Mifune

is the of the Land of Iron.

Background
At one point in the past Mifune and other samurai were pitted against Hanzō. While everyone escaped in fear, Mifune stood proud against him, willing to protect his comrades. During their battle Hanzō's kusarigama broke through Mifune's sword and struck his head, poisoning him. With the battle finished, Hanzō expressed his beliefs to him, and, acknowledging his faith and strength, gave Mifune the antidote for the poison and left.

Appearance
Mifune has long grey hair, which almost reaches down to his waist, with bandages wrapped around his head, possibly covering the wound received by Hanzō in their past battle. He has black eyes with distinct wrinkles underneath them. He also has a grey goatee and moustache. During the Kage Summit and the meetings before the war, he was seen with a simple purple kimono-like outfit, but when the Fourth Shinobi World War began, he started wearing a samurai armour, much more traditional in appearance when compared to the ones worn by his subordinates: it's composed of a breastplate, with four plates protecting his legs attached to it, identical shoulder pads, and matching arm and leg guards. He also wears a belt, to which is attached a pouch. Underneath his armour he wears a simple dark suit along with gloves and sandals. Also, unlike other samurai, he doesn't wear a mask.

In his youth, his long hair was tied in a ponytail, he didn't have the moustache, and his goatee was much shorter. He already sported his samurai armour back then.

Personality
Mifune is calm and level-headed person who hardly reacted even when Danzō Shimura was found to be manipulating him. During the conferences with the Kage he is generally the one who keeps the meetings productive and on track, usually by using his lack of association with shinobi and their past conflicts to act as a neutral mediator. He is also very humble, having taken responsibility for criticizing the Kage during the meeting, rather than attributing it all to Danzō's manipulation, asking the shinobi for forgiveness afterwards. As he clashed with a resurrected Hanzō, he addressed him with much respect, promising him he would have spoken of him like a hero, and praising his great faith.

Beneath his calm surface Mifune is a warrior of strong ideals, devoted to the ideal of. He showed no hesitation in committing his samurai fully to fighting the threat of Akatsuki despite the Land of Iron's long held position of neutrality in ninja wars.

Abilities
As the General of the samurai, Mifune has command of the rest of them and, by extension, is a highly capable leader. Despite his old age, Mifune has also shown great agility as shown from jumping high into the air to reach Sasuke and moving with incredible speed to attack Hanzō before he could form hand seals. He also seems to have built up immunity to Hanzō's poison since the two have clashed in their youth.

Kenjutsu
Mifune is a masterful swordsman who wields the katana. He is widely renowned as a master of Iai, a style of swordsmanship which involves the user rapidly unsheathing his blade to slash the enemies, and then re-sheathing it after completing the attack. Mifune's mastery of Iai is such that Hanzō and others have stated how it was useless to try and perform ninjutsu against him, due to the fact that Mifune is capable of attacking within the short time it takes to make hand seals.

Due to his extensive knowledge of swordplay, Mifune can judge the weaponry skill of his opponents, such as Sasuke and Hanzō, after a single clash. Like his subordinates, he is also capable of channeling chakra through his sword to increase its cutting power.

Five Kage Summit Arc
Mifune greets Gaara upon his arrival in the Land of Iron. Mifune states that he is the moderator as the meeting of the Kage commences, during this meeting Mifune also voices that he should be respected as the neutral party in the event that an alliance between the Five Great Shinobi Countries is formed.

Mifune proposed that Danzō should lead the five-village alliance to deal with Akatsuki, to the shock of the other Kage, because Konohagakure was believed to have the only remaining jinchūriki. However, Ao suggested that Danzō is using his Sharingan to control Mifune. After Zetsu interrupted the Kage meeting, he ordered two of his men, Okisuke and Urakaku, to locate Sasuke Uchiha at all costs. Later he reprimanded Danzō for using the mind-controlling dōjutsu, as the use of ninjutsu was forbidden during the meeting.

Later, when Sasuke infiltrates the summit, he watches as White Zetsu is attacked by the Fourth Raikage. He is present when Sasuke finally reaches the meeting room, and is the first to attack him using impressive speed and jumping ability. He manages to surprise Sasuke with his sword attack, but it is nevertheless deflected. Mifune compliments Sasuke on his sword skills.

After Madara retrieved Sasuke and revealed his plan to unleash an "Infinite Tsukiyomi" on the world as well as a declaration for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Mifune promises to aid the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the battle against Akatsuki.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
Mifune attends the meeting called by the Fourth Raikage, bringing along Okisuke. He started the meeting by addressing the matter of the two remaining jinchūriki and information about the enemy's headquarters, strength and various things. He also reminded the Kage about their unity that will bring them victory.

Upon the news of Kisame Hoshigaki had infiltrated the jinchūriki's hiding place, Mifune participated in talking about the solutions to take. He commented that it is necessary to send a small elite force as the backup, because too large a force will be discovered by the enemy. It was agreed on that the Tsuchikage should go to the island as reinforcement.

When the Tsuchikage returns from the island, the last meeting is held in order to fully prepare for the war. Mifune comments that the victor will be determined by who strikes first. When the Tsuchikage received his Allied Shinobi forehead protector from the Kazekage in preparation for the war, Mifune comments that he personally designed it. He also says that the shinobi who have been divided will fight as one and samurai will join forces with shinobi.

Shinobi World War Arc
Mifune is assigned to be Commander of the Fifth Division. He is later seen telling one of his samurai to have a segment of the Fifth Division help the Second Division against a portion of the White Zetsu Army. After receiving instructions from the Intelligence Division, Mifune and a small team moves out to help the Surprise Attack Division. Right when a paralysed Kankurō was about to be killed by Hanzō, Mifune arrives and blocks his attack stating he wishes to fight him.

Trading banter, the two engaged in a brief, but fierce duel, Hanzō trying to keep the distance with his kusarigama. During their duel, Mifune realised that his opponent's skill had become rusty, while his own skills with the blade were sharper than before. Preventing Hanzō from using hand seals with Iaidō, Hanzō tried to suffocate him in the poisonous mouth of Ibuse, his salamander by swallowing him whole. Mifune countered by slashing through the salamander's head while Hanzō moved in for a final blow. In a complete reverse of their first battle years ago, Mifune cut the blade of Hanzō's kusarigama in half and slashed through his body.

Gravely rebuking Hanzō for disposing of his ideals, Mifune was able to convince him of further possibilities towards peace. Reflecting on this, Hanzō committed seppuku, rupturing his poison organ and immobilizing him long enough to be sealed by the Fifth Division. Mifune then praised Hanzō's recovery of his ideals and promises to honour his exploits.

Trivia

 * The name Mifune is often used for samurai or rōnin characters. It comes from the famous Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune, who made a name playing in over 170 feature films, often portraying samurai and rōnin roles. Some of the films he played in are Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yōjinbō, and Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy. Making the connection even stronger is Mifune's sword, which is called Kurosawa.

Quotes

 * (To the Fifth Division) "No need for assistance! If you don't want to get cut, then don't get in my way."
 * (To Hanzō)
 * (To Hanzō) "People who continue to put their lives on the line to defend their faith become heroes and will continue to exist on in legends! Stop bending your faith and scraping away your body... give up trying to refine and polish yourself. Your attack doesn't have the sharpness it used to! Because of that, your blade is dirtied with blood. Bluntness will not last! People are like swords!"