Ninja sets off to fulfill his oath to reclaim the former glory of his clan...

At the far eastern edge of the world lived a young boy with nothing but the tattered clothes on his back.

He lived alone deep in the forest. Once in a while, a young girl dressed in silk would come out to play with the boy.

Having lost her parents at an early age and raised by a custodian who had been assigned to protect the girl. Feeling lonely, she begged her custodian if she could bring the boy home to play. As the custodian himself was growing old with age, he had been looking for someone to take care of the young girl once he passed.

In the past, the custodian himself had once been a famous general known for his skills on the battlefield.

He wielded six katanas with precision when most men would have trouble with one.

His enemies feared him, calling him the ‘Sura’.

The boy became his apprentice, and he showed great talent in the martial arts as he trained under his new master.

Before Sura passed away, the boy had already gained a reputation for surpassing his master.

As the boy the and girl grew up together, they came to develop feelings for each other.

The boy was poor and he could not possibly marry the girl.

She was the eldest daughter of the Narusawa clan who ruled the region, and was promised to marry the son of another clan.

However, the boy did not mind this much.

He chose to stay by the girl’s side as her protector like his master before him.

Eventually, the girl inherited leadership of the clan.

Soon after, there was a civil war within the kingdom.

A faction of clan lords who felt dismayed by the central government’s oppression and exploitation, started a rebellion.

The boy fought to protect the girl from the feuds of powerful men at any cost.

At the sight of the boy wielding the six katanas, covered with the blood of his slain enemies, they proclaimed that ‘Sura’ had returned to the battlefield.

The civil war eventually ended after much bloodshed and sacrifice.

An era of peace came and culture started to flourish.

However, for the boy and the girl, it was the beginning of tumultuous times.

The victorious leaders of the rebellion each claimed their rights to power and bickered amongst themselves.

As the victims of oppression came to power, they had become the oppressors that they had fought so hard to overthrow.

The Narusawa house and the girl, now a young woman, were being watched by these ambitious power seekers. The young woman yielded the honor of her house and gave up as much wealth as she could simply to survive, but the harsh reality of the times would not leave her be.

There were rumours that she could soon be framed for treason. The boy, now a grown young man himself, felt the need to protect the young woman and the house of Narusawa from the new powers of the realm. However, there was not much a wandering swordsman and his gang of followers could do. He first needed to figure out how to make a living.

The young man persuaded the young woman to change the family name of her house and they moved back to the forest where they spent their childhood together. The young man and his gang started a little business for collecting and selling important pieces of information. The young woman took charge of classifying and managing this information and eventually they were able to make a living.

Of course, there was a period of trial and error. The espionage scene was different from the battlefield. The group eventually gave up the long swords that hindered their mobility for more agile Shortswords. They revised their martial arts style to make it suitable for infiltration and assassination operations. They hid their identities, patiently waited, and trained endlessly.

They called themselves “Ninjas.”

The clan was on its way back to stability, but tragedy struck from the most unexpected source. One of their colleagues who had just returned from a mission to the West seemed to have caught a cold, but that illness turned his eyes red and made him go insane. He soon began attacking everyone around him. The madman was taken care of, but the disease was already spreading, poisoning the bodies and minds of the entire house.

Even the young were infected by the disease. One day the young woman, who had been taking care of the infected day and night, began to show symptoms. The young man had no problem slaying the others once they became infected, but he could never do the same for the young woman.

He searched the entire kingdom to find a doctor who could help, but the best anyone could do was put her into a coma using acupuncture so that she might one day be cured. It seemed the worst had passed for the time being, but the young man's trials were only beginning.

Instead, he desperately searched the entire realm to procure a cure.

The doctor came and did know what they could to keep her alive.

But the illness had advanced too far for them to do anything else.

Still, she was able to escape from imminent death.

With this small glimmer of hope, he decided he would do what it takes to save her.

He will travel west, to search its origin for a cure.

Before the man departed that day, he went to see her.

The maids attending her quietly left them alone.

This was the first time they were left alone together after he came out of the forest.

He wanted to hear her voice, but she did not respond.

There, he made a silent oath to return to her side and rebuild the clan back to its former glory.

“The day Sura returns, will be the day the Narusawa flag is feared once more.”