Kenshin was called out by Zanza after their brief confrontation from the night before to a field near the river crossing from the community into town. Watching the battle was Kaoru and Yahiko. Zanza had leapt into the air to start things and came down with a powerful stroke. However, Kenshin had leapt away and avoided Zanza's horizontal slash following. Due to the weight and shape of the sword, Zanza had a limited style of attacking. Once Kenshin had told Zanza he knew his weakness, Zanza remained in a shock state, allowing Kenshin to run down the large sword and hit the gangster in the back of the head. Zanza again tried to slash Kenshin, but the rurouni simply ducked and executed the Sou Ryu Sen, knocking Zanza down for the first time.

During Zanza's "rest period", Gohei had run in and threatened to kill Kaoru and Yahiko. When Zanza got up, he took out Gohei, reminding his employer that the fight was his and his alone. The fight resumed with Zanza again executing a horizontal slash, but when Kenshin leapt up to evade, Zanza spun his Zanbatou rapidly and brought the sword down with full force at Kenshin. Yet, Kenshin was able to dodge the Zanbatou and cut it in half after reversing his Sakabatou. Although Zanza could still stand after it, the finishing blow was Kenshin's Ryu Tsui Sen. The fight finally ended when Zanza admitted defeat once he realized that Kenshin was no longer Ishin dog and Meiji supporter he wanted to kill so badly.