Taro Sakamoto's Past Arc

Spanning roughly sixteen chapters, this arc follows straight on from the JCC Infiltration Arc and hands readers their fullest look yet at who Sakamoto used to be. The framing is domestic: back at home and preparing for the coming journey abroad, Shin presses to know more about his mentor's buried life, and the two argue over whether the moment is right for that reckoning. From there the narrative dives into the past, tracing the mission that first brought Sakamoto together with the figures who would define his career.

The flashback centers on a job to take down the so-called Steel Dragon, a target who turns out to be Kindaka in disguise. Sakamoto works the assignment alongside Nagumo, Rion, and Uzuki, the four of them clashing with Kindaka before joining forces against tougher opponents, including the killers Higuchi and Kobayashi. Through these fights the story lays out the bonds and rivalries that shaped Sakamoto's prime, culminating in a confrontation that pits him directly against Uzuki. Woven through the action are the revelations about the people around him, from Nagumo's lineage to the true positions held by the men steering the assassin world.

The arc rewires much of the series' backstory. Kindaka steps forward as one of the two founders of the Order, sharing that origin with Yotsumura, and Soichi Amo is unveiled as the head of the JAA. The biggest turn concerns Uzuki: his older brother Asaki is revealed as a chairman figure, and Uzuki himself is exposed as a spy operating on that brother's behalf. Nagumo, meanwhile, is shown to come from a family of spies. When Uzuki and Akao vanish after the mission, their disappearance becomes the very reason Sakamoto and Nagumo ultimately sign on with the Order. On the present-day thread, Amane and Heisuke decide to travel with Sakamoto and Shin to Bangkok.