"In the heavens, seven stars are linked together. For the past 1,800 years, through great effort, Hokuto Shinken has been passed down from generation to generation. The master of this style concentrates all of his energy into his strikes, which impact on the pressure points of an opponent. The secret to this style lies in the ability it has to completely destroy an opponent from the inside out. It is an assassination style. A style with such power must only be wielded by an equally formidable martial artist. Only one person is meant to master it at a time. However, Ryuken, who had no sons of his own, taught 3 boys..."
At a Nanto training ground, a young Kenshiro is fighting against several Nanto masters. He fights them one at a time in a challenge to defeat ten of them in a row.
Souther and Raoh are watching Kenshiro battle. Souther asks Roah what he is thinking now. What does he plan to do with Kenshiro? Does he want him to become more powerful? But he then reminds him that if Kenshiro loses here today, he will die. That is the law of the Nanto "Ten Battles to the Death", and even challengers from the Hokuto Shinken style will not be exempt to it. Raoh tells Souther to fall silent and just watch. Souther turns his attention to Shuu, who is also watching, and asks him what he thinks of this fight.
Shuu says nothing but continues to watch as Kenshiro takes out another opponent. Ken then turns around and stares directly at Shuu. Naturally, the next guy to fight Kenshiro gets annoyed that he isn't facing him and tells him to turn around, but Ken takes him out with one punch.
Shuu gets up. Souther asks him if he is going to challenge Kenshiro next. Shuu says that Kenshiro just detected and stopped the chi blast he had just sent directly at him, so he'll answer him now. He walks up to Kenshiro and says that he is the last of the 10 he will fight, before telling him to make his move. Ken runs forward and does a flying kick, but Shuu avoids it like he is an illusion.
Shuu uses a move that sends Ken up into the air and he then hits him several times. Defeated, Kenshiro tells Shuu that he is glad he was his last opponent. Souther tells Shuu that he knows the rules: Kenshiro must now die and he can be the one to do it. Just then someone else appears...
...Toki has also been observing and says that he wants to take Kenshiro's place, even offering to fight Souther. Souther gets up and says that's fine, but warns that if he really does intend to fight him, he will die.
Shuu says that Kenshiro won't be killed -as he has the potential to be stronger than any of them. Souther gets offended by his words and asks him if he intends to break the Nanto law. Shuu says that he never expected Ken to have his life spared without consequence, and without warning quickly moves his hands down across his own eyes...
...and destroys them. Shuu has taken his own light away. He then picks up Kenshiro and leaves the room. Souther says that he had forgotten that Shuu is the star of benevolence.
"Time passed. Raoh, Kenshiro and Toki became masters of Hokuto Shinken. It would eventually lead to the greatest age, but it started with a tradedgy."
And that tradedgy was war. Violence and war in the world became worse and worse, to the point where it was decided the use of nuclear weapons was the best option.
This destroyed the Earth. After the missiles stopped falling, not much was left aside from ruined buildings, dried up oceans and inhabitable lands. It appeared that the human race had become extinct, but some people had survived. In this new age, violence rules, and those who are without power live miserable lives. The weak pin their hopes on a savior to appear.
Kenshiro, Toki and Raoh all survived. Kenshiro is the successor to Hokuto Shinken and lives his life changing sadness into strength, as he defeats the evil warlords and bandits who prey on the weak. Toki is dying, but he uses Hokuto Shinken to cure people of illness. Meanwhile Raoh gave himself the new name of "Ken-Oh" (Fist King) and wants to bring order to the world, with him becoming it's leader. To achieve his goal, Raoh uses extreme violence, and his ways have seen great success so far.
SHIN KYŪSEISHU DENSETSU - HOKUTO NO KEN: RAOH DEN - JUN'AI NO SHŌ
(Legends of the True Savior - Fist of the North Star: Legend of Raoh - Chapter of Death in Love)
It is night time at a ruined city, but a large group of punks are trying to kill Kenshiro, who is carrying a child. The punks want the kid, but Kenshiro evades all of their attacks, often making them hit each other instead. The leader of the group reveals he has a shotgun and walks straight up to Ken, asking him if he wants to die.
Ken just grabs his arm and crushes it, causing him to stagger around screaming in pain. Everyone notices a large convoy heading towards them, so the punks decide to retreat and get on their bikes. The group leader still wants to fight, but Ken just tells him that he's already dead. The punks leave as the convoy stops just behind Ken.
Bat and Lin jump out as Bat yells at Ken for just walking off earlier without telling anyone. He forgets his anger with him however when he sees who Kenshiro is carrying: Kaito. Bat knows Kaito as they both use to live in the same village, until Bat left it. Kaito weakly asks them to help his village, as it is in danger. Kaito later receives treatment for his injuries as Bat asks the villagers they have been traveling with if they will go to Kaito's village next. But they refuse, as they want to take Kaito to Toki's village next as they've got wounded who only he can heal. Ken gets up and leaves. Bat correctly guesses he's going to help them so he also leaves, saying he needs to show Ken the way. Lin also goes with them.
Meanwhile the punks are actually troops of the "Holy Emperor" and as they head back one of them asks why they have to capture kids. However the others cannot understand what he is saying. He tells them that ever since being hit by Kenshiro, he hasn't been able to move his mouth properly. His head them promptly explodes, leaving the other troops terrified.
The next morning, Ken, Bat and Lin arrive at the village and see how run down it is. Lin asks Bat why he left here and he just tells her that it's obvious why: just look at it. Lin says he should be happy he at least has a place he can call home, when suddenly they hear a noise. Ken tells them to wait as he goes down some steps and sees a white knight about to kill a man. However the knight sees him and charges, letting the other man run away.
The knight draws out a sword and slashes at Ken, but her strike only hits his shirt. But this reveals that Ken has scars on his chest. The knight seems surprised at this but then sees that the man who just ran away has been hit over the head by an old woman. The woman tells Kenshiro that the knight just killed several other men likes this and that's a good thing, as they were doing bad things here. To prove that point, it is revealed the man she just hit was carrying grenades. The knight doesn't say anything, but gets on a horse and rides away.
The old woman calls out to Bat and tells him that he's got some nerve to come back here, but he says she shouldn't scream like that and that she's an old hag. However the other children of the village run out and are pleased to see that Bat has returned.
Elsewhere, a large army has gathered together, who intend to fight Ken-Oh and his army. Ken-Oh himself observes them from the top of a cliff. Souga, one of his Generals, appears and tells him that this army is led by Mei-Oh and they intend to have a final battle with them here. Ken-Oh isn't that interested however and asks Souga if Souther has done anything of interest recently. He finds out that he hasn't, but Ken-Oh says that Souther is in his way of world domination and that he will have to kill him eventually if he wants to succeed.
But for now Mei-Oh and his forces need to be destroyed. Turning around, Ken-Oh tells his troops that they will restore this chaotic world and thanks to his fists, they've got the power to do it. The white knight then appears and charges down towards Mei-Oh's army, but Ken-Oh knows who it is. The knight's name is Reina, and her attack marks the start of the battle. Ken-Oh watches her lead several troops down, but he wants a piece of the action and also charges down on his horse, Kokuoh-Go.
Back at Bat's village, Ken asks Toyo (the old woman) if she looks after all of the children here by herself. She says that other villagers help out, but all of the kids here have lost their parents, with them either being killed or them just abandoning their children. She also explains that Souther -who is also known as the Holy Emperor -is capturing children to construct a gigantic pyramid. Many villages now have no children in them at all. Worse than that, some villagers have been giving their children away in exchange for food. To make things worse, Ken-Oh and his army have been attacking and taking over various villages near to where they are, so they are living in constant fear.
Toyo and Lin go and get some sleep, but Ken leaves the house. He finds Bat outside who knows that Ken must want to stop Souther, so he'll take him there. Ken smiles and then follows him to his truck.
Meanwhile at the battle, both sides have taken losses but now the leaders stand off against each other. Mei-Oh tells Ken-Oh that if he is killed here today, then everything will fall into place. Riding on top of an armored buggy, he charges forward, as Ken-Oh does the same.
Ken-Oh leaps up and hits his opponent with a projectile attack then sends him and his transport spinning out of the way. Mei-Oh thinks it is nothing, but Ken-Oh tells him that he will be soon in the land of the dead. Seconds later Mei-Oh explodes.
Souga has been watching from the top of the cliff and quietly says that he will give inspiration to their cause. He wants to get Toki and Kenshiro to join them. The next morning in Ken-Oh's kingdom, Souga talks to Reina (his sister) about Ken-Oh. There has been a recent lack of discipline with his troops, which Reina is concerned about. Souga tells her not to worry and that soon, all will be made clear.
Yoh, Souga's servant, then appears and tells his master that the preparations have been made. Souga tells his sister that he's doing this for her and then leaves. Reina later joins him in the palace's main hall, where Ken-Oh and all of the other higher-ups in his army are eating and celebrating their victory over Mei-Oh.
Souga tells Ken-Oh that they have had a great victory, but he isn't interested in his words. Instead he is more concerned about the lack of ambition most of his troops have, as he hears them talking about women and how they seem to be the only things they really care about. Souga then announces a surprise for them and at the back of the room, the doors open and a very pretty woman steps in.
Souga explains that her name is Mai, and that she has come from the same land that he and Ken-Oh grew up in -the Land of Shura. Ken-Oh says he'll allow this and Mai starts to dance in a very graceful way, using the water pool in the middle of the room to great effect.
Mai notices that Ken-Oh has his eyes closed and that all of his troops are just watching her. She quickly deploys blades in each of her hands and heads straight towards Ken-Oh, ready to stab him. However Reina prevents her from doing this as she lunges forward at the last moment and stabs Mai through her stomach. Ken-Oh gets up and demands to know what just happened -has Souga tried to have an assassin kill him?! Souga tries to explain that something went wrong and that he didn't set this up, but Ken-Oh isn't having any of his excuses.
Reina gets up and tell Ken-Oh to wait, but he pushes her out of the way and tells Souga that he has committed the greatest hindrance to their cause: carelessness. There is only one punishment for this sin: death. Ken-Oh strikes Souga in his stomach. The troops in the room cannot believe Ken-Oh would kill his right hand man, but they realise that none of them can escape his grasp if they do something wrong.
Ken-Oh says that he forgives Reina of any wrong doing she might have had in this plot, as she saved his life. He then leaves the room. Later that night, Reina sends the body of her brother out to burn in a lake near the palace.