It's been some time since Azumi and Nagara finished their grueling training as lethal young assassins in the service of the shogun, a training that finished with the ruthless final test - to kill their longtime training partner (in Azumi's case, Nachi, who could have been her first love), or perish themselves. The bitter memory of this cruel moment still haunts Azumi, but then, so do the hordes of brutal killers who
