Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Renji Abarai & Byakuya Kuchiki

 is a fight which takes place between Ichigo Kurosaki and Lieutenant Renji Abarai & Captain Byakuya Kuchiki after the latter two arrive in the Human World to bring Rukia Kuchiki back to Soul Society for her impending execution.

Prelude
When Rukia realizes Soul Society will be sending troops after her, she flees the Kurosaki Clinic in an attempt to keep the heat off of Ichigo. When Ichigo learns of this, he leaves to try and stop her. Meanwhile, Rukia is spotted by Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, Rukia's adoptive older brother, and Lieutenant Renji Abarai of the 6th Division of the Gotei 13. Uryū Ishida, who was following Rukia, intervenes to protect the unarmed Rukia, but is dispatched by Renji.

Battle
Ichigo arrives at the scene just in time to stop Renji from landing a finishing blow on Uryū, catching him by surprise. As Renji backs away to take a better look at the person who blocked him, Ichigo, introducing himself, says he will defeat Renji. Seeing a Shinigami before him, Renji, baffled for a second, recovers and, realizing Ichigo is the Human to whom Rukia gave her powers, attacks. When Ichigo finds himself on the defensive, Renji, mocking Ichigo's abnormally large Zanpakutō, slices deep into Ichigo's shoulder. As Ichigo falls to his knees, Renji tells him Rukia, after regaining her powers, will be taken to Soul Society and executed. When Renji states Ichigo could never even scratch an experienced Shinigami like himself, an aggravated Ichigo responds with a sucker attack, which scratches Renji's chin.

Intervening for the first time, Byakuya tells Renji he has been careless. When Renji protests, Byakuya says Ichigo was responsible for the wounding of a Menos Grande two days before. Laughing in disbelief, Renji, disregarding the report, asks Ichigo for the name of his Zanpakutō, which Ichigo does not know. Releasing his Zanpakutō, Renji reveals his Shikai, Zabimaru, and, explaining how a Zanpakutō can change its shape and size in accordance with its wielder's spiritual power, tells Ichigo he should return once he has trained for 2000 years. When Renji attacks again, Ichigo, attempting to block, is sliced through the shoulder by Zabimaru. Preparing to administer a killing blow, Renji is thwarted by Rukia, who, jumping on his back, cries for Ichigo to run away. Instead of running, Ichigo, grabbing the hilt of his sword, stands up to face Renji again.

Experiencing an increase of his Reiatsu, noted by the Shinigami surrounding him, Ichigo, slicing through Renji's shoulder before he has a chance to react, turns around and attacks again, breaking Renji's sunglasses and leaving a gash in his forehead. Feeling his renewed Reiatsu like a surge of energy, Ichigo, intending to finish the fight, attacks the shocked Renji. When the attack fails to connect, Ichigo, looking at his sword, sees it only has about 6 inches of blade left. Realizing Renji could not have done it, Ichigo looks at Byakuya, who stands behind him, holding the rest of the blade in his hand. Dropping the blade, he appears next to Ichigo as a huge amount of blood sprays out of Ichigo's chest.

Aftermath
As Ichigo crumples to the ground, Rukia, rushing to his side, is apprehended by Renji. When he tells her she should not aggravate her sentence by helping Ichigo any further, she insists she must because it is her fault he is dying. When Byakuya, hearing this, states Ichigo bears a striking resemblance to him, Ichigo grabs Byakuya's uniform. As everyone expresses surprise at Ichigo still being alive and conscious, Byakuya orders Ichigo to let go, but Ichigo refuses. When Byakuya threatens to cut off Ichigo's hand, Rukia kicks Ichigo's hand away, telling him to know his place, and asks to leave in light of Ichigo's crude behavior.

When Ichigo tries to get up, Renji, stomping on his back, suggests he lay there and die quietly. Rukia tells Byakuya not to bother killing Ichigo because he will probably die on his own. When Ichigo tries to stand up again, she tells him to stay put, and if he tries to follow her, she will never forgive him. Agreeing to let Ichigo live, Byakuya says his attack, which cut through Ichigo's Saketsu and Hakusui, will take away any trace of Shinigami power, even if he should survive. On Byakuya's order, Renji opens the Senkaimon, and the three Shinigami depart to Soul Society.

Rukia is taken back to Soul Society, where she is sentenced to be executed by the Sōkyoku. After Ichigo's life is saved by Kisuke Urahara, he is forced to go through rigorous training in order to access his latent Shinigami powers, first awakened by Rukia's intervention. During this training, he makes contact with his Zanpakutō. Uryū, Yasutora Sado, and Orihime Inoue train with the intent to accompany Ichigo on his quest to save Rukia's life.

Renji and Byakuya return to their duties in the Gotei 13. Rukia's lifelong friend, Renji, is convinced her older brother would have her sentence commuted. He is shocked to learn the harsh sentence was imposed.