Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist

Kirigakure reserves this order for the finest swordsmen it can raise in any given generation, and by design it never holds more than seven at once, which is where the name originates. The seven blades themselves are treasured heirlooms handed down since the era of the First Mizukage, and the weapons are said to select their own bearers. Anyone able to master one of these mystical swords earns a place among the Seven Swordsmen, a title traditionally passed to the strongest blade-wielder available. United, the seven are held to be capable of toppling an entire nation, ranking as the village's mightiest fighters short of the Mizukage himself.

Not long after the Third Shinobi World War, a lineup of the swordsmen that included Fuguki Suikazan, Jinin Akebino, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Raiga Kurosuki, Jūzō Biwa, and two others cornered a Konoha squad, only to be beaten back by Might Duy, who took on all seven using the Eight Gates Released Formation. The roster shifted over the years that followed. Mangetsu Hōzuki joined and became proficient with every one of the seven blades, and Kisame Hoshigaki rose to the group after killing and replacing Fuguki. One by one the members died or turned rogue and carried their swords off with them, so that by the Fourth Shinobi World War only Hiramekarei, borne by Chōjūrō, still rested in Kiri's hands.

The order's strongest generation was later reanimated to serve Akatsuki during that war. Five of them recovered their old weapons and clashed with the Third Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces, inflicting heavy losses before the alliance managed to seal every swordsman by the second day. Once the reincarnation jutsu was undone, their souls passed on to the Pure Land. In the anime the scattered blades eventually found their way back to Kiri, and the unit was revived with Chōjūrō personally naming Kagura Karatachi to fill his seat. Trouble followed when Shizuma Hoshigaki gathered malcontents into a rival New Seven Ninja Swordsmen bent on restoring the so-called Village of Bloody Mist, luring Kagura into stealing the blades for a coup that Boruto Uzumaki, his friends, Chōjūrō, and Kagura himself ultimately put down.

Across its history the order counted Mangetsu Hōzuki, the rare master of all seven blades, along with Kisame Hoshigaki, Zabuza Momochi, Fuguki Suikazan, Jinin Akebino, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Raiga Kurosuki, and Jūzō Biwa among its ranks. Chōjūrō carried Hiramekarei into the Fourth Shinobi World War and later chose Kagura Karatachi as his successor. The seven weapons themselves are Hiramekarei, a bandaged twin-handled sword that stores and shapes chakra, Kabutowari, an axe and hammer chained together to shatter any defence, Kiba, a pair of lightning-charged twin blades reputed to be the sharpest ever made, Kubikiribōchō, a massive cleaver that mends itself using iron drawn from spilled blood, Nuibari, a needle trailing wire that sews foes together, Samehada, a living shark-skinned weapon that devours chakra, and Shibuki, a blade fitted with a scroll of explosive tags.