Shinomori Aoshi

Shinomori Aoshi is the genius young leader of the Oniwabanshū onmitsu. He became the leader of the Oniwabanshū at the age of 15 on the recommendation of Okina. Known to his followers as the "Okashira", Aoshi's skills in combat, stealth and reconnaissance are the best. Having missed his chance to gain glory for the Oniwabanshū during the Bakumatsu, he led a group of his men in serving as enforcers for the wealthy industrialist and opium dealer Takeda Kanryū in the hopes of finding a new battlefield in the Meiji era. When Kanryū made himself the enemy of the legendary Hitokiri Battōsai. Aoshi believed that his long-missed chance to prove the superiority of the Oniwabanshū had finally come. Unfortunately, Kanryū's wicked deception and greed cost Aoshi's men their lives and the shame of being defeated and then rescued by Battōsai drove Aoshi to be completely obsessed with defeating the Battōsai at any cost in order to gain the title of "the strongest" and bestow that title upon the graves of his fallen comrades.