Protect Karakura Town! Ichigo, towards the Real World!

With Rukia downed near the dome, Yammy moves to finish whoever bested Ulquiorra, only for Ichigo to step in front of her and interrupt the charging Cero with a Getsuga Tenshō to the face. Ichigo assures Rukia that Orihime is safe above the dome tending to Uryū, then draws Yammy away so the two can settle things without endangering anyone else. Slipping on his Hollow mask, Ichigo lands a strike that hurls the Arrancar into the ground, and he notices that the markings on the mask no longer resemble their old shape.

Yammy shrugs off the wound and boasts of being the strongest Espada, pelting Ichigo with Bala and demanding his strategy. Ichigo answers that he has never relied on tactics, only on the certainty that he must win. When he reaches for the mask a second time it dissolves instantly, and a stunned Ichigo is seized in Yammy's grip. Far off, Mayuri trudges toward the fight while Nemu hauls a wagon of specimens behind him.

A burst of Sōkatsui and a severed leg free Ichigo as Byakuya and Kenpachi arrive, bickering over who struck first. Mayuri appears with a means of opening a Garganta, having studied its structure, and orders Nemu to prepare Ichigo's return. Unohana volunteers to travel with him and leaves Isane to support Byakuya. Convinced at last that his duty lies in protecting Karakura Town, Ichigo tells Rukia he is going home.

Ichigo shields Rukia from Yammy and reveals that Orihime and the wounded Uryū are secured atop the dome. He observes that his Hollowfication feels altered since his transformation against Ulquiorra, and his mask now fails to hold. Byakuya and Kenpachi cut in to relieve him, and Mayuri, having analyzed the Garganta, arranges to send Ichigo back to the Human World with Unohana accompanying him for support.

The episode adapts material from the manga's Fake Karakura Town storyline and belongs to the White Invasion portion of the arc. A short comedic coda revisits Karakura's Seven Mysteries, in which Kon reads the final unsolved rumor about a leaping high schooler and chooses to keep the embarrassing detail to himself. It first aired in Japan on August 31, 2010, paired with the opening ChAngE and the ending Echoes.