Chapter Summaries

Chiba Makoto secured Ōmaeda Marenoshin’s support for the Fourth Division Barracks renovations and stayed busy rebuilding the division. He worried about Shaolin Fon avoiding him, and Ōmaeda arranged for her to serve as Makoto’s guard so they could talk.

• Chiba Makoto met with Ōmaeda Marenoshin, who said the Fourth Division Barracks renovations would begin the next day and take about half a month.
• Chiba Makoto agreed to prepare design drawings and thanked Ōmaeda Marenoshin for the Ōmaeda Clan’s support.
• Chiba Makoto managed Fourth Division duties, monitored the barracks renovations, and regularly visited Unohana Retsu at the Central 46 Chambers.
• Chiba Makoto learned that Shaolin Fon was avoiding him and taking on missions as Soi Fon after he and Yoruichi Shihoin missed an important moment in her life.
• Ōmaeda Marenoshin offered to revise Soi Fon’s assignment so she would guard Chiba Makoto, giving him a chance to speak with her.

Chiba Makoto sent Kotetsu Isane away to rest and continued managing the Fourth Division as it recovered from the Hollowfication Incident. While considering the worsening shortage of Soul Reapers, he sensed Soi Fon arrive outside his tent, where she stopped without entering.

• Chiba Makoto dismissed Kotetsu Isane for the evening, and she left feeling encouraged by his care.
• Chiba Makoto reflected on how Unohana Retsu had been quietly training him to lead the Fourth Division.
• Chiba Makoto recognized that the Thirteen Divisions’ losses were increasing medical demands and straining the Fourth Division.
• Chiba Makoto sensed Soi Fon approach and stop at a corner outside his tent.

Makoto tried to reach Soi Fon by voicing his regret over missing her important naming ceremony, while she secretly listened outside his tent. Soi Fon entered at the end, saying she had been ordered to protect him.

• Soi Fon concealed herself outside Makoto's tent, suspecting he had arranged a one-night protection mission to speak with her.
• Makoto finished his division work and lamented that Shaolin had not forgiven him or given him a chance to apologize.
• Soi Fon heard Makoto describe the blessings and gift he had prepared for her naming ceremony, and she began to cry.
• Soi Fon's grief over Yoruichi Shihoin's departure deepened as Makoto considered why he could not reveal the truth about Yoruichi to her.
• Soi Fon entered the tent and told Lieutenant of the Fourth Division Chiba Makoto that she had been ordered to protect him.

Soi Fon broke down in Makoto’s arms after losing her sense of purpose, then fell asleep as he comforted her. Aoki Risa walked in, misunderstood the scene, and tried to move Soi Fon to her own tent, but Soi Fon woke and refused.

• Makoto hurried out to greet Soi Fon and comforted her as she cried over what she had lost.
• Soi Fon cried herself to sleep against Makoto, and he carried her toward his bed.
• Aoki Risa entered the tent, saw Makoto carrying Soi Fon, and retreated after misreading the scene.
• Aoki Risa returned and suggested Soi Fon sleep in her tent while she stayed with Makoto.
• Soi Fon woke up, glared at Aoki Risa, and refused to rest in her tent.

Aoki Risa and Soi Fon argued over Makoto before he sent them out of his tent, and Soi Fon found a note inviting her to meet him the next night. At their meeting in Yoruichi Shihoin and Urahara Kisuke’s underground training space, Soi Fon told Makoto she no longer cared about Yoruichi.

• Aoki Risa and Soi Fon traded barbed remarks in Makoto’s tent until Makoto flicked both of them on the forehead and sent them outside.
• Soi Fon resumed guarding Makoto nearby and discovered his note inviting her to meet him the next night at the place where their Shunpo had met.
• The next day, Makoto went to the underground training space where Soi Fon was practicing Shunpo in casual clothes.
• Makoto began to ask Soi Fon about Lord Yoruichi, but she told him she no longer cared about it.

Chiba Makoto and Soi Fon trained together, and he noticed that she seemed to have recovered from her grief over Yoruichi Shihoin. After soaking in the underground hot spring alone, Makoto was confronted by Yoruichi in her black cat form.

• Soi Fon asked Makoto to avoid discussing Yoruichi Shihoin and spar with her instead, and they trained in Shunpo and Hakuda until nightfall.
• Makoto saw that Soi Fon left in a brighter mood and that their sparring had improved both of their skills.
• Makoto decided to relax in the hot spring and imagined asking Ōmaeda Marenoshin to build one in Teacher Unohana's courtyard.
• A black cat appeared in the spring, pressed a paw to Makoto's chest, and spoke in a deep male voice.
• Makoto recognized the cat as Yoruichi Shihoin and realized she had returned from the World of the Living in her cat form.

Chiba Makoto tried to keep Yoruichi Shihoin from revealing herself while she was disguised as a black cat, but his playful treatment of her provoked her revenge. As Yoruichi threatened him and hid beneath the hot spring, Soi Fon returned to the underground entrance.

• Chiba Makoto feared Yoruichi Shihoin might expose their time in the hot spring to Teacher Unohana and tried to flee.
• Chiba Makoto pretended not to recognize Yoruichi Shihoin and huffed her while she was transformed into a black cat.
• Chiba Makoto began inspecting the cat, prompting Yoruichi Shihoin to break free, bite his shoulder, and scratch his back.
• Chiba Makoto repeatedly begged Yoruichi Shihoin for mercy, and she stopped attacking and vanished.
• Yoruichi Shihoin returned, warned Chiba Makoto not to reveal her identity, and dived beneath him in the hot spring.
• Chiba Makoto noticed that Soi Fon had returned to the underground entrance.

Chiba Makoto tried to conceal Yoruichi Shihoin, who was hiding beneath him in a hot spring, when Soi Fon arrived searching for a black cat. Soi Fon questioned him about the cat, then caught sight of the towel shifting and was left stunned by Chiba Makoto's physique.

• Chiba Makoto realized Soi Fon was approaching and tried to leave the hot spring, but Yoruichi Shihoin pinned him in place beneath the water.
• Soi Fon arrived, saw Chiba Makoto in the spring, and awkwardly apologized for interrupting him.
• Soi Fon asked whether Chiba Makoto had seen a black cat that resembled Yoruichi Shihoin's transformation, but he denied seeing one.
• Chiba Makoto complained that he disliked cats, and the towel covering him shifted beneath Soi Fon's gaze.
• Soi Fon blushed and was shocked by what she saw beneath the towel.

Soi Fon accidentally saw Makoto in the hot spring and fled, leaving him alone with Yoruichi, who revealed her human form and teased him. Makoto escaped her advances and returned to the Fourth Division, resolving to visit Unohana the next day and raise the idea of building a hot spring.

• Makoto awkwardly told Soi Fon it was getting late, and she hurried out of the underground hot spring after glimpsing him.
• Yoruichi emerged from the water in her normal form and teased Makoto for recognizing her as the Black Cat.
• Makoto threw Yoruichi to the ground, grabbed his uniform and Zanpakuto, and fled the underground space.
• Yoruichi laughed at Makoto for being too flustered to handle her teasing.
• Makoto reflected on Yoruichi's power and status, resolved not to become her plaything, and decided to visit Unohana the next day.

Yoruichi Shihoin returned to Seireitei as a black cat and asked Chiba Makoto to watch Aizen Sōsuke and pass perfected Shunkō training to Soi Fon. Chiba and Soi Fon secretly trained in Shunkō, but made little progress before Unohana Retsu returned to the Fourth Division.

• Yoruichi Shihoin told Chiba Makoto to keep an eye on Aizen Sōsuke without drawing his attention and to give Soi Fon the perfected Shunkō training method.
• Yoruichi Shihoin left Seireitei for the World of the Living, and Chiba Makoto tracked her to the Shihōin Clan estate before losing her trail.
• Chiba Makoto's Fourth Division barracks and courtyard were completed, while Kotetsu Isane and Aoki Risa handled much of the division's work.
• Chiba Makoto trained in Shunpo and Shunkō with Soi Fon at night, but his limited Hakuda, Kidō, and swordsmanship kept him from mastering Shunkō.
• Unohana Retsu returned to the Fourth Division.

Unohana Retsu returned to the Fourth Division, where Chiba Makoto welcomed her with a ceremony and restored her Captain’s Haori. The reunion ended when she saw the enormous hot spring Makoto had built in the courtyard and questioned whether that, too, had been his duty.

• Unohana Retsu left Central 46 Chambers and found no one waiting at the gate, then headed back toward the Fourth Division Barracks.
• Unohana Retsu discovered the rebuilt barracks and entered to find the Fourth Division members gathered beneath falling flower petals.
• Chiba Makoto welcomed Unohana Retsu, placed the Captain’s Haori on her shoulders, and stood behind her as the division greeted her return.
• Unohana Retsu attended a banquet with the Fourth Division members, then thanked Chiba Makoto for arranging the welcome and helping ease their fear of her.
• Unohana Retsu entered the courtyard with Chiba Makoto, saw the enormous hot spring he had built, and asked whether that had also been his duty.

Unohana Retsu sent Chiba Makoto away after he offered to guard her while she used the courtyard hot spring, leaving him to spend the night in an underground training space. The next morning, she welcomed him back for breakfast, and they quietly enjoyed being together again.

• Unohana Retsu questioned Chiba Makoto about the hot spring, then shut him outside and reminded him to be ready for the captain's meeting.
• Chiba Makoto considered staying with his colleagues but chose to spend the night training and sleeping in the underground space.
• Unohana Retsu noticed the restored courtyard, spared the room Chiba Makoto had made for himself, and found her preserved ikebana piece, "Forest and Utsugi."
• Unohana Retsu let Chiba Makoto into the courtyard the next morning and invited him to share breakfast.
• Unohana Retsu and Chiba Makoto ate together in silence, feeling their companionship return.

Chiba Makoto attended the captains' meeting as a new Vice-Captain and encountered Aizen Sōsuke and the other lieutenants in the waiting room. When the meeting ended, only three captains emerged, leaving Makoto wondering what had happened.

• Unohana Retsu escorted Makoto to the First Division and told him to wait with the other Vice-Captains while the captains met.
• Aizen Sōsuke welcomed Makoto and introduced the few Vice-Captains present, then lamented the disappearance of several others.
• Iba Chizuru angrily blamed Urahara Kisuke for Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō's disappearance and complained about managing the Third Division and raising children.
• Makoto kept his distance from Aizen and waited outside the meeting room after the captains' meeting was announced to be over.
• Unohana Retsu, Kuchiki Ginrei, and Kyōraku Shunsui were the only captains to emerge, and Makoto noticed their expressions seemed delighted and urgent.

On the way back from the captain's meeting, Unohana Retsu explained to Chiba Makoto that the Thirteen Divisions faced a severe shortage of combat strength and described Captain-Commander Yamamoto's reforms. She offered to recommend Makoto for captain, but he declined and agreed to keep staying in her courtyard.

• Unohana Retsu told Chiba Makoto that captain's meetings mainly helped the Captain-Commander balance the nobles and secure support for decisions.
• Unohana Retsu explained that the Hollowfication Incident had depleted the Thirteen Divisions' officers and asked whether Makoto wanted to become a captain; Makoto declined.
• Unohana Retsu invited Makoto to continue staying in her courtyard, and he accepted.
• Unohana Retsu described Yamamoto's plans to expand Shin'ō Academy enrollment, lower the noble recruitment threshold, and provide Zanjutsu instruction.
• Unohana Retsu said divisions could recommend talented people from Rukongai for the academy and would get priority in selecting them after graduation; Makoto reacted with surprise.

Chiba Makoto realized Yamamoto intended to strengthen the Thirteen Divisions by recruiting nobles in the short term while cultivating talent from Rukongai for the future. At Shin'ō Academy's graduation ceremony, he reunited with Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika, who had recently won seat challenges but concealed how badly they had been injured.

• Chiba Makoto inferred that Yamamoto planned to use noble recruits to bolster the divisions while eventually balancing their influence with talented Soul Reapers from Rukongai.
• Unohana Retsu urged Chiba Makoto to visit Rukongai and find recruits at the upcoming Shin'ō Academy graduation, since the Fourth Division needed more personnel.
• Chiba Makoto and Kotetsu Isane attended the ceremony, where representatives from every division and the Kidō Corps had gathered to recruit Ichimaru Gin.
• Madarame Ikkaku showed Chiba Makoto that he had become the Eleventh Division's Third Seat, while Ayasegawa Yumichika said he had become its Fifth Seat.
• Kotetsu Isane revealed that both men had recently been critically injured in their seat challenges, and Chiba Makoto explained that he had operated on them after they were hospitalized.

Before Shin'ō Academy’s graduation ceremony, Chiba Makoto reunited with former classmates and exchanged polite conversation with Aizen Sōsuke, while Ichimaru Gin misread their interaction. The ceremony then unexpectedly called on Chiba Makoto to give a speech, leaving him to face the graduates onstage.

• Chiba Makoto, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika, and Kotetsu Isane reminisced about their time at Shin'ō Academy before entering the graduation hall.
• Chiba Makoto sat beside Aizen Sōsuke, who poured him tea and praised him while they exchanged courteous remarks.
• Tōsen Kaname grew jealous of Aizen Sōsuke’s special treatment of Chiba Makoto, while Ichimaru Gin watched them and worried that Aizen had put Makoto in a difficult position.
• Shin'ō Academy unexpectedly announced Chiba Makoto as a speaker, and he realized that Captain Unohana had likely kept the request from him.
• Chiba Makoto walked onto the stage and faced the graduates.

Chiba Makoto delivered an encouraging speech to the graduating students, presenting his rise in the Fourth Division as the result of steady work and devotion to Kaido. He invited those interested in healing to join his division, while the other representatives recognized how misleadingly modest his account was.

• Chiba Makoto chose to use his unexpected speech to inspire the graduates and promote the Fourth Division.
• He praised the students as the next generation of the Thirteen Divisions and encouraged them to carry its legacy forward.
• Chiba Makoto claimed he had been an ordinary student with only a little talent for Kaido, making the division representatives doubt his modesty.
• He described years of studying Kaido and Medical Skills before joining the Fourth Division and earning Unohana Retsu's recognition as Vice-Captain.
• Chiba Makoto urged the graduates to focus on an area suited to their interests and talents, and invited aspiring healers to join the Fourth Division.

At the graduation ceremony, Chiba Makoto encouraged the junior Soul Reapers to join the understaffed Fourth Division and won Kotetsu Isane’s admiration. When division selection began, genius graduate Ichimaru Gin walked directly toward Chiba Makoto, leaving everyone wondering whether he would choose the Fourth Division.

• Chiba Makoto gave a speech encouraging graduates to join the understaffed Fourth Division, earning enthusiastic applause from the junior girls.
• Kotetsu Isane praised Chiba Makoto, and he encouraged her by saying she could rise beyond the position of Vice-Captain.
• Chiba Makoto resolved to build Kotetsu Isane’s loyalty and strengthen his influence in the Fourth Division after Unohana Retsu had covertly undermined him.
• Aizen Sōsuke observed Chiba Makoto’s rapport with Isane, while Kyōraku Shunsui watched the graduates’ attention focus on Makoto and felt jealous.
• After the ceremony, the graduates began choosing divisions, and Ichimaru Gin stepped forward and walked directly toward Chiba Makoto.

At the Shin'ō Academy graduation ceremony, Ichimaru Gin publicly denounced Chiba Makoto and applied to join Aizen Sōsuke’s Fifth Division, apparently trying to sever their connection. Chiba Makoto recognized Gin’s self-sacrificing motive as graduates crowded around him to join the Fourth Division.

• Chiba Makoto greeted Ichimaru Gin, who accused him of humiliating him in Rukongai and vowed to kill him.
• Kotetsu Isane and other graduates defended Chiba Makoto, while Gin insisted Makoto was trying to manipulate him out of fear.
• Chiba Makoto urged Isane to calm down and told Gin he had always considered him a friend, but Gin rejected his words and walked away.
• Ichimaru Gin asked Aizen Sōsuke to let him join the Fifth Division, and Aizen apologized to Chiba Makoto and promised to discipline Gin.
• Chiba Makoto praised Gin to Aizen, while the graduates’ admiration for Makoto grew and many female graduates chose the Fourth Division.
• Chiba Makoto noticed Gin’s unease and realized Gin had insulted him to keep Aizen from suspecting their connection.

Chiba Makoto recruited Yamada Hanataro to help manage and train new graduates joining the Fourth Division. Hanataro accepted the responsibility, giving Makoto a trusted assistant amid the division’s manpower shortage.

• Chiba Makoto concealed his reaction to Ichimaru Gin’s sacrifice and resolved to cooperate with his act.
• Chiba Makoto interviewed graduating students applying to the Fourth Division and approved Harada Risa.
• Yamada Hanataro submitted his application, and Chiba Makoto accepted him without checking his documents because he trusted Hanataro’s Kaido and medical skills.
• Chiba Makoto appointed Yamada Hanataro to manage and train new graduates, despite Hanataro’s doubts about his ability.
• Chiba Makoto had Yamada Hanataro interview the other applicants while he coached him and established his authority with the graduates.