Assemble! The Gotei 13

Kūkaku Shiba raises her enormous fireworks cannon, the Kakaku Taihō, above ground and reveals her plan to launch Ichigo Kurosaki and his companions straight into the Seireitei. To pull it off, each of them must learn to pour Reiryoku into a spherical device called the Reishukaku, shaping it into a protective ball capable of piercing the enemy's defenses. She warns that a lapse in focus will trigger an explosion, then demonstrates the properties of Sekkiseki, the rare ore that breaks down spirit energy and forms the Shakonmaku barrier ringing the city.

Orihime Inoue, Uryū Ishida, and Yasutora Sado each manage a barrier under the guidance of Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, but Ichigo cannot channel his energy at all and grows increasingly frustrated. That night, Ganju Shiba quietly teaches him a personal visualization trick, imagining a dark, heavy circle to jump into, framed as the basis of all Kidō. Ichigo's attempt succeeds spectacularly, producing a barrier so large and powerful it rattles the whole cannon, only for his concentration to slip and blow it apart. Kūkaku scolds both him and Ganju and denies them dinner.

Elsewhere, Kūkaku pours sake and privately addresses her late brother Kaien, acknowledging her decision to aid the very Shinigami who took his life while noting he would have wanted her to help. Inside the Seireitei, the lieutenants are summoned to a conference room, where Momo Hinamori tearfully confides her worry that her captain, Sōsuke Aizen, has been acting strangely, and Renji Abarai privately recalls his own unsettling exchange with Aizen.

In the First Division barracks, nearly every captain assembles before Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto as Gin Ichimaru arrives to answer for his failure. Kenpachi Zaraki and Mayuri Kurotsuchi accuse him of deliberately letting the Ryoka escape, and just as Aizen steps forward with a question of his own, an alarm announces that intruders have again breached the Seireitei. Gin only smiles, while Rukia Kuchiki, held in her cell, quietly speaks Ichigo's name.

Kūkaku explains the Reishukaku and the Sekkiseki-based Shakonmaku that seals off the Seireitei. Ichigo, unable to channel Reiryoku by conventional means, learns Ganju's visualization method and overloads a barrier into an explosion. The Gotei 13 captains convene, and Gin is confronted over the escaped Ryoka. Aizen prepares to question Gin before an intruder alert cuts the meeting short.

This episode adapts Chapters 80 through 82 and belongs to the Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc. The adaptation reworks several beats from the manga, including staging the captains' interrogation of Gin after Ichigo forms his barrier rather than before, and giving each trainee their own Reishukaku instead of sharing a single one. A brief flashback shows Aizen asking Renji whether he believes Rukia deserves to die.