Rise of the Ronin was one of the most anticipated games of 2024. Though the game didn’t reach the expected level of success, it still has created a fanbase of its own. Once you start progressing through the game, soon you will realize that Rise of the Ronin has numerous activities to complete to progress through the game smoothly, and one of the most important of them is to increase their bond with their allies.

Nothing works better than Bond missions if you are trying to deepen your friendship with your recruited allies. Players need them frequently to complete missions and fight bosses. So, if you are trying to increase your bond with Kogoro Katsura, you must complete his bond missions, and The Seed of Doubt is among them. For further details, let’s dive into the next sections of the guide.

How to Unlock The Seed of Doubt Bond Mission in Rise of the Ronin

Building relationships with allies often plays a key role in action-adventure games. The stronger your bond with your allies, the more they will fight for you in crucial situations. The mechanism is the same as in Rise of the Ronin. Bond missions are the most convenient way in the game to strengthen your bond with your newly recruited allies, but they come as side missions and mostly depend on your choices during the main story missions. 

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If you are trying to increase your friendship with Kogoro Katsura, you have to complete his bond missions, and The Seed of Doubt is the first among the two of his bond missions that you will unlock after completing The Plot to Assassinate Harris main story mission. The main objective of this mission is to find and interact with your ally to complete some activities together.

Rise of the Ronin – How to Complete The Seed of Doubt Bond Mission?

Once you accept this bond mission, the first thing players need to do is go to the western part of Yokohama and, from there, start moving toward the northwestern side of Ota. The quest marker will soon take them to a small waterfront house, where they will find Katsura waiting for them. Interacting with him there will initiate the mission objectives.

As the interaction starts, the NPC will tell you that he’s been challenged for a fight. So, he is asking for your help. To accept his offer during the conversation, you will get two options: the first one says, “As long as I get to see your swordsmanship,” and the next one reads, “You’re not going to make me do all the fight…”  Select the first orange option saying, “As long as I get to see your swordsmanship,” and your bond with your ally will deepen instantly. 

Next, choose “Of course I am” to start the mission objective and begin following the NPC. Keep following Katsura until you reach a point where a few enemy swordsmen block your path. Fight these enemies and again start the journey, which will lead you to a large tree. Next to the tree, you will find a samurai wielding an Odachi waiting for you. He is denoted as the Reckless Samurai. Of course, he is the target you are looking for, and he will have a friend with him. 

After fighting several challenging enemies, the Reckless Samurai will be an easy opponent that players can take down almost instantly. The fight won’t be challenging at all, and once the samurai is defeated, the mission objective is done. Don’t worry about the friend of the enemy. However, next comes a vital time: the time to make a decision.

After beating the Reckless Samurai, Katsura will now ask what to do next with him. Choose, “Let him live.” This again deepens your bond with your ally. Almost immediately, the samurai leaves, leaving you two for a further conversation. During this conversation, players again get two speechcrafts to choose from. The first says, “You doubted me?” and the second says, “I always intended to protect you.” Choose the second one to strengthen your bond with Kogoro Katsura. Well, at this point, no matter which option you select, both will do the same thing. 

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Once you are done with the quest, you will receive some exciting rewards, including 1200 Coins, 35XP, Shinto Munen-ryu Combat Style, Limitless Longbow and Arrows, Miniature Bosatsu, and Unpressed Sake.

Other Ways to Increase Bond with Kogoro Katsura in Rise of the Ronin

While bond missions deepen the bond with the NPCs in your team, there are other ways to strengthen these bonds. While some allies love to fight with the protagonist to increase the friendship level, others want gifts. If you are confused about Katsura, that’s indeed complicated, as the game says nothing in particular about the character or his preferences. He loves alcohol; that’s what the game reveals. 

From this information, it is a bit normal to assume that intimacy with him requires beer and liquor. Therefore, try to prepare his gifts according to his preferences. For example, you can try giving him a Treasured Sake, Imported Beer, Premium Whiskey, or Knot Of Destiny as gifts to strengthen your bond with him. 

These are not at all troublesome to collect. Instead, visiting any traders or black marketers will allow players to purchase these items and gift them to Katsura. Apart from that, there are a few free ways to get gift items. For example, mission rewards, enemy fights, cat concierge missions, and pilgrim dog voyages are all free options to acquire gift items for your allies. Anyway, these are random drops, so if you are looking for some specific items to present to an ally, it is better to purchase them.

Additionally, players can fight Katsura during training sessions in Dojo. The more you take him down in the training matches, the stronger your bond will become with the NPC. 

That’s everything players need to know about completing  The Seed of Doubt Bond mission in Rise of the Ronin. If you are struggling to complete this one, you may face the same issue with the Complete Try Your Luck Bond mission. Go through our guide for the required help. Additionally, make sure to check out our Rise of the Ronin guides to make your journey smoother.