Jin-ei Udo was and always had been a mercenary, switching sides during the Bakumatsu without hesitation, as his old Shinsen-gumi squadron betrayed him. Ten years into the Meiji era, this has not changed. He accepts contracts to assassinate politicians, under the alias Kurogasa, or "Black Hat." However, it isn't truly the money that lures him to the job, it's the blood that runs down his sword, as can be told by the fact that not only are his charges assassinated, but so are any and all people at the scene--police, bodyguards, even innocents. A fight with Kenshin sparks his old lust for battle, as he suddenly becomes determined to battle the Battousai one last time, at any and all cost...