The Battle Hundreds of years ago, captain Unohana has grown bored of slaughtering bandits in the hopes of finding a worthy opponent, until a vicious child, Zaraki attacks her. Unohana is overpowered, so Zaraki subconsciously begins to hold himself back, which ends in his defeat. In the present, Unohana kills and revives Zaraki hundreds of times, as he grows stronger each time he resurrects. She unleashes her Bankai, Minazuki, which allows her to extend her blade with acidic slashes that look like blood. Zaraki has grown strong enough to power through and kill her. As he grieves Unohana, he finally gets to speak with his Zanpakutō and forge bond. Meanwhile, Ichigo, Renji and Kon arrive in captain Nimaiya's palace, Hoohden, where they meet countless Zanpakutō spirits and the unconventional captain himself. Nimaiya teaches them about the basics of how Soul Reapers receive Zanpakutō in their base form, called Asauchi, which becomes a personalized Zanpakutō the more the wielder imprints his soul pressure on it. Nimaiya tosses the two down into a hole filled with countless Asauchi and leaves them there for three days to fight the Asauchi. Renji comes out victorious, with an Asauchi having chosen him, but Ichigo fails the test. Nimaiya unceremoniously teleports him back into the Human World, right in front of the Kurosaki clinic, citing that he needs to return home, since he did not go through traditional Asauchi training.