Masked_Felix

No, it's like this.

Ichigo may have gotten his first powers to become a shinigami from Rukia, but it was only like hooking jumper cables to a car that won't start from one that will. Ichigo would have been able to become a Shinigami naturally eventually. The first Zanpakuto was still Zangetsu, just in an unreleased form. After Ichigo regained his Shinigami powers, Zangetsu was still broken because in order to repair your Zanpakuto, you have to commune with it. Ichigo didn't even know it's name. When he did learn Zangetsu's name, he awoke Shikai, or the initial release, of his Zanpakuto. Zangetsu is a constant release type Zanpaukto, which means that once released into Shikai, it always stays in Shikai from then on.

__________________