Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist

The, or "Kiri no Sebun Nin no Kenshi", is an organization consisting of only the greatest blade-wielding shinobi that Kirigakure can produce, all of them S-Class and above. There can only be seven members at a time, hence the name. One member of the group was Zabuza Momochi up until his abandoning of the village due to his failed coup d'etat against the Mizukage.

History
The tradition of the Seven Swordsmen originated from an old legend that tells of a time before the Great Shinobi Wars when conquer and plunder was common. The Hidden Mist Village was just sprouting (though, as Orochimaru commented in Anime, it did have a "highly organized" military force) when it was attacked by the ancestors of the present Kaguya Clan. Villagers and shinobi alike were being slaughtered and the village run through until a small brave group of sword-carrying ninja banded together and defeated them all, driving them away thus saving what was left of the village. The Mizukage was quite impressed with their skills that he officially made them an organization of Kirigakure and named them the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Since then, they were sworn to protect Kirigakure and the Mizukage with their lives. But as time went on, the next Mizukages became corrupt with power and ran the village with an iron fist disbanding the Seven Swordsmen and creating their own personal guard to protect in their steed, rather than to stick with old tradition. This corruption and abuse of power were said to have been present all the way into recent times. It is possible that these events are what lead up to Zabuza Momochi, being the former, albeit most recent leader of the Seven Swordsmen and former ANBU squad captain, leading the failed assassination attempt on the current Mizukage. This is all but speculation.

Known members

 * Zabuza Momochi, "Demon of the Hidden Mist" (deceased)
 * Kisame Hoshigaki, "Monster of the Hidden Mist" (currently member of Akatsuki)
 * Raiga Kurosuki, "Thunder of the Hidden Mist" (deceased)

Suspected members

 * Mangetsu Hozuki, elder brother of Suigetsu Hozuki who is currently a member of Team Hawk (status unknown)

Candidates

 * Suigetsu Hozuki, member of Team Hawk