Chapter Summaries

Byakuya and Renji arrived to take Rukia back to Soul Society, and Ichigo and Hu fought to stop them. Byakuya defeated Ichigo and Hu, then took both Hu and Rukia through the Senkaimon, while Urahara carried the unconscious Ichigo to the hospital.

• Byakuya and Renji confronted Rukia, and Uryū intervened before Ichigo arrived to defend her.
• Ichigo defeated Renji, but Byakuya broke Ichigo’s Zanpakuto and used Senka to leave him gravely wounded.
• Hu challenged Byakuya over Rukia’s impending execution, and the two fought until Byakuya released his Bankai.
• Byakuya defeated Hu inside Senkei and ordered Renji to take both Hu and Rukia back to Soul Society.
• Ichigo tried repeatedly to rise as the Senkaimon closed, but Urahara carried him toward Kurosaki Hospital.

Ichigo accepted Kisuke Urahara’s ten-day training challenge to regain his Soul Reaper powers and save Rukia and Hu. In Soul Society, Rukia received a death sentence, Hu recovered under Fon Shaoling’s protection, and Byakuya questioned the rules he had sworn to uphold.

• Ichigo woke at Kisuke Urahara’s shop and learned Rukia and Hu had been taken to Soul Society, with Rukia facing execution.
• Urahara explained that Byakuya had destroyed Ichigo’s borrowed Soul Reaper powers and offered to train him for ten days, warning that failure would kill him.
• Ichigo accepted Urahara’s challenge, determined to regain his powers and bring Rukia and Hu back.
• Fon Shaoling brought Hu to the Second Division medical room, explained she had retrieved him from the Sixth Division, and told him Rukia had received a death sentence at her first hearing.
• Renji visited Rukia in Senzaikyū, but she told him she would bear her crime herself and he left without promising to save her.
• Byakuya sat alone in the Sixth Division tea room and wondered what Hisana would have advised him to do.

While recovering from his battle with Byakuya, Hu advised Renji to act on his desire to save Rukia, then learned that Urahara had forbidden the dangerous shortcut to Bankai training. The chapter ended with Gin agreeing to teach Hu Bankai.

• Renji visited Hu and confessed that he wanted to save Rukia but felt trapped by his duties and his inability to challenge Captain Kuchiki.
• Hu urged Renji to choose what he wanted rather than wait until he felt strong enough, and gave him a coin to help him recognize his own decision.
• Cilian and Yoruichi visited Hu, who recounted how he had fought Byakuya’s Bankai; Byakuya privately reflected on how dangerous Hu’s abilities had been.
• Hu asked about using Urahara’s Tenshintai to learn Bankai quickly, but Yoruichi explained that Urahara had forbidden it because Hu’s Zanpakuto was too valuable to risk losing.
• Gin brought Hu pastries, thanked him for helping him give away the bracelet, and agreed to teach Hu Bankai when Hu asked.

Hu met Gin to train for Bankai, and their spar awakened a dark, battle-driven power in Hu that let him withstand Gin’s Bankai. Both were left gravely wounded, and Gin carried Hu toward the Fourth Division as Hu asked to train again.

• Gin visited Byakuya to ask what he thought of Hu, but Byakuya told him to find out for himself.
• Hu and Gin began sparring, and Gin used Shinsō’s shifting reach and rhythm to overwhelm Hu and inflict multiple wounds.
• Hu’s fighting instincts awakened, turning his Reiatsu dark and driving Gin to activate Bankai: Kamishini no Yari.
• Gin’s Bankai repeatedly pierced Hu, but Hu charged through the attacks and forced Gin into a prolonged fight as his own power intensified.
• The duel lasted until nightfall, leaving both men covered in wounds and the training ground wrecked.
• Gin supported Hu as they walked toward the Fourth Division, and Hu asked to train with him again.

Gin carried the badly wounded Hu to the Fourth Division after their day-long Bankai training, and Unohana treated them both, finding their vital points unharmed. After they recovered, Gin told Kenpachi Zaraki that Hu was a strong friend, and Zaraki asked to join their next practice.

• Gin staggered to the Fourth Division with unconscious Hu on his shoulder, and Hanatarō summoned the medical team.
• Unohana examined Gin and Hu, treated their many wounds, and told Kira, Rangiku, and Fon Shaoling that neither was in mortal danger.
• Rangiku scolded Gin for fighting Hu so recklessly, while Fon Shaoling warned Hu that she would supervise his next Bankai practice.
• After Gin was discharged, Kenpachi Zaraki asked to fight the person who had injured him, and Gin explained that Hu was his friend and training partner.
• Gin agreed to let Zaraki join their next practice and invited Kira to watch, but Kira declined.

Hu visited Urahara’s shop, saw Ichigo awaken Zangetsu, and told him that Rukia’s execution had been scheduled for twenty days later. Byakuya delivered the final verdict to Rukia and then clashed verbally with Gin and Kenpachi in the Senzaikyū corridor.

• Ichigo awakened Zangetsu and unleashed his first Getsuga Tenshō, which Urahara blocked with Benihime’s Blood-Mist Shield.
• Hu told Ichigo that Rukia had received the death penalty, the Kuchiki Clan’s appeal had not been accepted, and the execution was scheduled early.
• Ichigo said he would ask Byakuya why he had arrested Rukia and promised to correct him if his answer was wrong.
• Hu trained in the Dangai while Ichigo remained in the training ground after Urahara warned him that prolonged Dangai training could harm his soul and body.
• Byakuya told Rukia that her execution would take place at Sōkyoku Hill in twenty days and that they would next meet on the execution platform.
• Gin mocked Byakuya, who retorted that Gin had been carried to the Fourth Division by Hu; Kenpachi then dragged Gin away and said he expected Hu to be worth fighting.

Hu began Bankai training with Jiku'a and learned that his Zanpakuto spirit had sealed away a dark part of his soul, which had now emerged as Mōcāng. Mōcāng challenged Hu and attacked him, leaving their fight underway.

• Fon Shaoling explained the methods and risks of Bankai training, then guided Hu through the materialization process.
• Jiku'a told Hu that he had separated Vergil's negative memories and emotions from the positive ones, and that Hu would have to defeat the resulting personality to achieve Bankai.
• Hu agreed to face the dark personality, poured half his Reiatsu into Jiku'a, and unleashed a chilling, murderous Reiatsu across Seireitei.
• Yumichika, Ikkaku, Kenpachi Zaraki, Gin, Yamamoto, Unohana, Isane, Aizen, and Momo reacted to the Reiatsu as it reached them.
• Mōcāng emerged, called Hu an incapable and cowardly king, and attacked him; Hu caught Jiku'a and blocked Mōcāng's strike.

Hu fought Mōcāng but was overwhelmed by his superior techniques and forced to endure Vergil’s painful memories. Mōcāng disappeared back into Hu, leaving him kneeling in despair as Kenpachi, Gin, and Fon Shaoling arrived.

• Mōcāng defeated Hu’s attacks by combining Beowulf with Phantom Armor and skillfully controlling Summoned Swords and Kidō.
• Mōcāng criticized Hu’s use of what his teachers had taught him, then wounded him with Judgment Cut and forced Vergil’s memories into his mind.
• Hu experienced Vergil’s grief, loneliness, hunger for strength, torment at the hands of the Dark Magician, and conflicted feelings toward Dante.
• Kenpachi interrupted Mōcāng’s attack, but Mōcāng dismissed Hu as an incompetent master and dissolved into Reishi that returned to Hu.
• Fon Shaoling rebuked Gin for bringing Kenpachi to the Bankai training, then approached Hu as he knelt in pain.

After Mōcāng vanished, Hu struggled with the painful memories and emotions he had inherited from Vergil, then told the others Vergil’s tragic past and confessed he did not know how to face him. The group urged Hu to accept Mōcāng as part of himself, and Kenpachi gave him a recovery potion and demanded that he fight.

• Hu remained kneeling after Mōcāng disappeared, unable to shake Vergil’s memories, while Fon Shaoling stayed beside him.
• Kenpachi confronted Gin about Mōcāng’s disappearance, then left after Gin explained that Mōcāng was Hu’s materialized Zanpakuto.
• Yachiru persuaded Kenpachi to return and help Hu, saying Hu’s fight had been painful rather than enjoyable.
• Hu told Shaoling, Gin, Kenpachi, Yachiru, Ikkaku, and Yumichika about Vergil’s family, his transformation into a Black Knight, and his defeat by his younger brother.
• Hu explained that he could not complete Bankai because facing Mōcāng brought Vergil’s grief and helplessness rushing back.
• Shaoling, Gin, and Yachiru comforted Hu and urged him to face Mōcāng again; Kenpachi gave Hu a recovery potion and challenged him to fight.

Kenpachi forced Hu to fight, and his words helped Hu confront Mōcāng in his Inner World. Hu shared his own warm memories with Mōcāng, who accepted Hu’s hand as blue light engulfed them.

• Kenpachi gave Hu a Reiatsu recovery potion and challenged him to fight, while Fon Shaoling set limits on the duel.
• Kenpachi and Hu exchanged brutal attacks until Hu’s consciousness fell into his Inner World.
• Mōcāng overwhelmed Hu with Vergil’s painful memories and urged him to abandon fighting and power.
• Hu recalled the happy memories that had first given Vergil strength, then shared them and his own memories with Mōcāng.
• Mōcāng softened, took Hu’s outstretched hand, and blue light swallowed them both.

Yexing Hu and Kenpachi Zaraki unleashed their full power in a battle that shook Seireitei, ending with both men gravely wounded after Hu revealed Bankai. The Fourth Division treated them, Hu recovered unusually quickly, and Gin told Tōshirō Hitsugaya that the academy student had mastered Bankai in two days.

• Hu declared that he fought for his own convictions and charged Kenpachi Zaraki, who removed his eyepatch and met him head-on.
• Hu and Kenpachi traded devastating blows as their Reiatsu shook Seireitei, drawing the attention of its captains and divisions.
• Hu released Bankai: Heaven's Punishment Jiku'a and used Iai: Nadegiri against Kenpachi's concentrated strike, leaving both men cut in half.
• Retsu Unohana stabilized both fighters, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi treated them with his Flesh Supplement while the Fourth Division began emergency care.
• Hu began healing and sat up sooner than Kenpachi, while Yachiru thanked him and asked him to fight Kenpachi again.
• Gin told Tōshirō Hitsugaya that Hu had enrolled at the academy less than three months earlier and mastered Bankai in two days.

Aizen, Gin, and Tōsen investigated the invisible spatial slash left by Yexing Hu’s Bankai, and Yamamoto later ordered that Yexing Hu could not use Bankai in Seireitei without permission. Meanwhile, Ichigo and his friends entered the Senkaimon to begin their journey to Soul Society.

• Aizen explained that Yexing Hu’s slash had severed space and could still cut anyone who crossed its path, though Aizen believed he could prevent Yexing Hu from striking him.
• Yachiru’s order sent Ikkaku, Yumichika, and other 11th Division members to clean the battlefield, where a member with a mohawk discovered the lingering slash by losing his broom and hair to it.
• Mayuri showed Yamamoto that the slash was a durable wound in space, and Yamamoto erased it before forbidding Yexing Hu from using Bankai in Seireitei without a captain’s permission.
• Urahara warned Ichigo and his friends that they would be treated as intruders in Soul Society, then Ichigo, Sado, Ishida, and Inoue entered the Senkaimon with Yoruichi.

Yexing Hu graduated from Shin'ō Academy and joined the Gotei 13, then reunited with Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions at Hakutōmon. Gin Ichimaru gave Hu a Bankai Restriction Seal and drove the Ryoka back out of Seireitei, leaving them to seek another way inside.

• The vice principal held a solo graduation ceremony for Yexing Hu, recognizing his rapid mastery of Shikai and Bankai and presenting him with a Gotei 13 Shihakusho.
• Hu told Shimizu he would move to Seireitei, while Shimizu resolved to work harder after watching him leave.
• At Hakutōmon, Hu caught Jidanbō's axe with one hand and greeted Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions as Jidanbō opened the gate for them.
• Gin Ichimaru secretly transferred a Bankai Restriction Seal to Hu and ordered the Ryoka to leave Seireitei.
• Ichigo challenged Gin, but Gin's Shinsō drove Ichigo, Sado, Ishida, Orihime, and Yoruichi back through Hakutōmon.
• Jidanbō closed the gate, and Yoruichi led the Ryoka away into Rukongai to find another way in.

After Gin turned Ichigo and the other Ryoka away from Hakutōmon, he hinted to Hu that Central 46 might not be functioning properly, prompting Hu to seek help investigating. At Hu’s gathering, Ōmaeda urged Renji to find allies to save Rukia, while Cilian quietly confronted Gin about his ties to Aizen and Gin admitted his hostility toward him.

• Gin pulled Hu away from Hakutōmon after Ichigo’s group retreated, then suggested Rukia’s sentence could be overturned if Central 46 had not issued it properly.
• Hu realized he could use the Second Division’s intelligence resources to investigate Central 46, and Fon Shaoling assigned him to the Patrol Corps under Ōmaeda while directing him to ask Ōmaeda for help.
• Hu hosted a gathering in his quarters, where Ōmaeda told Renji that other lieutenants and captains might join him in trying to save Rukia; Renji left to consider the offer.
• Cilian questioned Gin about the confrontation at Hakutōmon and his connection to Aizen, and Gin said he had changed since meeting Hu but still could not stand Aizen.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda discovered that someone had altered the Stealth Force’s perception of irregularities surrounding Central 46 and warned Hu that a major crisis was approaching. Meanwhile, Shimizu, Hachihachihara, and Rindō Yo applied for early graduation, and Hu returned to find Gin Ichimaru waiting in his room.

• Kito Ryūji gave Shimizu, Hachihachihara, and Rindō Yo early graduation application forms and asked them to submit them by the end of the day.
• Marechiyo Ōmaeda advised Hu against rescuing Rukia alongside the Ryoka and suggested rallying captains and lieutenants against her execution.
• After Hu questioned whether Central 46 had been forced to issue its judgment, Marechiyo Ōmaeda noticed that Central 46’s members had not appeared publicly despite its meetings and orders continuing as usual.
• Marechiyo Ōmaeda confirmed that someone had affected the Stealth Force’s perception, gave Hu a sealed warning for the Ryoka, and asked Hu to check each day whether he remembered the evidence.
• Kito Ryūji signed the three students’ early graduation applications, and Hu later found Gin Ichimaru drinking on his balcony.

Gin reported Ichigo Kurosaki’s extraordinary mixed heritage to Aizen, while privately resolving to protect Hu and Rangiku from Aizen’s plans. Gin then set out to manipulate Aizen into abandoning the Sōkyoku execution and use an alternative plan to extract the object from Rukia.

• Gin told Aizen that Ichigo Kurosaki and a Quincy had confronted him, and Aizen explained Ichigo’s Soul Reaper, Quincy, and Hollow bloodlines and his value as a keystone for stabilizing the three realms.
• Aizen reminded Gin that he would soon have to kill Hu, and Gin insisted he was better suited to do it than Aizen.
• Gin recalled drinking with Hu, who explained that Jiku'a could separate targets and that it had removed Mōcāng from his soul to preserve him.
• Gin admitted that he might soon fight Hu without holding back, but Hu accepted the risk and challenged him to meet on the battlefield.
• Gin planned to make Aizen doubt the Sōkyoku execution, offer him a safer way to extract the object from Rukia, and disrupt the execution before helping Aizen obtain it.
• Gin adjusted his bracelet and set off toward the Seireitei to begin his plan.

Gin Ichimaru faced an emergency captains’ meeting over the Ryoka’s escape, but their invasion interrupted his reckoning with Yamamoto. Cilian confronted Gin about his loyalties, fought him, and offered him Still Water, a Reiatsu-made object that could briefly break illusions and hypnosis.

• Renji transferred Rukia to the Fourth Depth Prison and told her that Ichigo and the other Ryoka had invaded Soul Society.
• Aizen questioned Renji about Rukia’s execution and suggested that someone was forcing it through, but an emergency captains’ meeting interrupted them.
• Gin admitted to Yamamoto that he had no excuse for letting the Ryoka escape, then the captains dispersed when alarms announced the Ryoka’s invasion.
• Cilian confronted Gin about his allegiance and Rangiku, and the two fought in the corridor with their Zanpakuto and Cilian’s gauntlet weapons.
• Cilian gave Gin Still Water, which could briefly break illusions and hypnosis, and apologized for insulting Rangiku while asking Gin to spare him until Aizen was defeated.

Aizen told Gin how he had once crippled Asura and revealed that his goal was the Hōgyoku, while Gin discovered that Still Water weakened Kyōka Suigetsu. At the Second Division post, Cilian steered Fon Shaoling’s group toward gathering allies and warned against trusting their early suspicions.

• Aizen explained that three Vasto Lorde had crippled Asura after Aizen lured him into a trap, and said Kisuke Urahara’s Flesh Supplement had likely enabled Asura’s recovery.
• Aizen told Gin that the execution was only a convenient way to obtain the Hōgyoku, then left to address the strain of keeping Kyōka Suigetsu over the Seireitei.
• Gin noticed Still Water weakening the Kyōka Suigetsu illusion at his guard post and realized it could counter Aizen’s hypnosis.
• Marechiyo Ōmaeda presented evidence of repeated mental interference and suspected Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake, but Cilian warned him not to settle on suspects prematurely.
• Marechiyo Ōmaeda argued that Captain Aizen opposed Rukia’s execution, while Cilian privately suspected Aizen and recommended gathering willing lieutenants before approaching captains.
• Fon Shaoling assigned Marechiyo Ōmaeda to contact the lieutenants and sent Hu to find Ichigo Kurosaki and urge the Ryoka not to act rashly.

Hu stopped Jirōbō Ikkanzaka from attacking Orihime, defeated him with Jiku'a, and warned Uryū Ishida and Orihime that Rukia Kuchiki’s execution might still be overturned. Meanwhile, Gin confronted Yoruichi, and Renji and Marechiyo Ōmaeda left to stop the Ryoka from provoking the Seireitei.

• Hu found Uryū and Orihime facing Jirōbō, then deflected Jirōbō’s attack on Orihime.
• Jirōbō released Tsunzakigarasu and boasted that it shared an origin with Yexing Hu’s Zanpakuto, so Hu revealed Jiku'a and defeated him with a single Judgment Cut.
• Hu told Uryū and Orihime that the lieutenants were trying to prevent Rukia’s execution, gave them Shihakusho and Denreishinki, and urged them to stay out of sight.
• Yoruichi encountered Gin on a rooftop, and Gin said he wanted to talk.
• Ōmaeda and Renji persuaded several lieutenants to reconsider Rukia’s execution, while Sasakibe agreed to report their positions to the captain-commander.
• After a messenger reported that Ikkaku and Yumichika were badly wounded and Jirōbō was out of action, Renji rushed off to find Ichigo, and Ōmaeda followed him.

Ichigo Kurosaki fought Renji Abarai and Ōmaeda outside the Senzaikyū while Hu helped him escape through the sewers. As Soul Society’s captains and lieutenants debated the suspicious execution, Aizen prepared for the coming day and Mayuri traced the Ryoka through their Denreishinki.

• Renji confronted Ichigo at the Senzaikyū, and Ōmaeda joined the fight after sensing their Reiatsu.
• Ichigo turned the fight around, but Hu intervened before the three could land their final blows; Ōmaeda stayed behind while Hu, Ichigo, Ganju Shiba, and Hanatarō Yamada escaped through the sewers.
• Byakuya ordered the injured Renji imprisoned, while Gin arranged Fourth Division care and Tōshirō warned Hinamori to watch Gin and Kira.
• Hu told Fon Shaoling that he had used a Denreishinki to contact the Ryoka, and they realized Mayuri Kurotsuchi could exploit the device; Mayuri then overheard Ishida reveal the group’s location.
• Hinamori told Aizen about the lieutenants’ concerns over the execution, and Aizen urged her to wait until tomorrow while secretly preparing for what was to come.
• Rangiku showed Tōshirō evidence that Central 46’s members had not appeared publicly despite their orders continuing, and Tōshirō decided to speak with the Captain-Commander.