What is the Executioner’s Blade?
The executioner’s blade is a weapon used by one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the Mist from the Naruto universe. It is one of the most widely known weapons from the infamous group since it has made its appearance early on in the Naruto storyline.
The executioner’s blade or in Japanese, the Kubikiribōchō is a large sword reminiscent to that of Cloud’s buster sword from Final Fantasy VII. It’s a massive broadsword shaped like a butcher’s knife with a hole near the tip of
Kubikiribōchō literally means decapitating carving knife. It’s shape having the circular hole and the semi circle near it’s handle make it an effective tool for decapitation. In the hands of a skillful user, the executioner’s blade is a force to be reckoned with.
Of course, not anyone can simply wield
Who are the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?
It’s almost impossible to know more about the executioner’s blade without having to bring up the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist. After all, to be a member of them (or killing a member) you need to have one of the seven ninja swords of the mist.
The seven ninja swordsmen are the most elite
They are tasked with with protecting the village and its people. Although the group of seven do follow orders and take missions from the Mizukage, they don’t consider the protection of the Mizukage as their top priority.
Rather, they are more committed towards protecting their village. The executioner’s blade, like all the rest of the seven’s weapons have had different wielders. All being the strongest of their generation within their village.
The history of the original seven ninja swordsmen is very fascinating. Being among the strongest of each generation, the story of all wielders is just as exciting. However, not too much is known about all members.
The first generation of the seven ninja swordsmen was officially formed by the Mizukage when the Hidden Mist village was just beginning to prosper. It was during that time when the current Kaguya clan attacked and plundered the Hidden Mist.
A lot of shinobis and villagers were being slaughtered until a group of sword-wielding ninjas came and defeated the plunderers. Impressed by the skills that the group had, the Mizukage officially turned them into an organization of Kirigakure.
They were then since called the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Needless to say, each member has their own unique powerful weapon and the executioner’s blade is just one of them. What makes their weapons very strong and effective is their own respective abilities.
For the case of the executioner’s blade, it can heal or repair itself. Damages that it receives no matter how small or great is repaired through making use of the iron from the blood of its victims.
From simple chips to parts of it getting separated, the sword can still be able to get back to its original form. At any given time, there can only be seven active ninja swordsmen within the group and their weapons can only be handed down or be taken by force.
Traditionally, members have an understudy who then inherits their position and weapon, if ever they die. Understudies are selected from young genins or chuunins that prove themselves to be promising.
Understudies are used for them to ensure that they remain to be seven in their group and that the next to inherit the weapon is competent with using it.
Who are the Different Wielders of the Executioner’s Blade?
It is interesting to know the story of each wielder and just how the Executioner’s blade was passed down from one to another.
More than the unique ability of the weapon to heal, what makes the weapon special is knowing different powerful users have made use of the Executioner’s blade before.
From heroes to anti-heroes, it can also be
Jūzō Biwa
Among the handful of people that were able to wield the Executioner’s Blade or the Kubikiribōchō, is Jūzō Biwa. Jūzō was a very powerful Jōnin level shinobi from Kirigakure. He was well-known for his brutality
Jūzō, along with his allie, weren’t so fortunate however when they were able to corner a group from Konoha. What seemed like a lucky find became the end for the majority of the group.
Before they could attack, Mighty Duy came to the team’s rescue and used his eight gates release formation. With the eight gates, Duy sacrificed himself and was able to kill four out of the seven ninja swordsmen.
In the anime, the three that survived were Raiga Kurosuki, Fuguki Suikazan and Jūzō. Jūzō then after that incident left the hidden Mist and became a missing-nin. With his abilities, he was able to join the Akatsuki and got Itachi as his partner.
Jūzō despised the
He was kind to Itachi even coming up with strategies for them to use in battles.
Jūzō met his demise when they faced a team of hunter-nins and the Mizukage when they were given a mission to do in the land of the water. They were able to kill the hunter-nins but Jūzō got critically wounded when Yagura, the Mizukage entered version 2.
Usually, Jūzō keeps to himself but he seems to care about Itachi, once saving him from one of Yagura’s attacks. Before he died, he told Itachi to run away and save himself. Although he wasn’t able to finish his sentence, he also said that he thought that his sword was his only ally.
Before Itachi left, he placed the Kubikiribōchō in Jūzō’s hand. The blade then went back to the possession of the Hidden Mist.
Zabuza Momochi (Demon of the Hidden Mist)
Before Yagura’s reign as the fourth Mizukage, Kirigakure had a tradition of having a final exam for Kirigakure Academy’s graduates. This final exam is a death match between students.
Those that are truly exceptional get picked to be candidates for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. This tradition changed because of Zabuza when he wasn’t even a student yet.
Zabuza was able to kill over a hundred academy students which led to the
After some time, Zabuza became even more popular when he became an Anbu. While his time as an Anbu, he was able to kill Kumade Toriichi, a jonin ninja of the leaf.
How did Zabuza Get the Executioners Blade?
Not long after, he joined the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The group gave him the sword once he joined. This was how he was able to get his hands on the Executioner’s Blade.
Zabuza and Haku
Along his journey, he found Haku. He took Haku to his care and began training him to become extremely powerful. Haku had a kekkei genkai or bloodline limit which proved to make him an even more effective ally for Zabuza.
Together, both of them also met the sole survivor of the Kaguya clan, Kimimaro. Haku wanted to talk to the young Kimimaro but Zabuza told Haku to just let him be. At some point, Zabuza attempted a coup d’etat to kill the Mizukage.
However, he failed and fled with Haku along with some of his allies, the Demon Brothers. Even then, he planned on doing another coup d’etat. Seeing as he needed a lot of resources to start another coup d’etat, they became mercenaries.
Desperate to reach his goals, he opted to work for Gato, a vile and very powerful businessman in the land of the waves. Gato was an owner of a shipping company that controlled the shipping routes in the land of the waves.
He made a monopoly with his shipping company enabling anyone else to trade with other countries via boats. This made the country so poor that a lot of the population was starving. This was about to change when a bridge was being built by Tazuna, a master bridge builder.
Zabuza Meets Team 7
Zabuza was tasked to assassinate the master bridge builder. Unfortunately for him, Tazuna anticipated that Gato will have him killed and hired bodyguards. He hired Team 7 from Konoha comprised of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi.
Zabuza and Haku proved to be a very difficult adversary to Team 7. While Zabuza fought with Kakashi, Haku dealt with the rest of Team 7. At some point, Zabuza was nearly able to kill Tazuna with the Executioner’s blade.
However, Kakashi was quick enough to shield Tazuna from the attack. Against Kakashi, Zabuza nearly won. However, he underestimated Kakashi and let him summon his ninja dogs that led to him being pinned down.
The Death of Zabuza
For his killing blow, Kakashi used his original technique, Chidori. But upon rushing towards Zabuza, Haku blocked his attack sacrificing himself and saving Zabuza. Kakashi and Zabuza continued to fight until Kakashi managed to disable both Zabuza’s arms.
Zabuza could no longer use his sword nor weave signs. To add to his trouble, Gato suddenly came to the scene with a lot of mercenaries. The corrupted businessman saw that Zabuza was going to fail.
Right then and there, Zabuza apologized to Kakashi as he ended the fight with him. Seeing as his deal with Gato no longer applies, he has no more need to fight Team 7.
With Zabuza no longer able to wield his Executioner’s blade nor weave signs, Gato provoked him by making fun of Haku’s corpse. Still, Zabuza tried to do something. He asked Naruto for his Kunai and made use of it with just his mouth.
He charged to Gato and his mercenaries killing a lot of them until he was finally able to reach and kill Gato. In the end however, the mercenaries were able to take Zabuza’s life.
Suigetsu (and Mangetsu) Hōzuki
Suigetsu and his older brother, Mangetsu, aspired to be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Both were extremely proficient in Kenjutsu. Eventually, Mangetsu became a member and mastered all of the seven swords.
Unfortunately, he faced an untimely death which demotivated Suigetsu. Not too much is known about Mangetsu except that he has mastered using all 7 weapons of the ninja swordsmen.
However, in a way, this still means that he was able to use the Executioner’s Blade at some point. He is also proficient with his Silent Killing ability.
After his brother’s death, his goal changed into retrieving all 7 swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and reform the organization. What makes Suigetsu extremely powerful is that at will, he can transform his whole body into water.
This means that any physical attack can’t hurt him. He can also phase through objects. He can use his water abilities to drown opponents and can easily increase his muscle mass incredibly by drinking just a tidbit of water.
If he gets into a body of water, he turns into an extremely powerful sea god. However, having the affinity of water, his greatest weakness are lightning or electricity.
Sadly, he was captured by Orochimaru and was turned into an experiment. He was set free by Sasuke only for Suigetsu to prove his strength. He was then pursued by Sasuke and Karin and was recaptured.
He was once again set free after Sasuke defeated Orochimaru. Suigetsu ended up joining Sasuke and asked that they go to the land of the Waves to retrieve Zabuza’s Executioner’s Blade.
The way Suigetsu was able to get the Executioner’s blade is different in the Anime and Manga. In the Manga, Suigetsu simply took the sword from Zabuza’s grave. But in the anime, the possession of the sword fell to Tenzen Daikoku.
Tenzen was a crime boss who lost a lot of his men to the Executioner’s Blade. He kept the sword as a trophy and was also used by one of his bodyguards. With Sasuke, Suigetsu raided Tenzen’s base and took the sword by force.
Suigetsu isn’t as physically strong as Zabuza. This means that unlike Zabuza, he can’t keep on wielding the Executioner’s blade in long duration. However, he easily solves this problem by expanding the muscles in his arms.
Killer B
Take is a group created by Sasuke which is comprised of Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo and Sasuke himself. At one point after joining Akatsuki, they were tasked with a mission to capture the Eight-Tails’ jinchūriki, Killer B.
Killer B is a master of Kenjutsu and is also a lightning user. When Taka confronted Killer B, Suigetsu made the first attack with his Executioner’s Blade but got easily deflected by Killer B. Killer B was then able to get his hands on the weapon and use it for himself.
He even used it with his fight against Sasuke. Eventually, he began using his own swords, all seven of them at the same time. This was the only time Killer B got
It is important to note though that in this fight, Killer B was able to cut through the Executioner’s Blade when Suigetsu tried to protect Sasuke.
How did Kakashi Hatake Get the Executioner’s Blade?
After Taka engaged with Killer B, at some point, they fought with the Fourth Raikage. The Fourth Raikage was able to hit the blade where Killer B was able to damage it splitting the sword in two.
Still, Suigetsu continued to use the sword which then seemed like a cleaver. After his capture by the Land of Iron’s Samurais, the sword was taken away from him. When he was able to escape, he tried to find the sword but failed to locate it.
The Executioner’s Blade was then again seen during Kakashi’s fight against the reanimated Zabuza. After Kakashi defeated Zabuza once again, He took the sword and used it to fight against the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
What Happened to the Exectioner’s Blade After the 4th War? Does Kakashi keep it?
However, when Kakashi tried to later save Naruto from Tobi, he no longer had the sword. After the war, the Executioner’s Blade was eventually returned to Kirigakure.
Hassaku Onomichi (of the New Seven Ninja Swordsmen)
In the anime, a self-proclaimed group of the New Seven Ninja Swordsmen stole all the seven swords from Kirigakure. The group was formed by Shizuma Hoshigaki and their goal was to forcibly remove the Sixth Mizukage and replace him with Kagura Karatachi.
Among the New Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Hassaku Onomichi wielded the Executioner’s Blade. Before they could start their revolution however, they were stopped by Boruto, Sarada and Chōjūrō.
In the end, the New Seven Ninja Swordsmen were captured and imprisoned to undergo rehabilitation in a correction center.
What are the Abilities of the Executioner’s Blade?
As mentioned earlier, one of the abilities of the Kubikiribōchō is that it can heal itself with the blood of
The sword is also very durable and can cut through basically almost anything. The sword, using blood to heal itself, has only been seen to be used by Zabuza when he was reanimated. The Executioner’s Blade was seen to regenerate during his fight against Kakashi.
Compared to other swords used by the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the Executioner’s Blade is one of the most basic. Although strong and it’s size can be an advantage, it’s weight can become a double-edged sword.
Its size requires its wielder to have a considerable amount of strength for the weapon to be used in long duration. But if the weapon does end up in the hands of a powerful and skillful user, he can be unstoppable.
As the sword can’t be destroyed and just heals itself with blood, the user can just keep on attacking. In terms of defense, it can be almost impenetrable. Again, if it does get
What are the Most Notable Moments with the Executioner’s Blade?
Unfortunately, even though a handful of users were able to wield the Executioner’s Blade, the combined amount of screen time is not a lot. Juzo died when he was just starting with Itachi. Even then, there wasn’t much told about him.
Perhaps the “iconic” wielder of the Executioner’s Blade is Zabuza. It was with his fights with Team 7 when the Executioner’s Blade
All the other wielders didn’t have much time with the Executioner’s Blade as well. Even Suigetsu had very limited screen time when he wielded the sword.
Apart from Zabuza, another notable moment was when Kakashi actually used the sword for himself. Kakashi has been seen to be excellent in using weapons. There are a lot of instances where he fought powerful opponents with different weapons.
What makes it notable is that not a lot of people would expect Kakashi to actually use the sword. It’s been mainly used by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and it doesn’t seem like Kakashi to suddenly decide to use a weapon with that type of backstory.
This topic can be very relative and it can depend from person to person which they think are the most notable moments with the Executioner’s Blade. Regardless, we hope this article has helped you in answering different questions regarding the Executioner’s Blade.
We’ve tried to include everything that has to do with the sword in this article.