BLEACH: THE FINAL CUT
Welcome to Bleach: The Final Cut, an epic reimagining of Tite Kubo's manga masterpiece, BLEACH. This story builds upon the canonical manga's first two arcs before branching off into an expansive, rollicking alternative vision. To be clear, I am not presuming that any of these changes improve upon Kubo-sama's creation; I am simply writing the story that his work stoked in my imagination.
This is based on the Bleach manga, not the anime adaptation. Anything that was established in the anime's early episodes that did not occur in the manga does not exist in this version of events.
To clarify the status of this work: after reaching the midpoint of the Fullbring Arc, I decided to go back and rewrite this entire story from scratch. I learned a lot about writing and what I wanted this story to be over the year-and-a-half I had spent on it, and I want to make it consistently engaging from top to bottom. So, after much consideration, I've decided to shudder the original chapters for now to spare any confusion and preserve the element of surprise for new readers. For those who have been keeping up with this story and miss the original chapters, please bear with me. These chapters will return revitalized and better than ever.
Before we can begin The Final Cut, there are some subtle alterations to Bleach's first two arcs that we have to get out of the way, first. These changes to character details and world-building are too few to merit reimagining this portion of the story altogether, but they have far-reaching ramifications for everything that follows – so please read closely.
FIRST ARC: DEATH & STRAWBERRY
– Rukia makes fewer declarative statements regarding power-scaling. Whenever she is alarmed by a new level of Hollow, her concern is merely that it may be too much for Ichigo to handle at his present level.
– Kisuke Urahara does not call his store "Urahara Shop." I am terribly sorry for this nitpick and promise to keep them to a minimum, but it always bothered me and I'm changing it. The name of the convenience store is Kakkōībaibusu Shop (Groovy Vibes Shop). It is an odd name, and partly the reason why they get so few customers.
– Urahara's recollection of the Quincy's history diverges slightly from the Canon. He states that they were ancestral enemies of the Shinigami who originated in the World of the Living, but that the last war had occurred 200 years ago against descendants who were a shadow of the Empire's former glory. He explains that Soul Society purged this weaker remnant of the Quincy Empire because they were threatening the Balance of Souls by aggressively hunting Hollows, but he doesn't offer any explanation about their motivations.
– Byakuya is garbed in his captain's robes when he retrieves Rukia from the World of the Living. Just a nitpick, but we might as well tidy up while we're here.
– The Hollow named Shrieker does not go to Hell after Ichigo slays him. The serial killer is merely purified, his soul sent to Soul Society to have a fresh start free of madness and sin. The Hell Dimension is not explained or mentioned at all – we will get to that later.
– Most importantly, Rukia reveals how the Cycle of Rebirth works shortly after Ichigo slays Shrieker; when he persuades Yūichi Shibata to accept the Konsō ritual and travel to Soul Society by promising him that he will find his mother there. After the boy finally fades away, Rukia is pensive:
"Ichigo..." Rukia said softly, her eyes following the black Jigokuchō fluttering through the air, off to shepherd Yūichi through the Senkaimon. "... That wasn't exactly correct, what you told him."
"Hm?" Ichigo perked up, strapping Zangetsu to his back and casting Rukia a confused glance. "Which part?"
Chad was listening apprehensively, observing how Rukia rubbed her arm up and down awkwardly. Whatever she has to say will disappoint us, he intuited.
"When you said that his mother was waiting for him in Soul Society... that wasn't true," Rukia continued. "She doesn't remember him, and he will not remember her once he reaches the other side. Memories fade away during the journey to Soul Society. Once you arrive, you are a blank slate with an entirely new personality. You start anew, with no unfinished business left from your past life to bother you."
Ichigo and Chad both grew uneasy, their eyes widening in horror as they digested the true meaning of this information. So, as far as identity was concerned, death was final. One day they would pass on into the next world and become entirely different people. Ichigo Kurosaki and Yasutora Sado, as they understood themselves, would be no more. Their consciousness would persist, but they'd have no memory of what preceded it.
Chad felt a chill run up his spine. This was particularly upsetting news for him, given his Catholic upbringing in Mexico. It didn't take, but he had retained some hope of life beyond death. In the space of mere minutes, he had gotten confirmation of an afterlife - and the knowledge that he wouldn't get to experience it as himself. It was a lot to wrap his head around.
Ichigo, however, was flustered for a different reason.
"So I lied to that kid?!" Ichigo barked, his face turning scarlet pink. "Why didn't you say anything?!"
Rukia was taken aback. She hadn't seen Ichigo this angry before.
"If I had contradicted you... he wouldn't have cooperated with the Konsō," she explained.
"But he only went along with it because of a lie!" Ichigo shouted, squeezing his fist into a tight ball out of frustration. "That kid passed onto Soul Society thinking he was gonna get to see his mom. And now he won't even remember her? It's like I played a practical joke on him. That's sick!"
"No, what you did was a kindness, Ichigo!" Rukia pushed back firmly. "Souls who linger here on Earth will inevitably become Hollows. They are corrupted because they cannot let go of who they once were. You brought that child peace, and now he will have a fresh start. If I had thought to lie to him, I would have done it, and with a clear conscience! There is nothing honorable about letting wayward souls turn into monsters."
Ichigo was silent, his sad eyes cast down onto the ground. Rukia looked at him with sympathy, understanding that he was trying to reconcile his new duty with harsh realities. She wished she could have kept the truth from him, but he had earned the right to know about the Cycle of Souls.
It had all been esoteric for her before then. She had been human once, but her life – as she understood it – began in Soul Society. She would have centuries more to make peace with the finality of her death, but these human boys comparatively had a pitifully short window to experience life. She knew it wasn't fair, but the Cycle was absolute. There was no way around it.
Ichigo remained still until Chad placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Ichigo, you did the right thing," Chad said softly. "Thank you... for helping my friend."
The Shinigami Deputy looked back at him, unsure of what to say. Finally, he settled on a smile.
SECOND ARC: THE SOUL SOCIETY
– Byakuya Kuchiki is not the head of the Kuchiki Dynasty. He is currently the heir. Should he ascend to the head of his family, he would have to retire from the Gotei 13 and surrender Senbonzakura for destruction. Meanwhile, Yoruichi Shihōin was not the head of the Shihōin Dynasty. She was the heir apparent before her disappearance a century ago.
– Souls who come from the Rukongai's 80th District are kept there. They are forced to live in these godforsaken outskirts for their entire lives, deemed too dangerous and wild to ever assimilate into the Seireitei.
– When Ichigo, Chad, Uryū Ishida, and Orihime Inoue are in the Rukongai, they encounter a reborn Yūichi Shibata, who has no memory of his past life. While he does not recognize Chad, he befriends him once again and the gentle giant gets to carry him around on his shoulders, like they had promised. The interaction deeply moves Chad, who is grateful that Yūichi at least got to live in the more hospitable part of the Rukongai.
- The Shiba Clan weren't a royal family, but a noble vassal who served one of the elite powers. Kūkaku makes mention that she and Ganju descended from a noble bloodline, but their ancestors were never the elite.
– Orihime Inoue delivers the finishing strike against Jirobo Ikkanzaka, demonstrating that she has potential on the battlefield. After Uryū Ishida destroys Jirobo's Tsunzakigarasu, the fourth seat Shinigami refashions his Zanpakutō and takes Orihime hostage. Orihime is fed up with his underhandedness and surprises both Jirobo and Uryū by deploying Koten Zanshun. This technique launches into the Jirobo's Zanpakutō and splits it from inside; Orihime had found a workaround for her fear of hurting others by simply destroying the Shinigami's weapon. She tells Jirobo that she may not have killing intent, but that does not make her a coward – unlike him. Uryū is impressed, and knocks Jirobo out with a kick to the chin.
– When Zaraki Kenpachi duels Ichigo, he does not remove his eyepatch. He does not reveal his full power until his fight against Kaname Tōsen and Sajin Komamura, when he finally removes the eyepatch and unleashes his Reiatsu. This change will spare us a lot of power-scaling grief going forward. Ichigo fights him to a draw, but unbeknownst to him Kenpachi was still holding back a lot of his strength.
– When Yoruichi saves Ichigo from his first rematch with Byakuya, her old pupil is more startled to see her and their shared history is strongly implied. She teases that his Shunpo hasn't gotten any faster, much to his consternation.
- The death of Uryū's grandfather is changed somewhat. He believed that Sōken was killed by a Hollow, but he never actually saw his body. Instead, a Shinigami patrol arrived and fought the Hollow off, but then abducted an injured Sōken and brought him to Mayuri. Sōken had not died and become a soul when Mayuri experimented on him; he was still human.
– Yoruichi does not quantify how much a Bankai multiplies a Shinigami's strength. The Sōkyoku's power is never quantified, either: it is never described as being equivalent to "a million Zanpakuto." It is strong enough to execute a Shinigami and does it with style; that's all we need to know. Furthermore, when Ichigo makes his move, Chōjirō Sasakibe is not among the lieutenants who Ichigo makes short work of. Marechiyo Ōmaeda and Isane Kotetsu alone fulfill the role of fodder. We do not see Sasakibe fight yet.
– When Sōsuke Aizen impales Momo Hinamori, she is permanently dead. No resurrections; the betrayal leaves a lasting and traumatic consequence. However, Aizen is not as boastful about the deed as he was in the Canon and does not tell Tōshirō Hitsguaya that he should have "left pieces of her all over Soul Society for him to find. When Aizen explains his rationale for murdering Hinamori to Renji Abarai, his reasoning remains the same, but his tone is more sombre and less gleefully malevolent. In his own twisted logic, Aizen believed that slaying Hinamori was the most merciful outcome for her. He viewed it as a regrettable necessity rather than just spiking the betrayal football.
– While Hitsugaya ran through one of Aizen's illusions in the anime, this did not happen in the Canon. We will make it so: Tōshirō believes he has run Aizen through, only for the Fifth Division Captain to stride past him, cutting him deep.
– When Aizen encounters Ichigo, he isn't as dismissive of him as he was in the Canon. When he cuts him down, he remarks that he is disappointed in the "Ryoka boy" after he showed some promise. This alteration is meant to bring more continuity to Aizen's grand plan for Ichigo. He will pointedly never refer to him as a "human" throughout the series.
– When Aizen explains his elaborate plan to Ichigo, he says that Kisuke Urahara was condemned for the crime of "conducting experiments on his fellow Shinigami" instead of inventing an untraceable Gigai. Of course, Aizen says this to sow distrust between Ichigo and Urahara.
When Aizen remarks that he had already invented his own Hōgyoku long ago, but Urahara's variation will allow him to perfect his creation. He does not dub Urahara the inventor of the Hōgyoku, but admits he got closer than he did in creating a fully-realized one.
– When Komamura demands that Tōsen explain his betrayal, Tōsen does not say that he follows "the path least soaked in blood" — instead he says that following Aizen's way is "the only path towards justice."
– Hisana and Rukia were only identified as sisters in the Rukongai because they arrived simultaneously and looked so much alike. When Hisana abandoned Rukia, she rationalized her decision in that moment by insisting that they might not have have been sisters after all and that the resemblance was a coincidence. She swiftly felt deep regret, accepting that she always knew in her heart that Rukia was indeed her biological sister.
– When Komamura visits the grave of Tōsen's friend, he does not call her "nameless." He knows her name, but not say it aloud.
– Ichigo and his friends spend only three days recuperating in the Seireitei before they return to the World of the Living, instead of a full week.
Now, with all of these alterations established, we can begin with this alternate opus. The Final Cut begins immediately after Bleach Chapter 183: Eyes of the Unknown, Ichigo Kurosaki's first day back at school after successfully rescuing Rukia from execution. I recommend re-reading that chapter to get your bearings. Now, shall we start?