The Iga clan and the Kouga clan have been sworn enemies for more than four hundred years. Only the Hanzo Hattori truce has kept the two families from all-out war. Now, under the order of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, the truce has finally been dissolved. Ten ninja from each clan must fight to the death in order to determine who will be the next Tokugawa Shogun. The surviving clan will rule for the next thousand years. But not all the clan members are in agreement. Oboro of the Iga clan and Gennosuke of the Kouga clan have fallen deeply in love. Now these star-crossed lovers have been pitted against each other. Can their romance conquer a centuries old rivalry? Or is their love destined to end in death?
The titanic battle between the clans rages on. Akeginu and the blinded Oboro of the Iga clan encounter a powerful aristocrat named Ofuku, who will do whatever it takes to make her godson, Takechiyo, the next Shogun. If Ofuku and her troops join forces with the Iga, will the Kouga still have a chance at victory? Meanwhile, the Kouga leader Gennosuke, also blinded, and his comrades–including the shapeshifter Saemon and the deadly seductress Kagerou–embark on a long journey to Sunpu to find out exactly why the truce was dissolved. They will face the fury of the calculating Tenzen and the whirlwindwielding Koshirou. In the end, who will survive this bloody game of deception and politics? From the Trade Paperback edition.