Chapter Summaries

Kamishirokawa Kenpachi and Shiba Isshin escaped Salkapolo and returned to Soul Society, where Isshin recovered from his injuries. After Shiba Lieutenant revealed the Shiba Clan’s secret technique and the truth about the Soul King, Isshin memorized the technique and hid the scroll again.

• Shiba Isshin and Kamishirokawa Kenpachi escaped Salkapolo through a Garganta, and Yamabuki Chidori’s Cero drove the Hollow off.
• Yamabuki Chidori and Unohana treated the injured Shiba Isshin, then pranked him in the hospital before sharing fish hot pot with him and Shiba Lieutenant.
• After Isshin recovered, Shiba Lieutenant told him that the Five Noble Clans had dismembered the Soul King and explained the Shiba Clan’s secret technique for taking his place.
• Shiba Isshin memorized the technique from the scroll and returned it to its hiding place beneath his father’s bed.

Yamabuki Chidori became captain of the Tenth Division after Ōtōgawa Utsugi resigned, then spent fifty years training Shiba Isshin until Isshin passed the captain assessment and took his place. On his first night of retirement, Chidori was confronted by a mysterious figure whose attack he easily stopped, though the stranger warned that he had not yet released his Zanpakuto's ability.

• Ōtōgawa Utsugi resigned from the Tenth Division, leaving Yamabuki Chidori to take the captain's seat and inherit a mountain of unfinished paperwork.
• Yamabuki Chidori made Shiba Isshin handle the documents, then assigned him more decisions to consider at home while training him in combat over the following fifty years.
• Shiba Isshin passed the captain assessment by presenting an Adjuchas corpse and became captain of the Tenth Division, allowing Yamabuki Chidori to retire.
• Yamabuki Chidori drank on his way home and encountered a thin figure who claimed they had met before and drew a sword.
• The figure attacked Yamabuki Chidori, but Chidori evaded and restrained him, then recognized that the stranger lacked killing intent and asked why he had come.
• The stranger drank from Chidori's flask and warned him not to underestimate him because he had not yet released his Zanpakuto's ability.

Shinji Hirako explained that he had challenged Yamabuki Chidori because Chidori had once spared his family after they stole from Kuchiki Ginrei, but Chidori later reported the duel to Shinji’s captain, Obana Danjirou. The chapter left Shinji facing a serious reprimand after Obana confirmed he had knowingly drawn his blade on the Chief Strategist.

• Yamabuki Chidori countered Shinji Hirako’s Shikai by closing his eyes and used his sharp senses to overpower him.
• Shinji Hirako explained that he had challenged Chidori to test the Soul Reaper who had spared his family after they stole from Kuchiki Ginrei more than a century earlier.
• Yamabuki Chidori let Shinji go for the night but decided to make him regret the challenge.
• Yamabuki Chidori met Obana Danjirou at the orphanage, told him one of his Fifth Division men had tried to assassinate him, and named Shinji Hirako.
• Obana Danjirou summoned Shinji, who denied trying to kill Chidori, but Obana pointed out that Shinji had known Chidori’s identity when he drew his blade.

After Shinji Hirako was assigned to work in Yamabuki Chidori’s Staff Department, he investigated a noblewoman’s murder involving Kusakawa Ryunosuke and Inuta Ranpo. Their accounts and the official report contradicted one another, so Shinji went to question Inuta Ranpo’s wife, Yumiko.

• Obana Danjirou accepted Yamabuki Chidori’s proposal to have Shinji work in the Staff Department for three months.
• Yamabuki Chidori gave Shinji a stack of files, including a murder case involving two noble families, and Shinji began investigating it.
• Kusakawa Ryunosuke denied killing his wife, then contradicted himself about what he remembered and whether she had been having an affair.
• Inuta Ranpo denied both murder and adultery, claimed he had stayed home all night, and said his family badge at the crime scene had been planted.
• Shinji visited Yumiko to question her about Inuta’s whereabouts, and she calmly blew pipe smoke into his face.

Shinji Hirako investigated Kusakawa Ryunosuke’s murder case, uncovering a bloodstained garment and conflicting accounts of the couple’s relationship. Five days later, Central 46 convened court, where Kusakawa denied murdering his wife and faced questions about the Zanpakuto found at his waist.

• Shinji Hirako questioned Yumiko, searched her wardrobe, and found a garment with bloodstains despite her protests.
• Shinji Hirako learned the blood on the garment could not be reliably linked to the victim, then reconsidered the evidence and questioned the Inuta Clan’s neighbors.
• The neighbors described Yumiko and her husband as a happy couple who never argued, contradicting Shinji Hirako’s impression of Yumiko.
• Shinji Hirako revised his report to Central 46, and five days later Yamabuki Chidori observed the court hearing.
• Kusakawa Ryunosuke pleaded not guilty and said he had been framed when Central 46 challenged him about his Zanpakuto, which had been found at his waist.

Shinji Hirako questioned the suspects in the murder of Kusakawa Ryunosuke’s wife, but the evidence remained inconclusive until Kujo Yomotsu claimed he had been drinking with Kusakawa during the crime. Shinji began probing Kujo’s story, which could give Kusakawa an alibi if it held up.

• Kusakawa Ryunosuke failed to identify Inuta Ranpo in a lineup, while Inuta denied the murder and Yumiko explained that the bloodstained garment came from her own injury.
• Central 46 temporarily detained both suspects because it could not determine who had committed the murder.
• Shinji realized Kusakawa could have named his drinking companion to support his claim of being drunk, but the patrol squad had no record of seeing him that night.
• Kujo Yomotsu told Shinji that he had drunk with Kusakawa from around eight in the evening until one in the morning on the night of the murder.
• Shinji questioned Kujo about the drinks, their friendship, and whether anyone else had witnessed them, while Yamabuki Chidori and Hane Hane Chiyo interrupted the interview.

Shinji Hirako and Yamabuki Chidori uncovered that Kujo Yomotsu had used mostly true testimony to conceal the identity of the person who drank with Kusakawa Ryunosuke. They shifted suspicion to Inuta Ranpo, and after Yumiko reacted to a false claim that her husband would be executed, Shinji and Hane Hane Chiyo hid themselves to follow her.

• Shinji Hirako caught Kujo Yomotsu in a lie about Kusakawa Ryunosuke's favorite food and suspected he was concealing the truth about their supposed friendship.
• Yamabuki Chidori deduced that Kujo had substituted himself for the mysterious person who drank with Kusakawa on the night of the murder, while repeating details that were otherwise true.
• Yamabuki Chidori proposed releasing Kusakawa at the next hearing to draw out those protecting him, and Shinji turned his investigation toward Inuta Ranpo.
• Hane Hane Chiyo joined Shinji, punched him after he asked her age, and accompanied him to Inuta Ranpo's home.
• Hane Hane Chiyo falsely told Yumiko that her husband was the murderer and would be executed; after Yumiko dismissed him, Shinji and Hane concealed themselves with Kiri ni Kagami and watched her leave.

Shinji Hirako uncovered a letter proving Yumiko planned to frame her husband, Inuta Ranpo, and expose his murder plot. Yumiko confessed to killing Kusakawa Ryunosuke’s wife and framing both men, while Central 46 heard the full truth.

• Shinji Hirako and Hane Hane Chiyo found Yumiko’s hidden letter, which revealed she planned to change her testimony and elope with her lover after Inuta Ranpo’s execution.
• At the second hearing, Shinji Hirako presented Kujo Yomotsu’s testimony, and Central 46 released Kusakawa Ryunosuke because he had been elsewhere when the murder happened.
• Yumiko accused Inuta Ranpo of murder, and Central 46 sentenced him to death based on her testimony and the physical evidence.
• Shinji Hirako interrupted the verdict and presented Yumiko’s letter, while Hane Hane Chiyo confirmed she had seen Yumiko hide it.
• Yumiko confessed that she had killed Kusakawa Ryunosuke’s wife, planted evidence against Inuta Ranpo, and used the investigation to try to inherit his property and reunite with her lover.

Yamabuki Chidori exposed Inuta Yumiko’s attempt to take the blame for her husband, Inuta Ranpo, and uncovered the hidden affair and altered case file behind the murder. Shinji Hirako arrested Kujo Yomotsu for tampering with the file, while Kusakawa Ryunosuke was ordered to resign.

• Yamabuki Chidori pointed out flaws in the evidence and explained how Inuta Yumiko had framed herself to protect Inuta Ranpo, who had killed his lover.
• The Sages sentenced Inuta Ranpo to death and Inuta Yumiko to three hundred years in prison for false testimony.
• Yamabuki Chidori interrogated Kusakawa Ryunosuke, who revealed that he had been drinking with Sara Kujo on the night of the murder.
• Shinji Hirako realized Kujo Yomotsu had altered the case file to protect his sister, Sara Kujo, and went to arrest him.
• Shinji Hirako and the Military Police Force subdued Kujo Yomotsu, and news of his arrest appeared in the paper the next day.
• Yamabuki Chidori ordered Kusakawa Ryunosuke to resign from the Gotei 13.

A boy seeking his parents’ whereabouts in a newspaper was rescued from samurai by the overwhelmingly strong Hyakki-ji, who then set off to challenge the strongest Shinigami. Meanwhile, Yamabuki Chidori teased Shinji Hirako with a fake sword technique and explained that overwhelming Reiatsu usually kept the weak from defeating the strong.

• A boy asked Hyakki-ji to read a newspaper for news of his parents, then admitted he had stolen money to buy it.
• When samurai beat the boy and prepared to kill him, Hyakki-ji blocked a sword with his arm and let the samurai break their weapons against his body.
• The boy told Hyakki-ji that Kenpachi was the strongest Shinigami and that defeating the previous Kenpachi could earn him the title.
• Hyakki-ji decided to seek out the Gotei 13 and challenge the strongest Shinigami, while the boy hurried after him.
• Yamabuki Chidori ended Shinji Hirako’s training, then tricked him into performing a humiliating fake sword technique before admitting that powerful Reiatsu was the real advantage.

Yamabuki Chidori took Shinji Hirako to Kirimaru Tsukishima’s home for dinner, and the three went shopping in Rukongai, where they encountered the powerful, listless Hyakki-ji. After Hyakki-ji protected Hirako from a Hollow and revealed his unusual ability to withstand attacks, he asked Kirimaru to hit him, leaving her and Hirako wary of him.

• Yamabuki Chidori dragged Shinji Hirako to the 12th Division, where Kirimaru Tsukishima welcomed him and invited him to dinner.
• Kirimaru Tsukishima took Hirako to a Rukongai market for ingredients and then to a teahouse, where they met Hyakki-ji and a young boy.
• Kirimaru Tsukishima left the teahouse to slay a Hollow outside, while another Hollow entered and attacked Hirako.
• Hyakki-ji shielded Hirako from the Hollow, broke its teeth with his body, and killed it with one punch.
• Kirimaru Tsukishima returned and led Hirako away, but Hyakki-ji called after her and asked her to slash or punch him.

Hyakki-ji searched for someone strong enough to hurt him, while Shinji Hirako worked in the Staff Department and Kirimaru Tsukishima investigated a sudden influx of Hollows near Seireitei. The chapter left the Hollow emergency unresolved as Kirimaru Tsukishima went to report it to the Captain Commander.

• Kirimaru Tsukishima humiliated Hyakki-ji with two light slaps, then took Shinji Hirako home for a meal whose Reiatsu-infused food could restore and increase Reiatsu up to a person’s potential limit.
• Hyakki-ji visited a Rukongai swordsmanship school and asked its disciples to beat him, but their weapons broke against his body; after hearing about a giant and a man called Kenpachi, he went looking for stronger opponents.
• Shinji Hirako struggled through a towering pile of Staff Department paperwork while Yamabuki Chidori relaxed in the summer heat.
• Kirimaru Tsukishima learned that instruments had detected many Garganta near Seireitei, suggesting that large numbers of Hollows had entered Soul Society.
• Kirimaru Tsukishima found Zendouji Yuuhin absorbed in an experiment and reported the Hollow threat directly to the Captain Commander.

Yamamoto mobilized the Gotei 13 to fight a massive Hollow invasion in Rukongai, where Kamishirokawa Kenpachi killed seven Menos Grande with his Swift Six-Pointed Star Array. As the battle continued against a huge tentacled Hollow, Hyakki-ji arrived seeking a fight with the Strongest Shinigami but agreed to deal with the Hollows first.

• Yamamoto summoned the Captains and Yamabuki Chidori, ordered the 11th Division to sortie, and assigned other divisions to support the battle or defend Seireitei.
• Kamishirokawa Kenpachi led the 11th Division into Rukongai, where countless Hollows poured from Garganta and seven Menos Grande appeared.
• Kamishirokawa Kenpachi used Swift Six-Pointed Star Array to kill all seven Menos Grande, raising the morale of the Shinigami as the Hollow battle continued.
• Shiba Isshin joined Kamishirokawa Kenpachi, and the two prepared to attack a giant tentacled Menos Grande that was striking Shinigami from underground.
• Hyakki-ji challenged Kamishirokawa Kenpachi, but Shiba Isshin blocked his punch and sent him flying with Moon Fang Sky Roar.
• Hyakki-ji agreed to postpone his challenge and charged at the tentacled Menos Grande, hoping it could hurt him.

Hyakki-ji tore apart a Menos Grande as Soul Reapers faced a new Hollow threat, but Yamabuki Chidori’s arrival wiped out the attackers and closed the Garganta. After the battle, Hyakki-ji challenged Chidori to hurt him, then provoked Kamishirokawa Kenpachi, whose lightning-fast sword strike finally wounded him.

• Hyakki-ji ripped a Menos Grande out of the ground and dismantled it while three Adjuchas and an even stronger Reiatsu emerged from the Garganta.
• Unohana blocked the Adjuchas’ Cero with Bakudo #81, Splitting Void, as Kamishirokawa Kenpachi and Shiba Isshin prepared to fight.
• Yamabuki Chidori arrived and used Infinite Cero to destroy the Hollows without harming any Soul Reapers, then collapsed the Garganta with Silver Sword Pressure.
• Yamabuki Chidori refused Salkapolo’s demand for a finger sample and left the remaining threat to the younger Soul Reapers before trying to go home with Unohana.
• Hyakki-ji challenged Yamabuki Chidori to beat him, but Chidori treated him like a patient and left Kamishirokawa Kenpachi to deal with him.
• After Hyakki-ji exposed his chest and dared Kamishirokawa Kenpachi to strike, Kamishirokawa cut both his arms and forehead, delighting Hyakki-ji.

After Kamishirokawa Kenpachi wounded him, Hyakki-ji resolved to challenge him for the Kenpachi title. Meanwhile, Yamabuki Chidori gave the overworked Staff Department three days off, but an alarm brought him to a challenge that could end Kamishirokawa’s reign.

• Kamishirokawa Kenpachi left after realizing his strike had barely pierced Hyakki-ji’s skin, and he gave Hyakki-ji his name.
• Hyakki-ji reassured the worried little boy that he would become the strongest Shinigami, then decided to challenge Kamishirokawa Kenpachi.
• Yamabuki Chidori granted the exhausted Staff Department three days of vacation and told them to plan how to expand the staff.
• An alarm summoned Yamabuki Chidori and the Captains to the First Division Barracks, where Old Man announced that someone had challenged for a Captain’s position.
• Hyakki-ji arrived to challenge Kamishirokawa Kenpachi, who accepted the duel, and Yamabuki Chidori ordered an arena prepared.

Hyakki-ji challenged Kamishirokawa Kenpachi, and their fight tested his iron-scale Zanpakuto armor against Kamishirokawa’s cutting power. After both fighters unleashed their strongest defenses and attacks, they froze at the end of a decisive clash.

• Yamabuki Chidori agreed to let Hyakki-ji fight Kamishirokawa if he defeated him, and the gathered Shinigami prepared to watch.
• Hyakki-ji crashed into the arena from the sky, and Kamishirokawa immediately wounded him with a lightning-fast sword strike.
• Hyakki-ji counterattacked despite his wounds, and Kamishirokawa pierced his wrist before Hyakki-ji released his Zanpakuto, Iron Scale Armor.
• Kamishirokawa released Severing Rainbow, a blade that gained extreme sharpness, and challenged Hyakki-ji’s armor with his Godspeed: One-Cut Slash.
• The fighters’ final clash erupted in sparks, then both froze as Kamishirokawa began to move stiffly.

Kamishirokawa used his Bankai, Golden Rainbow, to overwhelm Hyakki-ji with extreme speed, but Hyakki-ji answered with his Bankai, Immovable Fortress. Their final attacks were about to collide when Kamishirokawa collapsed from the strain of his power, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Kamishirokawa revealed Golden Rainbow and pierced Hyakki-ji before he could react, though its speed placed a severe strain on Kamishirokawa’s heart.
• Hyakki-ji activated Immovable Fortress and transformed himself into an armored stone giant.
• Kamishirokawa used Godspeed and the Hexagram Sword Array to cut apart the giant’s defenses while nearing collapse.
• Hyakki-ji’s stones formed a giant fist behind Kamishirokawa as Kamishirokawa prepared his seventh sword strike.
• Kamishirokawa spat blood and lost consciousness before either final attack could decide the fight.

After losing the Kenpachi title to Hyakki-ji, Kamishirokawa recovered and chose to leave the 11th Division to study medicine in the Fourth Division. His first day of training began with rabbit dissection, where his efficient handling of the task shocked his classmates.

• Kamishirokawa's heart stopped after his duel with Hyakki-ji, but Yamabuki Chidori revived him and treated him in Bone Hell.
• Hyakki-ji became the new captain of the 11th Division, then challenged Yamabuki Chidori and was hospitalized after Chidori struck him with a painful Whip Hand.
• After recovering, Kamishirokawa asked to remain in the Gotei 13 as an ordinary member and joined the Fourth Division to study medicine.
• Yamabuki Chidori proposed rotating vacations for the Staff Department after the staff returned from their break to find a mountain of unfinished work.
• Unohana introduced Kamishirokawa to the Fourth Division, where he began studying medicine alongside the new recruits.
• During his first dissection lesson, Kamishirokawa removed a rabbit's heart while the other students hesitated to harm the animal.

Kamishirokawa began training as a doctor in the Fourth Division, but his attempt to treat his former subordinates ended with Unohana stopping him. Meanwhile, Jūshirō Ukitake brought medicine to his ill Captain, Sakurane Saizo, who suddenly collapsed and asked for Yamabuki Chidori.

• Kamishirokawa studied medicine for two months and tried to treat his former 11th Division subordinates, but drew his Zanpakuto after mistaking their food poisoning for a condition requiring surgery.
• Unohana gave the patients antidote, suspended Kamishirokawa from treating patients, and ordered him to copy medical books as punishment.
• Jūshirō Ukitake collected cold medicine and back ointment for Sakurane Saizo, who lamented his age and discussed finding a successor for the Thirteenth Division.
• Sakurane Saizo urged Ukitake to become the next Captain, then suddenly turned purple and spat blood.
• Sakurane Saizo refused to go to the Fourth Division and sent Ukitake to fetch Yamabuki Chidori, who was shocked to hear that Saizo was dying.

Sakurane Saizo pretended to be gravely ill to persuade Jūshirō Ukitake to succeed him as Thirteenth Division Captain. Yamabuki Chidori arranged Ukitake’s captaincy trial, an investigation into missing villages in northern Rukongai, and Ukitake began receiving information from other squad members.

• Yamabuki Chidori told the Thirteenth Division members to indulge Sakurane Saizo, while Ukitake believed the Captain was near death.
• Shijima Chiru, Ōtōgawa Utsugi, and Saitō Fubōfu visited Sakurane Saizo, and Shijima claimed to treat him with acupuncture and medicinal wine.
• Sakurane Saizo urged Ukitake to become Thirteenth Division Captain, and Ukitake agreed to fulfill his wish.
• Sakurane Saizo submitted a request for Ukitake’s succession, and Yamabuki scheduled Ukitake’s captaincy trial for three days later.
• Yamabuki assigned Ukitake a fifteen-day investigation into the disappearances of villages in northern Rukongai, with no military assistance allowed.
• Ukitake received information from other squad members after the trial mission was announced.