The beautiful Mount Tsuru rescue mission in Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun introduces one of the most useful heroes — Aiko, the Kunoichi. She isn’t just a powerful ninja like Hayato, she can also put on a disguise, distract guards, and walk freely around the environment. She’s a perfect scout, and she can stealth kill with the best of them.
Aiko adds an extra layer of depth to this mission, and you’ll need to use her wisely to help Mugen reach the old man Takuma — a wily inventor that’s also an incredible shot with his sniper rifle. Takuma is held prisoner, and only Mugen can kill the armored samurai protecting him in the northeast corner of the map. Learn how to complete every step of this complex mission with the full no-alarms guide below.
Table of Contents – Shadow Tactics Walkthrough
- Tutorial
- Mission 1: The Siege of Osaka
- Mission 2: Trouble on the Nakasendo
- Mission 3: The Thieves of Imai
- 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 | Escape from Mount Tsuru
Meet Aiko the Kunoichi. Mugen joins her on a quest to rescue Takuma from the mountain temple. Aiko shares many abilities with Hayato and Yuki. She can use hooks, and drags bodies while crouched instead of carrying them.
NOTE: Yuki has two special abilities; sneezing powder and the disguise. She has to collect a disguise first, so for now, Yuki only has sneezing powder. This thrown bomb explodes and causes a guard’s view distance to decrease drastically for a few seconds.
To start, sneak to the bushes near the guard at the start. Use sneezing powder to distract the left guard, then use Mugen and Aiko to kill the pair using Shadow Mode.
Step #1: Rescue Takuma
Up the road, you’ll find a stopped caravan. Use sneezing powder to sneak close and kill the Straw Hat guard, then kill the patrolling guard while he waits behind the first cart. Now, head up toward the stone bridge – we’re going to acquire a disguise for Aiko. Use sneezing powder to sneak up on the Straw Hat guard at the base of the bridge.
Getting Aiko’s Disguise: Across the bridge, find the rolled-up ladder near the southern entrance to the temple square. Climb the vines to the wall and hop to the tower so you can kill the guard. Drop into the water, then sneak into the bush by the sitting civilian. There’s a tall cliff you can climb up to the raised bridge that leads down to the disguise.
Kill the guard and throw him off the bridge, then sneak down to the hanging clothes down the steps to the south. There’s a civilian and a Straw Hat guarding the disguise – use sneezing powder to block the Straw Hat’s vision, sprint behind him, kill him, and hide his body through the doorway. Now you’re free to grab the disguise!
NOTE: Select Aiko’s disguise and use it to put it on. While wearing the disguise, Aiko can walk around in plain sight and distract guards with small talk. She can’t climb, jump or swim while disguised. Beware of Samurai, they will detect Aiko even when disguised.
Lowering the Ladder: Kill the sitting Straw Hat at the top of the steps near the drying clothes, then put on Aiko’s disguise. Now you can safely lower the ladder south of the temple square. You’ll also need to kill the guard in the center of the temple square, by the cherry blossom tree. Throw sneezing powder at the sitting civilian, then kill the guard while disguised as Aiko. Toss the body while the patrol isn’t looking.
Ringing the Bell: After lowering the ladder, distract the guard watching the ladder so Mugen can climb up, then use Shadow Mode to knock out the civilian and kill the guard simultaneously. Use disguised Aiko to distract the civilian on the bench, and run Mugen up to the wooden bridge to the graveyard. Enter the tunnel entrance and use the north exit to reach another bridge leading to the center of the map with the large bell. That’s our next goal.
Use disguised Aiko to kill the Straw Hat in the watch tower near the bell, then Mugen can hide in the bushes nearby while Aiko rings the huge bell. When the area is clear, cross the bridge to the northeast of the bell, kill the standing Straw Hat (just below Takuma and the samurai!) then kill the patrolling guard that meets the Straw Hat.
Now Mugen can safely cross the bridge and we can prepare to save Takuma and kill the samurai. Remember, only Mugen can kill samurai, and samurai can see through Aiko’s disguise.
Kill the Samurai: To reach the samurai with Takuma, you’ll need to get by another samurai – at the base of the steps, there’s a samurai watching the mill area. The patrolling guards south of the samurai are an annoyance. Distract the Straw Hat with Aiko first, then Sword Wind the pair of patrollers on the left bridge where the standing guard won’t see if you distract the Straw Hat. With the Straw Hat still distracted, use a sake bottle to lure the wooden bridge guard down. Kill them, then kill the Straw Hat. We’re almost ready for the samurai.
Kill the patrolling guard that talks to the samurai – use the sake bottle to lure him down the steps, then grab the large boulder with Mugen. Return to the tall vines where the two guards are talking and throw the massive boulder – this counts as an “accidental” kill and won’t alarm the samurai.
The rest is easy. Climb up the vines, kill the guard on the small bridge directly right of Takuma, then send Mugen back around to kill the samurai at the bottom of the stairs. Move in from the south to catch him – a sneezing powder / melee Shadow Mode combo should do it. Now you can kill the distracted samurai guarding Takuma.
Talk to Takuma: You’ll talk to Takuma right after taking down the samurai. Takuma is a new character – he can’t carry bodies, he can’t swim, but he can shoot. Well, normally he can shoot. For now, he’s useless. You just need to reach one of three exits.
Step #2: Escape Together
Secret Path A: For our route, Secret Path A is the easiest location to reach. From Takuma’s mill area, cross the bridge west and return to the massive bell. Here, use Mugen’s Sword Wind to kill the pair of guards at the tunnel door (after distracting one with Aiko’s disguise) then interact with the swan statue with Takuma to escape.
