The Resolution to Kill

Near the steps of Senzaikyū, a bleeding, unsteady Ichigo faces Renji Abarai and his Shikai, Zabimaru. Renji mocks him for barely standing and hammers away, tearing through rooftops as the two clash. Watching Ichigo struggle, Hanatarō doubts anyone can beat a lieutenant. Elsewhere, Momo Hinamori shows Izuru Kira the lieutenant badge Renji left outside his quarters, and, fearing punishment for him, has kept it from the captains; Izuru resolves to help search.

Studying the fight, Ichigo notices Zabimaru is limited to three strikes before it must retract. A flashback to Urahara's training explains the principle: the more powerful an attack, the fewer times it can be used in a row, like a revolver's six shots or a missile's single fire, and an enemy is completely exposed the moment those successive attacks end. Ichigo counts Renji's three strikes and lunges during the retraction, but Renji reads him, dodges, and buries Zabimaru in his shoulder before ripping it down his chest. Ichigo narrowly survives the follow-up finishing blow by rolling clear at the last instant.

Another flashback shows Urahara pressing Ichigo to summon his Getsuga Tenshō at will, judging his current strength to be only 3rd or 4th Seat level. Battering him with Benihime, Urahara declares that a blade fed by fear can never win, and that Ichigo must act from a resolve to kill and to keep himself and others alive. As Benihime blazes with intent, Ichigo's eyes glow blue and Zangetsu answers; their clashing Getsuga Tenshō and Nake, Benihime carve an X-shaped chasm, earning Urahara's praise.

Back in the present, Ichigo rises transformed, his Reiryoku now calm and controlled rather than wild, which unnerves Renji even more than its raw increase. Ichigo dodges Zabimaru, repels it, and unleashes a Getsuga Tenshō that shatters the whip-blade and carves deep across Renji's chest. Defeated and unable to move, Renji coughs blood and screams to the sky as he thinks of Rukia.

Ichigo concludes his rematch against Renji by grasping the limit on Zabimaru's successive strikes and, through recalled training with Urahara, learning to draw on resolve rather than fear. He masters the ability to control his Reiryoku and fire Getsuga Tenshō at will, shattering Zabimaru and defeating Renji. Momo Hinamori's discovery of Renji's abandoned lieutenant badge seeds the wider mystery of his intentions, and Renji's anguished defeat frames his devotion to Rukia, teased further in the next-episode preview about his past.

A canon episode of the Soul Society: The Sneak Entry arc, it adapts Chapters 96, 97, and 98. It aired in Japan on May 10, 2005, and in English on April 29, 2007, using the opening D-tecnoLife and the ending Hōkiboshi. The adaptation expands the Urahara training flashback and reworks the final Getsuga Tenshō into a large explosion on impact rather than the visible energy beam seen in the manga, while trimming several bloodier details.