After all this time as the bitterest of enemies... man, this really got me.
Nobunaga and Kennyo always struck me as being fundamentally similar. They're leaders of their respective factions, directly advised by their own time-traveling culinary geniuses. They're cold, calculating, and pragmatic visionaries who are always looking at the bigger picture, the brighter tomorrow they want to build. They make you believe they could sacrifice any pawn, slaughter anyone who stands in their way... but, who nevertheless foster a similar, quiet warmth that comes out behind closed doors.
I've always felt like they could be friends, and that's what makes their rivalry so tragic.
There's a scant handful of people who can really understand Nobunaga, but I've always, genuinely believed that Kennyo's one of them. That's why every arc where they face off is a minefield of moves and countermoves and reverse-countermoves. They are among the few men who truly understand each other, and that's where that bitter, vehement, mutual, deep-seated, absolute fucking hatred comes from.
But they're not really that different. And watching them realize that is...
It hits different.