In this medieval adventure, a female warrior must prove herself as a samurai to survive during the Warring States period in Japan. For the Samurai, death is not to be feared. It is to be embraced. Japan 1533—A nation in turmoil. Rival warlords battle for supremacy while common folk struggle to survive in a land laid waste by endless war. Tengu, an orphaned girl, must navigate the lawless hinterlands if she is to survive and achieve her ambition to become a master swordswoman. Rejected by every school of martial skill, she joins samurai from northern Japan as they converge on a river shrine to take part in a savage tournament, a death-match from which only one can emerge victorious. Will she survive the gladiatorial combat? Or will she meet a bloody end on the arena floor?