In the days before the Japanese Revolution, wandering swordsman Hiko Seiijuro, a hermit master, witnesses a bandit raid on a slave wagon. He slays the raiders in an attempt to save as many lives as possible, but only manages to spare a single child. Hiko leaves the child, advising him to go to a nearby village where the villagers can look after him. A few days later, when Hiko returns to check on the child, he is shocked to find that the boy has erected graves for both the slaves he befriended and the bandits who killed them. Seeing potential in the young one, Hiko takes him under his wing, names him Kenshin, meaning “heart of sword”, and begins teaching him the art of swordsmanship under t...