Volume two introduces more historical characters who will later be big shot people of Japan during its warring states era. Now there are four of them! There's Hanzo and Tokugawa, then there's Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. 
 While the skirmishes here are fun to read, with all the Japanese-style exposition and discussion of techniques, a lot of volume 2 is devoted to the development of Path of the Assassin plot to a full-scale battle. This is therefore a sneak preview of what is yet to come. 
 Now, when will the sex scenes stop (not that I am complaining)? I just felt that Koike has a penchant for awkward sex conversations and other unnecessary indecencies. Like seriously, I don't want to read something about wang sizes and how to make your woman sexually satisfied. Show me some more ninja moves and action!