Pride of the Samurai (Kusunoki Chronicles) (Volume 1)

Akashi and Kanto are twin brothers, born to a role as samurai in the proud and ancient Kusunoki family. Strange events, however, reveal that Akashi can manipulate the forbidden magic of the tama. This ability brands Akashi as shinobi, one of the hidden ones the samurai are sworn to destroy. He is forced to flee to keep his own family from executing him. The brothers pursue very different paths, one as samurai and the other as shinobi. Civil war among the samurai, however, brings the brothers to the same battlefield. There, Akashi learns that sinister barbarians, intent on conquest, have been manipulating the samurai toward destroying themselves. Both young men will have to make choices between their competing loyalties, with the fate of a nation and its people at stake.