Chapter Summaries

Jūshirō Ukitake joined Shino Academy, where his gentle manner and exceptional swordsmanship quickly won him attention. Shunsui Kyōraku led him to a secret peephole at the bathhouse, but someone caught them before they could look through it.

• The Kyōraku family head celebrated Shunshun Shidō's newborn son with Yamabuki Chidori, while Shunsui Kyōraku enjoyed the meal and was later punished by his father.
• Jūshirō Ukitake arrived at Shino Academy as a new student and sat beside Shunsui Kyōraku.
• Several students challenged Jūshirō Ukitake, but he defeated three of them almost instantly with his swordsmanship.
• Shunsui Kyōraku took Jūshirō Ukitake to the academy hot spring and revealed a peephole between the men's and women's baths.
• Shunsui Kyōraku began to peer through the hole, but a man behind the boys asked what they were doing.

Yamabuki Chidori and Unohana caught Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake at a hole in the hot-spring wall, then Yamabuki Chidori attended Shunshun Shidō’s son’s full-month banquet. She demonstrated a musket that fired Kidō, astonishing the nobles and Gotei 13 members.

• Yamabuki Chidori found Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake at the hot spring, where they had dug a hole in the wall to peek at the women’s bath.
• Unohana caught Yamabuki Chidori at the hole, knocked her unconscious, and told the boys to patch the wall before going home.
• Yamabuki Chidori and Unohana attended Shunshun Shidō’s son’s full-month banquet, where Saitō Fubōfu introduced her new lieutenant, Kuchiki Ginrei.
• Hane Hane Chiyo joined Yamabuki Chidori at the captains’ table, and Shunsui Kyōraku also arrived at the banquet.
• Yamabuki Chidori gave Shunshun Shidō an exquisite musket and demonstrated that it fired a Kidō bolt powerful enough to scorch and damage a stone.

Saitō Fubōfu asked to resign as Captain of the Sixth Division, and Yamabuki Chidori secured the Captain Commander’s agreement. Kuchiki Ginrei was nominated to replace her, but he still had to prove himself by hunting an Adjuchas.

• Yamabuki Chidori explained that the Kidō Bullet could not be mass-produced and that only a limited number of low-level rounds could be made.
• After the celebration, Saitō Fubōfu told Yamabuki Chidori she wanted to resign and proposed Kuchiki Ginrei as her successor.
• Yamabuki Chidori agreed to support Saitō Fubōfu and promised to arrange an evaluation for Kuchiki Ginrei.
• Yamabuki Chidori persuaded the Captain Commander to accept Saitō Fubōfu’s resignation and proposed that Kuchiki Ginrei hunt an Adjuchas as his test.
• At the meeting, the Captain Commander announced Saitō Fubōfu’s resignation and Kuchiki Ginrei’s nomination as the next Captain of the Sixth Division.

Kuchiki Ginrei accepted a dangerous test to hunt an Adjuchas for the chance to become captain of the Sixth Division, while Saitō Fubōfu hoped the appointment would let her retire. As Kuchiki Ginrei set out alone, his noble upbringing left him unable to ask ordinary people for help, and Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu watched him struggle.

• Captain Commander Yamamoto accepted Saitō Fubōfu's resignation only if Kuchiki Ginrei passed a dangerous test without help from his clan or anyone else.
• Kuchiki Ginrei learned that his task was to hunt an Adjuchas, then refused the elders' offer to use the Kuchiki Clan's influence on his behalf.
• Kuchiki Ginrei left to complete the test, while Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu secretly followed him and agreed not to help.
• Kuchiki Ginrei reached Rukongai's North District but did not know how to search for the Hollow or ask commoners for information.
• Kuchiki Ginrei asked a swordsman where to find an Adjuchas and was called a lunatic, then became too embarrassed to approach anyone else.
• Yamabuki Chidori laughed at Kuchiki Ginrei's difficulties, while Saitō Fubōfu worried that her successor would make her look bad.

Kuchiki Ginrei ventured into Rukongai, where a staged family scam stole his money and overturned his sheltered assumptions about ordinary people. Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu caught the scammers and took back the purse, but Chidori kept it, leaving Ginrei penniless and searching for a way to recover his money without returning home in embarrassment.

• Kuchiki Ginrei ate at a small restaurant, where he saw a woman and child being beaten and intervened to stop the man’s attack.
• The family left with Ginrei’s money pouch, and he realized the apparent abuse had been a staged scam.
• Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu tracked down the family, restrained them, and Chidori frightened them into abandoning their tricks while sparing the child.
• Chidori kept the recovered pouch and went drinking with Saitō Fubōfu instead of returning Ginrei’s money.
• Kuchiki Ginrei discovered he had no money, refused to go home for fear of ridicule, and wondered how to find the family and recover it.

Kuchiki Ginrei lost his money and wandered hungry until Natsuki gave him food and let him sleep in her woodshed. As he reflected on his feelings for her, Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu watched over him and criticized his poor vigilance.

• Saitō Fubōfu secretly threw two coins to Kuchiki Ginrei, but a crowd swarmed him and snatched the money away.
• Kuchiki Ginrei reached a northern village, where Natsuki gave him a rice ball after finding him hungry.
• Kuchiki Ginrei asked Natsuki for a place to sleep and offered her his Zanpakuto if he behaved improperly, so she let him stay in the woodshed.
• Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu watched as Kuchiki Ginrei thought about Natsuki and fell asleep, telling himself to focus on the Adjuchas mission.
• Natsuki returned to cover Kuchiki Ginrei with a quilt, and Yamabuki Chidori noted that he had failed to notice her approach.

Kuchiki Ginrei discovered that a giant spider Adjuchas had been abducting children near the village and set off to find it. He entered the mountains in the rain, where Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu continued secretly observing his assessment.

• Kuchiki Ginrei thanked Natsuki for her hospitality, gave her the Star-Pulling Hairpin, and left to complete his mission.
• Kuchiki Ginrei learned that children had vanished from the village and recognized the giant spider in his mission scroll as the likely culprit.
• Natsuki encouraged the villagers to trust Kuchiki Ginrei, and a woman told him the first missing child had seen the spider in the mountains.
• Kuchiki Ginrei departed for the mountains, while Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu discussed his growing feelings for Natsuki and continued following him.
• Kuchiki Ginrei struggled with the rain and his lack of wilderness skills, then knocked sparrows from a tree because he was hungry and did not know how to cook.

Kuchiki Ginrei found the Spider Hollow and tried to stop it from reaching the village, where Natsuki was in danger. He rescued her and defeated the Spider Hollow with his Zanpakuto, but another Menos Grande attacked him and cornered Natsuki.

• Kuchiki Ginrei found the Spider Hollow’s cave and discovered that the missing boys had been drained of life.
• Kuchiki Ginrei chased the Spider Hollow toward the village, escaped its web with fire, and rushed to save Natsuki.
• The Spider Hollow attacked Natsuki, but Kuchiki Ginrei arrived in time to pull her from its jaws.
• Kuchiki Ginrei released his Zanpakuto, causing Higanbana to grow inside the Spider Hollow and consume it.
• A Cero struck Kuchiki Ginrei from afar, and a Serpent Hollow appeared behind Natsuki and threatened her.

Kuchiki Ginrei defeated three Adjuchas with his Bankai, but a second ambush nearly killed him and Natsuki before Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu intervened. Yamabuki Chidori passed him as Sixth Division Captain while ordering him to improve his judgment, and Kuchiki Ginrei confessed his love to Natsuki, whose answer remained uncertain.

• Kuchiki Ginrei used Bankai to devour the Serpent Hollow and Centipede Hollow, then collapsed as Natsuki returned to help him.
• A Lizard Hollow and Scorpion Hollow ambushed Kuchiki Ginrei and Natsuki, and Kuchiki Ginrei was poisoned while shielding her from the Scorpion Hollow's stinger.
• Natsuki picked up Kuchiki Ginrei's Zanpakuto to defend him, but Yamabuki Chidori caught the Scorpion Hollow's punch and Saitō Fubōfu smashed the Lizard Hollow.
• Yamabuki Chidori treated Kuchiki Ginrei's injuries, passed him as Sixth Division Captain, and warned that he needed special training in judgment and other practical matters.
• Kuchiki Ginrei told Natsuki he liked her and asked her to marry him, but when he began to leave after mistaking her silence for rejection, she tugged gently on his sleeve.

Kuchiki Ginrei brought Natsuki home and defied his clan elders, who opposed his plan to marry a commoner from Rukongai. After his aunt tried to buy Natsuki’s departure, Natsuki called for Ginrei, and he confronted his aunt over the gold and jewelry.

• Kuchiki Ginrei returned to Seireitei with Natsuki and learned from Yamabuki Chidori that his family had arranged a noble blind date.
• Yamabuki Chidori told the Captain Commander that Ginrei had passed the Captain’s examination, and the Kuchiki elders celebrated his coming appointment.
• Ginrei introduced Natsuki as the woman he intended to marry, but the elders condemned the match and urged him to reconsider.
• Ginrei used his Reiatsu to silence the elders, then brought Natsuki into the Kuchiki residence and gave her a room beside his.
• Ginrei’s aunt visited Natsuki at night and offered her gold and jewelry to leave him, but Natsuki shouted for Ginrei, who arrived with his sword drawn.

Kuchiki Ginrei secured Yamabuki Chidori’s support for his marriage to Natsuki and began a month of special training before becoming captain of the Sixth Division. Chidori started the training by asking Ginrei to assess himself, then praised his kindness and strength.

• Kuchiki Ginrei rejected the elders’ proposal to make Natsuki his concubine and threatened to leave the clan leadership if they continued opposing their marriage.
• Kuchiki Ginrei and Natsuki asked Yamabuki Chidori for help, and he agreed to back their marriage in exchange for conditions.
• Yamabuki Chidori confronted the Kuchiki Clan elders and persuaded them to accept Natsuki as Ginrei’s principal wife.
• Yamabuki Chidori arranged for Natsuki to stay with Saitō Fubōfu while Ginrei underwent a month of training before taking command of the Sixth Division.
• Kuchiki Ginrei went to the Staff Department after fasting as instructed, and Yamabuki Chidori began training by asking him to identify his flaws before praising his character and strength.

Yamabuki Chidori tried to teach Kuchiki Ginrei to be less naive by sending him to gather intelligence in Rukongai. Ginrei reported rumors of a powerful figure in Gomukui District and Soul Reapers killing living people, while Chidori discovered Kirimaru Tsukishima and invited her to join the Gotei 13.

• Yamabuki Chidori criticized Kuchiki Ginrei's excessive kindness, tested him with a trolley problem, and took him to Rukongai for his first lesson.
• Yamabuki Chidori demanded Ginrei's belongings and threatened to spread embarrassing rumors about him, but Ginrei secretly kept a few coins and went to a teahouse to gather information.
• Kuchiki Ginrei heard rumors of a powerful newcomer in Gomukui District and Soul Reapers returning from the Human World with human heads, and he recorded both reports.
• Yamabuki Chidori followed the smell of food to Kirimaru Tsukishima's crowded restaurant and invited her to join the Gotei 13, but she mistook him for a pervert and returned to cooking.
• Kuchiki Ginrei joined Yamabuki Chidori for a meal and reported the rumors he had heard; Chidori reacted subtly to the account of Soul Reapers killing living people.

Yamabuki Chidori trained Kuchiki Ginrei through psychological trials, recruited Kirimaru Tsukishima, and sent Ginrei to execute condemned Shinigami. The chapter ended with Ginrei entering the mountains for a twenty-seven-day survival exercise in which Chidori would hunt him.

• Yamabuki Chidori admitted he had deliberately misled Kuchiki Ginrei, and the two fought before Kirimaru Tsukishima made them settle down and eat.
• Yamabuki Chidori explained Kirimaru Tsukishima's powerful Reiatsu, offered to invest in her restaurant, and gave her a recommendation letter to join the Gotei 13.
• Yamabuki Chidori ambushed Kuchiki Ginrei in his sleep to test his vigilance, then warned him that he would face more surprise attacks.
• Yamabuki Chidori revealed that Tsunayashiro Clan loyalists had killed Fullbringers and ordered Kuchiki Ginrei to execute the condemned Shinigami with a hammer.
• Kuchiki Ginrei vomited after the executions but regained his composure, ate tofu pudding, and returned to work.
• Yamabuki Chidori began the final training by giving Kuchiki Ginrei an hour to flee into the mountains before a twenty-seven-day hunt and survival exercise.

Yamabuki Chidori overwhelmed Kuchiki Ginrei during their training, revealing a vast gap in their strength and defeating him with Hadō #99, Goryū Tenmetsu. After Ginrei woke from a seven-day unconsciousness, Chidori fed him and gave him a dubious workout plan, while their training remained unfinished.

• Kuchiki Ginrei hid in the forest for an hour, but Yamabuki Chidori found him and challenged him to fight.
• Ginrei released his Shikai and attacked Chidori, but his blade could not pierce Chidori's Hard Skin, and Chidori knocked Ginrei's Zanpakuto away with a wooden club.
• Ginrei used Kidō and then released his Bankai, but Chidori countered with Hadō #99, Goryū Tenmetsu, devastating the mountain range and leaving Ginrei unconscious.
• Chidori carried Ginrei to a neighboring mountain, where Ginrei awoke seven days later with his injuries healed.
• Chidori served Ginrei meat soup and claimed that daily exercises continued until his hair fell out could make him stronger, while Ginrei doubted the advice and asked what meat was in the soup.

Yamabuki Chidori explained the limits of Soul Reaper potential to Kuchiki Ginrei, then put him through twenty days of wilderness training focused on surviving and counterattacking against a stronger opponent. Ginrei failed to catch her on the final day, admitted defeat, and descended the mountain exhausted, while Chidori promised to give him his reward.

• Yamabuki Chidori told Kuchiki Ginrei that most Soul Reapers could not surpass the limits set by their birth and talent, though she cited Aizen and Kurosaki Ichigo as exceptions.
• Yamabuki Chidori challenged Kuchiki Ginrei to spend twenty days trying to touch her while she hunted him, promising a gift if he succeeded.
• Kuchiki Ginrei endured nineteen days of harsh training and learned to conceal his presence, launch sneak attacks, and use Bakudo more effectively.
• On the final day, Kuchiki Ginrei bound a disguised Wood Dummy with Bakudo and threw his Zanpakuto at it, but Yamabuki Chidori exposed his failed trick.
• Kuchiki Ginrei admitted defeat and descended the mountain with Yamabuki Chidori, who said she would give him the promised gift.

Kuchiki Ginrei became the Sixth Division Captain, and Chidori gave him a device to protect Natsuki from Seireitei’s Reishi. Chidori then defused Tsunayashiro Fūka’s attempt to address the clan’s Fullbringer-hunting scheme, welcomed retired Saitō into his home for dinner, and prepared to go to the Human World to stop the hunts.

• Kuchiki Ginrei took over as Sixth Division Captain after Saitō Fubōfu resigned, and Chidori escorted Saitō from the First Division.
• Chidori gave Ginrei a hairpin to reduce the Reishi around Natsuki and a bottle of powder as a wedding gift.
• Tsunayashiro Fūka approached Chidori about the Soul Reapers he had killed, and Chidori warned him indirectly to stop causing trouble.
• Saitō showed up at Chidori’s home for a free meal, and Unohana invited her inside despite Chidori’s protests.
• Chidori told Unohana he would go to the Human World to stop Soul Reapers from hunting Fullbringers.

Yamabuki Chidori visited the scattered descendants of Ishida Aoi in the Human World, intending to preserve the Silver Thrombosis for the future battle against Yhwach. He watched Ishida Orange’s family as war approached, then saw her reunite with the wounded deserter Kurosaki Jun, who warned her that the town was about to be attacked and fled when Ishida Jin discovered him.

• Yamabuki Chidori asked Unohana to receive Kirimaru Tsukishima while he was away, but Saitō Fubō followed him to the Human World.
• Yamabuki Chidori found Ishida Jin’s struggling family and watched Ishida Orange endure her grandfather’s demands while worrying about her brother and the absent Kurosaki Jun.
• Ishida Jin told Orange to forget Kurosaki Jun and marry someone wealthy, while Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubō observed the family.
• Kurosaki Jun secretly visited Orange at night and warned her to flee because the town was about to go to war.
• Orange asked to leave with Jun, but he refused because mysterious pursuers were hunting him and he was wounded.
• Ishida Jin rushed into Orange’s room searching for Jun, who escaped over the courtyard wall, and warned Orange that Jun’s desertion could endanger their family.

Kurosaki Jun was nearly killed by Shiroki Jiro before Yamabuki Chidori rescued him and uncovered a Soul Reaper plot involving attacks on living people. As enemy forces overran the city, Jun rushed back to the Ishida Family home, where Ishida Akari was fighting to protect his family.

• Shiroki Jiro attacked Kurosaki Jun, but Yamabuki Chidori rescued him and identified the Soul Reaper as a Seventh Seated Officer who had killed living people.
• Shiroki Jiro took poison and died, while Yamabuki Chidori captured three other Soul Reapers and sent them with Saitō Fubōfu back to Soul Society.
• Yamabuki Chidori healed Kurosaki Jun and warned him that the invading army would soon capture the city and threaten Orange.
• Enemy troops breached the city, and Yamabuki Chidori declined to intervene in the human conflict.
• Kurosaki Jun ran to the Ishida Family home, where Ishida Akari was defending the entrance after the city lord fled.

Yamabuki Chidori rescued Kurosaki Jun and Ishida Akari from the chaos of war, then returned to the Soul Society and worked with the Captain Commander to counter the Tsunayashiro Clan’s covert operations. The Tsunayashiro elders dismissed the danger and ordered Shiroki Jiro’s family killed, leaving Shiroki Haruko and her children in immediate peril.

• Yamabuki Chidori found the dying Ishida Jin, took his Silver Thrombosis, and promised to protect the children he had asked him to save.
• Yamabuki Chidori guided Ishida Akari out of the city, told him his parents had died, and gave him money to start a new life.
• Yamabuki Chidori found Kurosaki Jun and Orange outside the city, gave them money, and told them to settle somewhere safe.
• Yamabuki Chidori returned to the Soul Society and asked Saitō Fubōfu to spread the false report that he had captured Shiroki Jiro alive, hoping to protect Jiro’s family.
• Tsunayashiro Fūka warned the clan elders that their operation had been exposed, but they dismissed his concerns and ordered Shiroki Jiro’s family killed.
• Shiroki Haruko worried about how to protect and support her three children after learning of her husband’s crimes.

Yamabuki Chidori used a captured assassin’s confession to justify surrounding and raiding the Tsunayashiro Clan estate. The search lasted for hours, and a member reported a discovery to Chidori, whose reaction was left unstated.

• Hachisato and the Soul Reapers captured an 8th Division officer sent to kill Shiroki Haruko and her children, and Yamabuki Chidori forced him to reveal the Tsunayashiro Clan elders’ orders and other crimes.
• Obana Danjirou revealed that the assassin’s wife and daughter had been illusions, while Chidori held up the recorded confession as evidence and ordered the 11th Division, First Division, and 2nd Division to surround the Tsunayashiro estate.
• Chidori led the raid, and the 11th Division fought through the clan’s retainers before Chidori killed the grand elder and ordered the estate searched.
• The elders tried to negotiate and summon Clan Head Tsunayashiro Fūka, but Fūka refused to come as the search continued for more than two hours.
• After Chidori finished writing a search warrant, a member whispered a report to him, and Chidori showed no outward reaction despite being surprised.