Shimazu clan civil war

In 1725, a civil war broke out among members of the Japanese Shimazu clan within the Portuguese colony of Macau. The members of the clan split into two opposing factions, consisting of pure-blooded Japanese and mixed-blood ninja, respectively. The two factions were led by Fuma Sukuna and the Templar Shimazu Saito, respectively, both of whom had traveled to Macau to search for leads to the location of Angkor, the lost city of the Khmer Empire and an alleged Isu site.
Various factions in Macau took an interest in the conflict and supported either one of the two sides to further their own goals. The businessman Sun, head of the Hualien Trading Company, helped Saito's faction in exchange for a sea log in the Templar's possession, which contained information on Angkor's location. Sun's rival Madam Lee sided with the Japanese faction after they approached her, seeing the conflict as an opportunity to increase her power and influence in Macau.
Several individuals that were initially uninvolved in the war also ended up playing major roles. The British Assassin Edward Kenway was originally uninterested in the conflict but ended up striking an alliance with Saito and recruiting her to his organization, the Zhang Wei Union, due to sharing a common goal. Members of the Chinese Brotherhood of Assassins led by Xiao Han became inadvertently involved while attempting to acquire the sea log in Sun's possession, after which they sought an alliance with Madam Lee to find Angkor. 
==Background==
In 1725, the Templar-affiliated Shimazu clan began a search for the lost Khmer city of Angkor and dispatched Shimazu Saito to look for leads in Macau. Saito was accompanied by her friends and subordinates, as well as a guild of Shimazu ninja under the leadership of Fuma Sukuna. As Saito and her subordinates were of mixed heritage, there were heavy tensions between them and the Japanese ninja, who treated them as outsiders of the clan and looked down upon them.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 37
During her mission in Macau, Saito managed to acquire a sea log containing encrypted information on the location of Angkor after stealing it from the British Assassin Edward Kenway, who was also on the lost city's trail.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 11 However, Saito later sought the protection of Sun, the head of the Hualien Trading Company, who demanded the sea log in exchange for protecting the Templar's mixed-blood subordinates.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 34 This infuriated the Japanese ninja, who began to rebel against Saito's leadership as a result.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 19
The tensions between the Japanese and mixed-blood ninja culminated during a mission to acquire a confiscated opium shipment from a Far East Company ship on Sun's behalf. While Saito fought against Edward, who sought to destroy the shipment, the Japanese ninja expressed their discontent over their treatment and got into a fight with the mixed-blood ninja. When the businesswoman Lee Huiyin arrived with armed men to seize the opium shipment, the ninja were overwhelmed and retreated, though in the process the Japanese deserted and went on to form their own faction.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 20
==The war==
===Fighting in Macau===
In time, the conflict between the two ninja factions escalated into a civil war, with fights between members of the two groups becoming commonplace on the streets of Macau.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 30 As Saito and her men were under Sun's protection, Fuma Sukuna realized he needed a powerful ally in the city as well and sent one of his men to secure an alliance with Madam Lee.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 26 Despite the ninja's previous attacks against her company, Lee agreed to the partnership, secretly hoping to have her enemies destroy each other and thus allow her to accumulate more power.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 27 
During this time, Edward Kenway and his organization, the Zhang Wei Union, also became aware of the war between the Shimazu ninja and decided to investigate. While Edward and his allies, John Young and Zhang, were at the Macau market, they witnessed an altercation between two groups of ninja, which Edward decided to intervene in after telling John to inform Jan van Aert, the Dutch East India Company's chief navigator, of the situation. After fighting both groups, Edward ended the fight by firing his pistol into the air and demanded Saito's whereabouts so that he could recover the sea log stolen from him by the Templar. 
At that moment, Sun appeared alongside a number of guards and informed Edward that the sea log was in his possession while threatening the Assassin. Not long after, Madam Lee arrived in the company of Sukuna and his ninja, hoping to eliminate Sun. As the two merchants were about to clash, Jan arrived with armed soldiers to back up Edward and ordered both Lee and Sun to stand down or else they would face the consequences for disrupting the order in Macau. Sukuna subsequently persuaded Lee to withdraw, prompting Sun to do the same.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 31 
Shortly after the three-way standoff, Sukuna, having recognized Edward as a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, approached him in private to request his help in eliminating Saito. He informed him that the Templar was serving as Sun's bodyguard aboard the merchant's floating gambling hall and promised that he and his ninja would also be present on the ship to help Edward accomplish his mission. After discussing the mission with John and Zhang, Edward decided to accept it, but only because it was an opportunity to recover the sea log from Sun.
===Massacre at Sun's gambling den===
As Edward infiltrated Sun's ship, he asked John to serve as his decoy to distract Sun and Saito during his search for the sea log. However, the plan failed as Saito quickly saw through the Assassin's ploy and went to search for him.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 32 After Saito found Edward, she and her men fought him atop a ship's mast until Edward tackled Saito and they both fell into the water below. The Assassin tried to drown Saito at first,Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 33 but had a change of heart at the last minute and saved her instead, because the Templar reminded him of his late friend Mary Read. He then proposed Saito an alliance to recover the sea log from Sun and find Angkor's treasure, which the Templar reluctantly accepted.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 34
During Edward's fight with Saito, Sun met with his nephew Xiao Han and his fellow Chinese Assassins Liu Qing and Xue Yan, whom he had summoned to his ship after having been unable to find anyone to decipher the sea log. Xiao Han read the sea log and recognized the language used to encrypt it, but claimed it would take time to decipher. As Xiao Han asked his uncle what he intended to do with Angkor's treasure after retrieving it, Sun claimed he would deliver it to the Qing Emperor, expecting to be generously rewarded. This infuriated Xiao Han due to his hatred of the Qing dynasty, and he and his fellow Assassins attempted to kill Sun and recover the sea log from him.
Edward and Saito arrived on Sun's ship at the same time as Sukuna and his Japanese ninja, who began killing the ship's staff and Saito's men. Witnessing the massacre, John told the waitress Xialun Qing, with whom he had been spending most of the night, to hide and went to help. Upon finding Edward and Saito, he provided them with cover fire, using a musket to take out several Japanese ninja that stood in their path. However, Edward and Saito were too late, as all of the latter's subordinates had already been killed by either the Japanese ninja or the Chinese Assassins. As a furious Saito attacked Liu Qing for killing her second-in-command, Edward stopped Xiao Han from executing Sun.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 35
Edward and Xiao Han fought to a stalemate, whereupon they both realized the other was an Assassin and was after the same prize. As Edward asked Xiao Han why he sought Angkor's treasure, he was furious to learn that his fellow Assassin hoped to use the artifact for personal gain by overthrowing the Qing dynasty. Before they could argue any further, Xiao Han noticed that Sun had fled with the sea log during the chaos and gave chase alongside his fellow Chinese Assassins, abandoning Edward.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 36
As Edward went to check on Saito, who had been defeated by Liu Qing, he learned that the Templar had lost her sense of purpose following the deaths of all of her subordinates. After Edward urged her to find a new reason to live, Saito decided to seek revenge for her men by killing Sukuna and all the Japanese members of the clan who had treated them as outsiders. After telling Edward to recover the sea log from Sun, Saito stayed behind to confront Sukuna and his ninja, but they retreated when Sun's ship began to be bombarded by Jeong, an admiral and mercenary hired by Madam Lee.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 38
Xiao Han eventually managed to catch up to Sun and kill him, recovering the sea log, before being again confronted by Edward. As they both witnessed the destruction of Sun's ship, Xiao Han left with his fellow Chinese Assassins and the sea log after warning Edward to stay out of their way. Edward then returned to Saito and together they managed to escape by boarding a small ship stolen by John, who had also rescued Qing. Jeong spotted and tried to kill them, but was forced back by the Zhang Wei Union's flagship Fenghuang, which Mustafa sailed to their rescue.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 39
==Aftermath==
Following the loss of all of her subordinates, Saito was recruited by Edward into the Zhang Wei Union. While most members welcomed her, Saito's recruitment initially drew protests from Yun Pyeong-Gyu, owing to the animosity rousing from the Imjin War fought between Japan and Joseon, Saito and Yun's home countries, respectively. After a friendly archery contest, however, Saito and Yun developed a newfound respect for each other and agreed to work together.Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple – Episode 40
Meanwhile, the Chinese Assassins decided to seek an alliance with Lee Huiyin, now the most powerful merchant in Macau following Sun's death, believing that her resources could help them find Angkor faster. After approaching Jeong and revealing that they had acquired the sea log from Sun, Xiao Han, Liu Qing, and Xue Yan were allowed an audience with Lee, who ultimately agreed to the partnership once she learned of the Chinese Assassins' plans to overthrow the Qing dynasty.
==Gallery==
ACFT - Ninja conflict.png|Early signs of tensions between the Japanese and mixed-blood ninja
ACFT Sukuna persuading Lee to withdraw.png|Madam Lee and Fuma Sukuna
ACFT - Saito and Sun 2.png|Saito and her men with Sun
ACFT - Saito allying with Edward.png|Saito agreeing to an alliance with Edward
ACFT - Ninja fight.png|The Japanese ninja killing Saito's men
ACFT - Edward and Saito fighting ninja.png|Edward and Saito fighting against Japanese ninja
ACFT - Edward stopping Xiao Han from killing Sun.png|Edward stopping Xiao Han from killing Sun
ACFT - Saito mourning her men.png|Saito mourning the loss of her men
ACFT - Master Sun's death.png|Xiao Han killing Sun
ACFT - Saito facing Fuma Sukuna.png|Saito facing Fuma Sukuna and his men
ACFT - Destruction of Sun's floating gambling hall.png|The destruction of Sun's gambling ship
ACFT - Edward and Saito escaping Sun's gambling ship.png|Edward and Saito escaping the destruction of Sun's ship
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
==References==
Category:Wars
Category:Civil wars
Category:Timeline
Category:Assassin-Templar War