Mugen no Jyuunin

October 2002

The manga steps it up a bit. Have we reached the final stretch for Mugen no Jyuunin? That's the feeling we get from the events here...

Back on the Itto-ryu ranch, well, they're burning down the dojo and moving on with Anotsu's plan. It's utterly engulfed in flame as the remaining Itto-ryu guys watch it burn.

From this poitn on, they're going to split up for awhile and reconvene somewhere else.

Meanwhile, Rin and Manji head back to Edo. Manji stops off to visit Kagimura to see what he wanted (if you remember, Kagimura sent Giichi to bring Manji to him... or kill him if he refused).

"Out of the 100 men you killed... Nine of them served under me."

They talk a little while longer- Hagaki asks manji basically one question after another about his "condition"- how long it takes to heal, what kind of damage he can take, if it hurts, etc.

Then, as Manji is answering him with his typical cynical in-your-face response:

He cuts Manji through his chest lightning-quick, Iaido-style. Manji screams out and cuts back, but Kagimura says "Waitwaitwaitwait! I just wanted to see for myself". Manji spends a few minutes crawling around, sputtering blood and coughing and not having fun.

"My God. So this is how you were able to kill 100 men..."
"No- I killed those 100 before I got the worms!"

. .

Kagimura's eldery servant comes in and begins to wipe the blood off the mats and walls. Manji realized then that special mats were laid down that wouldn't stain- Kagimura had this whole thing planned. Manji tells the servant to get him tea ("my throat tastes like iron").

Manji finally says: "Anyway, I came here because I was told you had something you wanted to ask me".