|
There are many stories of what ninja, those incredible
little men, could do. They could become invisible,
change themselves into animals, walk through stone walls, fly and live under water
like fish. One famous ninja could sit in two separate
rooms talking to two different groups of people at the same time. The
list of their strange powers is endless but how many of these stories are facts
and how many are imaginary? One thing is for sure:
ninja were trained from childhood in various fighting techniques and special ways
of hiding and doing the unexpected in order to avoid detection or capture. They
were trained to imitate the walk and posture of people around them so that they
could "disappear" into a crowd without attracting any attention. They
were trained to move noiselessly and fast while pressing themselves against walls
to stay in their shadows. Ninja carried very few special
weapons; they had star-shaped pieces of metal called "shuriken" which
they could throw with great accuracy, but probably their most important tool was
a small pipe which enabled them to breathe when they were hiding in a pond or
a well. Ninja were almost never caught alive; they
nearly always killed themselves to avoid giving the name of their master or revealing
their secrets. The special knowledge the ninja possessed
always died with them. | 
