Chapter Summaries

Hane gave the Sage of Six Paths a Nine-Dragon Jade Seal and sent him to handle Hueco Mundo’s mutated souls while he prepared to fuse the worlds. As Ichigo and his companions returned to Hueco Mundo, they witnessed the Lord of the Underworld transform the Menos back into individual souls.

• Hane gave the Sage of Six Paths the Nine-Dragon Jade Seal so the Underworld Bureaucracy could contact him without traveling to the human world.
• The Sage of Six Paths promised Aizen a vacant Yama King position if he helped complete the fusion with Soul Society, then set out with Madara and Aizen.
• Ichigo, Uryu Ishida, and Orihime Inoue discussed their Netherworld Envoy Tokens as they examined them in Hueco Mundo.
• A gigantic, six-armed figure appeared above Hueco Mundo and drew the Menos into six black holes.
• The black holes released streams of broken human souls, revealing that the Lord of the Underworld had reversed the Menos into individual souls.

The Sage of Six Paths used the Nine-Dragon Jade Seal to merge Hueco Mundo with the Underworld, severing its connection to Soul Society and the World of the Living. As Yamamoto Genryūsai ordered the Gotei 13 to prepare for danger, Ichigo Kurosaki and the others used their Netherworld Tokens to return to the World of the Living.

• The Sage of Six Paths summoned the Nine-Dragon Jade Seal, and Hueco Mundo rose and merged with the Underworld as souls recovered and its ghost officials gained the ability to summon soul-bound weapons.
• The tremor reached Soul Society, where Yamamoto Genryūsai realized Hueco Mundo had broken away and summoned the captains of the Gotei 13.
• Yamamoto Genryūsai ordered the captains to investigate Hueco Mundo’s disappearance and prepare for battle, while Mayuri Kurotsuchi asked whether Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions knew what had happened.
• Ichigo Kurosaki and the others found that Kisuke Urahara’s Garganta passage had vanished, so the Sage of Six Paths told them to use their Netherworld Tokens to return.
• Ichigo Kurosaki and the others infused their Netherworld Tokens with Reishi and reappeared before Kisuke Urahara.

Ichigo told Kisuke Urahara that the Underworld Bureaucracy had taken over Hueco Mundo, then demonstrated its power by summoning Hashirama Senju. After Ichigo wounded Kisuke in a test, Kisuke accepted that the Bureaucracy surpassed Soul Society and feared a major threat might be coming.

• Rukia and Renji arrived at the Urahara Shop and found Orihime clinging to Ichigo, creating an awkward confrontation.
• Ichigo explained that the Underworld Bureaucracy had rescued Orihime and occupied Hueco Mundo, and described its reincarnation system and power to Kisuke, Rukia, Renji, and the others.
• Kisuke asked Ichigo to demonstrate his summoning power, so Ichigo used the Human Netherworld Envoy's Token to summon Hashirama Senju, the Second Yama King.
• With Hashirama's power, Ichigo predicted Kisuke's attacks, dodged them, and unleashed a sword aura that split a mountain while grazing Kisuke's waist.
• Kisuke ended the test convinced that the Underworld Bureaucracy's power exceeded Soul Society's and worried that it might become Soul Society's greatest enemy in ten thousand years.

Madara and the Underworld Bureaucracy entered Soul Society through a gate in impoverished Rukongai District 89. Minato gave hungry children Yin Qi Pills and showed the gathered souls that entering the gate would ease their hunger, prompting one soul to rush inside.

• Madara led the Underworld Bureaucracy into District 89 and ordered the souls to be settled inside.
• Enju and her younger brother Shirou, who had died in a house fire, struggled with hunger and thirst.
• Minato offered Enju and Shirou Yin Qi Pills, restoring their strength and ending their hunger.
• Hungry souls gathered around Minato and begged him for food.
• Minato explained that the gate's Yin Qi eased their hunger and invited them to enter the Underworld Bureaucracy.
• The soul nearest the gate rushed through, eager to escape his hunger.

Souls across Rukongai migrated toward the Gates of Hell as yin energy spread through Soul Society. Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro Hitsugaya investigated and reached the gate, where an attendant ordered them to join the line.

• The spreading yin energy drew souls from Rukongai toward the outer districts and darkened the sky above them.
• Byakuya Kuchiki learned that souls were migrating and led the Sixth Division to investigate after a patrol squad failed to return.
• Byakuya Kuchiki questioned migrating souls and learned they felt increasingly comfortable as they traveled toward the border.
• Toshiro Hitsugaya and Rangiku joined Byakuya Kuchiki, and the two captains advanced toward District 80 as the crowds grew.
• Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro reached District 89, saw the Gates of Hell and its black-uniformed guards, and were told to get in line.

Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro fought the Underworld’s ghost guards, whose soul-suppressing weapons and Ninjutsu bypassed their Reiatsu. As they gained the upper hand, Gol D. Roger emerged from the Underworld gates, destroyed Toshiro’s ice dragons, and challenged them while unleashing his Conqueror’s Haki.

• Byakuya Kuchiki was injured when he clashed with a ghost guard’s Soul-Beating Whip, and the ghost guards attacked him and Toshiro with weapons that inflicted strange effects on their souls.
• Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro avoided contact with the ghost guards’ weapons, but a barrier and volleys of Ninjutsu forced them to defend themselves.
• Byakuya Kuchiki shattered the barrier and cut into the ghost guards with his cherry blossoms, while Toshiro sent two ice dragons toward them.
• A terrifying aura poured from the Underworld gates, and black sword auras shredded Toshiro’s ice dragons.
• Gol D. Roger emerged from the gates, declared that he was guarding them, and released a wave of Conqueror’s Haki that pressed down on Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro.

Gol D. Roger confronted Toshiro and Byakuya after they denounced the Underworld Bureaucracy, then overwhelmed them with his Tyrant Blade. Aizen emerged from the Bureaucracy’s gates and declared that its forces, not he, would deal with the Soul Society.

• Roger drew Tyrant and challenged Toshiro and Byakuya to test their strength.
• Toshiro and Byakuya unleashed their Bankai, but Roger scattered Byakuya’s Senbonzakura Kageyoshi and struck him away.
• Roger severed Toshiro’s Bankai Zanpakuto and wounded him with a single attack.
• Roger told the defeated captains to return to the Soul Society, while Byakuya warned that more Death God captains would oppose him.
• Aizen emerged from the Underworld Bureaucracy’s gates and told Toshiro that its forces would deal with them.

Madara declared that the Underworld Bureaucracy would take over the Soul Society and challenged its captains to defeat him. After breaking Kenpachi Zaraki’s Zanpakuto with two fingers, he entered Six Paths Mode and unleashed Super Tengai Shinsei.

• Madara emerged from the Underworld Bureaucracy with Hashirama, Naruto, and others, while Roger said the real battle had only just begun.
• Shunsui Kyoraku and the other captains reached the ruined 89th District and found Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro badly injured, with Aizen among the enemy group.
• Madara told the captains that the Underworld Bureaucracy would requisition the Soul Society and offered to withdraw if they could defeat him.
• Kenpachi Zaraki attacked Madara, who dodged his strikes and caught his Zanpakuto between two fingers.
• Madara snapped Kenpachi’s Zanpakuto, entered Six Paths Mode, and unleashed Six Paths, Super Tengai Shinsei.

Madara summoned a colossal meteor over the Soul Society, but Yamamoto Genryūsai shattered it with Ryūjin Jakka and Hashirama saved the districts below by catching the fragments with trees. Madara then fought Yamamoto, whose flames were overwhelmed by Shinra Tensei, and a Truth-Seeking Orb erased Yamamoto’s right arm.

• Madara summoned a gigantic meteor and challenged the Soul Society captains to stop it.
• The captains unleashed their Bankai, but their attacks could not destroy the meteor.
• Yamamoto Genryūsai used Ryūjin Jakka to break the meteor, and Hashirama intercepted its falling fragments with Super Deep Forest Emergence.
• Madara asked the captains whether they still doubted the Underworld Bureaucracy, and Yamamoto confronted him.
• Madara repelled Yamamoto’s flames with Shinra Tensei and sent the captains flying.
• Madara’s Truth-Seeking Orbs pursued Yamamoto and erased his right arm when one grazed him.

Madara summoned Yama’s Blade and used its authority over souls to force Yamamoto Genryūsai and the Soul Society’s Death Gods to kneel. The chapter ended with Madara holding the defeated Yamamoto beneath his blade and finding the victory boring.

• Yamamoto Genryūsai recovered Ryūjin Jakka and released Bankai, Zanka no Tachi, filling the Soul Society with deadly heat.
• Madara summoned Yama’s Blade from the Netherworld Mirror Lake, turning the scorching sky dark and cold as ordinary souls prostrated themselves before him.
• Yamamoto Genryūsai struggled against the blade’s supernatural authority but was forced to kneel before Madara.
• Madara explained that Yama’s Blade embodied the Underworld Bureaucracy’s authority over souls, life, death, and reincarnation.
• The captain of the 12th Division and the other Death Gods also knelt, while Madara pressed Yamamoto’s head to the ground and dismissed the victory as boring.

Madara forced the 12th Division captains to choose between submitting to the Underworld Bureaucracy or kneeling forever. They accepted, gained new authority over souls, and learned that their lives and conduct were now bound by the Bureaucracy’s rules.

• Madara used Yama's Edict to brand Yamamoto Genryūsai with a rune that kept him kneeling until he sincerely submitted.
• Madara gave the kneeling 12th Division captains three minutes to surrender, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi urged them to accept rather than endure endless humiliation.
• The captains, including Byakuya Kuchiki and Toshiro, declared their divisions willing to submit to the Underworld Bureaucracy.
• Madara gave the twelve captains command tokens that took in imprints of their true spirits and granted them authority over souls.
• Madara assigned the captains to the Twelve Underworld Offices and warned them not to interfere with the living or neglect the dead.

Madara explained that the Underworld Bureaucracy could not interfere in the World of the Living and that its rulers answered to the human realm. The defeated Death God captains entered the Bureaucracy, learned what had become of Hueco Mundo’s Menos, and arrived at its center with a new understanding of its power.

• Madara rejected Shunsui Kyoraku’s suggestion that Death Gods intervene in the World of the Living, explaining that only the human realm could address threats there.
• Madara ordered the twelve division captains to return with him and report for duty, while Yamamoto Genryūsai silently hoped the Soul King Palace would come to his rescue.
• The captains entered the Underworld Bureaucracy and realized it resembled Hueco Mundo, leading them to suspect that the Bureaucracy had moved the entire world.
• Minato Namikaze told Shunsui Kyoraku that the Menos had been reshaped through reincarnation and that incomplete souls were recovering in the Nether Soil.
• The captains recognized that the Yamas wielded rules over death and that the Underworld Bureaucracy was beyond the Soul Society’s power to challenge.
• The Death God captains reached the center of the Underworld Bureaucracy and adjusted their attitudes before its imposing buildings.

Ichigo and his friends began a week of training before returning to the Soul Society, but Yoruichi reported that the Underworld Bureaucracy had already taken it over. At the Soul King Palace, Squad Zero lost contact with the Soul Society and set out to investigate.

• Ichigo agreed to accompany Rukia back to the Soul Society, and Urahara convinced the group to train for a week first.
• Yoruichi told Urahara that the Soul Society had become a deserted ghost city, split between eerie night and clear daylight.
• Urahara realized the Underworld Bureaucracy had taken the Soul Society in only three days and wondered what had happened at the Soul King Palace.
• Ichibē Hyōsube and Senjumaru Shutara discussed their lost contact with Yamamoto Genryūsai and decided Squad Zero must investigate.
• The five Squad Zero members boarded a cylindrical craft and descended from the Soul King Palace toward the Soul Society.

Squad Zero arrived in an empty Soul Society and sensed Yamamoto Genryūsai’s aura beneath the spreading darkness, while the Underworld Bureaucracy struggled to process the immense influx of souls. Aizen proposed ways to ease the backlog, and Byakuya grappled with the punishment of his clan as Soul Society’s corrupt nobles faced judgment.

• Squad Zero emerged from the Tenchūren, found Soul Society deserted beneath a divided sky, and Ichibe sensed Yamamoto Genryūsai’s aura under the dark clouds.
• The Underworld Bureaucracy faced an overloaded reincarnation system as its staff processed the flood of souls from Soul Society.
• Aizen proposed sending corrupt souls to Hell, recruiting worthy souls as enforcers, and using the measures to ease the backlog.
• Byakuya recalled how he had sent stubborn Kuchiki relatives to Hell, while other clan members were reincarnated or recruited as enforcers.
• The Underworld Bureaucracy judged Soul Society’s nobles, sending most to Hell or the Animal Path as the captains watched.

Aizen asserted his authority as a Yama, crushed Toshiro’s hopes of winning Momo’s affection, and left Toshiro questioning himself. In the Soul Society, Squad Zero found Yamamoto Genryūsai trapped in a strange posture, and Kirio Hikifune was afflicted by the same force when she tried to help him.

• The Sage of Six Paths approved Aizen’s proposal to handle the world’s fusion independently, while Aizen resolved to prove himself as a Yama.
• Toshiro confronted Aizen about Momo, and Aizen claimed he had become the person she admired before warning Toshiro to respect his rank.
• Momo overheard their exchange but refused to believe Aizen had acted cruelly and ran after him, leaving Toshiro devastated.
• Roger advised Toshiro to let go of Momo’s affection, and Toshiro vowed to surpass Aizen.
• Squad Zero found Yamamoto Genryūsai kneeling near the Demon Gate, and Kirio Hikifune fell into the same posture after touching him, losing control of her body and Reiatsu.

After the Underworld Bureaucracy emptied Soul Society of its souls, Ichigo and his friends headed there to seek Yama and rescue Byakuya Kuchiki, while Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi went to ask the Soul King Palace for help. The chapter left both groups beginning their separate missions.

• Yamamoto Genryūsai told Ichibe and Squad Zero that his strange bodily restriction was connected to the Underworld Bureaucracy, which had moved every soul in Soul Society into its gates.
• Kisuke Urahara told Ichigo, Rukia, and the others that Soul Society had been emptied and defeated.
• Rukia begged Ichigo to save her brother-in-law, Byakuya Kuchiki, and Ichigo promised he would.
• Kisuke Urahara sent Ichigo, Rukia, and the others to the Underworld Bureaucracy to find Yama, while he and Yoruichi returned to seek help from the Soul King Palace.
• Ichigo opened the Gates of Hell with the Netherworld Token and led the group inside; Kisuke Urahara then opened a rift and left for Soul Society.

Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, and their companions entered the Underworld Bureaucracy and found the Yellow Springs Road overwhelmed by souls rushing to reincarnate. They met Toshiro, who confirmed that Byakuya was safe but on duty in hell, and led them to help handle a vicious-ghost incident.

• Ichigo and his companions arrived on the crowded Yellow Springs Road and hurried to join the queue after an old man complained they were blocking the way.
• Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji struggled through the slow-moving crowd while worrying about how to reach Byakuya.
• Toshiro arrived with a group in black uniforms, recognized Rukia and Renji, and told them the Soul Society had lost and Byakuya was serving in the Underworld Bureaucracy.
• Toshiro led the group past the crowd and said Byakuya was still rotating through hell, then ordered them to help deal with vicious ghosts.
• Renji questioned Toshiro about betraying the Soul Society, and Toshiro said its defeat was inevitable and Yamamoto was still kneeling in District 89.

At the 89th District, Squad Zero failed to remove the seals binding two of its members and met Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi, who were investigating the Land of Dark Night. Hashirama Senju confronted them at the Gates of Hell, swiftly captured Tenjirō Kirinji, and surrounded the area with a vast Netherworld Tree forest.

• Squad Zero failed to break the strange seals, and Ichibe decided they had to confront the Yama who placed them.
• Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi explored the Land of Dark Night, where Kisuke explained that its black energy nourished souls but could cause dangerous changes.
• Ichibe and the other Squad Zero members found Kisuke and Yoruichi, then led them to the Gates of Hell.
• Hashirama Senju introduced himself as the second Yama and invited Squad Zero to join the Underworld Bureaucracy.
• Tenjirō Kirinji attacked Hashirama, who restrained him with powerful vines in a single second.
• Hashirama summoned a vast Netherworld Tree forest across the 89th District, leaving Squad Zero, Kisuke, and Yoruichi stunned by his power.

Hashirama rejected Squad Zero’s accusation that the Underworld Bureaucracy endangered the Three Realms and fought them when negotiations failed. He left Ichibe, Senjumaru Shutara, and Oetsu Nimaiya battered beneath the attacks of his True Several Thousand Hands.

• Hashirama argued that the Underworld Bureaucracy had restored order through reincarnation, but Ichibe and the others insisted it was their enemy and prepared to fight.
• Hashirama summoned a forest and attacked with its roots, while Senjumaru Shutara trapped what seemed to be Hashirama in a Reishi net and Oetsu Nimaiya cut off his head.
• The apparent Hashirama turned into a wooden log, and the real Hashirama appeared atop a gigantic Buddha formed from countless arms.
• Kisuke Urahara grabbed Yoruichi and fled as the Buddha advanced and its palms struck across the battlefield, stopping one blow above Kisuke Urahara.
• Ichibe, Senjumaru Shutara, and Oetsu Nimaiya unleashed their Bankai, but the Buddha shattered their defenses and pummeled them as dust and explosions filled the area.

Hashirama defeated Squad Zero and recruited Kisuke to help with the Underworld Bureaucracy’s paperwork. Yamamoto Genryūsai and Kirio Hikifune accepted that the Soul Society could not resist and chose to surrender, while Madara waited impatiently for Hashirama to return.

• Hashirama left Squad Zero gravely injured and grabbed Kisuke, insisting that he help with the Underworld Bureaucracy’s work.
• Hashirama explained that Yamamoto Genryūsai and his companion could have their edicts lifted if they sincerely acknowledged the Underworld Bureaucracy.
• Kirio Hikifune urged Yamamoto Genryūsai to surrender, and their decision restored their ability to stand.
• Yamamoto Genryūsai and Kirio Hikifune headed for the Underworld Bureaucracy’s gates as Hashirama carried Squad Zero and escorted Kisuke.
• Madara processed a mounting stack of judgments while cursing Hashirama for being late.
• Hashirama explained the Underworld Bureaucracy’s reincarnation system to Kisuke, Yamamoto Genryūsai, Kirio Hikifune, and Squad Zero as they traveled.