Mifune

Grey hair spills nearly to Mifune's waist, and bandages wound around his head likely conceal the injury Hanzō once dealt him. Deep creases mark the skin beneath his black eyes, and a grey goatee and moustache frame his mouth. For the Kage Summit and the meetings that precede the war he keeps to a plain purple, kimono-style garment with sandals, but once the Fourth Shinobi World War opens he dons samurai armour of a far older, more traditional cut than his subordinates wear: a breastplate with four leg plates fixed to it, matching shoulder guards, and armour along his arms and legs. A belt carries a pouch and his katana, Kurosawa, though within the Land of Iron he tends to wear an ordinary sword instead. A dark suit, gloves, and sandals sit beneath the plating, and unlike his fellow samurai he goes maskless. In his youth he had no moustache, kept a shorter goatee, and wore light green armour whose breastplate shielded only his upper right side, with bandages over his forearms.

Mifune is composed, disciplined, and hard to rattle, barely flinching even upon learning that Danzō Shimura had been manipulating him. His detachment from shinobi feuds lets him serve as a neutral broker, and at the Kage Summit he keeps the talks civil and on course, at one point cooling the enraged Fourth Raikage with words alone. Humility runs alongside that steadiness: rather than pin his sharp words at the meeting entirely on Danzō's influence, he shoulders the blame himself and asks the shinobi for forgiveness. Beneath the calm lies a warrior of firm ideals, sworn to the principle of harmony, who commits his samurai to fighting the Akatsuki even though the Land of Iron has long stood apart from ninja wars. His courage is just as steady, for in his youth he alone stood his ground against Hanzō when every other samurai fled. The anime adds a comic streak of forgetfulness, as when he borrows a subordinate's battery to mimic Lightning Release and then orders that same subordinate to radio headquarters, only to be told he is still carrying the battery. His later roles reflect the same qualities, from commanding the Fifth Division to being chosen chairman of the Continental Talks as head of a neutral nation.

As the samurai general, Mifune commands the rest of his order and stands among the most capable of leaders, a quick thinker able to anticipate and counter tactics he has not faced in decades. Age has not dulled his agility, and he can leap high to reach an opponent or close on a foe before hand seals can be formed. Years of exposure have even built up his tolerance to Hanzō's poison. His true renown lies in kenjutsu: wielding the katana Kurosawa, he is celebrated as a master of Iai, the art of drawing the blade in a single flashing slash and sheathing it once the strike is done. His speed at this is such that seal-based techniques are considered useless against him, since he can cover the distance and cut before the hands finish moving. His precision lets him land a killing blow without staining the steel, and it is keen enough to slice open the head of a massive summon like Ibuse. He can also read an opponent's swordsmanship after a single clash, channel chakra through his blade to boost its edge or send a cutting wave at range, and, by the anime, run electricity through his sword to counter Earth Release users. His two duels with Hanzō bookend his career: in his youth Hanzō's kusarigama shattered his sword and poisoned him, only for Hanzō to hand him the antidote out of respect, while during the war a reincarnated Hanzō falls in a mirror-image reversal, his weapon and mask cut apart before Mifune persuades him to reclaim the ideals he had abandoned.