In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi Sugimoto searches the wilderness of Hokkaido for a hoard of hidden gold. With only a cryptic map and a native Ainu girl to help him, Saichi must also deal with every murderous cutthroat, bandit and rogue who knows about the treasure!
After the chaos at the Sapporo Brewery, all of the rival factions have come away with the knowledge they need to finally solve the coded tattooed skins. As the pieces fall into place, Sugimoto drifts off to sleep, dreaming of a time before he was in the army, trying to make his way through the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. The seeds of Sugimoto’s current situation were sown then, when he found himself caught up in the intrigues of competing military factions. It all leads to the final, long-awaited discovery - the location of the hidden Ainu gold!