Board Thread:Episode Discussions/@comment-1181222-20171011112920/@comment-734582-20171018142734

BerserkerPhantom wrote: ^Zabuza was dead though. And the sword stood as a gravestone for 3 years. They could have sent a genin to retrieve it if they wanted to. Though I guess with how notorious Kiri is when it comes to Missing-Nin, the higher ups might not have wanted just anyone to retrieve a very precious and powerful relic in fear of it being lost/stolen/etc. I agree that it's weird, but there must be some sort of explanation. A genin may be able to retrieve the sword, but if it came anywhere near the Mist then rogue elements may want to obtain it.

But yea, they were in a civil war, and if they had nobody capable of truly wielding the blade then it would just be an artifact in stead of a weapon capable f changing the war.