Bleach, Vol. 8: The Blade and Me

Part-time student, full-time Soul Reaper, Ichigo is one of the chosen few guardians of the afterlife.

Ichigo Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghosts—he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow—a malevolent lost soul—Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping the tortured spirits themselves find peace. Find out why Tite Kubo’s Bleach has become an international manga smash-hit!

Ichigo knows that to retrieve Rukia from the Soul Society, he'll have to enter that world himself. But his fight with Rukia's brother Byakuya showed, in no uncertain terms, that Ichigo still has a great deal of rigorous study and training ahead of him. Deep beneath Kisuke's Urahara Shoten, Ichigo practices his fighting and hones his spiritual energies, and now he must face the most daunting challenge of all: prevent his Chain of Fate from consuming itself, or be forever transformed into a soul-devouring Hollow!