One of the tasks that Ise Sadatame asks you to do in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is recover a letter that one of his messengers lost, since he was attacked. Your goal is to first find the messenger, then recover the letter that got lost, which will tell you that what Sadatame was saying is true. This page will not only help you find that missing letter, but also help you with the answer you should give Gennojo.

Find the Messenger¶

Your first goal will be to find the messenger that Sadatame talked about, as you won’t have a single clue about the letter. The in-game clues offered from the quest log mentions the messenger is in Yamashiro, southeast of Arashiyama. If you look at your map of Yamashiro, you will notice that Arashiyama is a sub-region to the west of Kyoto. Since the game says southeast of that sub-region, you’re looking at closer to Kyoto. The messenger will also be on a bridge and there’s only a single one that fits the clues (check the screenshot below).

Put a marker on that bridge and begin travelling to it, putting the Pathfinder to on, if you want to make it easier. Speak to him and he’ll say that an oni took the letter, with it coming from the bamboo grove behind the temple. The temple is literally just northwest of the bridge (Tenryuji Temple), but don’t go inside. Instead, go around the side and to the western side to come to the Bamboo Grove.

Retrieve the Missing Letter¶

The game also gives you the marker for inside the grove, although the grove is a bit of a maze. It shouldn’t take long to get your bearings and find the clearing, where it’s definitely not an oni that took the letter. You have a few options on what to do with this man here, as you can try to assassinate him, but he has seven health segments, so you’re not going to one-hit KO him. Of course, he doesn’t attack you outright either, so it looks like there might be a peaceful option.

Fight or Talk to Gennojo¶

If you’re playing as Yasuke, talking to Gennojo will simply start the fight with him. However, if you’re playing as Naoe, you can get a choice to either start the fight, or to not fight. Looking at the two choices, the “Let’s not fight” one has a heart next to it, indicating that it’s an option that is the start of your romance with Gennojo. Picking it will have him just hand you the letter and you can be on your merry way.

Fighting Gennojo¶

If you choose any other option, then you’ll have to do battle with Gennojo, who can be a little tricky. Despite his one attack looking like it’s normal, the object he throws at you explodes, so blocking it will still cause you damage. Every other attack of his is unblockable, so you’ll need to dodge everything he does. The jumping spinning kick has a follow-up, so be wary of that, but the majority of the others are just single strikes. He may be a little quick, but he’s not a tough fight at all, so it shouldn’t take too long to bring him down.

After defeating him, he will hand over the letter and then run off, so you can report back to the messenger, who is just outside of the grove. This will wrap up this quest, but you do get a follow-up one, called The Rising Tide.

The Rising Tide Walkthrough¶

This quest isn’t much of anything, as it’s mostly just a cutscene after you arrive at the designated place. You have to go to the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine in Yamashiro, which is in the Ogura Pond sub-region. It’s pretty much just across the water from Oyamazaki Village, so you most likely already have it discovered if you went that route to get to Byodoin Temple. Once you’re there, go to the quest marker and choose to wait, which will initiate a cutscene. There is a choice between two options during it, but you can pick either one. After the scene is over, the quest will also be finished.