Chapter Summaries

After Zaraki Kenpachi ended the brutal sparring session, Chiba Makoto’s mass healing made him famous across Seireitei as the wielder of Soul Society’s strongest healing-type Zanpakuto. The Eleventh Division’s treatment bill then nearly drove its budget to bankruptcy, and Yumichika begged Zaraki to stop arranging more healing sessions.

• Kyōraku Shunsui stopped Zaraki Kenpachi from continuing the battle, and Zaraki called off the sparring after recognizing the Eleventh Division members as his subordinates rather than enemies.
• Chiba Makoto treated the remaining wounded, and the Eleventh Division members escorted him out with respect.
• Seireitei began praising Chiba Makoto’s healing ability, while rumors spread that All Things in Nature was Soul Society’s strongest healing-type Zanpakuto.
• Noble patients flocked to the Fourth Division, increasing its workload and funding as Aoki Risa managed its finances.
• Ayasegawa Yumichika returned from a mission, saw the bill for treating thirteen hundred severely wounded people, and confronted Zaraki Kenpachi.
• Zaraki asked Kusajishi Yachiru to bring Chiba Makoto back, and Yumichika clung to Zaraki’s leg, wailing that the division budget was nearly bankrupt.

Ayasegawa Yumichika confronted the enormous treatment bill that had exhausted the Eleventh Division’s budget and went to the Fourth Division to ask Chiba Makoto to reduce the fees. Aoki Risa refused, and Chiba appeared just as Yumichika tried to speak with him.

• Aoki Risa calculated that Chiba Makoto had performed 1,300 treatments for critically injured Eleventh Division members, leaving the division with treatment fees exceeding a hundred million and no operational budget.
• Ayasegawa Yumichika realized Zaraki Kenpachi and Kusajishi Yachiru did not understand the financial crisis and decided to ask Chiba to lower the fees.
• Madarame Ikkaku dismissed Yumichika’s concerns, so Yumichika headed to the Fourth Division with the treatment bill.
• Aoki Risa stopped Yumichika and insisted that the signed treatment fees could not be reduced, arguing that the average charge was already far below the usual price.
• Chiba Makoto arrived with Kotetsu Isane and greeted Yumichika, asking what was bothering him.

Yumichika asked Makoto to help with the Eleventh Division’s enormous treatment bill, and Makoto agreed to appeal to Unohana despite the bill following Fourth Division standards. Makoto left to ask Unohana to revoke what he called an incorrect bill.

• Yumichika told Makoto the Eleventh Division could not afford its treatment bill and asked him to help.
• Makoto reprimanded Lisa over the bill, but Yumichika clarified that she had done nothing wrong and that the division had financial difficulties.
• Makoto offered to pay part of the cost himself, then saw the bill totaled 134,690,000 and learned it was itemized and signed by the injured members.
• Makoto said Lisa had calculated the bill according to the Fourth Division’s minimum charges and that he lacked authority to revoke it himself.
• Makoto promised to ask Unohana to revoke the bill and went to speak with her.

Ayasegawa Yumichika sought help with the Eleventh Division’s medical bill, and Aoki Risa offered Chiba Makoto’s Medical Loan plan as an alternative to asking Captain Unohana for a discount. Yumichika signed a thirty-year loan that eased the division’s monthly payments, while Makoto privately realized the interest would make the Fourth Division a great deal of money.

• Chiba Makoto insisted on asking Captain Unohana to reduce the Eleventh Division’s bill, despite Aoki Risa and Kotetsu Isane warning that she would punish him.
• Aoki Risa explained that nobles could use their territory as collateral for Medical Loans, repaying treatment costs in installments with 5.65% annual interest.
• After hearing about a Lower Noble’s affordable monthly payments, Ayasegawa Yumichika asked Aoki Risa to calculate a loan for the Eleventh Division.
• Aoki Risa calculated that the Eleventh Division would pay 777,478.89 each month over thirty years, and Ayasegawa Yumichika signed the contract using the division’s barracks and land as collateral.
• Ayasegawa Yumichika thanked Chiba Makoto for saving the Eleventh Division’s finances, while Makoto privately recognized that the interest alone would exceed 145 million.

Makoto secured a long-term funding deal from the Eleventh Division while presenting it as compassionate medical care, then encouraged Isane to recruit new Fourth Division members. He planned to bring Matsumoto Rangiku and Hisagi Shūhei from Rukongai to live at his estate, which he also intended to use as the Shinigami Women's Association headquarters.

• Makoto arranged a thirty-year medical loan for the Eleventh Division and offered it annual free full-division examinations, leaving Yumichika grateful as he carried the contract back.
• Makoto told Isane that the Fourth Division should provide free examinations throughout the Seireitei and entrusted her with recruiting at the upcoming Shin'ō Academy graduation ceremony.
• Makoto said he would raise Fourth Division salaries and benefits to more than double those of other divisions, even if he and Unohana had to cut back.
• After treating patients and settling the Eleventh Division funding matter, Makoto prepared to bring Matsumoto Rangiku and Hisagi Shūhei from Rukongai into the Seireitei.
• Makoto planned for Rangiku and Shūhei to live at his noble estate, which would also house the Shinigami Women's Association headquarters.

Snopas tried to recruit Herold into the Great Buddha sect by promising that faith in the Leshan Giant Buddha would spare him from regression and endless slaughter. Herold questioned Snopas’s claims but was left wavering as he asked for proof.

• Herold emerged from the Forest of Menos and encountered Snopas and more than ten Adjuchas-level Menos gathered around him.
• Snopas welcomed Herold and invited him to join the Great Buddha sect, which rejected endless slaughter and evolution.
• Herold prepared to fight or flee, but Snopas’s words about the fear of regression made him hesitate.
• Snopas urged Herold to believe in the Leshan Giant Buddha and challenged him to consider the meaning of endless devouring and evolution.
• Herold asked whether faith could truly prevent regression, and Snopas assured him that it could.
• Herold demanded proof, and Snopas pointed to himself and the other believers as evidence.

Snopas tricked Herold into joining the Great Buddha sect and ate part of his mask, permanently preventing him from evolving. He then offered his own flesh to satisfy the Adjuchas’ hunger, winning Herold’s reverence and faith.

• Herold agreed to join Snopas’s Great Buddha sect, and Snopas began the tonsure ceremony.
• Snopas bit a chunk from Herold’s mask, causing Herold to lose the ability to evolve, while four Adjuchas restrained him.
• Snopas told Herold that losing the possibility of evolution had solved his troubles and urged him to abandon his resentment.
• Snopas tore off his own massive arm and offered it to the hungry Adjuchas, who shared its flesh.
• Herold ate a piece of Snopas’s flesh, satisfied his hunger, and replaced his resentment with reverence and faith.

Snopas grew stronger in Hueco Mundo after founding the Great Buddha sect, while Chiba Makoto brought Hisagi Shūhei and Matsumoto Rangiku into his courtyard. When Rangiku asked Chiba to help her dress, he entered her room and sealed it off, as Kusajishi Yachiru and Unohana Retsu approached the courtyard.

• Snopas devoured part of Herold’s mask, restored his arm with False Limbs, and drew closer to becoming a higher-ranking Adjuchas.
• Snopas recalled founding the Great Buddha sect and gaining more than ten Adjuchas followers, who waited with him at the Forest of Menos for their next recruit.
• Chiba Makoto sensed that Snopas’s Reiryoku had increased through the Seed of the Forest while he waited for Hisagi Shūhei and Matsumoto Rangiku to change into their new clothes.
• Matsumoto Rangiku admitted she did not know how to put on her luxurious clothes and asked Chiba Makoto to help, saying she trusted only him.
• Chiba Makoto entered Rangiku’s room and raised a Kidō barrier to keep Hisagi Shūhei from noticing or misunderstanding.
• Kusajishi Yachiru and Unohana Retsu headed toward Chiba Courtyard with several female Soul Reapers.

Unohana Retsu brought the Shinigami Women's Association to Chiba Courtyard to establish its headquarters and learned that Makoto had brought Hisagi Shūhei and Matsumoto Rangiku into the Seireitei. When Hisagi revealed that Rangiku was changing inside, Unohana approached the room where Makoto was hiding.

• Unohana Retsu led Kusajishi Yachiru and female Soul Reapers to Chiba Courtyard to arrange the Shinigami Women's Association's temporary headquarters.
• Hisagi Shūhei blocked the group, introduced himself to Unohana, and explained that Makoto had brought him and Matsumoto Rangiku into the Seireitei.
• Unohana asked Hisagi what Makoto had said about her, and his account of Makoto's admiring portraits pleased her.
• Makoto hid inside a room with Rangiku while she changed clothes, and Hisagi told Unohana that Rangiku was inside.
• Unohana sent the female Soul Reapers to begin their arrangements, then walked toward the room where Makoto was hiding.

Chiba Makoto narrowly avoided being caught in the changing room with Matsumoto Rangiku when Unohana Retsu came looking for him. After Kusajishi Yachiru discovered them, Makoto and Rangiku claimed he had been treating her, and Makoto asked Yachiru to keep his hiding place secret.

• Chiba Makoto panicked as Unohana Retsu approached the changing room where Matsumoto Rangiku was changing.
• Unohana Retsu stopped at the door, decided Makoto probably was not inside, and left with Hisagi Shūhei.
• Kusajishi Yachiru entered through a ventilation hole and found Makoto with the half-dressed Rangiku.
• Rangiku told Yachiru that Makoto was treating her, and Makoto said she was healthy and urged her to get dressed.
• Makoto asked Yachiru not to tell Unohana where he was because he was playing hide-and-seek with her.

Chiba Makoto returned to Unohana Retsu’s courtyard after handling an emergency, where she revealed that she had uncovered his deception and challenged him to a Zanjutsu duel. He lost badly but improved his swordsmanship, then took three days of leave the next day.

• Chiba Makoto finished handling the Fourth Division emergency late at night and returned to Unohana Retsu’s courtyard.
• Unohana Retsu pointed out that Matsumoto Rangiku’s spiritual pressure had exposed Chiba Makoto’s Kidō barrier and asked when he had learned it.
• Unohana Retsu challenged Chiba Makoto to prove himself with his Zanpakuto instead of offering excuses.
• Chiba Makoto fought Unohana Retsu in the hot spring, was wounded and defeated, and felt his Zanjutsu improve.
• Chiba Makoto took three days of leave, while Aoki Risa and Kotetsu Isane handled Fourth Division affairs.

Chiba Makoto spent decades enduring Unohana Retsu’s repeated attacks before appearing as the Fourth Division Vice-Captain at a Shin'ō Academy graduation ceremony. There, a graduate insulted him and was suddenly attacked by an orange-haired figure.

• Chiba Makoto avoided the Shinigami Women's Association’s founding celebration and kept his distance from the association to avoid suspicion and further battles with Unohana Retsu.
• Unohana Retsu repeatedly stabbed Chiba Makoto, including 159 times after accusing him of deceiving her over a trivial mistake.
• Nearly fifty years passed in relative peace, and Shiba Kaien became Vice-Captain of the Thirteenth Division while Shiba Isshin became Captain of the Tenth Division.
• Chiba Makoto arrived at the Shin'ō Academy graduation ceremony with Kotetsu Third Seat and Aoki Fourth Seat, prompting graduates to discuss his reputation and the Shinigami Women's Association’s protection of him.
• A tall graduate began insulting Chiba Makoto, but an orange-haired figure appeared behind him, flipped him through the air, and slammed his head into the floor.

At the graduation ceremony, Matsumoto Rangiku knocked a fellow graduate unconscious, and Chiba Makoto intervened before arranging his treatment. The ceremony proceeded, and Matsumoto Rangiku and Hisagi Shūhei chose their divisions.

• Matsumoto Rangiku knocked a tall graduate unconscious, then pretended she had found him fallen and offered to treat him.
• Chiba Makoto arrived, reprimanded Matsumoto Rangiku, and sent the graduate to the Fourth Division for the best treatment; Aoki Risa prepared a Medical Loan.
• Chiba Makoto attended the graduation ceremony and reflected on the rising casualties caused by mutated Hollows and the Fourth Division’s generous recruitment offers.
• Matsumoto Rangiku chose the Tenth Division because she remembered Yoshikami Tsume’s kindness in Rukongai.
• Hisagi Shūhei joined the Ninth Division at Chiba Makoto’s instruction.

Chiba Makoto met Kuchiki Byakuya and Hisana in Rukongai, telling them he had completed treatment to let Hisana withstand high-intensity spiritual pressure. Hisana agreed to the treatment, and Byakuya entrusted her to Makoto as Makoto teased him about marrying her.

• After the graduation ceremony, Chiba Makoto sent the new recruits back to the barracks with Kotetsu Isane and went to South District One in Rukongai.
• Kuchiki Byakuya met Chiba Makoto and asked whether he was confident he could prevent Hisana's spirit body from being harmed by high-intensity spiritual pressure.
• Byakuya recalled rejecting Kurotsuchi Mayuri's proposal to modify Hisana's soul and admitted he had nearly given up hope that Makoto would finish the research.
• Chiba Makoto assured Byakuya that his treatment did not involve modifying the soul, then teased him about convincing the Kuchiki family to accept his marriage to Hisana.
• Chiba Makoto explained that he had come to treat Hisana, and Hisana agreed after looking to Byakuya for reassurance.
• Byakuya promised to handle any danger, while Chiba Makoto noted internally that the treatment was not dangerous and that he had already completed Spirit Body Layering on Hisagi Shūhei.

Chiba Makoto used a modified Seed of the Forest and his Spirit Body Layering research to rebuild Hisana’s spirit body, while Kuchiki Byakuya anxiously watched. The treatment ended successfully, and Byakuya sat beside Hisana, holding her hand and telling her the news.

• Chiba Makoto explained how Spirit Body Layering could strengthen a spirit body and why Hisana’s lack of Reiryoku required an adjusted treatment.
• With Kuchiki Byakuya watching, Chiba Makoto placed a modified Seed of the Forest into Hisana and used Kaido and Reishi control to reshape her spirit body.
• Chiba Makoto continued the treatment for hours as Kuchiki Byakuya watched Hisana for signs of trouble.
• Chiba Makoto finished the treatment and told Kuchiki Byakuya that it had gone smoothly.
• Kuchiki Byakuya went to Hisana’s bedside, held her hand, and told her that the treatment had succeeded.

Chiba Makoto returned to Unohana Retsu’s courtyard and learned that the Soul Society might advance a Hueco Mundo expedition after detecting an abnormal surge in Hollows. The chapter ended with Unohana revealing that Adjuchas had appeared in numbers more than five times higher than predicted.

• Chiba Makoto returned to Seireitei, where Soul Reapers greeted him and voiced concern about his recurring sick leave and frail appearance.
• Chiba Makoto explained that his ongoing Limit Spirit Body transformation strained his heart, so he was accumulating Reiryoku before transforming his remaining organs.
• Chiba Makoto met Unohana Retsu at her courtyard and sampled the tea snacks she had made.
• Unohana Retsu told Chiba Makoto that the Soul Society might advance its Hueco Mundo expedition and hold a captain meeting the next morning.
• Unohana Retsu revealed that Hueco Mundo contained more than five times the predicted number of Adjuchas.

Chiba Makoto attended the Captains' Meeting and learned that Soi Fon was preparing for the Captain's test. The Captain-Commander summoned Chiba Makoto, Ichimaru Gin, and Soi Fon to the meeting room, leaving the reason for their unusual summons unclear.

• Chiba Makoto met Kusajishi Yachiru in the Vice-Captains' waiting room and heard that Zaraki Kenpachi had come because he expected a fight.
• Chiba Makoto suspected his Hollow pawn Snopas might have evolved into a Vasto Lorde, while Ichimaru Gin watched him with apparent malice.
• Ōmaeda Marenoshin offered Chiba Makoto restorative herbs and revealed that Soi Fon was preparing for the Captain's test and that his son Ōmaeda Marechiyo might become her adjutant.
• Chōjirō Sasakibe announced that the Captain-Commander had summoned Chiba Makoto, Ichimaru Gin, and Soi Fon to the Captains' Meeting room.
• Chiba Makoto, Ichimaru Gin, and Soi Fon followed Chōjirō Sasakibe to the meeting room as its specially made door opened.

Chiba Makoto entered a captain’s conference where he, Ichimaru Gin, and Soi Fon were considered for the vacant Second and Third Division captaincies. Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni ordered a test fight, and Zaraki Kenpachi volunteered to face them.

• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni announced that four captains had recommended Chiba Makoto for promotion, while Ichimaru Gin and Soi Fon each had one recommendation.
• Komamura Sajin explained that he supported Chiba Makoto’s talent and character, while Kyōraku Shunsui hinted that he considered Chiba Makoto a drinking companion.
• Chiba Makoto worried that a captain’s title would attract dangerous attention from Aizen Sōsuke and other powerful forces.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni said the three candidates would compete for the Second and Third Division captaincies in a free-for-all, with the first to fall disqualified.
• Zaraki Kenpachi stepped forward and offered to fight the three candidates himself.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni rejected Zaraki Kenpachi’s proposal and sent Chiba Makoto, Soi Fon, and Ichimaru Gin to fight for Captain positions. As Soi Fon and Ichimaru Gin clashed while Chiba Makoto held back, the watching Captains interpreted his inaction as a sign of weakness or strategy.

• Zaraki Kenpachi proposed testing the candidates himself, but Ukitake Jūshirō objected and Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni ordered the battle to begin as planned.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni led the Captains and candidates to the First Division training grounds, where Chiba Makoto could not speak privately with Soi Fon or Ichimaru Gin.
• When Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni started the melee, Soi Fon and Ichimaru Gin charged at each other and exchanged rapid sword strikes, leaving Chiba Makoto standing apart.
• The observing Captains noticed Chiba Makoto’s inactivity, and Tōsen Kaname argued that Soi Fon and Ichimaru Gin had understood the contest while Chiba Makoto was showing poor judgment.
• Chiba Makoto recognized the logic behind Tōsen Kaname’s criticism but worried that displaying even a little of his strength could reveal that he surpassed an ordinary Captain.

Soi Fon and Ichimaru Gin fought during Chiba Makoto’s captain promotion proceedings, each testing the other’s Zanpakuto before the duel intensified. Soi Fon revealed her fully mastered Shunkō, astonishing the watching captains, while the fight remained unresolved.

• Soi Fon and Ichimaru Gin released Suzumebachi and Shinso after probing each other’s abilities.
• Ichimaru Gin’s rapid second strike forced Soi Fon to escape with Utsusemi, leaving her uniform behind and unharmed.
• Ichimaru Gin provoked Soi Fon by bringing up Yoruichi, but Soi Fon rejected his attempt to unsettle her.
• Soi Fon told Ichimaru Gin she would show him her power and activated Shunkō before Chiba Makoto and the watching captains.
• The captains praised Soi Fon’s unfamiliar combat technique, while Chiba Makoto knew he had helped her master Shunkō decades ahead of schedule.