Once there was a people of darkness, against whose arts none could stand.
Living only for battle, these 'warriors of shadow'...
were called 'shinobi'.
The year is 1614.
Peace comes to the land after centuries of war.
A man of one shinobi tribe meets a woman of another.
Thus our story begins.
I've never regretted that meeting.
Nakama Yukie
Odagiri Joe
Kurotani Tomoka
Sawajiri Erika
Ishibashi Renji Kitamura Kazuo
Shiina Kippei
Original Story Yamada Futaro
Directed by Shimoyama Ten
Manjidani and Tsubagakure
Yes, Sire.
Iga and Koga.
Ninja tribes in two villages hidden in the mountains...
where no one can reach them.
The Iga of Tsubagakure, and the Koga of Manjidani.
For 400 years...
they have trained ninjas...
in the mysterious arts of shinobi.
'Mysterious arts'?
The first Hattori Hanzo...
feared to use them because they were so powerful.
As well, the Iga of Tsubagakure, and the Koga of Manjidani,
are sworn enemies.
Employ those of one village...
and those of the other will adhere to the opponent.
Many years ago. so that they would not fight...
the first Hattori Hanzo swore them to a pledge...
symbolized by a stone set up on the border between their lands.
Rumour has it...
that the enemies you defeated in uniting the land, are using them...
and waiting for a chance to rise in rebellion.
You have brought peace to the land.
But leave these shinobi to their own devices...
and they will be the spark from which war flares again.
Grandmother is called to Sumpu.
By order of the Hattori. She is to bring her best warrior.
I assume the Manjidani chieftain is called as well?
Chief Danjo, too...
I'm going to tell him about us.
No?
Your grandfather leads Manjidani, and my grandmother leads...
The land has been united.
There's no reason to go on hating.
Even if the land is united, 400 years of hatred and killing...
will not be forgiven so easily.
You and I will only be joined...
in our dreams.
Oboro.
Marry me now.
It was my late mother's.
No one will part us now.
Gennosuke...
Don't worry. One day they'll understand.
Hayate!
You're our witness!
Gennosuke...
I've always been sorry I was born a 'shinobi'.
Now I am not.
Be this but a fleeting dream, still I am happy.
Since my childhood I have known only fighting.
Now that we've met...
I feel for the first time the joy of being alive.
Oboro.
The day will come when we will live as one.
Believe in that day.
In Tsubagakure. the leaves have begun to turn.
What colours do they turn in Manjidani?
One day I want to see the village where you live...
with my own eyes.
Oh, for wings like Hayate's,
with which to fly to you.
I feel an ill wind.
I hope nothing befalls Danjo-sama at Sumpu Castle.
Both villages will now display their arts.
Manjidani...begin.
May I kill?
Use only the force you must.
Next, Tsubagakure.
Begin!
Cease!
Do you have it?
Yes, sir.
This should set the Lord of Lords' mind at ease.
Is all made ready?
All. sir.
As sword-master, Yagyu, this will restore your lost face.
And yours, Hanzo.
You lack the ability...
to control the shinobi the way your ancestor did.
You know what will become of you if you leave them...
to their own devices.
Raise your heads.
Ogen of Tsubagakure.
Danjo of Manjidani.
His Highness is greatly impressed with the demonstration of your arts.
As marshal of the shinobi, I am proud. You have done well.
You have thus been honoured with a very special task.
I, Hattori Hanzo III...
hereby declare,
the ancient ban on war between Iga and Koga...
to be lifted.
You will each record the names of your five best warriors.
The Iga of Tsubagakure and Koga of Manjidani:
from two days hence, those warriors will do battle.
Those who remain alive will come here to Sumpu Castle.
One side must win.
If Iga should prevail...
Takechiyo, the Shogun's eldest son, will succeed his father.
If Koga prevails...
Kunichiyo, the second son, will follow his father.
Thus the outcome of this battle...
will decide the next Shogun.
Do battle for the honour of your village!
Gather everyone.
Welcome home.
At dawn, two days hence, five of Tsubagakure...
and five of Manjidani...
must join in battle.
By order of...
the Lord of Lords.
It's war!
War with Manjidani!
And those five will be?
The five of our village are...
Muroga Hyoma.
Yakushiji Tenzen.
Chikuma Koshiro.
Yashamaru.
Kagero.
Mino Nenki.
Kisaragi Saemon.
Hotarubi.
And...
Gennosuke.
Oboro
Gennosuke
And to lead them...
Oboro.
The fate of our village is in your hands.
Oboro.
I leave this to you.
Oboro-sama.
Our lives are yours to command.
Gennosuke.
Why do we risk our lives on a whim of the Lord of Lords?
We are a weapon.
If we do not serve anyone...
we are of no use.
Without an enemy, we cannot live.
That is...
shinobi.
That look!
You're not very good with a sword. nor are you especially agile.
But it's those eyes.
With that art, no one will defeat you.
You are too gentle.
Have a heart of iron...
and never waver in your art...
of 'the Eyes of Destruction'.
Now you must shoulder the burden of Tsubagakure.
I thought you'd never come.
How could we not face each other?
The world has changed...
but the stars that keep us apart have not.
Why must this be?
I don't know.
But we have to stop this mad battle.
This is our fate.
Our stars are crossed.
It's not fate.
Ogen has made me chief of our village.
I knew...
I would join with you...
only in dreams.
Don't give up.
Fate is what we make it.
Gennosuke!
You can't change fate.
Here he is!
Sir!
Where were you?
He met Ogen former chieftain of Tsubagakure...
in a fight to the death.
Madness!
Lives thrown away...
on the Lord of Lords' game?
Sir...
Prepare to leave!
I'II go to Sumpu...
and find out what this war is really about.
What?!
Come with me.
This is our chance to fight!
I don't intend to.
Gennosuke...
We have trained all our lives to do this.
If you take the fight from us, what do we have left?
This is a time of peace.
The age of war is done.
What I fear most of all...
is the coming of a land truly at peace!
I'm going to Sumpu. Come with me.
I am your leader! Follow me!
'From Gennosuke of Koga.'
'I have thoughts of my own on this battle between us.'
'Thus I will, with the four...'
whose names the scroll bears, make for Sumpu.
There to learn from Hattori Hanzo the truth of this matter.
This is a battle among those whose names are on the scrolls...
and not between our villages.
If you wish to match swords...
'follow us.'
You now lead Tsubagakure.
What shall we do?
Follow them.
Prepare to leave.
Do you hear?
Prepare to leave!
The warriors of Iga follow us.
They do?
They are led by...
a beautiful woman.
Where are they?
They seem to have split up.
Two come this way...
while the other three seem to be circling ahead.
And where are the two who approach us?
Chikuma Koshiro, of Manjidani, Koga.
Yashamaru, of Tsubagakure, Iga.
Gennosuke-sama...
I will go on ahead to strike at the other three.
Hyoma!
If you take the fight from us, there is nothing left.
That is our fate.
Hyoma!
He has a fine face.
I will have it.
Oboro-sama...
I made these. They're cherry silver-berry sweets.
Thank you.
Delicious.
Not as good as yours.
It took me a long time to learn.
Grandmother sat with me for hours by the fire...
until I finally learned.
Next spring.
Teach me, when the trees are in fruit.
Sit.
I have no parents, no brothers, no sisters.
You're the only one who has always...
cared of me.
I also, have lost my parents.
If there was anyone I didn't want in this fight. it was you.
Oboro-sama.
Why is it that Iga and Koga,
have to fight?
I don't understand.
Neither do I.
I don't understand. either.
Gennosuke!
Why won't you fight?!
There's no point.
No point?
I am alive only to kill.
What should I do, then?
There is life without killing!
I will fight!
I won't go to Sumpu!
This is the only way I can be.
Then I'll go alone.
You should follow.
Now, I see.
We fight,
to strike back at those who strike at us.
Our arts against theirs...
repaying one death with another.
The one thing I hold more dear than any other...
is you, Oboro-sama.
a war between shinobi...
is a hell of blood.
Yes, a real hell of blood.
Damn you!
You're immortal?
no.
Not good at dying.
Gennosuke of Koga.
I've wanted to meet you.
A mist of poison.
Gennosuke.
I know the reason...
you will not fight.
Why did it have to be an enemy girl?
Why did our chieftain...
choose Oboro. our enemy?
Tell me!
Do you want to kill me?
I am a woman fed poison all her life.
I have never lain with a man,
except out of my duty as a shinobi.
Here and now...
I wish to die with you.
I can't.
I can't kill you.
Kagero.
Dying accomplishes nothing.
Remember.
You are Manjitani's chieftain.
Most likely, they've taken ship at Ise,
bound for Atsumi.
What should we do?
Hanzo.
You know what to do.
I will not fail.
For the honour of the Hattori house.
Hotarubi!
The wound's not deep.
Hotarubi!
Oboro-sama...
Hotarubi?
Hotarubi!
now...
for the first time,
I hate my grandmother.
Why this child?
Why her?!
Of course...
because she knew that Hotarubi...
would lay down her life for you.
We are all born under a star that rules our fate.
Hotarubi has followed her destiny, which was to die...
defending you.
What more is there?
Don't say that!
Their deaths must not be wasted.
Don't.
Not another word!
Gennosuke...
I fought.
I'm not sorry to die.
Do it.
Kill me!
'The abandoned temple of the west, the hour of the boar.'
Yakushiji Tenzen.
He wants to see me alone.
Tenzen...
They say he's lived for 300 years.
It's sure to be a trap.
I'll be fine.
Wait here.
The brave Manjidani chieftain.
You are here alone.
What do you want?
Two more left alive on each side.
I did not want to fight.
Koga Gennosuke.
You said...
you were going to Sumpu,
to learn the truth.
In that case,
I will tell you the truth.
For years...
I have watched as shinobi came and went.
That is why I know...
this age has no need of us.
While the land was at war, we were there in the dark.
Flitting from shadow to shadow, raising even Shoguns to their throne.
But now peace has come.
There is no need of hidden villages,
of mighty shinobi warriors.
To end up an aimless wanderer?
To go deep into the mountains,
and starve there?
If there is a choice, would you not prefer...
to go out in a blaze of glory along with both our villages?
Well, Gennosuke?
Our lives are more than killing.
And what is your way, then?
'Love thine enemy'?
But Oboro is now...
Tsubagakure's true chieftain.
In grief at her comrades' deaths...
her heart has turned to steel.
She is no longer the Oboro you love!
You should never have left your village.
Why not?
An army under Yagyu...
is marching on both villages.
They'll arrive tomorrow.
By the time you reach Sumpu,
you’ll have no home to return to!
You gave them a map?
Now,
the Lord of Lords...
shines his light over the entire land.
How can one accept villages hidden deep and unreachable?
Our fate is to live in darkness,
and to die in it.
So let us disappear, unknown, into the shadows of this age...
shall we?
Still I cannot die.
Koga's best man has wonderful skill.
But still, I can't die.
Monster!
A woman who breathes poison calls me a monster?
I've seen your art.
Our day is done.
'Kagero', was it?
Can you kill me?
Don't be reborn...
a shinobi.
Make an end of me.
Kagero!
So...
it appears we must fight.
It had to be.
Our love was but a dream.
Our stars were crossed.
With so many dead...
There is no turning back.
Come at me.
Come!
I'm happy we met.
Please...
The villages...
Fire!
Sire...Oboro of Tsubagakure has come.
I will see her.
Sire!
You must not! She is no mere girl!
Run!
Hurry!
His Highness...
the Lord of Lords!
Chieftain of Tsubagakure...
Oboro, correct?
That is so.
On the occasion of this match, you have done well.
You have fought hard to reach here.
Of Iga: Yashamaru, fallen in the mountains of Ise.
Mino Nenki, fallen in the mountains of Ise.
Hotarubi, fallen at the port of Atsumi.
Yakushiji Tenzen, fallen in the mountains of Totomi.
Of Koga: Muroga Hyoma. fallen at Matsuzaka.
Kisaragi Saemon. fallen at the port of Atsumi.
Chikuma Koshiro, fallen in the mountains of Atsumi.
Kagero, fallen in the mountains of Totomi.
and Gennosuke of Koga, chieftain of Manjidani...
fallen on the shore at Suruga.
These nine are the dead.
Now I beg a favour of the Lord of Lords.
What?
How dare you!
Speak.
What is it you wish?
I ask that you leave Manjidani and Tsubagakure at peace!
For 400 years, they have been feared as villages 'hidden away'.
But we are people, we are parents, and children...
who love our land.
He who has united this land will understand this!
Oboro!
Please...
Please!
That I cannot do.
You are no ordinary person.
You are shinobi. You practice terrifying arts.
You are at once human and not.
You yourself...
possess the fearsome art of 'the Eyes of Destruction'.
Eternal peace...
will never come to one such as you.
Oboro!
Please! This is all I can do.
Lift the screen.
Oboro.
Raise your head.
You are to cease your attack immediately.
By order, Ieyasu.
Facing destruction, the villages were saved by Ieyasu's order.
They lived in peace through the 260 years of the Tokugawa Shoguns.
Their descendents continue to live today.
Directed by Shimoyama Ten
SHINOBI Partners
spell-checked by necroboi