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If you’ve been doing the assassinations in their clear order, by this point in your time with Assassin’s Creed Shadows you should have taken down half of the Shinbakfu and started to feel confident in Naoe and Yasuke’s quest.
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We’ve seen a good variety of targets up to this point, from personal stakes to devious daimyos. The Noble is here to mix it all up with some political action, which you’ll need to sift through in order to take the target down.
The Rengakai
Where To Meet The Renga Master
In order to kick off this target, you’ll need to start with The Rengakai quest, which is said to be in Harima and south of Himeji Castle. Follow where we’ve marked on the map above to meet the Renga Master. Once you meet him, you’ll need to follow him for a bit before meeting Kuroda Kanbei.
Kanbei will then ask you to follow Ukita Hideie, a young boy who becomes central to this questline’s plot. Naoe or Yasuke will then partake in a poetry session (the Rengakai) and chat with an unknown person, who turns out to be Ukita’s father. The area gets attacked and you’ll need to fight off a few basic foes to clear this mission and open up the rest of the quest and have a few new leads to follow.
The Scent Of War
Where To Find Konishi Yukinaga
Once you finish the first quest, you’ll get two leads to follow, starting with The Scent of War. To kick this one off, you need to find Konishi Yukinaga, who is located South of Himeiji. Talking to Konishi will result in him pointing you to some fake merchants who need to be taken out. There’s not really a chance for stealth here, but there’ll be lots of climbing and sneaking later so it’s best to go with Naoe.
Your next task will involve uncovering clues about a shipment, which all takes place at Aga Hontokuji Temple, which will be marked on your map. As usual when it comes to “uncovering clues”, this will require you to enter the area and then Observe by holding down LT on Xbox or L2 on PS5.
There are a total of three clues to be found in the temple and they’re all marked with blue dots. The area is also covered with guards that can easily overwhelm you and make the mission longer, so it’s best to play as Naoe and avoid conflict as much as you can. Once you’ve grabbed the three clues, head back to Konishi and chat with him to finish the mission.
As with a lot of dialogue choices, there aren’t really any major decisions to make here, so don’t worry about what you choose.
Losing Hand
Where To Find Tokubei And His Wife
The next step of the quest is to find someone called Tokubei who might have more information about the attackers. To find him, though, you’ll need to question his wife Suzu, who is located in west Himeiji in Harima. Head over there to find that she’s being strongarmed by a bunch of soldiers, who you’ll need to take out.
This quest is almost entirely combat-based, so your best bet by far here is to go with Yasuke and just brute force it. Once you’ve defeated the soldiers, talk to Suzu and she’ll say Tokubei is out gambling. The location will then be marked on your map and you’ll need to head over there to a very guarded area.
Here’s where things get a little tricky, as there are tons of guards and a nearby bell. With Naoe, you can simply throw a shuriken or Kunai at the bell, but Yasuke either needs to use his bow or climb up there to disable it himself. Once you’ve done that, it’s a free-for-all with every guard in the little zone to get to Tokubei.
This bit took me ages since I went in without any Rations. Definitely make sure you’re stocked up before taking this quest on.
Confront Tokubei and you’ll have to chase him through the streets for a bit, although there’s no losing condition here as he’ll eventually stop and agree to help you. Say whatever you want to him and then you’ll be able to move on with the quest.
A Peculiar Guest
Where To Find The Shrine
The third part of this assassination quest can only be done after completing the first two, and the reason why will make sense in a bit. I went in with Naoe for this one, but it’s absolutely more suited for Yasuke since there’s a lot of fighting and no chances for stealth. To start off, you’ll need to head over to the Junisho Shrine in Harima to search for information.
Once you get here, you’ll find a suspicious Miko who needs to be taken out. The Miko is a bit of a tricky enemy since she uses quick attacks and throws projectiles at you, but she’s not that hard of a battle, especially if you go in with Yasuke. Kill her and take the message from her body to find out a “special guest” is waiting at Itatehyozu Shrine.
Head over there and Observe to find that the special guest is none other than Ukita Hideie, who you can chat with and then escort out of the area. That is until Ukita Naoie, The Noble, finds you and takes the young boy before setting a bunch of enemies on you. That initially seems scary but I managed to beat them all as Naoe without taking a hit, so going in with Yasuke and taking your time should make things easy enough.
Spring And Fall
How To Assassinate Ukita Naoie
After your encounter with Ukita Naoie, you’ll be told to go and warn Kuroda Kanbei, who is marked on the map for you and found in Himeiji. Hurry over there for a cutscene before choosing who you want to play as for the quest line’s grand finale. While it’s usually personal preference with these things, Yasuke is absolutely the choice here, since there’s so much combat to get into.
Once you’ve picked your character (let’s just say you love following my advice and go with Yasuke), you’ll spawn near a castle and be told to reach the honmaru gate. Follow Tokubei over and he’ll guide you around to a point where you need to kill all of the enemies at the gate, which includes a heavy Samurai who is Ukita’s lieutenant. Like with other encounters, you should know what to do by now and there are enough Rations to keep you going through it all.
Don’t be like me and pick a fight before you reach the honmaru gate, though. You’ve got enough killing to do!
Open the gate and you’ll be asked to secure the honmaru, which prompts another character-choosing scene. I went with Yasuke again but this section is a bit smaller and more open to stealth, so Naoe is a fine selection too. Securing the honmaru involves, you guessed it, killing everyone in the vicinity, so get to doing that. If you struggle to find anyone, just Observe and look around.
After this, a cutscene will play that results in Ukita Naoie running away and you getting another prompt of who you want to play as. This is absolutely where you should choose Yasuke, as you’ve got some tough battles ahead to reach Naoie. Climbing the tenchu to assassinate him is mostly a long and linear scene of fighting and combat, which can be a bit long-winded.
Just remember to use your suited weapon (the Naginata is absolutely the best choice) and make your way slowly, picking up Rations whenever you can. If you’re playing as Naoe, there are some options for stealth, but it’s really best to just go with Yasuke for the remainder of the mission. Eventually, you’ll reach Ukita Naoie and have to fight him.
Ukita Naoie Assassination
Should You Spare Or Kill Ukita Naoie?
Before fighting Naoie you’ll once again have to choose between Yasuke and Naoe, although the choice should be obvious. Naoie is a fairly standard sword wielder with a focus on heavy strikes that need to be dodged, but his most tricky move is the ability to summon a bunch of shinobi to attack you.
That makes the wide-reaching Naginata a perfect choice for this fight as it can hit multiple enemies at once and deals great damage. Just get rid of the shinobi whenever they pop up and then focus on Ukita to make this tough-looking fight a lot easier on yourself. Once you take down Ukita, you’ll be offered a choice of whether you want to spare him or kill him.
As with a lot of the other big choices in Shadows, this one doesn’t actually matter either. If you choose to spare Ukita, he’ll refuse your request and ask to be killed, so there’s no difference with what you pick. Once you’ve done this and sat through the cutscene, another Shinbakfu member will be gone and you’ll get the Oni’s Fury Legendary Amulet for your troubles.
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