Akechi Mitsuhide/NPC

MonsterNPC

Akechi Mitsuhide
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Emblem	Silver Wolf
Affiliations	Oda Nobunaga (formerly) Black Wings (formerly) Sengoku Warriors (temporarily)
Minions	Oda Soldiers
Enemies	Oda Nobunaga Sengoku Warriors
Status	Alive
Name (Other Servers)
JapanMS	アケチミツヒデ (Akechi Mitsuhide)
ChinaMS	明智光秀 (Akechi Mitsuhide)
TaiwanMS	明智光秀 (Akechi Mitsuhide)
MapleSEA	Akechi Mitsuhide

This is a Japanese name; the family name is Akechi.

Akechi Mitsuhide is an antagonist in Hayato and Kanna's storyline, as well as one of Oda Nobunaga's former Four Heavenly Kings.

Story

Battle of Honnou-ji

Akechi Mitsuhide once served Oda Nobunaga as one of the Four Heavenly Kings, as he believed Oda was a great ruler who would bring peace to their land, Hinomaru. On Oda's orders, Mitsuhide wiped out the Matsuyama clan and kidnapped Princess Sakuno, believing her to be a hostage. However, upon learning that Oda was planning to sacrifice her in order to become the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Mitsuhide realized that Oda was nothing more than another power-hungry tyrant. Choosing to betray his master, Mitsuhide secretly incited a rebellion against Oda in order to stop him. The rebellion, which became known as the Sengoku Warriors, marched on Honnou-ji Temple, where Oda was planning to conduct the Demon King Ritual. Shortly before the battle, Mitsuhide left with a troop of Oda soldiers on a supposed reconnaissance mission in order to get a safe distance away.

As the battle raged on, Mitsuhide took advantage of the chaos and returned in order to confront Oda. On his way, he ran into Hayato, who mistook him as a woman because of his feminine appearance and dress. Hayato declared that he was the eldest son of Anegasaki Tomonobu, retainer to the Matsuyama clan, and that he had come to avenge his family and rescue Princess Sakuno. Mitsuhide laughed at Hayato mistaking him for a woman and claimed that he vaguely recalled an unimportant family with the name Matsuyama. Hayato raised his blade, but before he could attack, Takeda Shingen arrived and told him to put his blade away, claiming that there was no need to waste his time on such a trivial matter. Shingen recognized Mitsuhide as one of Oda's Four Heavenly Kings, causing Hayato to realize that Mitsuhide was the man who had wiped out the Matsuyama clan and kidnapped Princess Sakuno.

Realizing that Mitsuhide was the one who had started the rebellion against Oda, Shingen offered an alliance with Mitsuhide, though an enraged Hayato refused to ally himself with the man who had destroyed his family and instead prepared to attack. However, Shingen reminded Hayato that rescuing the princess was his priority and told him to hurry into the temple while he himself handled Mitsuhide. As Hayato rushed off, Mitsuhide vowed to deal with Shingen before finding Oda, raising his blade to attack. Mitsuhide, who had been fighting for hours to reach Oda, was unable to confront his former master because the disrupted ritual teleported everyone to Maple World.

Black Wings Alliance

In Maple World, Mitsuhide hoped to continue pitting the two sides against each other by impersonating Oda's name for his own ends. After learning about the existence of the Black Wings, he arrived at the Golem Temple and met with Francis in order to form an alliance. Francis replied that the decision wasn't up to him and contacted Orchid about Mitsuhide's request. During her meeting with Mitsuhide, an Oda spy named Ringo tracked down Mitsuhide and began to eavesdrop on the meeting. Mitsuhide was surprised to find that Orchid was a little girl, to which Orchid grew annoyed and attacked Mitsuhide, who barely managed to deflect her attack. Orchid was impressed and decided to forgive him because he was good-looking like herself. However, she warned him to henceforth refer to her as Ms. Orchid. She then told him that Francis would explain everything that he needed to know and ordered him to keep quiet until then. Mitsuhide was impressed by Orchid's strength and believed that even Oda wouldn't be able to beat her in a fair fight. He then resolved to put her strength to good use.

With the help of the Black Wings, Mitsuhide sent his Spirit Walkers on a mission to drain the life force from the monsters of Maple World. During the Sengoku Warrior's investigation, Hayato arrived in Mu Lung after following rumors of Oda soldiers in the area. Inside the Goblin Forest, Hayato was shocked to find Mitsuhide, who vaguely recognized him. Hayato demanded to know what Mitsuhide was planning by corrupting the monsters of Maple World. Mitsuhide amusedly claimed that he was hoping to spread chaos. He explained that it was a matter of misdirection, as two forces who met on the field of battle did not pay attention to the snake in the grass. Hayato noted that Oda must be more cowardly than he had first presumed for him to be using such tactics, but Mitsuhide laughed and revealed that he had left Oda's service long ago, and that he had just been borrowing Oda's name for his goals. He then disappeared, leaving Hayato to deal with the King Sage Cat in the forest.

The Asura Crisis

After learning that Oda was preparing for another Demon King Ritual, Mitsuhide decided to use the Sengoku Warriors in order to stop him. Posing as a man named Kengo, Mitsuhide gained Sakuno's trust and began working with the Sengoku Warriors, though none of the Daimyos trusted him. Soon after, Sakuno summoned a traveler who had helped them in the past in order to prepare for the upcoming war. After learning about Kengo, the traveler went to speak with him, who was underwhelmed by their appearance, though the traveler chided him for his disrespect towards Sakuno's judgement. Ignoring Kendo's jibe that Sakuno wasn't his princess, the traveler asked him about Oda's base.

Kengo explained that Oda's new base was called Fort Asura, surrounded with an ominous aura and concealed using magic. However, he added that he only knew of its existence, not where it was located, although he admitted that powering the fortress' shroud was not the only reason why Oda had been sending his army to harvest mana throughout Maple World. The traveler asked what Oda was planning, to which Kengo explained that Oda was preparing to conduct another ritual to summon the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. The traveler asked if Princess Sakuno was in danger once again, to which Kengo rudely told them to ask someone who cared. The traveler then asked Kengo who he was, to which he merely replied that he was a wandering warrior who sought Oda' destruction. He then told them to speak with Ayame, who was studying the Oda army's operations in Maple World at Sakuno's request.

Some time later, Mitsuhide discovered the location of Fort Asura by blackmailing Taro, one of Oda's spies, and returned back in order to report it to the Sengoku Warriors. He told the others that Fort Asura was hidden among the seaside cliffs near the Mushroom Shrine, magically cloaked by the mana that the Oda soldiers had been gathering. He explained that not even the Oda army knew its exact location, as they traveled to and from the fortress using portals that the Oda Spirit Walkers opened for them. However, thanks to the traveler's actions in disrupting the flow of mana at the Hidden Mana Shrine, Kengo told them that the path to Fort Asura was open. Shingen, Kenshin, Haruaki, and even Motonari, all requested Sakuno to approve the operation to siege Fort Asura as soon as possible. Sakuno acknowledged their concerns, but explained that she needed time to weigh their next course of action.

A few days later, Sakuno called Kengo to a small bridge outside the base at night. In secret, she told him that she planned to depart for Fort Asura alone the next day, as she believed that she was the only one with the power to stop Oda. She then asked him to prevent the other Sengoku Warriors from stopping her. When Kengo asked why she expected him to follow her orders, Sakuno claimed that he wanted to put an end to the war as much as she did, thus hinting that she knew about Kengo's true identity.

The next day, the Daimyos began to grow concerned by Sakuno's absence when Kengo began laughing and revealed that Sakuno had left on her own, as she believed that she was the only person who could stop Oda Nobunaga. The group immediately surrounded Kengo and demanded to know what had happened to Sakuno, though he claimed that he only knew what he had just told them. Just then, Haruaki had a realization and explained that when Oda's first attempt at the ritual had failed, large swaths of Hinomaru had been transported to Maple World because of a powerful explosion of mana, all of which had been drawn from Sakuno. He revealed that only someone who possessed as much mana as Sakuno could determine the ritual's success, or be the one to ensure its failure. Kengo laughed and concurred with Haruaki, explaining that the princess had correctly realized that blades would not determine the outcome of the battle, as the best way to fight mana was with an equally powerful source of mana. As Sakuno had wanted to avoid any further unnecessary losses of life, she had gone in alone to defeat Oda Nobunaga herself.'

As the Sengoku Warriors marched on the base, they encountered Oda's three ninja spies: Taro, Ringo, and Saburo. The ninjas revealed that the ritual was almost complete and offered to lead them to where it was being held, though the Daimyos were immediately suspicious of why they would betray Oda. As Ringo and Saburo led them to the ritual, Taro confronted Kengo and asked whether their business was finished, as he was afraid of Oda discovering their treachery. However, Kengo claimed that they were done when he said so, threatening him with execution. However, Taro claimed that Kengo had changed the deal, as they had originally been told to leak information on Fort Asura. Kengo then told Taro that he was now free, amusedly clarifying that he was free to choose whether he wanted to die at Kengo's hands, or by Oda's. He then claimed that if Sakuno succeeded in eliminating Oda, then everybody would be truly free. When Taro cautiously asked what would happen if Sakuno failed, Kengo replied that no one would be free, neither Taro nor himself.

Meanwhile, as the Daimyos and the traveler reached the site of the ritual, Kengo jumped in their way and revealed himself as Akechi Mitsuhide, laughing that he wouldn't be able to fight with a large hat covering his face. The traveler asked Mitsuhide why he would oppose them after betraying Oda and leading them to the ritual, to which he explained that he was stopping them from interfering in Sakuno's battle with Oda. As he refused to step aside, the traveler challenged Mitsuhide to a duel. The two began clashing, and after a fierce battle, the traveler managed to defeat Mitsuhide.

Suddenly, Haruaki warned that Sakuno and Oda's mana blasts from their battle were combining to form a vortex, which would kill them both in the resulting explosion. The traveler moved to save Sakuno, but the princess ordered them to stay where they were, claiming that she intended to end Oda by sacrificing herself. However, the traveler refused to allow Sakuno to die and grabbed her from the vortex. Furious that the traveler had interfered with the ritual, Oda moved to attack, though he found that he had been greatly injured by Sakuno's attack.

Niwa Nagahide then arrived and told Oda to stand down, as his injuries were too severe. Both the Daimyos and Mitsuhide were surprised to see Niwa, as they both believed him to have gone missing. Niwa succeeded in convincing Oda to retreat, after which Mitsuhide confronted Niwa and demanded to know how he had managed to stay hidden for so long. Niwa merely dismissed Mitsuhide and the sorry state that he was in, asking if he had really been defeated by someone as weak as the traveler. He then addressed the traveler and claimed that he would one day repay them for taking Fort Asura. Mitsuhide and Niwa continued trading insults until Niwa declared that he would deal with Mitsuhide later. Before he left, Mitsuhide asked Niwa if he intended to let Shibata Katsuie have the honor of killing him, but Niwa claimed that he wanted Mitsuhide to recover his strength before putting him down. Kenshin then interrupted and moved to attack, but Niwa disappeared before she could reach him. The group then turned to find that Mitsuhide had disappeared as well.

As the Daimyos escorted the injured traveler and Sakuno to safety, Kenshin noticed that Shingen had also vanished. Elsewhere, Shingen caught up with Mitsuhide, whose injuries had slowed him down. Mitsuhide asked whether Shingen intended to slay him as revenge for killing the Matsuyama clan, but to his surprise, Shingen asked Mitsuhide to return to Momijigaoka with him, where he would plead with Sakuno and the Daimyos to spare Mitsuhide's life. He explained that Mitsuhide had shown himself to be capable of cooperation and fighting for the greater good, and so he asked Mitsuhide once again to join forces in defeating Oda. However, Mitsuhide claimed that his answer had not changed since the first time that Shingen had asked him at Honnou-ji.

Disappointed, Shingen resolved to kill Mitsuhide for his crimes and leaped to attacked, though he was shocked when his attack had no effect. Mitsuhide revealed that he still had power left and severely wounded Shingen. Shingen then asked what Mitsuhide's true goals were, to which he explained that he wanted everyone to destroy each other, claiming that there couldn't be war without anyone left to fight. He explained that there was no end to the greed of leaders who constantly ordered battle after battle, never satisfied with achieving their objective, though he added that Sakuno was an exception. He then declared that anyone who pursued war was his enemy, disappearing shortly after.

Later in Sakuno's quarters, Sakuno called out to Mitsuhide, who had been hiding in the shadows, and expressed her surprise that he had survived, with Mitsuhide noting that he could say the same of Sakuno. He then reported that he had failed to carry out her order to prevent her battle with Oda being interrupted, but Sakuno told him that he had done all that he could, as there were few who could oppose the traveler. When Mitsuhide asked whether that meant that he was forgiven for kidnapping her and wiping out her clan, Sakuno flatly denied him and promised that he would someday pay for it with his life. She then asked why he had risked his life by returning to Momijigaoka, to which he claimed that he only wanted to see if she had survived, as he believed that only a noble ruler could defeat a tyrant. He then told Sakuno that he hoped that she would stay safe.

After a pause, Sakuno thanked him for his help in locating and taking Fort Asura, explaining that she would not order her forces to pursue him for that reason alone. She also added that he was free to manipulate and sow chaos as he pleased, as they were ultimately both enemies of Oda. However, she told him that when the war with Oda was over, she would seek him out and take his head to avenge the Matsuyama clan. Mitsuhide merely laughed and told Sakuno that he would be waiting.

NPC

Momijigaoka (Disguised)

Kengo
Quests involved	[The Asura Crisis] A Wandering Swordsman
Location	Honnou-ji

Fort Asura

Ritual Altar

Akechi Mitsuhide
Quests involved	[The Asura Crisis] War's End
Location	Ritual Altar
Notes	Talk to Akechi Mitsuhide at Ritual Altar to be teleported to any of the following locations: Ritual Altar [Normal Mode, Waiting Map] to prepare to fight Akechi Mitsuhide [Normal Mode] Ritual Altar [Story Mode] to fight Akechi Mitsuhide [Story Mode] Must have the quest [The Asura Crisis] War's End in progress

Akechi Mitsuhide Waiting Map

Akechi Mitsuhide
Quests involved	[The Asura Crisis] War's End
Location	Ritual Altar
Notes	Talk to Akechi Mitsuhide at Ritual Altar [Normal Mode, Waiting Map] to be teleported to Ritual Altar [Normal Mode] to fight Akechi Mitsuhide [Normal Mode].

Gallery

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  NPC Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide
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  NPC Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide
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  NPC Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide
• 
  NPC Portrait of "Kengo"
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  NPC Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide (TaiwanMS)
• 
  Full Body NPC Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide

Trivia

• Akechi Mitsuhide is named after a real-life historical figure of the same name during Japan's Sengoku period, who also betrayed his former master Oda Nobunaga.
  • While Mitsuhide's motivations in the game were because he believed Oda Nobunaga to be a power-hungry tyrant, the real life Mitsuhide's motivations are unknown to this day, remaining a topic of great debate.
  • In real life, Mitsuhide led the revolt at Honnou-ji Temple and defeated Oda's army.