Next, three samurai go to the bandit’s fort and burn it down, and are able to kill several of the bandits. Kikuchiyo and Katsushirō go with Kyūzō to kill the men before they return the information to their leader. He courts her slowly and cautiously, and the two nearly sleep together at Shino’s urging, but they are interrupted by the arrival of bandit scouts. He wanted her to appear like a boy so that the samurai would not be attracted to her, but Katsushiro realizes she is a woman when he comes upon her in the forest, wrestles her, and accidentally sees under her shirt. During this time Katsushirō, the young apprentice to Kambei, falls in love with a female villager named Shino, whose father, Manzo, had set off the first panic among the villagers by forcibly cutting her hair.
He has the villagers flood the fields outside the village after the barley is harvested, remove a bridge, and build massive fences so that the bandits can only enter one way into the village. Kambei directs the samurai to train the villagers with spears as he sets plans to fortify the village. Now that the truth is known, the two groups can come together and begin to prepare for the bandits. He also reveals in this scene that he was born a farmer. He’s able to see the good and bad in both the farmers and the samurai, and in an outburst over a dispute about armor the farmers stole from defeated samurai that they murdered, he reveals to the samurai the way their class have oppressed farmers for centuries. Kikuchiyo becomes the bridge between the two social classes, as he was born a peasant and has now taken the identity of a samurai. At the village, the farmers are scared of them and hide because one villager has stoked fears that the samurai will take advantage of the village women. Kikuchiyo follows them even though they have told him not to come. With the team formed, they make their way to the village. It will later turn out that he was born a farmer, which in part explains why he has such a chip on his shoulder. He and Kambei have already met, when Kambei insulted him after he tried to challenge Kambei out of pride. He is arrogant, obsessed with birth-status, and rude, and the other samurai do not want him to join. Kambei is prepared to leave with this group of six samurai in total, when Kikuchiyo drunkenly comes to their inn and asks to join. We are introduced to these samurai, their personality traits and their sense of morality, at length: Gorobei has a similar world-view to Kambei, displaying compassion toward others Heihachi is charismatic and witty to make up for mediocre swordsmanship Shichiroji is friendly but serious, and is an old friend of Kambei’s Kyuzo is a master swordsman, constantly trying to test the limits of his skill, as well as reserved and quiet and Katsushiro is a young eager apprentice, immature and inexperienced, but compassionate and protective of the weak. A search begins, and Kambei gradually collects a rag-tag band of samurai willing to help, with similar ideas about morality and the real meaning of honor. He agrees to protect their village in exchange for food alone, but says they will need seven samurai in total. He is more concerned with doing good deeds than with social hierarchies or superficial ideas of honor. They eventually stumble upon a samurai named Kambei, who is introduced while cutting his top knot in order to pose as a priest to save a small child from a bandit. The only samurai that seems interested is one who is starving and weak, and a poor fighter.
Four farmers head into the nearest big town and seek the assistance of the samurai, but struggle to find samurai that will work for food alone, without promise of reward or title. They take the news to the village elder who tells them to find four samurai to protect the village. One of the farmers has overheard the men and informs the villagers of the threat. They make the decision to come back when the barley is ripe in order to steal their food and anything else they want (likely including women). Seven Samurai begins with a group of bandits scouting a farming village.
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