Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Tsuioku-hen

In the violent twilight of the Edo period, the master swordsman Hiko Seijuro saves a lone child, Shinta, from a brutal massacre. He is later stunned to discover the boy has buried both the slain slaves and their killers, displaying a profound and unsettling heart. Renaming him Kenshin ("Heart of Sword"), Hiko reluctantly takes him on as an apprentice, teaching him the deadly Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū sword style to survive the coming chaos.

Kenshin is forged into a peerless weapon, but the turbulent Bakumatsu revolution demands more than skill, it demands a killer. He is recruited as an assassin for the Ishin Shishi, becoming the legendary "Hitokiri Battosai", a man who believes his bloody work will usher in a peaceful new era. His cold efficiency is shaken upon meeting the gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, whose presence offers a glimpse of a life beyond the sword.

Their fragile connection is shattered by a tragic, fateful betrayal that leaves Kenshin physically and spiritually scarred, carving the iconic cross-shaped wound on his cheek. This pivotal trauma births the vow that will define his future: a lifelong oath to never kill again, setting him on the path to become the wandering protector known as Rurouni Kenshin.