In the early Edo period, an encounter with Oichi (Mizukawa Asami), the daughter of the chief retainer Umemiya Shuzen (Sakai Masaaki) of a small domain, prompts the dull Sarutobi Sasuke (Ito Atsushi), a budding ninja who was born in a ninja village deep in the mountains, to charge off for the capital. While Sarutobi attempts to protect Oichi from intrigue, Tokusaburo (Yanagiba Toshiro), a devious, mysterious merchant, appears before him. And then Sarutobi’s archnemesis, Hattori Hanzomon, the grandson of Hattori Hanzo.