Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-10797017-20130624101208/@comment-5657895-20130709151916

HollowKing17 wrote: And regarding the Captaincy issue what do you think about what Shunsui said in 545 quite interesting to say the least. . I believe that he intends to make Ichigo Captain (He is too strong to be the lieutenant) of the eighth which is quite a good move on Shunsui's part as Ichigo was the only person in the end who could fight Aizen evenly so if this is building to something like that then who'd be the Lieutenant my guess is Yumichika seeing as he is at lieutenant level already and is only a 5th seat.

I can't think of any other reason he'd say that can you guys?

It's entirely possible, or else it would be strange for the Captain Commander to come himself. He could have sent Ukitake, who is Karakura Town's Captain Guardian officially, but the fact that he came himself might mean he intends to at least permanently bring Ichigo over to the Soul Society. They hinted even further at that with Yuzu looking at the sky and wondering her brother will be coming back. Sadly, it seems like he won't, save for a final round of goodbyes conducted over two chapters.

It makes sense. They've never mentioned what Ichigo intends to do with his life, as was explained in the Lost Agent arc.