The Wutai Stolen Materia side quest can be completed anytime during the game on Disc 1 or Disc 2 but you will not be able to complete it once you have reached Disc 3.
The visit to Wutai begins when Yuffie steals all of the Materia from your party members and there is a good chance that you’ve reached this page because you are stuck in the middle of this side quest attempting to get your Materia back which can be extremely frustrating to complete without a walkthrough or if it is your first time playing the game.
In fact, many players have been known to give up at this point and restart their game!
For those interested in intentionally traveling to Wutai to pickup any items available there and for the sake of fully completing all aspects of the game this guide will begin by first explaining how to get to Wutai. It will then answer the question: how do you get your stolen Materia back from Yuffie?
Do not save over your game while you are in Wutai or while your Materia has been stolen by Yuffie. If you are unable to kill the last boss in Wutai there is no way to get your Materia back. This has resulted in many players choosing to restart the game from the beginning in frustration!
The most optimal time to travel to Wutai is after you have completed the Temple of the Ancients. A number of the items that you receive there (including the 
Trident, 
Silver Rifle, 
Rocket Punch and especially the 
Nail Bat for Cloud) were pretty much designed to be used in Wutai when you have no Materia.
You should complete the Temple of the Ancients first before coming to Wutai, however, this guide has been written with the assumption that you are going there before hand just in case you have already lost your Materia and need to get it back.
Wutai is the town on the northern point of the western continent. There is only one beach on the continent that you can reach with the Tiny Bronco. This beach is located on the southern-most section of the continent.
As soon as you move part way down the trail or if you land the Airship close to Wutai a short scene will begin. You will be thrown into battle against two Shinra Attack Squad Soldiers. Yuffie will run away from this fight if she was one of your team members leaving you with just Cloud and the other party member.
You may have noticed during the fight you did not have access to any of your Materia - this is the first indication that something is amiss. The team will realize that Yuffie is gone and that she has stolen all of the Materia.
Barret will join the scene and join your party if you previously had Yuffie in your party. Travel northward to exit the little “Wilderness” area where the scene takes place.
Since you no longer have any Materia to equip you should take this time to equip each of your party members with their strongest weapon. If you are heading straight to Wutai after having obtained the Tiny Bronco you should recall that Red XIII received a very powerful weapon when you left Cosmo Canyon and it is still likely his most powerful weapon (the 
Seraph Comb).
Red XIII would make a good choice as a party member while you wander through the Wutai Area. If you were using the 
Long Range Materia and keeping a melee character in the back row you should now move them to the front row or they will see a reduction in the amount of damage done (check out the Tips and Tricks section for more information on front and back row game mechanics).
Make your way north towards the city of Wutai. If you are heading to Wutai from the beach on the southern end of the continent you will need to take a left after you cross the second rope bridge in order to continue north.
You will see Yuffie run away and hide from you as soon as you enter the village of Wutai.
Travel across the two bridges to the back of Wutai, also known as the Wutai Pagoda. Enter the house on the right side of the screen.
There is a room directly in front of the entrance with three beds on the floor. Open the sliding doors and you will be given the option to rest in this room if you choose for a free HP and MP refill. In this same room with the beds there is a white tapestry left side of the room that can be pushed aside to find a secret pathway.
At the end of the pathway is a treasure chest that contains a 
Magic Shuriken for Yuffie; the character who is no longer in your party… that being said, this is a fantastic weapon for Yuffie that has 64 attack power. You can also find another treasure chest in this area that contains a Hairpin.
Without leaving the house, take the pathway leading to the bottom-right side of the screen away from the room with the three beds. There is a man lying down on the bed in the top room.
Talk to him a number of times and Yuffie will jump down from the roof revealing herself. Yuffie will run into the room north of this one but if you follow her you will not find her. There is nothing in the room that she runs into.
Stop by the Turtle’s Paradise bar and speak to the Turks sitting at the table before continuing.
Travel back towards the entrance to Wutai and enter the Item Store which is the northern-most house near the 
Save Point. Open the treasure chest inside to find an 
MP Absorb Materia which will be immediately stolen by Yuffie.
Follow Yuffie outside the house and enter the Old Man’s House which is the one closest to the entrance of Wutai on the right side of the screen. Yuffie is hiding behind the room dividing screen (the zig-zag looking piece of furniture) on the left side of the screen. Follow her out of the house.
Yuffie’s next hiding spot is on the left side of Wutai near the Turtle’s Paradise Bar where the Turks are found. You can see the pot that she is hiding in wiggling and moving. Examine the pot and then smash it open to cause her to go scurrying again.
The story continues in Yuffie’s House. Follow her down the stairs and into the large room in the basement.
Yuffie will tell you to flip the lever on the left but when you go over to the machine at the back of the room you will have the option of flipping either the right or left lever. It does not matter which one you flip - they both end up with your entire team getting trapped under a huge steel cage.
Flip the lever again to free your team. Make sure that you examine the Turtle’s Paradise Newsletter No. 6 which is located on the outside wall of this room in Yuffie’s basement.
You’ve likely found all 6 Turtle’s Paradise Flyers at this point in the game which means that you have completed the requirements for the Turtle’s Paradise side quest and can collect your rewards. Check out the link below for more information:
Travel to the back section of Wutai near the Wutai Pagoda. Hit the gong on the left side of the screen to reveal a doorway in the area underneath the gong platform. Go through the doorway to watch a small cutscene involving Yuffie and Don Corneo.
Grab the two treasure chests in this room before you proceed up the stairs. The chest on the right contains a 
Swift Bolt and the chest on the right contains an Elixir. Follow Don Corneo up the stairs and you will be thrown into battle against three more Shinra Attack Guards.
Exit the house and you will find Reno and Rude standing outside. Speak to Reno for more dialogue and Cloud will end up asking Reno where Don Corneo, Yuffie and Elena went.
Reno’s clue is “it’s the place that stands out the most.” which is not very helpful. Travel back to the Save Point and save your game making sure not to save over any important game data in case you need to backtrack out of Wutai.
The best strategy for beating an upcoming boss has to do with Barret’s Limit Break, Mindblow. Use the PHS at the Save Point to swap Barret into your party and remember to set Barret’s Limit Level back to Level 1 if you have been leveling Barret past this point.
Use this opportunity to buy things from the Item Shop (which is the house closest to the Save Point). Stock up on Hi-Potions if you need to as they are currently your only source of mid-battle healing aside from any X-Potions, Elixir, Megalixir, etc. that you have managed to stockpile.
Travel northeast from the Save Point towards the mountain range (Wutai Da-chao Statue in the menu screen).
Walk up towards the Turks for some more dialogue. You will encounter random enemy battles while traversing the mountain peaks - you can use this opportunity to charge your Limit Break meters prior to the upcoming boss fight.
Take the pathway leading right when you reach the first fork in the road. Follow the pathway to the left leading around the statue’s head. Speak to Rude who is standing in front of a cave entrance just up ahead.
Enter the cave and open the chest to pick up the Dragoon Lance - a new weapon for Cid.
You won’t be able to proceed past the flames until you have picked up the Leviathan Scales later on. The Leviathan Scales will take out the flames allowing you to find a treasure chest that contains a Steal as Well Materia and a new weapon for Yuffie called the Oritsuru. This area is the Da-Chao Fire Cavern and you will have to return to this area later on in the game.
The boss battle is coming up in the next screen so take some time to engage some random enemy encounters to build up your Limit Breaks and heal up your characters using Hi-Potions before you proceed. Go south into the next screen when you are ready.
Note: This upcoming boss battle becomes less and less difficult depending on how far into the game you are when you travel to Wutai.
HP: 6,000
Reward: 
Peace Ring
Rapps is a difficult boss. It is high level, it does a large amount of damage and the battle is made extremely difficult without your Materia which means that the only way to defeat Rapps is through proper preparation before the battle.
The most devastating attack in Rapps’ arsenal is a magic spell called Aero3 which can cause upwards of 1500+ damage. Use Barret’s Mindblow Limit Break right off the bat to completely drain Rapps’ MP which will prevent it from casting Aero3 at all.
Do not be afraid to reach into your Item inventory on this fight. Use X-Potions, Elixirs and Megalixirs as required to keep your party alive.
Focus on staying alive and unleashing Limit Breaks which should come up quite often based on the amount of damage Rapps can do.
A video demonstration of this battle is included below for reference:
You will be given another three choices by Don Corneo at the end of the fight (“Because he’s ready to die”, “Because he’s sure to win”, “Because he’s clueless”). It does not matter which you choose.
There are a few more cutscenes mixed with more dialogue. Yuffie will return the Materia to the entire party, however, it just gets placed randomly with each person - you will need to rearrange it when you get the chance.
Best Bromance
Actions in this section of the game will influence the Gold Saucer Date side quest and obtaining the Best Bromance Trophy.
After Yuffie gives you back all of your Materia in Wutai:
| + 10 to Yuffie |
Note that you only get this bonus if Cloud is leading the party. However, since this part of the Wutai side-quest closes off before you get the opportunity to have a different party leader, it’ll never really matter.
You will automatically be placed outside Wutai on the World Map but there is one final step that you need to complete before you can move on. Return to the town and enter the small door below Yuffie’s House (shown in the screenshot below).
The cats that occupy this room have moved aside allowing you to travel up the steps at the back of the room. Travel to the second floor and you will find a treasure chest that contains an HP Absorb Materia.
The Weapon Store is also now willing to sell you weapons - some of which are quite strong. The weapons for sale include:
Murasame
Diamond Knuckle
Chainsaw
Aurora Rod
Gold Barrette
Slash Lance
Blue M-phone
Razor Ring (which is not as strong as the Magic Shuriken you found in Wutai earlier)
Shortbarrel
You are now done with the first part of Wutai! You can now also complete the Wutai Pagoda side quest to receive Yuffie’s Level 4 Limit Break, All Creation and 
Leviathan Materia using the link below:
Use the following links to return to the Side Quest or Walkthrough section.
