BLEACH episodes

The shinigami discuss Byakuya's betrayal, and the discovery that if a zanpakuto is killed by anyone other than its owner, it will be unusable. Byakuya returns to the zanpakutos' hideout, and proves his loyalty by defeating and seemingly killing Sode no Shirayuki, leaving Rukia unable to use her zanpakuto. Rukia and Renji investigate Byakuya's office, but Byakuya arrives with Senbonzakura, tossing Rukia the broken remains of her zanpakuto. Zabimaru arrives to help Renji fight Byakuya and Senbonzakura, but they are overpowered and several zanpakuto, including Tenken, Houzukimaru, Wabisuke, Rurio Kujaku and Gonryomaru, arrive. The Second Division surrounds the zanpakuto, the zanpakutos' owners come out to fight them, and Ichigo confronts Byakuya.

Ichigo goes to confront Byakuya, but Senbonzakura intercepts him, and he and Ichigo fight each other with their bankais. Renji and Zabimaru move to prevent Byakuya from leaving. Izuru begins fighting Kazeshini, suspecting that its personality is based off of Hisagi's suppressed negative impulses. Soifon fights Gonryomaru and Tenken at once, but is surprised by a smoke attack. Yumichika faces Ruri-iro Kujaku, and the two exchange insults. Ikkaku fights Houzukimaru, and although Houzukimaru unleashes his bankai, Ikkaku is able to break it by repeatedly attacking, and manages to withstand its final attack and claim victory. Fourth division lieutenant Isane Kotetsu and seventh division lieutenant Tetsuzaimon Iba go to assist the wounded at the scene of the battle when Ashisogi Jizo appears.

Soifon fights Tengen and Gonryomaru, making some progress, but then her zanpakuto, Suzumebachi appears and attacks her. Ruriiro Kujaku gains the advantage over Yumichika, and begins to use its special ability on him. Iba and Isane attempt to retreat from Ashisogi Jizo, but Tobiume and Haineko arrive and Ashisogi Jizo paralyzes Isane's legs. Rangiku and Momo then return to help them against their opponents. Izuru manages to capture Kazeshini by tricking him into thinking he could still use his zanpakuto in order to unsettle him, but is soon attacked by his own zanpakuto, Wabisuke. Byakuya manages to defeat Renji and Zabimaru. Ichigo is desperately fighting Senbonzakura when Kenpachi arrives.

Isane and Iba come face to face with Ashisogi Jizou, Tobiume and Haineko. It is then up to Hinamori and Matsumoto to help them out. Soi Fon continues her fight against Gonryoumaru and Tengen but things quickly become more complicated when Suzumebachi joins the fray. Ayasegawa is also having a hard time in his fight against Ruri'iro Kujaku. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Senbonzakura are both going all out to end their own fight.

Ichigo continues fighting Senbonzakura while Kenpachi fights Byakuya, but Ashisogi Jizo appears and using its bankai, spraying poison gas over the battlefield, enabling Senbonzakura and Byakuya to escape. Yachiru chases Ashisogi Jizo and he gets captured by Zaraki. Mayuri blows up Ashisogi Jizo, causing it to return sealed form and break. Soifon has difficulty hitting the small Suzumebachi, but manages to defeat her, and Yoruichi congratulates her. Unohana arrives to treat the victims of Ashisogi Jizo's poisoning, including Momo, Isane, Rangiku and Iba. Yoruichi meets with Ichigo and the captains, and reveals that she knows Yamamoto's location. Yamamoto is then shown as a prisoner of the zanpakuto, with Sogyo no Kotowari, Katen Kyokotsu, and Minazuki encasing him in a barrier.

The Captains begin planning on how they're going to rescue Yamamoto, knowing that they're going to run into high class zanpakuto. Meanwhile Kazeshini comes back to the hideout and faints from exhaustion. Kenpachi, Ukitake, and Kyoraku head into the cave while Yoruichi and Ichigo head in another way. In the cave, Ukitake and Kyoraku meet their materialized zanpakuto. In the meantime, Ichigo and Yoruichi encounter Haineko and Tobiume, and both are defeated by Yoruichi. Ichigo heads on, and is lead into Kazeshini by Minazuki. Kazeshini is easily defeated, breaking, as Ichigo moves on to find the Captain-Commander.

Whilst trying to rescue Captain-Commander Yamamoto Kyouraku faces off against Katen Kyoukotsu, Ukitake takes on Sougyo No Kotowari, Kenpachi fights against Gonryoumaru and Tengen and Yoruichi is left to deal with Haineko and Tobiume. However, it soon becomes clear that the Zanpakutou are simply trying to delay their opponents as long as possible. Meanwhile, Ichigo is once again forced to fight Muramasa.

Ichigo and the others are trapped in the fires of Ryūjin Jakka, he and the others try to free themselves from the flames of Ryūjin Jakka, on the other side, Byakuya, Senbonzakura and Muramasa head to Karakura town to destroy it and reclaim Muramasa's owner, Kouga. Muramasa stumbles upon Inoue and blacks out. After waking up and asking Inoue who she is, Ishida and Chad arrive to take out Muramasa. Ichigo tries to escape for the final time but is almost defeated, Hitsuyuaga jumps in with Hyorinmaru and saves them, they activate Bankai together and get Ichigo out of the flames.

While Yamamoto, Kyouraku, Hitsugaya and Ukitake deal with Ryuujin Jakka, Kenpachi is finally enjoying his fight against Gonryoumaru and Yoruichi shows Haineko and Tobiume why she is known as the Goddess of Flash. Meanwhile, Senbonzakura and Rukia arrive to join the fight between Muramasa, Ishida, Sado and Orihime.

In a flashback several centuries ago, it is revealed that Kouga was part of the Kuchiki Clan as Ginrei Kuchiki's son-in-law, and was overconfident in the abilities of his zanpakuto. He helped put down a rebellion of Soul Reapers, but some grew suspicious of his power, and had him attacked. He cut down his attackers, but was framed for killing his own allies by a group of jealous high-ranking Soul Reapers. He was imprisoned as a result, but escaped with Muramasa's help. In the present, Kouga awakens, repelling Ichigo and Rukia, then suddenly stabs Muramasa.

The 3 elites are gloating over their success when Kōga and Muramasa appear. Kōga kills them, and Ginrei is informed. Muramasa talks to Kōga to try and help him over his anger, but they are found by Ginrei. He inform Kōga the likely sentence for killing the Elites is execution, and Kōga goes insane. Muramasa tries to possess Ginrei’s Zanpakutō, but phases through Ginrei. Kōga removes his hairpiece, and departs. He then goes on a killing spree. Muramasa tries to reason with him but fails, lamenting that he can’t hear Kōga anymore. Yamamoto is informed of what’s going on, and Ginrei tells them how to resist Muramasa’s power, and Yamamoto volunteers to help. Kōga rants at Muramasa and threatens him. He meets Ginrei and Yamamoto for a showdown. He tries to use Muramasa on them, but he won’t release. They use this opportunity to arm with the spears used to seal Kōga’s coffin. These immobilise his limbs, allowing Yamamoto to use Kidō to imprison him. Back in the present, Kōga thinks Muramasa betrayed him, but Muramasa claims he never heard him. Kōga removes his blade from Muramasa, and tries to kill him, but Byakuya blocks the blow and challenges him.

Kōga Kuchiki sees Byakuya Kuchiki’s scarf and hairpiece and, having never met Byakuya before, concludes that he is from the Kuchiki clan, which Byakuya confirms. Kōga enquires if Ginrei Kuchiki is still alive, which Bykuya refuses to answer. Ichigo and Rukia ask how Byakuya knows about Kōga, but Senbonzakura appears and tells them to just watch. Byakuya had defeated Senbonzakura right at the start of the rebellion and, on hearing Senbonzakura’s summation, immediately recognised Kōga's abilities, having been told of him by Ginrei. They decided to work as double agents to find Kōga. Byakuya states he will kill Kōga for disgracing the Kuchiki family. Muramasa offers to help Kōga, but Kōga breaks his Zanpakutō, saying he’ll just get in the way. Muramasa, in a rage, summons the Menos he’d been keeping inside himself. Ichigo destroys several, saying he and Rukia would fight the Menos while Byakuya fights Kōga. Neither can outmatch the other in terms of swordsmanship, so Kōga switches to using Kidō, again with neither able to gain an advantage, until Kōga uses a large scale ice spell which seemingly freezes Byakuya, though Senbonzakura releases him. Kōga catches him with an immobilizing spell similar to Muramasa’s, but Senbonzakura cuts the threads. Byakuya sems to have won, but Kōga starts using illusions to confuse him, and begins to land some hits. Kōga states that he sends his Reiatsu into his enemy to manipulate their senses, and that Ginrei and Yamamoto were immune due to closing their hearts. Byakuya says he didn’t close his, because now he can kill Kōga, instead of sealing him. Koga attacks with the sealing spears and more kidō to immobilize him agin, and tries to finish the fight, only for Senbonzakura to block the attack and free him. Byakuya activates Senkei, and the two continue to battle, with Byakuya gaining the upper hand. Byakuya decides to finish the battle, and as a mark of respect attacks with Shukei.

After Kouga's defeat, Muramasa becomes unstable, as he had absorbed hollows in order to sustain himself without a master. Many hollows spill forth from his body, and he transforms into a form similar to an Arrancar. Orihime tries to reach out to him to save him from his sorrow, but he attacks the group. Ichigo manages to slash through Muramasa, but he becomes even more unstable and becomes a larger dome-shaped mass, engulfing him in the process. The formerly rebellious Zanpakuto return with their owners to help Ichigo and his friends in the battle.

The Shinigami and their newly deprogrammed Zanpakuto arrive to join the fight against Muramasa. However, they first have to defeat the seemingly endless number of Menos that have also appeared. Things are further complicated by the squabbling between the Shinigami and their Zanpakuto and the animosity towards Byakuya.

As the dome grows unstable and the Soul Reapers fight the Gillians outside, Ichigo fights Muramasa inside his inner realm, which is collapsing from the grudges of the hollows he consumed to sustain himself. Ichigo questions Muramasa's devotion to Kouga in spite of his apparent motives for freeing the zanpakutos, and insists that he should know what a true bond between a Soul Reaper and a zanpakuto is. Ichigo defeats Muramasa, causing the two to leave his inner world. Muramasa dies after realizing the error of his ways and Byakuya thanks Ichigo.

While Byakuya allows his squad to hold a sakura viewing party at his mansion, two strange attackers arrive, but one of them is quickly defeated by Sode no Shirayuki and Senbonzakura, who have since rematerialized, while the other escapes. Captain Kurotsuchi refers to these attackers as "Sword Fiends", which are zanpakuto who have killed their masters. Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki try lure out the other by having a drinking party, but fail. Soon Rukia and Sode no Shirayuki find the sword fiend attacking and defeat him together, capturing him and turning him in for study. Captains Ukitake and Kyoraku become concerned at this development, noting that the Seireitei is still being rebuilt.

In the real world, Ichigo encounters a sword fiend, and he and Hitsugaya fight it, but it retreats. Ukitake and Kyoraku infer that there are at least as many sword fiends as the number of Soul Reapers lost in the war, and plan on stabilizing them to return them to sword form, despite Mayuri's lack of interest. The sword fiend is attacked by a hollow, but manages to absorb it. It overpowers Rangiku when she tries fighting it, but Ichigo comes to fight it, disarming it. The hollow-fused sword fiend fires a Cero at Ichigo, but Hitsugaya manages to destroy it, noting that the sword fiends are more dangerous than he thought.

Renji and Zabimaru come to the real world following a sword fiend. Chimpette and Snakey split up to search. They find the sword fiend quickly but he escapes. Snakey follows him and is covinced that being free is better. Snakey has trouble doing anything since most people can't see him. Karin is the only person who can see him and ends up taking him home. Renji and Chimpette are wiating in the park and Chimpette is feeling lonley because Snakey isn't there. Ichigo returns home and finds Snakey. After Snakey finds out that Ichigo is a subsititue soul reaper he runs away only to encounter the sword fiend. Snakey begins to fight him and almost wins until the sword fiend caputres Karin who was follwing Snakey. Right as Snakey is about to die Chimpette and Reji return to save him and defeat the sword fiend. Ichigo takes Karin home convincing her it was all a dream, even though she knew it wasn't. Having resolved his differences Snakey, Chimpette, and Renji return to Soul Society.

Nanao, Ikkaku and Yamada are all sent to investigate Soul Society's underground waterways following a string of thefts from the 4th Squad's barracks. Despite numerous booby traps the trio soon find the culprit. However, they also find a very dangerous Beast Sword as well.

Kazeshini, despite being free of Muramasa's control, attacks Hisagi when he, Ikkaku, Izuru Kira and Tetsuzaimon Iba go on a mission to fight Sword Fiends in the Rukon District. After killing a Sword Fiend, Kazeshini finds a dying man who begs him to take care of his child. Kazeshini is frequently annoyed by the child's behavior, but often shows concern for it, and abandons a chance to attack Hisagi when he hears it crying. After defeating another Sword Fiend that is attacking a woman who came for the child, he leaves the child with the woman and goes to confront Hisagi. Kazeshini faces Hisagi in one last fight, but is distracted by the child crying, and is defeated and turned into a normal zanpakuto.