| Director | Ryuhei Kitamura |
|---|---|
| Box office | $6.7 million |
In feudal Japan, old master Jiji and a survivor of the Tokugawa shogunate converse after surviving a brutal battle, with Jiji asked by the Tokugawa Shogunate to raise a band of assassins. Their task is to finish off Toyotomi Hideyoshi's three allies: Nagamasa Asano, Kiyomasa Kato and Masayuki Sanada, to prevent an outbreak of a new civil war.
Azumi is discovered as a little girl kneeling without visible emotion next to the body of her dead mother by Gessai and his entourage of young students. She is then raised by him in the martial skills of sword fighting and the art of assassination in a secret mountain area with no interactions with the outside world. Many years past, Azumi and her classmates, now at young adult age, are constantly being told about a "mission" they must accomplish, though they have no idea what this mission is yet. Prior to setting out on their mission, their master orders his students to "pair up" with each other's best friend, with the closest friends picking each other. Their master then orders them to kill each other, with only the ones who are capable of killing be his assassins. Therefore, out of the ten students only five will be qualify to proceed with the mission: Azumi pairs with and is forced to kill Nachi, her closest friend. The group then buries the dead and burn any trace of their existence there, including their house. A member of the group questions why they killed their friends, but their master refuses to speak. Arriving at a village, the group is ordered by their master to hide and not intervene as bandits attack and destroy the village. Afterwards, some members aggressively demand why they were not allowed to save the village as they could have easily killed all the bandits. Their master berates them that killing a few bandits won't change Japan, and he finally tells them of their mission, to assassinate the warlords who allow this to happen to Japan, and to do it secretly.
The first leg in their mission, assassinating Nagamasa Asano, goes well as Nagamasa Asano was easily caught off guard by Azumi's innocence. Although Azumi kills Magamasa Asano, she is taken back by his dying words, questioning why a young beautiful girl is a cold-hearted killer. Upon hearing about Asano's death, Kato tasks his general Kanbei Inoue with his safety. Kanbei assesses the threat with a convoy containing extra security, but Azumi and her group are easily able to kill the convoy and kill Kato. In the process Kanbei Inoue learns that the group has a female assassin. As the group arrives at a different village, the young assassins are given leave to see a small traveling circus troupe, where Hyuga falls in love with Yae, one of the troupe's actresses, and Azumi is impressed and amazed at seeing and interacting with outside people for the first time, as well as talking to other girls. At the same time, it is revealed that the Kato that was just assassinated by Azumi's group was nothing more than a double. After his assessment, Kanbei enlists help from three rogueish brothers who, eventually confuse Yae's circus troupe for the assassins as they were told that the group had one girl with them, slaughtering them all until Hyuga, Azumi, and Nagara arrive. By the time the three dispatch the rogues, only Yae is left alive. Kanbei then sends his monkey-like henchman Saru to make a deal with the insidious and narcissistic mercenary named Bijomaru Mogami, previously imprisoned and under constant guard. Kanbei promises Bijomaro that should he successfully kill the assassins, his past crimes will be forgotten. Bijomaru agrees and quickly gets to work hunting down the five assassins, with Saru as his guide. Bijomaru's bloodlust, much to the chagrin of Saru, is such that he often kills allies in battle along with his enemy.
As the group returns to the village with the survivor Yae, they find one of their comrades extremely sick, due to accidentally getting hit with a poison dart from their assassination of Kato. Their masters angrily berates the group for killing people who weren't their targets, even if they were saving someone else. The group breaks off, and the master takes two assassins with him while Azumi and the rest are expelled from the mission. As the master leaves, their sick comrade commits suicide to prevent him for being a burden to them. Azumi and Hyuga bury their dead comrade, and Hyuga decides to go with Yae. Sometimes later he is confronted by Saru and Bijomaru, and a battle between the assassin and the mercenary ensues. During the battle, Bijomaru uses psychological warfare in addition to swordplay as he explains to a frightened Hyuga that his sword does not contain a hand-guard since he has never had to defend another's blow. As Hyuga lays bleeding and defeated, Bijomaru forces Yae to watch him toy with the dying boy. Saru, uncomfortable and sicken with this lack of respect for another warrior, finishes Hyuga off as an act of mercy, and confronts Bijomaru as well as prevent him from killing Yae. They leave and Yae buries Hyuga. Azumi senses something and soon finds Yae by Hyuga's body. After burying another of her friends, Azumi is convince by Yae to abandon her violent lifestyle to become a woman. Together they begin a journey over the mountains and out of the valley to go and live in peace with Yae's kin in Tangou. Yae socializes Azumi during the journey, dressing her in a kimono and adorning her with make-up, perfume and hair treatment, the first time Azumi has every wore traditional female clothes. Just as they begin to get comfortable during their journey, a band of brigands finds them as they sleep, and attempts to gang rape the young women. Azumi, who has not slept beside her sword as her training normally dictated, is caught off guard, and initially hesitates to do anything but then right before they can rape Yae, Azumi steals the sword of a would-be captor, castrating him before killing all of the brigands and saving Yae.