The most complicated mission to date, Mission 3: The Thieves of Imai tasks your small team of saboteurs to break into an official’s compound and pickpocket his documents without killing him. This is where Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun really shines — there are multiple challenging sections, and you’ll have to use every ability in your arsenal to successfully navigate this winter village.
As always, we’re here to show you how to complete this mission without raising an alarm — and in the easiest way possible. Actually stealing the documents is tricky, but there’s a very specific place and time where Yuki (our master thief) can pickpocket without getting caught. Check out the full guide for Mission 3 below and see how to beat your first heist.
Table of Contents – Shadow Tactics Walkthrough
- Tutorial
- Mission 1: The Siege of Osaka
- Mission 2: Trouble on the Nakasendo
- Mission 4: Escape from Mount Tsuru
- Mission 5: Killing Lord Yabu
- Mission 6: Spies In Hida Village
- Mission 7: Suganuma Rescue
- Mission 8: Attack on Kanazawa
- Mission 9: The Death of Kage-sama
- Mission 10: Betrayal at Mount Tsuru
- Mission 11: Matsuyama City
- Mission 12: A Fateful Meeting
- Mission 13: The Death of Noboru
Walkthrough | The Thieves of Imai
This mission puts you in control of Mugen and Yuki in the snowy village of Imai. At the start, you only have Yuki – our first objective is to meet with Mugen. He’s waiting in a courtyard to the northwest of Yuki’s position.
NOTE: In snowy environments, guards will react to footprints. Footprints will fade after a short time. If a guard sees footprints, he’ll follow the tracks. You can lure enemies, too.
Step #1: Regroup with Mugen
There’s a single guard standing in your way. Whistle and lead him to the bushes with footprints where he’ll be easy pickings. The first hook is on the two story structures ahead in the alley. If the patrolling guard sees, jump-attack him from the top of the hook behind the bamboo wall, then sneak behind the standing guard. Take down the sentry, then use the hook on the building adjacent to the scaffolding – it’s a little hard to see, so check the image.
Hop across the rooftop and climb the ladder to the scaffolding with the rope connected to the tall building. There’s another rope that leads across the wide road and right toward Mugen’s courtyard. That way you won’t have to deal with the massive samurai enemy standing guard… not yet, anyway.
Step #2: Get Mugen Inside
There are multiple sub-steps to this objective, but it’s all the same – you need to steal the key to the compound gates with Yuki from the marked samurai, then open the north or south gate. When Mugen is inside the compound, you’ll move on to the next objective.
You now have control of Yuki and Mugen, but this is primarily Yuki’s show. First, you’ll need to get inside the compound. Up north from courtyard, go to the alley to encounter your first samurai. Kill him with Mugen and enter the courtyard.
NOTE: Samurai are armored opponents that can only be killed by Mugen’s melee attack. They are resistant to lures, whistles and stones – but they will attack if they see a threat. If anyone other than Mugen attempts a stealth kill, they’ll die instantly.
Past the samurai, the courtyard is swarming with guards. Lure the standing guard toward the stack of barrels with a sake bottle and crush him – accidental kills won’t raise suspicion. Use the bushes behind the sentry, then use Mugen’s Sword Wind technique to kill the pair of Straw Hats (and the patrolling guard, when he stops by) to clear the area. Yuki can climb to the rooftops and kill the last Straw Hat at the exit door.
On the main road outside the compound, watch for the sake delivery cart that moves around the area. From the back curtain, Yuki can jump in and ride the cart to the north corner of the map. It’s useful for Mugen too – stand behind it to block view cones.
Reaching the South Gate: From the exit to the courtyard, sneak down the road south. Check the view on the pair of samurai watching the front gate to the compound, and stay in the dark area of their vision. Mugen and Yuki can use the exact same route – there are two old ladies, just stay near the houses to sneak by them, and wait for the patrol to walk by.
NOTE: To get to the North Gate, wait for the sake cart to stop on the road, then interact with the back to ride inside.
Follow this route, and Yuki and Mugen can easily reach the south gate. Clearing the south gate entrance is going to be tricky. Avoid the samurai patrolling and aim to kill the guard on the scaffolding first – hookshot to the adjacent roof and take him out. The guard watching the path to the hookshots seems like a problem – just sneak behind the barrels, wait for him to investigate the prints in the snow, then sprint to the hooks.
From the roof, you can kill the scaffolding watchman and drop into the bushes behind that previous guard that gave us trouble on the path to the hooks. Use Shadow Mode to kill him and the patrolling guard, with Mugen in position from a nearby bush. The tricky part is hiding both bodies before the Samurai sees.
Now Yuki can steal the key, open the door, kill the Straw Hat, and Mugen can sneak by the samurai patrol easily. Time to get that key.
Stealing the Key: Use the rope on the second floor building to cross over into the compound. Inside, you’ll want to deal with an annoying guard on a scaffolding near the garden, in the eastern corner of the map. Drop down to the barrel wagon, and run across to the bush under the hook leading directly to his scaffold.
Now you have one less problem to deal with. The samurai with the key is next. He wanders to the eastern side of the estate, near a balcony guarded by a Straw Hat. Use the bushes near the southern gate to sneak close – the Straw Hat has a dark vision cone near him, allowing you to crawl across and collect the tutorial scroll.
Get into the bushes where the key-holding samurai stops and kill the guard. The patrolling guard will probably see your footprints while you’re hiding the body – kill him too, and wait. Press [Cross / A] to pickpocket the samurai, then quickly use the nearby hook to escape and kill the annoying Straw Hat on the balcony. The samurai will investigate and spot you if you stay in the bushes.
Step #3: Regroup
With the key, return to the gate, kill the Straw Hat standing sentry, and sneak Mugen inside to the waypoint. We cleared the path earlier, so Mugen should only have to avoid the samurai patrol.
Step #4: Create a Distraction
There are two towers Mugen can destroy within the compound walls. No matter which tower he destroys, all three samurai protecting the high ranking official with the papers will leave to investigate, giving Yuki time to steal them.
Tower A: The tower is in the far northeastern corner of the compound. We’ve already killed the guard on the scaffolding, so now Mugen can sneak in and clear the rest of the guards near the tower. Lure the standing guard by the two-story building with a whistle into Yuki’s trap, then cut down the two patrolling guards with lures. Use Shadow Mode to jump-attack the single guard, and Sword Wind to kill the other two simultaneously.
Now you can destroy the tower and begin the final part of your mission.
Step #5: Steal the Papers
Only Yuki can steal the papers off the official in the garden. When his samurai bodyguards are gone, you can actually approach him. Let’s start from the eastern entrance to the garden, near the escape wagon.
NOTE: The official cannot be lured or killed. He’s very resistant to whistles, and will quickly return to his set path.
Sneak into the bushes near the shrine and lure the single guard away somewhere to kill him – when the official is kneeling at the altar, you’ll be far enough away from any other guard to safely pickpocket. The civilian accompanying the official will look away.
Step #6: Hide in the Wagon
Thanks to all our preparation, the wagon should be clear of enemies and easy to access with Mugen and Yuki. Hide both heroes inside to complete this mission.
