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| - Their existence is supposedly known only to the Hokage, both Sixth and Seventh, the latter of whom currently leads them, and Akihiko Yamanaka. According to Kasuga, the shinobi world was slowly dying following the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War due to a significant decreasing of the need for shinobi missions; given the heavy decrease in conflict among the nations and even the strangely quiet behavior of bandits and other criminals. It was the Sixth Hokage, Seireitou, that identified the dependence that the villages had on the abundance of missions, as it was their sole source of income and allowed their economy to prosper, and therefore decided upon a solution that would serve the greater good of his land.
- The Oniwabanshū (お庭番衆, Garden-keepers) are an elite cadre of onmitsu who were established at Edo Castle by the 8th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, in the early 18th century. Rumored to have been quartered in the garden of Edo Castle (hence the name), Yoshimune had tasked the Oniwabanshū with covertly gathering information on various daimyō and statesmen of the bakufu, as well as providing security for the castle itself.
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| abstract
| - Their existence is supposedly known only to the Hokage, both Sixth and Seventh, the latter of whom currently leads them, and Akihiko Yamanaka. According to Kasuga, the shinobi world was slowly dying following the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War due to a significant decreasing of the need for shinobi missions; given the heavy decrease in conflict among the nations and even the strangely quiet behavior of bandits and other criminals. It was the Sixth Hokage, Seireitou, that identified the dependence that the villages had on the abundance of missions, as it was their sole source of income and allowed their economy to prosper, and therefore decided upon a solution that would serve the greater good of his land. By gathering together select individuals from within the ranks of his hand-picked Anbu and elite Jōnin ranks, of which he knew would sympathize with his cause, he designated the group as "Oniwabanshū" (referring to Konoha's tree theme) and had them work undercover to coerce certain individuals to pick up arms and attack neighboring villages in the Land of Fire. The Oniwabanshū would train and arm those individuals so that they would pose such a threat to those villages that they would have no choice but to request the aid of Konoha's shinobi services. Sometimes, Seireitou would even have the Oniwabanshū engage those villages themselves with their superior skills, under the guise of common clothing to resemble that of bandits, so as to prompt those villages to request an elite shinobi; thus causing them to have to apply for a B-rank or even A-rank mission, which would be worth much more ryō. In some cases, he would even have the Oniwabanshū disguise themselves as shinobi from other lands and commit full-scale assaults on villages in other lands, while offering support to other villages in those neighboring lands at a significantly reduced cost, so that they would depend on Konoha for missions rather than other nations; thus increasing Konoha's revenue while also diminishing the economy of other shinobi nations. Seireitou based the philosophy of the Oniwabanshū to the same tune as the originally disbanded Root; in that "the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth", inferring to their nefarious and arguably evil methods to ensure that Konoha thrives. The core principle of Oniwabanshū is that everything it does, it is all for "the greater good" (尚善, naozen). Similar to Root, Seireitou had branded each member with both a curse seal, ensuring that neither enemy nor ally could ever learn of the activities of Oniwabanshū, while also imprinting them with the Puppet-Master seal; both seals working in harmony to concrete Seireitou's hold over his organization. Kasuga, as the current Hokage and subsequent commander-in-chief of Oniwabanshū, proved herself to believe in these ideals just as strongly as her predecessor, and continues to have the Oniwabanshū engage in its missions. Control of the aforementioned seals was then subsequently yielded to Kasuga.
- The Oniwabanshū (お庭番衆, Garden-keepers) are an elite cadre of onmitsu who were established at Edo Castle by the 8th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, in the early 18th century. Rumored to have been quartered in the garden of Edo Castle (hence the name), Yoshimune had tasked the Oniwabanshū with covertly gathering information on various daimyō and statesmen of the bakufu, as well as providing security for the castle itself. After the bakumatsu (during which the Oniwabanshū were ordered to guard Edo Castle instead of participate in the fighting in Kyoto), the organization has dwindled in the absence of the bakufu and, headed by the genius Okashira Shinomori Aoshi, the remaining onmitsu have split into two groups--one maintaining an intelligence headquarters in Kyoto and the other acting as mercenaries in Tokyo. At the time of their first appearance in the Rurouni Kenshin series, Aoshi and four of his combat-oriented subordinates are acting as bodyguards and enforcers under the employ of Tokyo entrepreneur Takeda Kanryū.
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