BLEACH: THE FINAL CUT
Welcome to Bleach: The Final Cut, an epic reimagining of Tite Kubo's manga masterpiece. 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 simply love playing in this sandbox.
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. This retelling will also take great liberties with the established lore; do not expect this story to adhere to what is established in the later arcs, the No Breaths from Hell one-shot, or in Ryōgo Narita's novels.
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 are too few and narrow to merit merit a novelistic treatment, but they have far-reaching ramifications for everything that follows – so please read closely.
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 so 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 Quincy 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 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.
• Uryū's memory of discussing the Quincy's tragic fate with his grandfather Sōken Ishida is eliminated. We do not learn how Sōken himself felt about their extermination.
• 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. While he was an unrepentant serial killer as a human, his soul is merely purified and sent to Soul Society for a fresh start, free of madness and sin. The Hell realm is not mentioned at all; it does not feature after Shrieker's death.
• Rukia reveals how the Cycle of Rebirth works after Ichigo persuades Yūichi Shibata to accept the Konsō ritual by promising him that he will find his mother in Soul Society. 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. "What you told him wasn't entirely correct."
"Eh?" Ichigo perked up, slugging Zangetsu over his shoulder and casting Rukia a confused look. "Which part?"
Chad watched Rukia apprehensively, noting the way she rubbed her arm up and down awkwardly. He intuited then that whatever she was about to divulge was bound to be disappointing.
"When you said 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 burden you."
Both Ichigo and Chad's eyes widened in horror as they digested this news.
So that means... death is final, Chad reflected. One day I will leave this planet and become an entirely different person. My consciousness will persist, but it will be like my life here never happened.
He felt a chill run up his spine, with all the superstitions he internalized during a Catholic upbringing in Mexico suddenly dashed. In the space of a mere minute, he had gotten material confirmation of an afterlife along with the knowledge that he wouldn't get to experience it as himself, Yasutora Sado. It was a lot to wrap his head around.
Ichigo was sputtering with indignation, but for a different reason.
"So you're saying I lied to that kid?!" the Shinigami Deputy barked, his face turning scarlet pink. "Why didn't you set the record straight?"
Rukia was taken aback. "If I had contradicted you, he wouldn't have willingly cooperated with the Konsō."
"But that was his right!" Ichigo shouted, squeezing a fist in frustration. "He only went to the Soul Society because I told him a big fat stupid lie. He thought he was gonna get to see his mom again, but you're saying he won't even remember her? It's like I played a practical joke on him. That... that's bullshit!"
"No!" Rukia pushed back, her face turning stern. "You did that child a kindness, Ichigo. Souls who linger here on Earth inevitably become Hollows. They are corrupted precisely because they cannot let go of who they once were. You brought Yūichi 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! Otherwise he would have eventually fallen into the same despair as Inoue's brother. There is nothing honorable about letting lost souls turn into monsters."
Ichigo fell silent, his furious eyes turning downcast and reflective. Rukia watched him with sympathy, struck by how mortal he looked. She herself had been human once, but all she could remember was life in Soul Society. She would have whole centuries to make peace with the finality of her death, but these human boys comparatively had such a meagre window to experience life. She understood it wasn't fair, but the Cycle of Souls was absolute. There was no way around it.
Chad, with the grace of a leaf floating down a river, walked up to Ichigo and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Yūichi lost his home here a long time ago; that monster saw to that," he said softly. "You gave him the courage to find a new home in the next life. Thank you, Ichigo... for saving my friend."
Ichigo looked up at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to say. Finally, he settled on a smile.
THE SOUL SOCIETY
• Byakuya Kuchiki is not the head of the Kuchiki Clan. 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 Clan. However, she was the heir apparent before her disappearance a century ago.
• Souls who live in the Rukongai's 80th District are kept there, forced to live in the godforsaken outskirts for their entire lives. The official justification is that anyone who finds themselves in the 80th District is 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 he had promised. The interaction is deeply bittersweet for Chad, who is grateful that Yūichi at least wound up in the most hospitable part of the Rukongai and has found a new adoptive family.
• The Shiba Clan weren't formerly one of the elite families; they were instead a vassal for one of the divine clans. Kūkaku makes mention that she and Ganju descend from a noble bloodline, but their ancestors were never the elite.
• Orihime Inoue disarms Jirobo Ikkanzaka, demonstrating that she has potential on the battlefield. After Uryū Ishida destroys Jirobo's Shikai attack, the fourth seat Shinigami refashions his Zanpakutō and takes Orihime hostage. Orihime finally becomes fed up with his underhandedness and surprises him by deploying Koten Zanshun. This technique launches into 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 like him. Uryū is impressed and proceeds to finish Jorobo off by destroying his Saketsu and Hakusui with a well-aimed Heilig Pfeil.
• 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 limiter and uncorks 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 power. Kenpachi is still moved by Ichigo's bond with Zangetsu and attempts to communicate with his Zanpakutō after their battle.
• The death of Uryū's grandfather is changed somewhat. Uryū saw Sōken being overwhelmed by Hollows, he did not see him die. The boy instead ran away to fetch help and never found a body afterwards. Unbeknownst to him, a Shinigami patrol did eventually arrive and fought the Hollows off, only to then abduct an injured Sōken on Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi's orders. Sōken hadn't 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 Zanpakutō." All we need to know is that it is strong enough to execute a Shinigami and do the deed with style. Furthermore, when Ichigo makes his move on Sōkyoku Hill, Chōjirō Sasakibe is not among the lieutenants he makes short work of. Marechiyo Ōmaeda and Isane Kotetsu alone fulfill the role of fodder. We do not see Sasakibe in action by this point.
• When Sōsuke Aizen impales Momo Hinamori, she is permanently killed. 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 truly believed that slaying Hinamori was the most merciful outcome for her. He viewed it as an ugly necessity rather than just a cherry on top of his treason sundae.
• While Hitsugaya ran through one of Aizen's illusions in the anime, this did not happen in the manga. We will make it so: Tōshirō believes he has run Aizen through, only for the Fifth Division Captain to stride past and cut him down.
• Aizen isn't as outwardly dismissive of Ichigo. When he cuts him down, he remarks that he is disappointed in the Ryoka boy's strength after all the promise he had shown. He will pointedly never refer to Ichigo as a "human" throughout the series.
• When Aizen explains his elaborate plan, he says that Kisuke Urahara was condemned for the crime of "conducting experiments on his fellow Shinigami" instead of inventing an untraceable Gigai.
• Aizen does not dub Urahara the inventor of the Hōgyoku, but admits that the exile had gotten closer than he did in creating a fully-realized one. He strongly implies that he already has his own variation, but that Urahara's creation will help him perfect it.
• 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 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 by insisting that they might not even have been sisters and that the resemblance was merely a coincidence. She came to later regret her decision, always knowing deep down that Rukia was indeed her biological sister.
• Ichigo and his friends spend only three days recuperating in the Seireitei instead of a full week before returning to the World of the Living.
Now, with all of these alterations established, we can begin with this revisionist 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?