Hunting the Hunters

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This article is about the memory of tracking down the Seta River Killers. You may be looking for an alternate use of the phrase.

Hunting the Hunters was a virtual representation of one of Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke's genetic memories, relived through the Animus EGO.

Description

Naoe and Yasuke set out to stop the Seta River Killers from fulfilling their assignments.

Dialogue

Naoe and Yasuke tracked down the first target, the Tormentor, finding him by the river southeast of Takatsuki Castle. They found him interrogating an artisan.

• Artisan: What can I do to make this right? I have mon. I have powerful friends.
• Tormentor: You've done nothing, so you can do nothing. You have been chosen.

NaoeYasuke

• Naoe: I need to intervene.

• Yasuke: I must intervene.

Before the Tormentor could execute the artisan, Naoe and Yasuke stepped in and assassinated him, recovering a letter on his body.

Tormentor's Kill Assignment

Tormentor,

Your target is that insufferable kimono vendor. The more she begs for mercy, tho more you should make it hurt. Bring proof of her death to our last meeting place in Settsu.

– The Exterminator

NaoeYasuke

• Naoe: This was one of the killers Rufino was seeking to stop. They reported to an overseer called the "Exterminator."

• Yasuke: This was one of the killers Rufino was seeking to stop. Their chain of command leads to the "Exterminator."

Naoe and Yasuke headed west towards the Muggy Lands, arriving at Koriyama Camp.

• Naoe / Yasuke: This place stinks of death.

After a short while, they identified the Exterminator as a brute wielding a kanabō.

• Exterminator: It's barely fun anymore.

They witnessed him taunting his captives.

• Exterminator: You are pathetic. Killing you will be a mercy. You should be thanking me.

Naoe and Yasuke attacked and eliminated the Exterminator before he could execute his next victim. They found a note on his body.

Exterminator's Encoded Message

(A mixture of swirls, shapes, and symbols, this mysterious code is unreadable without some kind of translated context.)

NaoeYasuke

• Naoe: These coded messages are reserved for leadership, it seems.

• Yasuke: Coded messages are reserved for the upper echelon, it seems.

Naoe and Yasuke left the camp and headed eastwards to track down the Builder. They found their target in a woman overseeing the Bamboo Cutter's Camp.

• Naoe / Yasuke: That must be the one called the Builder. Playing "Lord of the Lumberyard" while ordering the death of peasants.

They overheard her making commands to her workers.

• Builder: Get back to work.
  I don't pay you to laze about.

Naoe and Yasuke eliminated the Builder's guards before eliminating her, and found a note on her body bearing the same encoded messages.

Builder's Encoded Message

(A mixture of swirls, shapes, and symbols, this mysterious code is unreadable without some kind of translated context.)

• Naoe / Yasuke: A kill assignment. With instructions from their overseer.

Naoe and Yasuke headed north to Yamashiro, finding the Collector on a dock opposite Ōyamazaki Village taunting a merchant.

• Merchant: Do not kill me!
• Collector: Oh, stop your whining. You'll ruin my appetite. I'm lucky to have been assigned a mark with such quality goods. Don't worry. My men and I will put it all to good use when you are dead.
• Naoe / Yasuke: I cannot let this bully go free.

Naoe and Yasuke killed the collector before she could do what she set out to do.

Collector's Kill Assignment

Collector,

Your mark is that merchant on the move. Do what you want with his goods, but any mon you find is mine. Bring proof of his death to my rural hideaway near the shores of Lake Biwa. Do not keep me waiting.

– The Trader

• Naoe /Yasuke: One of Rufino's killers, then. This one sent by the Trader.

Folloing the clue, Naoe and Yasuke traveled to Omi and visited the east of Seta Bridge, where they found a suspicious woman hiding in a bush near the warehouse.

NaoeYasuke

• Naoe: That fisherwoman. She's one of the threatened civilians Rufino told us about. I should keep an eye on her.

• Yasuke: That fisherwoman. She is one of the threatened civilians Rufino spoke of. I should keep an eye on her.

• Fisher: I'm busy, stranger. Leave me be. Stop buzzing about. You're worse than a fly.

After a short while, the fisherwoman came out of the bushes and pursued a woman near the fishery. Naoe and Yasuke eliminated her before she could kill and looted a note from her body.

Stalker's Kill Assignment

Stalker,

Kill that meddling fisherwoman. Bring her hands to me at Koriyama Camp as proof. Let's see if they still reek of fish guts when they are no longer attached.

– The Exterminator

• Naoe / Yasuke: Another killer under the Trader's influence. We're getting closer.

Naoe and Yasuke set their sights on the next target called the Trader. They headed northwards and found a small house. Inside, they found the Trader communing with her bodyguard.

• Trader: You'd be surprised how little it takes to buy a life. Appetite drives everything. A starving man desperate for work. A cruel man aching for amusement. A stranger's name and a few mon is all it takes.

Naoe and Yasuke stormed the house and eliminated the Trader, finding yet another note.

Trader's Encoded Message

(A mixture of swirls, shapes, and symbols, this mysterious code is unreadable without some kind of translated context.)

NaoeYasuke

• Naoe: I should take these messages to Rufino to decode. Another encoded letter. That makes three.

• Yasuke: I should take these messages to Rufino to decode. This seems like the last of them.

With all available targets eliminated, Naoe and Yasuke returned to the hideout to report to Rufino.

• Rufino: Naoe. Yasuke. You have something for me?
• Naoe: Three coded messages. Found on the bodies of the overseers.

The two handed over the three messages to Rufino.

• Rufino: Oh...
• Naoe: Is there a problem?
• Rufino: No, it's just... Must we do this? We've saved the civilians, crippled their network. Isn't that enough?
• Yasuke: It is not finished until their leader and everyone working with them is dead.
• Rufino: No. It's too much. I don't want this blood on my hands.

This is what it takesYour hands aren't clean

• Yasuke: You want to save innocents, no?
• Rufino: Yes. But I want the killing to stop!
• Yasuke: These are monsters who will keep killing unless we kill them first. They have no regard for human life.

• • Naoe: Just because you didn't draw the blade doesn't make your hands any cleaner.
  • Rufino: I asked for your help to protect the innocent.
  • Naoe: And that's what we're doing. The world is not black and white. Sometimes doing the right thing is messy.

• Rufino: You say you want to protect the innocent? Taking this path will lead to their death.
• Yasuke: Among these schemers, there are no innocents.
• Naoe: We are not killing innocents, I promise you.
• Rufino: (huffs) Look. All I want is to protect people.
• Yasuke: (sighs) I know. I want the same.
• Naoe: Tell us what's in the message.
• Rufino: (sighs) There will be a meeting soon between "The Architect" and one of his agents, "The Scholar." They will meet on the northern tip of an island in the middle of Lake Biwa. Go there and... you'll find them.
• Naoe: Who's taking the lead?

NaoeYasuke

• Yasuke: You find them. I will make them suffer.

• Yasuke: Me. Templar blood is mine to spill.

True Decoded Message

(The overseers' message fragments have been combined into one document. While still encoded, Rufino has added a note in the margins, identifying the Architect's planned meeting point.)

Outcome

Yasuke and Naoe dealt with all the hired killers and brought their coded orders for Rufino to decode, uncovering a location for a Templar meeting.