobirama Senju and the Land of Shadow vastly outmatched her allies, while Ichigo Kurosaki awakened a powerful Bankai and broke the prison holding the Visored. Kagami Uchiha escaped, leaving Ichigo and the newly freed captives together.

• Tobirama Senju ended his chase with Yoruichi, revealed that Orochimaru was in the imperial palace, and left using Flying Thunder God.
• Chako explained the world's power stages and warned Yoruichi that Tobirama Senju, Orochimaru, and the First Legion Commander were far stronger than her allies.
• Ichigo Kurosaki failed to break Kagami Uchiha's mountain defense, then unleashed Bankai and shattered it with Dark Getsuga Tenshō.
• Kagami Uchiha survived by using the Substitution Technique, and Ichigo Kurosaki's attack destroyed the prison and freed Kensei Muguruma, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, Hachigen Ushōda, and Love Aikawa.
• Kagami Uchiha admitted he could not continue fighting and escaped by crushing a black capsule.

Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies set out for the imperial palace to reach Orochimaru, while Chako arranged for Legion Commanders to intercept them. The group advanced past two battles, leaving Yuryu and Hiruko fighting in Dharma Body forms.

• Ichigo Kurosaki reunited with Chako and Yoruichi after rescuing the prisoners, and the group headed toward the imperial palace to find Orochimaru.
• Chako left Kinoki to face Yakushi Kabuto, who summoned and controlled the Third Raikage; Kinoki and the Lightning Dharma Body clashed as Ichigo Kurosaki's group continued onward.
• Hiruko confronted the group, but Yuryu trapped him under a bell and stayed behind to fight while the others pressed on.
• Hiruko transformed into a bandaged Dharma Body and unleashed a Storm Release thunder dragon, but Yuryu's blue Dharma Body redirected the lightning back at him.

Yuryu defeated Hiruko and claimed the Eighth Legion Commander position using a pill that disrupted Hiruko’s avatar. Ichigo Kurosaki’s group pressed onward while several Legion Commander contests began, including Uchiha Shisui’s fight against Kensei Muguruma and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, which remained unresolved.

• Yuryu used the Mortal God Pill hidden in a bell to disrupt Hiruko’s avatar, pulled him out, and became the Eighth Legion Commander.
• Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions encountered Uchiha Shisui, while Kensei Muguruma and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi stepped up to challenge him.
• Uchiha Osame faced Kuma, who chose to challenge her for the Legion Commander position and summoned a rainwater avatar as her butterflies filled the battlefield.
• Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi’s whip struck only Shisui’s afterimage, and Kensei Muguruma’s Bankai failed to settle the fight.
• Shisui wounded Kensei with an unexplained illusion-like ability and told the two Soul Reapers he had little desire to fight, leaving them furious at being underestimated.

Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies reached the imperial palace, where battles broke out as they pressed toward Orochimaru. The fighting left Chako chasing Sakumo Hatake, Kuma defeated by Uchiha Osame, and Kinoki facing Kabuto’s Snake God Dharma Body.

• Yoruichi led Ichigo Kurosaki and the others toward Orochimaru while Hachigen Ushōda and Love Aikawa stayed behind to face Yugito Nii.
• Chako attacked Sakumo Hatake for the Tenth Army Legion Commander position, but he fled and she chased him into the sky.
• Uchiha Shisui defeated Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi and Kensei Muguruma with Immortal's Trick, then told Uchiha Taohuo to treat their injuries.
• Kuma trapped Uchiha Osame in a water sphere, but her Sharingan made him attack himself and shattered his Dharma Body.
• Kabuto revealed his Snake God Dharma Body and charged Kinoki after Kinoki had suppressed Third Raikage A.

Sakumo Hatake defeated Chako, while Ichigo Kurosaki reached Orochimaru and freed Tayuya before Orochimaru captured them both along with Yoruichi. Kabuto and Kinoki ended their battle without a clear victor, and Uchiha Jin watched the fights before Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako appeared before him.

• Sakumo Hatake overwhelmed Chako with his Six Paths Twin-Blade Slash, extinguished her black flames, and declared her defeated.
• Ichigo Kurosaki confronted Kimimaro, but Orochimaru stopped the fight and led Ichigo and Yoruichi to Tayuya in the laboratory.
• Ichigo Kurosaki used Bankai to break Tayuya's glass container, then unleashed his full power against Orochimaru, who captured Ichigo, Tayuya, and Yoruichi with a swarm of snakes.
• Kinoki surrendered to Yakushi Kabuto, who withdrew his Dharma Body and looked to Orochimaru to resolve the conflict.
• Uchiha Jin watched the battles and remarked on Sakumo Hatake's growth before Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako emerged from the shadows to meet him.

Kisuke Urahara sought an alliance with Uchiha Jin, offering the Soul King's body in exchange for stabilizing the Three Realms, while Jin recognized the Soul King's influence behind the proposal. After Orochimaru finished examining Ichigo Kurosaki, Ichigo chose to leave the Land of Shadow, but Orochimaru said Jin wanted to meet him first.

• Kisuke Urahara offered Uchiha Jin the Soul King's body in exchange for stabilizing the Three Realms, and Jin agreed to discuss the deal once the body was delivered.
• After Kisuke Urahara and Shinji Hirako left, Jin told Orochimaru that the Soul King had manipulated them and wanted Jin to take his place.
• Kisuke Urahara persuaded Shinji Hirako that their visit was meant to establish contact with the Land of Shadow and prevent the two sides from becoming enemies.
• Orochimaru analyzed Ichigo Kurosaki's four conceptual powers, freed him from the glass container, and told him the others had returned home.
• Ichigo Kurosaki chose to leave after Yoruichi confirmed that Tayuya had returned to school, but Orochimaru said Jin wanted to meet him first.

Ichigo Kurosaki returned from the Land of Shadow with an advisor token and learned that Tayuya would serve as his contact, while his encounter with Orochimaru left him shaken. Meanwhile, Rukia Kuchiki arrived in the city to find Ichigo and fight Hollows, and the chapter ended as Ichigo approached the Hollows chasing her.

• Jin gave Ichigo Kurosaki an advisor token and said the Land of Shadow would compensate him for Orochimaru's actions.
• Ichigo Kurosaki returned to Kisuke Urahara's basement with Yoruichi Shihōin, then went home feeling defeated by Orochimaru's strength.
• Tayuya greeted Ichigo Kurosaki in his room and explained that she had failed her exam but was assigned to monitor him and act as his contact.
• Rukia Kuchiki arrived in the city on a mission to find the human who had gained Soul Reaper powers and rescued a girl's spirit from a Hollow.
• Rukia Kuchiki fled from five pursuing Hollows, and Ichigo Kurosaki walked toward them as they chased her.