Hitsugaya's Decision! The Clash Approaches

Explosions gut the buildings around the Senzaikyū, and once the dust clears Yamamoto arrives to name the attack a declaration of war, noting the Shishinrō's Sekkiseki construction should have been immune to spiritual assault. He orders the search team expanded. Blaming himself, Hitsugaya resolves to strike back with Rangiku. At the Kuchiki Manor, Byakuya lets the Fourth Division tend Rukia, then flatly refuses Ichigo's plea for an alliance, since the Gotei 13 are already mobilized, and tells him to go home, leaving Ichigo to suspect Byakuya still half-regards him as an enemy.

In Kusajishi, Kariya strolls into a rowdy gambling hall and bets his own life with a thrown knife. He wins, and when the losing player attacks, he catches the blade barehanded and flings the man across the room. Gō Koga and the ex-Shinigami Maki Ichinose step in to quell the brawling villagers, Ichinose scattering them with Shunpo while Kariya blows several out the door with wind. Kariya then invites the local boss Tōba to help turn Soul Society upside down, and a stunned Tōba realizes these are the Ryoka.

Back at Kūkaku Shiba's house, an exhausted Ichigo and Orihime return leadless. When Ganju's gang members Taichi and Ishino report the strange man who silenced Kusajishi, Kūkaku deduces Kariya is rallying the district's fighters and forces the group to ride out that very night. Uryū joins to hunt Kariya, though the party quickly gets lost in the forest. Meanwhile Kon chases a teahouse waitress, Rukia wakes alone and senses Byakuya's care, and Kariya, sensing an amusing presence, walks out to meet it. Under the stars, Byakuya confronts Kariya, denies coming for revenge, and the Bount answers with a surging blast of wind that erupts above the trees.

Yamamoto declares the Senzaikyū bombing an act of war and widens the Bount hunt. Byakuya refuses to ally with Ichigo. Kariya recruits the Kusajishi boss Tōba after cowing the district's toughs alongside Koga and Ichinose. Kūkaku sends Ganju's group out overnight to investigate, with Uryū joining. The episode closes on Byakuya and Kariya squaring off in the forest outside the Seireitei.

This anime-original entry is the 94th episode and part of the Bount Assault on Soul Society arc, drawing on no manga chapters. Its Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book corner has Kurōdo shapeshift into Kūkaku so Ganju can vent, only for the real Kūkaku to appear and launch them both from the Kakaku Taihō.