"I... I can prove my innocence..." the samurai in red armor said, his voice trembling.
He raised his slightly shaking hands and unfastened a short sword from his waist.
Drawing the blade, he shouted at the sky.
"Captain... I'm innocent..." Without hesitation, he plunged it into his abdomen.
Shnk-
"Don't..." Seeing what he was doing, Mifune tried to step forward and stop him, but it was already too late.
Faced with the gruesome sight, Mifune could only close his eyes and look away.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he opened his eyes and glared fiercely at the other samurai in red armor.
"Ichirō, you're the traitor..." Even now, Mifune could scarcely believe this man was a traitor, someone who had abandoned his convictions.
Deep down, he was still praying that the real traitor might have died in the earlier explosion!
His gaze remained fixed on the green figure before him.
Seeing the samurai beside him commit seppuku, Ichirō curled his lips into a contemptuous smile.
He no longer wanted to keep up the deception, and his gaze turned toward the distance.
He knew reinforcements had arrived. There was no point in hiding it any longer.
"Mifune, you've had your fill of being captain of the samurai battalion, haven't you?"
"Today, you die here..." he said viciously.
Mifune's eyes widened in disbelief.
"It really was you..."
He could hardly believe it, but the truth was right before his eyes.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again. Now he understood.
"Shinobi of Konoha... you must leave this traitor to me, Mifune!" he said in an emotionless voice.
"This is a battle between our convictions as samurai..."
With that, he drew the long sword at his waist and attacked the man before him.
Orochimaru made no move to stop them, quietly