User blog comment:Apocaylpse06/Ichigo Kurosaki's (New) Zanpakuto/@comment-1975828-20110815110510/@comment-4307134-20110817061751

But remember when he trained with Urahara and he destroyed that sword, Ichigo Released it into Shikai form by calling Zangetsu, It was the same sword he had received the first episode so it means that the sword was the sealed Zangetsu. re watch it, its the same sword before and after Byakuya's attack