COME WITH ME

With the alarm blaring, the lieutenants gather and Kenpachi bolts from the meeting, joined by Yachiru, eager to face the Ryoka who survived Gin. Yamamoto adjourns the assembly and orders everyone to their stations. Aizen lingers beside Gin, remarking on the alarm's convenient timing and warning him not to be underestimated, all under Hitsugaya's watchful eye.

At the Shiba house, Ichigo wakes from a nap to find Ganju studying a scroll, then learns Yoruichi is ready to depart. Outside at the cannon, Ganju arrives late in a custom battle costume and, turning serious, tells Ichigo that his brother Kaien was slain by Shinigami he called friends. He recounts how Kaien, a Rukongai native, blazed through the academy and rose to lieutenant, only to be betrayed and killed, yet died thanking the very Shinigami who carried him home. Unable to hate them for Kaien's sake, Ganju declares he will join the Ryoka to discover what a Shinigami truly is.

The intruder alarm empties the captains' meeting and Kenpachi sets out hunting a fight; Aizen openly threatens Gin. Ganju commits to joining the infiltration and reveals the death of his brother Kaien as his reason.

The chapter belongs to volume ten of the Soul Society arc. It gives Ganju his central motivation and expands the Kaien mystery introduced earlier, while sharpening the quiet standoff between Aizen and Gin. The group is now poised to breach the Seireitei.