Synopsis
In the state of provincial wars in Japan, the age of rival warlords, no one was yet to know the way to bring the peace to the country.
There were “Akizuki,” “Yamana” and “Hayakawa”, the three provinces in Japan that bordered upon each other. For mountainous Yamana that had managed its finances by utilizing meager mineral resources, it was its ardent yet unaccomplished wish to conquer the big and prosperous neighbor, oceanfront Hayakawa. Running out of its already slender resources and having a crisis, Yamana instead set its eye on the other neighbor, Akizuki. Though with its smaller land, Akizuki had fertile ground and abundant gold vein. Ultimately, Yamana set its steps to invade Akizuki, in order again to aim the long-cherished take-over of Hayakawa. Yamana’s sneak attach made flat-footed Akizuki Castle fall without any significant fight-back. Having set their foot into the burnt-down castle, Yamana’s troops started to make a frantic search for Akizuki’s hidden war fund “100 Kan Gold Bullion.”
Vigilantly aiming get-rich-quick, the nameless young blades, Takezo and Shinpachi.
Recruited for the slave-labor in the burnt-down castle in search for the Akizuki’s war fund were a mountain villager Takezo (Jun Matsumoto) and a woodman Shinpachi (Daisuke Miyagawa). The two disappeared during the commotion caused by explosion of subsurface gas and fled from the castle. On their way to nowhere, the two, still sticking to the desire of get-rich-quick, accidentally found the gold bullion with Akizuki’s armorial insignia, hidden under stacks of firewood by a waterfall. They were frenzied with joy of finding the war fund “100 Kan Gold Bullion.” But soon after, they were captured by two warrior-looking rangers who appeared out of the blue. The true identities of the two rangers were Akizuki’s chief samurai, Rokurota Makabe (Hiroshi Abe), and the true heir of Akizuki, Princess Yuki (Masami Nagasawa), and they had a secret mission to bring out the gold bullion war fund, go through their enemy Yamana’s territory, and seek shelter in their ally Hayakawa for recovery of Akizuki. Under the blade Rokurota held out, Takezo worked out and suggested a secret plan out of the fear of being slashed.
The chief samurai acting incognito, the princess aiming for her nation’s recovery, and the two nameless mountain villagers.
Neck and Pride. Outright greed and the fate of the nation.
Under tight military cordon by millions of warriors and at to an impregnable fortress in the darkness, the three blades fight against all odds.
Hunting down the hidden gold bullions and the princess in a spot, a desperate and dangerous run has cut loose.