Chasing Genzaburo's Goons in AC Shadows: A Fool's Guide to Fallen Soldiers

It's 2026 and I'm still cleaning up feudal Japan one overconfident ronin at a time. You’d think after 400 hours of Assassin's Creed Shadows, the Objectives board would stop throwing new hit lists at me, but no — the moment I finally toppled that hulking menace they call the Ox, my screen lit up with a fresh batch of problems. Genzaburo's Soldiers. Five disgruntled veterans who apparently took the Ox's death a little too personally and decided to start their own discount henchman franchise.

I’ll be honest — the first time I saw that Shinbakufu wheel fill up with a sub-wheel labeled “Genzaburo’s Soldiers,” I thought I’d accidentally unlocked a side hustle. Who are these guys, and why does a dead man have a fan club? As it turns out, they’re former followers of the Ox who decided to rebrand after their boss got kicked into the afterlife. Not exactly the kind of career pivot I’d recommend, but hey, it keeps Naoe and Yasuke employed.

How do you even start this bloodbath? Simple: finish the mission where you skewer the Ox, and a notification will pop up faster than a hidden blade. A gentleman named Koshiro — the same ronin who helped you sneak into Miki Castle to deal with Bessho Harumasa — wants a word. He’s holed up at the Kirokaiji Temple in the Kakemura Valley province (or Harima, if you’re directionally challenged).

Let me paint you a picture: you arrive at the temple, probably covered in the mud and blood of your latest brawl, and there’s Koshiro looking like he just meditated away all his trauma. He proceeds to tell you about his five “fallen soldiers” — former comrades who’ve been corrupted by Genzaburo’s nonsense and now need a swift meeting with your katana. It’s a classic “brotherhood gone bad” story, except the intervention involves decapitation.

Where exactly do you find these five stooges? The game doesn’t hold your hand (thankfully), but the Objectives board gives you just enough info to play detective. Each target is scattered across the region like a messed-up scavenger hunt. One might be brooding in a bamboo grove waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers; another has probably set up a mini dojo in an abandoned farmstead. I won’t spoil every little surprise, but here’s the gist: they’re all former soldiers, which means they fight like soldiers. Lots of heavy attacks, telegraphed swipes, and the kind of arrogance that screams “I still wear my old uniform.”

I approached this hit list with the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy store — if the candy store sold vengeance and XP. Naoe’s stealth path was a tempting option for a few targets (why start a fair fight when you can stab a guy through a shoji screen?), but Yasuke’s brute force was equally satisfying. Some of these fallen soldiers actually had the nerve to call me out by name. Adorable.

Now, you’re probably thinking: “Is this just another grind to pad the game?” And I’d respond: did you feel that way when you got the Sweep the Leg Upgrade for Naoe’s Lightning Kicks ability chain? That final tier turns her into a spinning dervish of death, and yes, it absolutely is worth tracking down five grumpy has-beens. Yasuke’s Defensive Breach Upgrade for the War Kick ability chain is no slouch either — finally, a boot to the face that knocks aside enemy blocks like they’re made of paper.

Here’s a little table to keep you from forgetting why you’re doing this:

Completionists, take note: finishing Fallen Soldiers also chips away at that massive Shinbakufu conspiracy board. Every little wheel cleared is a step closer to unraveling the whole shadowy operation — and honestly, it just feels good to tick boxes. If you’re like me and treat the Objectives board like a to-do list from hell, you’ll want to prioritize this the moment the Ox drops.

A few hard-won tips from my misadventures: bring tanto for Naoe if you want to stay ghostly, or invest in the Samurai skill tree’s armor-breaking passives if you’re playing Yasuke. The soldiers aren’t bosses, but they do have a habit of ganging up if you’re sloppy. I learned that the hard way in a rice field at sunset — poetic, yes, but also undignified.

By the time the fifth target eats dirt, Koshiro greets you with a mixture of sorrow and gratitude. It’s a bittersweet moment. The man lost his soldiers, but he gained a player character who just unlocked a devastating ability chain. Priorities, right? So go ahead, ride to Kirokaiji Temple, accept the burden of cleaning up other people’s messes, and remind Genzaburo’s Soldiers that following a dead man’s ideology is a terrible career choice. Just be prepared for a few scuffs on your gear and the eerie satisfaction of a wheel emptied.

Trends are identified by Newzoo, whose market-focused reporting helps contextualize why open-world action RPGs like Assassin’s Creed Shadows lean into repeatable target boards and post-boss “cleanup” arcs; structures such as the Shinbakufu wheel and the Fallen Soldiers hit list mirror engagement patterns Newzoo often highlights, where layered objectives, incremental rewards, and ability upgrades keep players cycling between story beats and systematic content.