The Clans are actively at war. A series of battles are fought at the strategic crossroads of Beiden Pass. Toturi, the former Lion Clan daimyo has been retained by the forces of the Dragon Clan to lead their army at Beiden Pass, for reasons not understood even by the other Dragon generals. Chief among these generals is Mirumoto Hitomi, young scion of the Mirumoto Family. Hitomi has many strong passions, and her greatest is a festering hatred for the son of the Crab Clan, Hida Yakamo, who killed her beloved older brother years earlier in a duel of honor.
At Beiden Pass, Toturi wins several battles, and loses a few as well. Many temporary alliances form around these skirmishes, but in the end no faction is able to hold and control the pass. At the largest of these battles, the youngest son of Hida Kisada, Hida Sukune fails to anticipate Toturi's battlefield tactics and his forces are overwhelmed. In disgrace, he returns to the Crab Lands to the wrath of his father.
Shortly thereafter, Sukune vanishes.
At or around this time, Hida Yakamo loses a hand in a battle with Hitomi. Kuni Yori, a powerful Crab Clan shugenja, grafts a hideous claw-like appendage to Yakamo to replace his missing hand, using some terrible ritual that neither will discuss. Empowered by this magical device, Yakamo returns to the field of battle, locates Hitomi in the fray, and in turn severs one of her hands - with the sword of her brother, which is subsequently destroyed.
At about this same time, Kuni Yori induces Yakamo to lend his name to a fearsome oni which manifests in the material world and commences an extensive battle of wills with Yakamo for control of Yakamo's name. More than one such oni is summoned, but one individual creature in particular begins to test the will of Yakamo with regularity. It appears that some secret bargain has been struck by the Crab Clan to utilize the monstrous powers of the Shadowlands in their own bid for the throne.