Fujibayashi Tsuyu

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Fujibayashi Tsuyu (born c. 1530s) was a Japanese Assassin, the wife of Fujibayashi Nagato and the mother of Fujibayashi Naoe. She was a founding member of the Kakushiba ikki as its first recruit, training under the excommunicated Spanish Assassin Alvaro Catarribera as his apprentice. Following her mentor's departure, she led the organization as a Master Assassin, greatly expanding it with new recruits while continuing the league's secret mission to safeguard the Imperial Regalia of Japan.

Not long after the birth of her daughter, Tsuyu led the Kakushiba ikki in a mission to protect the regalia from the Shinbakufu, who sought the artifacts for their own ends. Although the Assassins failed and were killed, Tsuyu successfully protected one of the regalia, the jewel Yasakani no Magatama (八尺瓊勾玉), which she then entrusted to her husband while she left to search for the other two, the bronze mirror Yata no Kagami (八咫鏡) and the sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi (草薙劍).

However, this mission would take much longer than Tsuyu had anticipated. Following leads on the sword's location, she tracked it to Awaji but was captured by the Sanzoku Ippa and regularly interrogated for information by their leader, Kimura Yukari. After several years, she was presumed dead and the Kakushiba ikki eventually fell apart. In 1582, Naoe would rebuild the Brotherhood and, upon finding evidence suggesting that her mother was still alive, sought to find and reunite with her.

Biography

Early life

"And she is promising as well. A Japanese girl that I saved. Her arm has shriveled from starvation... I wonder how her wrist can bear the weight of a hidden blade. But I recognize the look in her eyes. She is determined to learn. Has the potential to become lethal."

―Alvaro Catarribera, regarding Tsuyu, c. 1549.

In 1549, a young Tsuyu was found in an injured and starved state by Alvaro Catarribera, a Spanish Assassin who had been excommunicated from his Brotherhood and had come to Nagasaki while following a trail of Templars. The Assassin sought to locate allies in order to combat the Templars and, seeing potential in the young girl, took her under his wing, training her in the ways of the Brotherhood.

Meeting Fujibayashi Masayasu

In 1560, Tsuyu, now an Assassin apprentice, accompanied Catarribera to Iga, looking for new recruits for their brotherhood, the Kakushiba ikki. In particular, they hoped to find Momochi Sandayu, a legendary shinobi fighting daimyō oppression in the land.

Tsuyu observing Masayasu

As they arrived in Iga, Catarribera reminded Tsuyu of their mission from the late Emperor Go-Nara to safeguard the three Imperial Regalia, and joked about her befriending Sandayu's apprentice, Hattori Hanzō, who was around her age. The ever-stoic Tsuyu did not respond and performed a Leap of Faith off a cliff.

Later, Tsuyu, alongside Catarribera and Sandayu, observed a fight between Hanzō and Fujibayashi Masayasu, a young farmer who had attempted to protect his village from corrupt samurai. Masayasu ultimately emerged victorious after resorting to underhanded tactics, and Sandayu, sensing Masayasu's potential, decided to train him as a shinobi. As Masayasu departed the village to commence his training, an intrigued Tsuyu watched him from afar.

Leading the Kakushiba ikki

"Today I announced my departure to Tsuyu. I gave her the task of protecting the objects... to keep their secrets. The balance of Japan rests with her."

―Alvaro Catarribera in his journal.

Tsuyu recruiting Momochi Sandayu and his students

Eventually, Catarribera departed for parts unknown and trusted Tsuyu to continue the Kakushiba ikki's mission alone, handing her the Imperial Regalia. Tsuyu went on to hide them in a kofun in Izumi Settsu, and set out to expand the Brotherhood with additional members. Her first recruits were Masayasu, by now known as Fujibayashi Nagato, Momochi Sandayu, and Hattori Hanzō, who all swore an oath to the Creed to help Tsuyu protect the regalia.

Under Tsuyu's leadership, the Kakushiba ikki prospered. Although she was seen as a stern and strict leader, her guidance meant that the Brotherhood was able to rapidly expand its influence, establishing hidden outposts throughout Japan and recruiting numerous new members, while their enemies were kept at bay.

Around this time, Tsuyu married Nagato and gave birth to their daughter, naming her Naoe. Although her new motherly responsibilities took priority over her Assassin duties, Tsuyu loved her family and sought to protect them at all costs. Unbeknownst to her, however, Hanzō believed that this made Tsuyu weak and, unable to cope with the fact that she had fallen in love with Nagato instead of him, he left the Kakushiba ikki, becoming a mercenary.

Disappearance

"The league died with her. And every night, for years, I played her favorite song. And then one night, across the valley, I heard someone playing the song back to me. I ran towards the source, but... she was gone. I know it was her. And so, I kept playing her song every night to let her know the Jewel was safe. And that you were all right. Naoe, she might be alive."

―Nagato informing Naoe of Tsuyu's survival, 1581.

Years later, Hanzō returned to Iga and contacted Tsuyu with urgent news, claiming that the Imperial Regalia's location had been compromised. To prevent the artifacts from falling into the hands of a mysterious group called the Shinbakufu, Tsuyu sent a summons for all Assassins in Japan, asking them to help her protect the artifacts. While Nagato stayed in Iga with Naoe, Tsuyu and the other Assassins fought the Shinbakufu, but failed to prevent them from stealing the regalia, and most of the Assassins perished during the battle.

Tsuyu entrusting the Jewel to Nagato

Sandayu, who was among the few survivors, later returned to Iga to inform Nagato of Tsuyu's apparent death. Unbeknownst to him, Tsuyu had in fact survived and managed to protect one of the regalia, the jewel Yasakani no Magatama. Discreetly returning to Nagato, Tsuyu entrusted the artifact to her husband and left to search for the other two regalia. After several years passed and she had still not returned, however, she was presumed dead, although Nagato never lost hope that she might still be alive.

As a result of Tsuyu's disappearance, Nagato raised their daughter alone and kept her in the dark about her mother's fate and true affiliations, wishing to protect her from the burdens of that knowledge. He would finally reveal the truth in 1581 during Oda Nobunaga's invasion of Iga, shortly before the Shinbakufu returned to kill him and steal the Jewel.

After eliminating the Shinbakufu and recovering the Jewel, Naoe would meet Hanzō, who had been searching for Tsuyu ever since her disappearance years prior. After confessing that he was the one who had sold the Shinbakufu information about the Imperial Regalia's location in a blind act of jealousy, Hanzō claimed that he sought to atone for his past actions and find Tsuyu so that she may forgive him. Naoe reluctantly spared Hanzō and invited him to join the new incarnation of the Kakushiba ikki she had formed, so that together they may find her mother.

Gallery

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  Render of Tsuyu from the Tales of Iga cover art
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  Tsuyu performing a Leap of Faith
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  Tsuyu fighting ninja

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Shadows (first appearance) (flashback only)
  • Claws of Awaji
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Tales of Iga