the addition of the Oniwabanshū as a "last minute" choice. When the author first discussed the "Megumi arc" with his editor, the editor replied that "having a swordsman of Kenshin's caliber fighting a group of punk-thugs still coming into their first facial hair mi-i-ight not make for the most epic of manga." To solve this, Watsuki modified the real and historic Oniwabanshū to make them onmitsu (what are now known as ninja or shinobi; Watsuki does not like using the word "ninja" as he feels that using it "like that" is "cheesy"), and added details as publication progressed. He did purposely want a variety of shapes and temperaments for the various Oniwabanshū characters. Beshimi is the smallest of the Oniwabanshū and uses his stealth to compensate for his lack of strength. A cunning, but bottom-ranked onmitsu, Beshimi received no prosperous government job offers because of his physical competency in only one skill. His favorite weapons are spiral darts, with which he poisons Yahiko. He is gunned down by Kanryū's Gatling gun trying to help save Aoshi. In the anime only, one of his darts jams Kanryū's Gatling gun. Watsuki stated that Beshimi was "largely created on-the-spot" and does not have a motif. He said that without a personality set for him, the character turned out "kind of timid." Not originally intended to be a standalone character, Beshimi became shorter than Kenshin to add variety to the Oniwabanshū. Watsuki said that Beshimi's shortness and timidness gave him a group of fans who wrote to him calling the character "cute." Hyottoko is the large and fat member of the Oniwabanshū. A mid-ranked omnitsu, Hyottoko breathes fire at his opponents by means of a large oil bag he keeps stored in his stomach with a nozzle coming out of his mouth, that he ignites by using his false teeth of flint. Hyottoko received no prosperous government job offers because he had competency in one skill. Hyottoko dies while charging for Kanryū as an unsuccessful decoy for Beshimi. Watsuki said he had no particular motif while designing Hyottoko; using his rudimentary kanji knowledge (the name Hyottoko is formed by the kanji for "Fire" and "Man"), he created a fire-breather. The creator made Hyottoko fat since he wanted the Oniwabanshū to represent several shapes and sizes and because the character would have a bag of oil in his stomach. Watsuki said that since he had