During the late Sengoku period, the Ashina clan, led by Kensei Isshin Ashina, seizes a land rich in divine favor, including a foreign deity dubbed the Divine Dragon which can grant immortality through a bloodline dubbed the "Dragon's Heritage" and through the Rejuvenating Waters and its mukade-infested Sediment. During this time, a nameless orphan is adopted by the wandering shinobi Owl, who names the boy "Wolf" and trains him in his ways. As Wolf grows up, Owl entrusts him with safeguarding the young lord Kuro, the last of the Dragon's Heritage line.