Before the world knew the Heavy Hitters, before Ryo ever stepped into the shadows, there was a swordsman named Shin — and a man named Zach who saw something in him that the world never would.

🩸 Synopsis

Years before the return of Max Senzaki, the strongest ninja alive — Zach Arata — led covert operations to secure the balance of the hidden world. While pursuing a collapsing clan in the war-torn borderlands, Zach encountered a lone survivor: a young swordsman named Shin Kurogane.

Shin wasn’t just skilled — he was raw, angry, and unrefined, driven by the slaughter of his family and the betrayal of allies who sold them out. Instead of killing the boy for the crimes his clan had committed, Zach saw a weapon worth forging.

Zach personally trained Shin in the art of controlled lethality — turning his rage into precision, his grief into discipline. For a brief time, Shin became Zach’s shadow, a blade sharpened under the world’s most terrifying master.

But ghosts don’t stay buried.

One of Zach’s oldest comrades — Kuro Yatagarasu, a legendary assassin from the previous era — resurfaced. Once a brother-in-arms, Kuro had turned to the old ways, gathering forbidden techniques and carving his name into the underworld through terror. Where Zach sought balance, Kuro wanted dominance.

Their reunion wasn’t a handshake. It was an execution order.

Will Shin be able to Defeat Kuro ?