A young boy from Shingetsu Village, a town abandoned by the Meiji Government to the machinations of Shishio Makoto and brutally ruled over by Shishio's henchman Senkaku, Mishima Eiji escapes the village in the arms of his older brother Ei'ichirō before the latter succumbs to fatal injuries sustained during the flight. Coming across Himura Kenshin and Makimachi Misao in the forest, Eiji is escorted back to his home village in order to free the people from Shishio's influence.