Blade of the Immortal #58 (2001)

A new story arc begins for the Eisner Award-winning series! Anotsu Kagehisa's long journey has brought him to the wooded hills of autumn, to the gates of the Ibane dojo of the Shingyoto-ryu sword school, and to a world of doubts. First there's the beautiful young woman in the woods who seems to speak in riddles. And then the man he's come to see, Ibane himself, is nowhere to be found. What the head of Itto-ryu does find, though, is a dojo full of angry sword students who don't want to take orders from an upstart from Edo, and demand that he prove himself worthy to lead them. At the point of a sword!