Inside one of the rooms, the castle's lord, Nobuteru Ichijo, holds unsuccesful negotiations with a local religious leader, Sadame. The man is stopped at the castle gate by a guard, who reacts in confusion when the man declares himself lord of the castle with no other choice, the man infiltrates the castle. Now with a lead, the man journeys into the castle. The author instructs him to depart for Utakata Castle to meet "your master, your father" Lord Ichijo, which the man interprets as him being Ichijo's heir.
The author expresses his desire to help the man, but explains that all he can do is give advice. The unidentified writer explain how the strange glowing stone is a fragment of the amnesiac man's soul, the visions were of his past, and that he needs to retrieve the rest of the fragments. In the hut he finds a strange glowing stone, upon taking it visions flash before his eyes: armored soldiers, blood, screams, him running from an unseen threat, a man with an evil aura cornering him and using evil magic on him, a glowing jewel shattering into pieces, a woman shouting at him to escape, an explosion and the splashing sound of water.Ĭonfused by the visions, an arrow shoots past him, landing in the hut's outer wall tied to the arrow is letter adressed to him. A rustling sound alerts him, but turns out to be just a cat, which he follows to an abandoned hut. With no memories of his life before regaining consciousness he takes a sword that was lying next to him. Besieged by rival governments and ninja clans, Utakata stands on the brink of war.Īn amnesiac man wakes up to find himself lying on a riverbank in unfamiliar territory. And they were accompanied by rival ninja clans hoping to take the place of the Asuka Ninja. The provincial lords, who had been watching and waiting for an opportunity to strike at Utakata, wasted no time in making their moves. But this time of peace came to an end when the Asuka ninja clan was destroyed in a single night. It was thought that the combined protection of the House of Ichijō and the Asuka Clan would preserve the peace in Utakata. Even Utakata, long peacefully ruled by the House of Ichijo, is now threatened. Civil unrest is on the rise and conflict rocks province after province. End of the Muromachi period - the late 16th century: The power of the Ashikaga government is on the decline after the Ōnin/Bunmei civil war.