Chapter Summaries

Chiba Makoto recruited more than a hundred graduates into the Fourth Division and proposed new uniforms and a collective training system. Unohana Retsu approved his plan and left him to arrange the newcomers’ training.

• Chiba Makoto imagined replacing the Fourth Division’s black Shinigami uniforms with white medical attire, then discreetly expelled Aizen Sōsuke’s tea from his body.
• Chiba Makoto completed the division selection without incident and brought back more than a hundred graduates, making the Fourth Division the biggest recruiter.
• Unohana Retsu asked Chiba Makoto how he had recruited so many graduates, and he suggested designing professional medical uniforms for the division.
• Unohana Retsu asked Chiba Makoto how to manage the newcomers, and he proposed collective training, one-on-one guidance from senior members, and regular classes.
• Unohana Retsu approved Chiba Makoto’s training plan and assigned him to arrange it.

Chiba Makoto searched Rukongai for Matsumoto Rangiku after realizing Ichimaru Gin could no longer look after her. He found her hiding beneath a vendor’s table to steal food and gently stopped her, offering to buy her something else.

• Chiba Makoto organized the Fourth Division’s members to train new recruits, using a lottery and setting progress assessments with rewards and punishments.
• Chiba Makoto encountered Aizen Sōsuke and Ichimaru Gin in Seireitei and learned that Gin had become the Fifth Division’s Third Seat.
• Chiba Makoto remembered Matsumoto Rangiku and hurried to Rukongai, but found her old home abandoned and residents unable to say where she had gone.
• Chiba Makoto followed the Seeds of the Forest he had planted until he found Ōmaeda Marechiyo carrying a baby, and Ōmaeda fled at the sight of him.
• Chiba Makoto found Matsumoto Rangiku in tattered clothes hiding beneath a vendor’s table and reaching for a fallen steamed bun.
• Chiba Makoto caught Matsumoto Rangiku’s wrist and told her he would treat her to something else.

Chiba Makoto found Rangiku hiding beneath a vendor’s table and learned she was searching for Gin, who had left to retrieve her soul. He offered to let her stay with him for the time being.

• Makoto blocked the vendor’s rolling pin from striking Rangiku and introduced her as his little sister, then paid the vendor before taking her away.
• Rangiku apologized to Makoto, and he gently asked how she had ended up wandering through Rukongai.
• Rangiku explained that Gin had left and she was searching for him, while the money he had left behind was saved to buy him persimmons.
• Makoto saw that Rangiku was determined to keep searching for Gin and offered to let her stay with him for the time being.

Chiba Makoto told Matsumoto Rangiku that Gin had become the Fifth Division’s Third Seat and offered to help her reach him by preparing for Shin'ō Academy. After Hisagi Shūhei tried to defend Rangiku, Makoto won his trust and took both children to Hisana.

• Chiba Makoto told Matsumoto Rangiku where Gin was and advised her to build up her health before applying to Shin'ō Academy.
• Hisagi Shūhei charged at Chiba Makoto with a sharpened bamboo pole, thinking Rangiku was in danger, but Makoto disarmed him.
• Matsumoto Rangiku explained that she and Shūhei had planned to steal steamed buns together, and Shūhei apologized after learning who Makoto was.
• Chiba Makoto praised Shūhei's courage and loyalty, invited him to come along, and Shūhei pledged his loyalty to Makoto.
• Chiba Makoto used Shunpo to take Rangiku and Shūhei to Hisana's home, where Hisana came out carrying Kuchiki Rukia.

Chiba Makoto settled Hisagi Shūhei and Matsumoto Rangiku in houses near Hisana’s home in Rukongai and told them how to apply to Shin'ō Academy. Afterward, Kuchiki Byakuya asked about finding a way to help Hisana and revealed that he would soon serve with the Sixth Division in the World of the Living.

• Chiba Makoto decided that Hisagi Shūhei and Matsumoto Rangiku were too young for Shin'ō Academy or life in the Seireitei, so he asked to settle them near Hisana.
• Kuchiki Byakuya arrived at Hisana’s home and, after she left to prepare tea, asked whether the children’s Reiryoku would harm her health.
• Chiba Makoto reassured Kuchiki Byakuya that their spiritual pressure would not harm Hisana, and he placed the children in houses beside hers and told them about the annual entrance examinations.
• Chiba Makoto and Kuchiki Byakuya returned to the Seireitei, where Byakuya asked about a solution to Hisana’s problem and offered his help.
• Kuchiki Byakuya told Chiba Makoto that he would soon join the Sixth Division and accompany his father to the World of the Living for garrison duty and support.

Chiba Makoto rushed to the World of the Living after the Sixth Division was attacked and found Kuchiki Sōjun gravely wounded by a highly intelligent Adjuchas. Makoto released his Zanpakuto to provide battlefield medical aid as the Sixth Division struggled to contain the enemy.

• Chiba Makoto received an urgent order to deploy the Medical Relief Squad after the Sixth Division came under attack.
• Makoto hurried to the Thirteenth Division and learned that an Adjuchas had ambushed Kuchiki Sōjun after concealing its spiritual pressure.
• Makoto entered the World of the Living and sensed Kuchiki Sōjun, Kuchiki Byakuya, and the other Sixth Division Soul Reapers on the battlefield.
• Makoto saw Kuchiki Sōjun bleeding from a severe wound while nine Soul Reapers lay fallen and the Adjuchas kept the others under pressure.
• Makoto released his Zanpakuto, Unending vitality, All Things in Nature, to provide Kuchiki Sōjun with battlefield medical assistance.

Chiba Makoto supported the wounded Sixth Division Soul Reapers by healing them with his grass-based abilities while Kuchiki Sōjun fought the humanoid Adjuchas. The Soul Reapers recovered from the Hollow’s attacks, and Makoto vowed to keep them alive as the battle continued.

• Chiba Makoto spread healing grass across the battlefield, stopping Kuchiki Sōjun’s bleeding and restoring the Sixth Division Soul Reapers.
• The humanoid Adjuchas attacked Kuchiki Sōjun, while the Sixth Division Soul Reapers joined the fight with their own attacks.
• The Adjuchas dodged the Soul Reapers’ attacks and fired Hollow Bullets at them and Chiba Makoto.
• Chiba Makoto blocked the Hollow Bullets aimed at him with a wooden mask formed from giant trees, while the other Soul Reapers were injured.
• Chiba Makoto’s grass rapidly healed the wounded Soul Reapers, lifting their morale as he promised he would not let them suffer while he was alive.

Chiba Makoto healed and protected the Sixth Division while the humanoid Adjuchas targeted him, but he trapped it with a Wood Dragon and gave the others an opening. Kuchiki Sōjun released his Zanpakuto and prepared to defeat the Adjuchas without dishonoring the Kuchiki name.

• Chiba Makoto's healing stabilized Kuchiki Sōjun and rapidly restored the Sixth Division Soul Reapers as they fought the humanoid Adjuchas.
• The humanoid Adjuchas concealed its speed, broke away from Kuchiki Sōjun, and charged at Chiba Makoto.
• Chiba Makoto used Reishi Control to raise regenerating trees that blocked the Adjuchas, then formed them into a Wood Dragon that smashed it into the ground.
• Chiba Makoto warned that he could not hold the technique for long, and Kuchiki Byakuya explained that it drained Makoto's Reiryoku.
• The Sixth Division Soul Reapers began chanting high-level Kidō while Kuchiki Sōjun released Higanbana, insisting that he could not let one Adjuchas dishonor the Kuchiki name.

Kuchiki Sōjun used his Zanpakuto to destroy the humanoid Adjuchas’s head, but the creature survived and ambushed him. After eating Sōjun’s severed arm, Sparks unleashed overwhelming spiritual pressure and challenged the Soul Reapers.

• The Sixth Division Soul Reapers restrained the humanoid Adjuchas with multiple Bakudō, giving Kuchiki Sōjun an opening to attack.
• Kuchiki Sōjun used Higanbana Wither to destroy the Adjuchas’s head, and the Soul Reapers celebrated what seemed to be their victory.
• Makoto pulled Sōjun out of the way of a surprise strike, but the headless Adjuchas severed Sōjun’s Zanpakuto arm.
• The Adjuchas revealed that it was Sparks, swallowed Sōjun’s arm, and released spiritual pressure far stronger than before.

Sparks attacked the Sixth Division Soul Reapers while Kuchiki Sōjun prepared to sacrifice himself to unleash Bankai. Chiba Makoto stopped him and created a forest with All Things in Nature: Birth of the Tree Realm, as Sparks began charging a powerful attack.

• Sparks explained how Adjuchas survived and evolved, then attacked and devoured the Sixth Division Soul Reapers to provoke Kuchiki Sōjun.
• Kuchiki Byakuya asked Chiba Makoto when reinforcements would arrive, but Chiba could only offer a vague answer.
• Kuchiki Sōjun ordered Byakuya, Makoto, and the remaining Soul Reapers to retreat while he held Sparks back.
• Kuchiki Sōjun began gathering Higanbana to unleash Bankai, but Chiba Makoto stopped him with a vine and said it was too soon to sacrifice his life.
• Chiba Makoto summoned a forest around the Soul Reapers with All Things in Nature: Birth of the Tree Realm, while Sparks formed a crimson sphere of light.

Chiba Makoto hid his weakness while using the forest to protect Kuchiki Byakuya and the Sixth Division Soul Reapers. He turned the forest’s power against Sparks, pinning the Adjuchas and questioning what lay inside its shell.

• Chiba Makoto told Kuchiki Byakuya that the forest could hold off Sparks while he rested, and Byakuya and the other Soul Reapers were moved by his apparent sacrifice.
• Chiba Makoto secretly merged part of his left hand and consciousness with the trees, drawing on the Ultimate Spirit Body’s power.
• Sparks fired a nearly full-power Cero at a wooden palm, but the palm’s middle finger flicked the blast aside.
• A giant wooden finger pinned Sparks to the ground while the Soul Reapers felt the impact shake the earth.
• A Wooden Puppet resembling Chiba Makoto told Sparks it could not resist and questioned whether its true body was hidden inside its shell.

Chiba Makoto forced Sparks to reveal that he had come to the World of the Living to hunt Soul Reapers, following advice from Szayelaporro Granz. The chapter ended with Chiba demanding that Sparks remove his shell so he could check for artificial modifications.

• Chiba Makoto crushed Sparks beneath a wooden structure until Sparks begged for mercy and confessed his history.
• Sparks admitted that he had left Hueco Mundo because he struggled to find prey and feared devolving into a Gillian.
• Chiba accused Sparks of luring Soul Reapers so he could devour them, and Sparks confirmed that was his target.
• Sparks identified Szayelaporro Granz as the Hollow who had told him that captain-class Soul Reapers restricted their spiritual pressure in the World of the Living.
• Sparks denied that Szayelaporro had modified his body, but Chiba demanded that he peel off his shell for inspection.

Chiba Makoto examined Spatnos, planted a Seed of the Forest inside it, and offered to let it return to Hueco Mundo if it stayed away from Soul Society and the World of the Living. Spatnos was moved by his words and asked his name, and the Wooden Puppet introduced himself as Leshan Great Buddha.

• Chiba Makoto forced Spatnos to reveal its true, bug-like form and examined it despite its protests.
• Chiba Makoto injected Spatnos with a wooden syringe made from his spirit particles, planting a Seed of the Forest inside it.
• Chiba Makoto told Spatnos he would let it return to Hueco Mundo if it promised not to invade Soul Society or the World of the Living.
• Chiba Makoto spoke against killing for shallow beliefs, leading Spatnos to see him as a Soul Reaper who understood Hollows.
• Spatnos asked for Chiba Makoto's name, and the Wooden Puppet answered, "My surname is Leshan. My given name is Great Buddha."

Chiba Makoto gave Snopas a false identity and praised his plan to prey on wounded Hollows, then arranged a staged retreat to conceal that he had let him go. After Snopas escaped, Makoto played the wounded hero for the Soul Reapers until Kyōraku Shunsui arrived and found the Adjuchas gone.

• Chiba Makoto withheld his true name from Snopas and accepted the false name Snopas used for him.
• Snopas described a plan to cripple newly evolved Adjuchas and feed on them slowly, and Chiba Makoto praised his supposed mercifulness.
• Chiba Makoto asked Snopas to blast the forest so it would look as though the Hollow had been forced to retreat after a fierce attack.
• Snopas destroyed part of the forest with a full-power Cero and escaped through a Garganta while Chiba Makoto pretended to be badly hurt.
• The Soul Reapers voiced concern for Chiba Makoto, while injured Kuchiki Sōjun waited nearby and conserved his strength.
• Kyōraku Shunsui arrived with the Medical Relief Squad and Eighth Division elites, then asked where the Adjuchas had gone.

After the battle, the Medical Relief Squad stabilized Kuchiki Sōjun and sent him back to the Seireitei, while Chiba Makoto pretended to remain too weak to help further. He woke the next day and asked Aoki Risa how the situation had developed.

• Aoki Risa told Kyōraku Shunsui that Kuchiki Sōjun was critically injured and needed urgent spiritual body restoration, but Makoto was the only available physician capable of performing it and he was in poor condition.
• Kuchiki Byakuya accepted responsibility for the risks and ordered the Fourth Division to take his father through the Dangai to the Seireitei for treatment.
• Kyōraku Shunsui escorted Kuchiki Sōjun through the Senkaimon, while Byakuya stayed behind to help bring the Sixth Division members home.
• Makoto noticed Byakuya's newfound resolve and let the Medical Relief Squad continue treating the wounded while he maintained his act of exhaustion.
• Aoki Risa made Makoto rest with his head on her lap, and he fell asleep before hearing the rest of her words.
• Makoto woke near noon the next day, noticed Risa acting as though nothing had happened, and asked her how the situation was.

Chiba Makoto returned to the Seireitei after treating the wounded and spending several days in the World of the Living. At a First Division meeting, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni praised Makoto’s actions and granted him Intermediate Noble status.

• Aoki Risa reported that the injured Sixth Division members had been treated, eighteen bodies recovered, and Kuchiki Sōjun was out of danger.
• Chiba Makoto and Aoki Risa toured the World of the Living while the human public speculated about the battle’s unexplained damage.
• Chiba Makoto shared ideas about hospital systems and uniforms, and performed Soul Burial for wandering souls during their stay.
• Chiba Makoto led the Soul Reapers back to the Seireitei after receiving an order to return.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni asked Chiba Makoto to recount the battle, and Makoto described his role while concealing the limits of his abilities.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni granted Chiba Makoto Intermediate Noble status for his performance and judgment, which had saved more than ten Sixth Division Soul Reapers.

After Chiba Makoto received Intermediate Noble status, Unohana Retsu confronted him about Rangiku and then discovered his sketchbook of uniform designs modeled on her. She asked him to explain himself, leaving Makoto scrambling for an excuse.

• Chiba Makoto learned that he had been granted Intermediate Noble status and considered using noble privileges to bring Rangiku to Seireitei as a maid.
• Unohana Retsu overheard Makoto mention Rangiku and threatened to straighten him out until he explained that he was caring for the orange-haired girl from Rukongai.
• Unohana Retsu led Makoto to the Fourth Division Vice-Captain's Office, where she showed him the sketchbook he had left in a drawer.
• Makoto realized the sketchbook contained uniform designs modeled on Unohana Retsu and nervously tried to explain.
• Unohana Retsu told Makoto to give an excuse that would satisfy her, and Makoto began by praising her beauty.

Chiba Makoto tried to justify his artbook of Unohana Retsu-inspired poses as filial concern and medical research. Unohana saw through his excuses and turned the uniform fitting and pose demonstrations back on him.

• Unohana Retsu questioned Makoto about using her as the model for his artbook, and he praised her beauty while blaming his designs on his admiration for her.
• Makoto claimed the poses came from the World of the Living and said the duck sit could be more comfortable for Unohana’s knees and ankles.
• Unohana challenged Makoto’s explanation of another pose, and he struggled to justify his detailed knowledge of her figure.
• After hearing Makoto explain several more poses, Unohana asked him to bring out the experimental uniforms.
• Unohana told Makoto to try on the uniforms and demonstrate the poses for her, leaving him embarrassed and regretting his motives.

Chiba Makoto escaped Unohana Retsu’s attempt to make him pose for her art book, then fled to the Kuchiki Clan’s residence to avoid returning to Unohana’s Courtyard. There, he met Kuchiki Kōga.

• Makoto tried to flee Unohana Retsu, but collided with her and crashed through the office door into the corridor.
• Fourth Division Soul Reapers rushed over, and Makoto told them the noise had come from an accident while testing Kidō.
• Makoto decided to avoid Unohana’s Courtyard and asked Kuchiki Byakuya to let him stay at the Kuchiki Clan’s residence, claiming he wanted to learn noble customs.
• Byakuya welcomed Makoto as an honored guest and offered to arrange lessons in noble bearing and etiquette.
• Kuchiki Kōga arrived and introduced himself to Makoto.

Chiba Makoto met Kuchiki Kōga at the Kuchiki Courtyard and continued avoiding being alone with Unohana Retsu. He trained with Soi Fon and began developing a green version of Shunkō, while Unohana quietly grew unused to his absence.

• Kuchiki Kōga greeted Chiba Makoto and thanked him for his kindness toward Kuchiki Sōjun before leaving him with Kuchiki Byakuya.
• Kuchiki Byakuya warned that Kōga’s naïve, extreme nature was dangerous given Muramasa’s power.
• Chiba Makoto kept his meetings with Unohana Retsu to public settings and stayed at the Kuchiki Courtyard.
• Chiba Makoto trained Soi Fon in Shunkō, claiming he had developed it through his own research.
• After successfully combining Kaido with Shunkō, Chiba Makoto began cultivating a green version of the technique, while Unohana Retsu missed his presence.