Shibumi

Formerly an Ishin Shishi and Secretary to the Council of Elders, Shibumi secretly worked as an assassin behind his official façade. He was also the mastermind behind the Kurokasa Incident. After being commissioned to have Kenshin Himura assassinated, he sent Hajime Saitou as the hitman, but this attempt ended in failure. Although he regarded Saitou as nothing more than a pawn, upon discovering Saitou’s connections to Toshimichi Ookubo, he tried to bribe Saitou to obtain compromising information on Ookubo, plotting to seize the position of Home Minister for himself. However, Saitou refused the bribe, stating that his service to the Meiji government was to personally eliminate corrupt officials driven by selfish desires. With this, Saitou killed Shibumi.

According to "Kenshin Hiden," there is speculation that the one who commissioned the assassination of Kenshin was Kaoru Inoue. The author has stated, "Since it is unrelated to the main plot, I didn’t depict that part," and thus does not flatly deny it.