Noblesse Oblige.

As Isshin continues to fight Aizen, Ichigo and Gin exchange words. Gin says its being a while since they fought, but Ichigo says he doesn't remember it. He explains that everyone who he has fought with conveyed their minds through the battle; however, Gin was different in that he didn't even look at him despite the fact they were fighting. Ichigo wonders what he was looking at instead and Gin responds he is a creepy kid. Gin next raises his reiatsu and asks Ichigo if he knew how long Shinsou can stretch - 100 sword lengths (approx 100 meters). Next he tells Ichigo to guess how long his Bankai is. Ichigo says he doesn't care, but Gin surprises him by revealing the sword can stretch 13km. Gin claims its hard to grasp how long that distance is, so he intends to show Ichigo by releasing his Bankai, Kamishini no Yari. The release of his sword immediately cuts down every building in sight horizontally and Gin follows through by swinging the sword at Ichigo. The attack pushes Ichigo back tremendously but he manages to block it and stop the momentum. Gin seemed surprised but Ichigo says its not uncommon for one Bankai to block another. Since Gin's sword is halted, Ichigo immediately unleashes a Getsuga at Gin. This attack made contact but Gin emerges with only a light wound. Gin responds that Ichigo is a creepy kid to have stopped his Bankai and he will fight Ichigo the old fashioned way to take care of him. Gin retracts his Bankai and Ichigo notices how fast he did it. Gin uses Shunpo and his unreleased sword to attack Ichigo relentlessly, while Ichigo tries to make sense of Gin's sword. Ichigo realized Gin's sword's power and that he's done for if Gin manages to point the tip of his sword at Ichigo. Just at the moment of this revelation, Gin Shunpos away and shoots out his Bankai, which instantly pierces Ichigo's shoulder. Gin follows with a vertical slash to which Ichigo manages to evade. The missed attack impacts with the ground and destroys the whole section where Ichigo was standing. While the debris was still flying in midair, Ichigo rushes Gin to close the distance. However, Gin had retracted his sword to counter Ichigo's assault and then distances himself again. Ichigo tells Gin he figured out Gin's sword's ability - it's not in the length, but rather how fast Gin can stretch his sword. The whole spiel making Ichigo guess the length of the sword was an attempt to distract him from its true power. Gin ascertains him and further demonstrates that his Bankai can contract at 500x the speed of sound. Considering its maximum distance of 13km, Gin can technically hit anything in a 13km radius in less than 80ms [(13 000 m) / (speed of sound x 500) = 76.4054189 milliseconds]. Gin says he told Ichigo this because Ichigo doesn't stand a chance in hell.

Meanwhile, Isshin is overtaking Aizen in their fight and he says that Aizen is at his limits. Aizen agrees that he is at his limit, but only for his shinigami self. Aizen claims that the Hougyoku has its own will and that will is now finally accepting Aizen's will (meaning they are merging). Isshin remains in the dark so Aizen explains that the Hougyoku's power is not the blurring of the line between Shinigami and Hollows. Instead, its true power is to read the minds of those around it and make manifest what it finds there. Aizen explains the reason why Urahara misidentified the Hougyoku's power as manipulating the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami is because that was his wish as its creator; the reason that Rukia transferred all her spiritual power to Ichigo and then lost her powers as a Shinigami was because she hadn't been given any relief from the pain of killing Kaien; the reason Sado and Inoue had their unique powers brought forth was because they detested their own powerlessness. Furthermore, Aizen elaborates that the Hougyoku doesn't completely work unless the subjects inherently possess the power to fulfill their desire. Their conversation is interrupted by Gin's attack sending Ichigo flying past them into a building. Gin apologizes for the interruption but Aizen says they are finishing up. As he said this, the Hougyoku envelopes more of his body, which indicates the speeding up of the transformation. Suddenly, Aizen gets shot through his shoulder: Urahara finally makes his appearance. Urahara notes the progress of the transformation, and Aizen says that he is mastering the Hougyoku that Urahara couldn't himself. Aizen Shunpos to Urahara and stabs him but Urahara's "body" pops. It turns out this was the inflatable substitute Gigai Urahara used on Yammy. Urahara appears behind Aizen and binds him with Bakudou 61 Six Rods Light Prison, Bakudou 63 Sajyou Sabaku, and Bakudou 73 Kuyou Shibari. Urahara finishes the combo with Hadou 91 Thousand Hands Bright Sky Cannon. Even though Aizen notes the danger of the level 91 Kidou, he does not dodge. Aizen emerges from the smoke unharmed and surprise attacks Urahara from behind; Urahara escapes with a shoulder injury. Urahara says Aizen's carelessness isn't like his old self anymore and Aizen explains this is because he is so strong he doesn't need to be. Urahara clarifies his statements meaning that the old Aizen would not let him try attacks one after another. As he says this, Aizen's hands become bound with reiatsu handcuffs. Urahara explains it is a seal that seals the flow of reiatsu out of one's palms so the victim would be blasted by his own reiatsu. Aizen proceeds to be enveloped by an explosion of light.

Thoughts on~
Gin: The revelation of Gin's abilities did not disappoint but did not impress. Considering Gin's Bankai, it is not very creative as it is just an extension of his Shikai (faster speed and longer length). However, it is very strong. Essentially, the speed and distance of his attacks make him the perfect sniper. If you are standing 13km away, you will have less than 80ms to dodge one of Gin's attacks. The problem here is whether Gin himself can even see his targets this far away (and his eyes being closed all the time doesn't help =P). Nevertheless, I was very satisfied with the spur of some great action pictures and poses for Gin form these chapters.

Aizen: I am very displeased with how Aizen is turning out. First considering his appearance, he is ugly and boring as hell. Aizen looks like a cross between Rudobon (leader of Exequias) and Tosen's Hollowfication form. Hopefully Aizen was right in saying mid-transformation is always ugly and what we see now is not a good representation of his final form. Next, considering his strength, Aizen became weak like a noob. Not more than a few chapters ago, Gin exclaimed on Aizen's insane strength and Aizen proved it by pwning all the captains with little effort and breaking their most powerful combined attacks and Bankais (and this was only with his Shikai). But ever since his bout with Yamamoto, Aizen has fallen from his pedestal of seemingly invincibility. For 390 chapters, Aizen never had more than a scratch on him. Even Yamamoto, who is the strongest Shinigami in 1000 years, only managed to burn his clothing and dirty his face with a self sacrificial high leveled Kidou. Then out of nowhere, Ichigo comes and somehow wounds Aizen with an unmasked Getsuga (remember even Ulquiorra could block this barehandedly). Then immediately after this, some minor comic relief character we haven't seen much of (no offense Isshin) comes in and start beating the crap out of Aizen with just his Zanpakutou - no release or Kidou. I demand the back story on Isshin soon or else I will stop believing in anything logical anymore. Either way, assuming Isshin was more powerful than all the Gotei 13 and Visoreds combined (seeing how all them barely injured Aizen), why doesn't Aizen reveal his true power and release his Bankai. Instead, he relies on the merged Hougyoku to heal him while he tells the enemy all about his plans. Urahara did the right thing and took this opportunity to wail on Aizen with high level attacks. Anyways my point is Aizen seems to have gotten weaker, which might be explained by the fact he is in mid-transformation and his abilities are limited. I don't buy any of this, hopefully we will get our explanations soon.

Urahara:
One word: epic.

Labels: Bleach, Manga

The sages at Myouboku Mountain decides that it is time to pass on the key to the Kyuubi's power to Naruto himself. They reverse summon Naruto to Myouboku and brings him before the Great Toad Sage. The Elder tells him he will meet an octopus and then battle a young man with great power in his eyes. Naruto was stumped by the octopus prophecy but knew immediately the Elder was referring to Sasuke. Naruto says he knows this and is prepared for everything that's going to happen. The Elder continues that he foresaw the transfer of the key to the Fourth's seal to Naruto as well. Thus, Gamatora opens himself up so Naruto can take possession of the key.

Meanwhile at Madara's hideout, he is confronted by Kabuto. Madara saw him as a traitor to Akatsuki and jumps to engage him in combat. However, Kabuto does Kuchiyose Edo Tensei (Impure World Ressurection) to summon Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, and Itachi and that halted Madara in his tracks. Kabuto claims he has surpassed even Orochimaru and the Second Hokage, who were the other users of this jutsu. He explains that he did not meet to fight, but rather join forces with Madara. Madara remains skeptical and asks him what he wants. Kabuto says he wants Sasuke, so he can learn the pure, unaltered truth about ninjutsu. Madara attempts to refuse but Kabuto summons one more casket, whose inhabitant was blocked from view. However, it seems whoever this is was surprising or strong enough to evoke a concerned response from Madara. After this demonstration Madara agrees to Kabuto's terms with the condition that he will only hand over Sasuke after the war.

Back at Myouboku, the sages tell Naruto that the Kyuubi within him has two components: the mind and the chakra. The chakra is the enormous reservoir of chakra hidden beneath Naruto's own chakra while the mind is the thing that makes Naruto go out of control and transform gradually into the Kyuubi. Every time Naruto wishes to draw upon the Kyuubi chakra, he can't help but draw some of the mind out with it. Naruto's goal in attaining more power is to draw out the Kyuubi chakra while filtering out the Kyuubi's mind filled with hate. The key would enable him to unlock the full potential; however, if the Kyuubi's mind overcomes Naruto's then it will get released from the seal and take over Naruto.

It is now up to Naruto to decide if he wants to take the key. Naruto thinks back to his prior decision to not use the Kyubi's power anymore because every time it has hurt his friends in the process. However, he realizes that to beat Sasuke, he will need the Kyubi's chakra. It turns out the octopus prophecy is tied to Naruto gaining control over the Kyubi, so Naruto leaves to find the octopus.

Meanwhile, Kumogakure is spearheading the military plans and attack tactics. Unfortunately, Kisame has infiltrated their confidential meetings because everyone thinks he is Kirabi's new weapon. While Kisame's mission is to capture Kirabi, he convenient also acts as a super spy in this circumstance for Akatsuki. Raikage calls a meeting with the other Kages. At the meeting, they first agreed to set up a sharing of intelligence system. Next, the issue of the Jinchuuriki was brought up. Everyone except Tsunade and Raikage opted to have the Hachibi and Kyubi hidden, instead of using them to complement the military attack strength. Tsunade concede to the majority and Raikage offers a secret island of Kumogakure where he and Kirabi train. This is bad because Kisame has infiltrated them and will be on the island with Naruto and Kirabi.

It turns out the Kages didn't have to hide Naruto on the island; he was already on his way to the island due to the octopus prophecy. Naruto is accompanied by Yamato, who can help keep him under control if he loses it. Their ship is attacked by a giant squid, and they are saved by Kirabi in his Hachibi form. Naruto is excited to have finally met the octopus.

Labels: Manga, Naruto

For the ability to counter the strongest Zanpakutou, Wonderweiss lost language, knowledge, memory, and even reason. Thus with this advantage Wonderweiss charges at Yamamoto. However, he failed to realize Yamamoto is  not reliant on his Zanpakutou, as he is physically powerful as well. With one punch, Yamamoto sends Wonderweiss flying and he tells Aizen he is the strongest shinigami in the last 1000 years. He shunpos to Aizen and attempts to uppercut him, but Wonderweiss intercepts. It turns out that one punch isn't enough to defeat Wonderweiss, so Yamamoto prepares to deal some serious damage. Wonderweiss makes many attempts to attack Yamamoto, but to avail. Yamamoto breaks off all his limbs and ends it with a double punch. Yamamoto tells Aizen it was cruel to strip away Wonderweiss's feelings, and Aizen responds that Yamamoto has taken his words too lightly, which caused him to overlook something. Wonderweiss's ability allowed him to seal Ryujin Jakka's flames, but those flames must be stored somewhere. It turns out they were stored in Wonderweiss's body, and now that his body has been shattered from Yamamoto's attack, all of Yamamoto's flames that were released earlier will explode at the same time. Yamamoto quickly realizes and runs to contain the explosion. Yamamoto succeeds in limiting the magnitude of the explosion so that only things in the barrier were blown up. However, this was at the cost of his body and stamina. Aizen steps in for the kill but Yamamoto has one last trick up his sleeve. He does Ittou Kasou, which is a self sacrificial Hadou that blows up the user's own body. Aizen realizes this attempt to finish him off and manages to dodge with minor injury. As he exits the smoke from the explosion he collides into a full powered Getsuga Tenshou from a Hollowfied Ichigo.

The attack damaged Aizen severely and Ichigo tries another to finish him off. But since Aizen is no longer caught off guard, he dodges the attack and smacks it away with his bare hands. Aizen tells Ichigo he missed his chance to kill him and then shows him the wound, which is rapidly being reconstructed. Aizen reveals he is unharmed because he has merged with the Hougyoku, and then proceeds to acclaim how Ichigo's reiatsu was well developed .. just like he planned. Ichigo remains shocked as Aizen tells him that everything from his meeting with Rukia to his battle with Ulquiorra was played in the palm of his hand. Ichigo refuses to believe him and Aizen manages to convince him. Ichigo asks why Aizen chose him and Aizen says that he has been aware of Ichigo since he was born, because Ichigo is half human - half shinigami.

Just at that moment, Ichigo's father Isshin appears between them. Ichigo is surprised and Isshin takes this time to headbutt him. He then grabs Ichigo and shunpos to a great distance away from Aizen and puts up a reiatsu masking barrier. While they are safe Isshin tells Ichigo he will explain everything, but Ichigo says he doesn't need to know - not until he finds out why his dad has hid this from him. However, for the time being, he does not want to trample on Isshin's feelings, and tells him he is fine not knowing anything. Back on Aizen's side, he notes that Gin has been watching and not fighting for a long time. Gin explains there was no need for him to intervene as Aizen is strong enough by himself. Just as he finished speaking, Ichigo strikes at him from behind. Gin blocks and tells Ichigo it has been a long time since they fought and he will go all out by finally releasing his Bankai. At the same time, Isshin cuts the building they were standing on in half, to separate Gin and Aizen, and begins attacking Aizen. At the flick of his finger, he manages to send Aizen flying through couple buildings.

Thoughts: I have two concerns with what happened. The first thing I want to say is that Yamamoto is dead ... without ever revealing his Bankai. >_< Usually when characters power up they tend to get healed, or their current woulds are negligible because they are stronger. Yamamoto had already defeated Wonderweiss so now there was nothing to counter his fire-based Bankai. Maybe I am just not fully grasping the gravity of the explosion and Yamamoto was already on the verge of death to shield it. The second thing that caught my attention was Isshin's strength. Yamamoto has just stated he was the strongest shinigami in 1000 years, but now Isshin is pretty much kicking Aizen's ass (by appearance, but there's a good chance he has never seen Aizen's Shikai either.) whereas Yamamoto died in the process. He looks around Kyoraku's age, but we haven't seen him in the flashback chapters so I guess maybe he is the generation before. Hopefully all will come to be explained soon.

Labels: Bleach, Manga