Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentosho

Orphaned runaways Jinta and Suzune are taken in by Motoharu, the principled guardian of Kadono Village, and his daughter, Shirayuki. The village is guided by a shrine maiden known as the Itsukihime, a figure kept at a distance from most residents; after her death, Shirayuki is chosen to succeed her. Determined to remain close and be of use, Jinta devotes himself to the village and, after years of effort, earns the role of its next sentinel.

Charged with protecting Kadono, Jinta confronts a demon in the nearby forest and survives a battle that changes him forever: the creature speaks of a fated sovereign of demonkind and grafts its severed arm onto him, leaving Jinta an unaging being. He awakens to catastrophe—Kadono ablaze, Suzune revealed as the demon foretold, and Shirayuki dead amid a chain of tragic misunderstandings. Unable to forgive what happened, Jinta sets out to hunt Suzune down, wandering through Japan across different eras while fighting back violent demons and wrestling with what he will do when he finally meets his childhood friend again.