==Overview=
The Soul Society Arc is the portion of the story beginning shortly after Rukia's forced return to the Soul Society, and ending after he leaves. In it, Ichigo and his friends invade the Soul Society to rescure Rukia, who deals with her impending execution sentence, while the Gotei 13 tries to stop him and deals with internal strife from the execution and the murder of Captain Aizen. At the climax, Aizen is revealed to be a traitor shortly before escaping to the Soul Society with the Hogyoku.