Saitō Hajime
After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin faces a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer, Saitō Hajime. This challenge turns out to be a test to face his successor. Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that Shishio's faction may attack his friends, Kenshin meets Shishio alone to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, whom he meets in his travels, decide to help him in his fight. After his first meeting with him, Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu, Hiko Seijūrō, to learn the school's final technique. He finally accepts his friends' help and defeats Shishio in a close fight. After that, Shishio died burning to ashes after passing the limit of his abnormal body condition.