Ninja ( Final Fantasy XI ) Ninja appears in " Final Fantasy XI " as an advanced job available to players . Originally , Ninja was not meant to be a tanking job . However , the player base discovered a method that enables Ninjas to avoid most attacks directed at them by monsters . In time , ninja became one of the two " tank " classes in the game . Ninja are able to tank despite having low Vitality and Defense because they have good evasion , agility , and a few spells that allow them to create copy images . This is the most popular Ninja spell , called " Utsusemi " . It comes in " Ichi " and " Ni " forms , which are Japanese for one and two . The Ichi form creates three shadows , and the Ni version creates four if a Ninja is casting it . However , will only grant three shadows to players who are only using Ninja as their subjob . Originally intended as a damage - dealing class , the ninja job was cast into tanking by the players , due to their utsusemi - blinking and the ability to provoke enemy attacks by using Warrior as a Support Job . Ninja also get other spells that allow them to , , and the enemy , as well as elemental attack spells , and spells to make themselves or grant the effect of . All of these spells use ninja tools rather than MP , allowing Ninja to cast without worrying about running out of MP . Ninja themselves have no MP at all , but they do benefit from Support jobs that give them MP , like Black Mage because of the raise in Intelligence . Ninja are the first job to gain the Dual Wield ability , with Dancers , Blue Mages , and Thieves also gaining the ability at later levels . Ninja is a popular support job both for Dual Wield at a lower level and for Utsusemi . Becoming a Ninja . To become a Ninja , one must complete the quest " Ayame and Kaede " and have reached level 30 . The quest features the story of Ensetsu ' s family and their connection to the pirates of Norg . Ensetsu wishes to reclaim an item he has sold to the Tenshodo , but they will not exchange it for anything other than a Strangely Shaped Coral from the Korroloka Tunnel . The player must go and retrieve it for him . Gameplay . Though originally designed to be an enfeebling and direct damage job , Ninja has developed into one of the two major tanking jobs . Where a Paladin relies on damage reduction based on high Vitality and Defense , a Ninja ' s ability to tank relies almost entirely upon never getting hit . This form of tanking is often called Blink Tanking because it relies on Utsusemi , a Ninjutsu form of the spell Blink . Support Job s . Warrior . Warrior is used for most Ninjas in experience parties because of Provoke more than any other reason . This is the most simple form of enmity management and is the primary ability of any tank in keeping hate . At later levels , Warrior is a good support job for Double Attack , increasing the number of attacks the Ninja gets , as well as Berserk and Warcry which add to the attack rating . Black Mage . Black Mage is often used as a support job for Ninjas who are fulfilling another role other than tank or high level damage dealing . Ninjutsu ' s strength is determined by Intelligence , so Black Mage is used as a support job as the job that generates the highest total intelligence for the Ninja . Ninjutsu elemental spells are capable of doing significant damage in this setup . Dark Knight . Dark Knight is used for tanking NMs such as Gods or Limbus kings . The ability to cast Stun and many other spells , including the job abilities Soul Eater and Last Resort makes it much easier for the Ninja to hold hate . Dancer . Dancer is used for an effective support job for Ninja who like to solo , for self - healing abilities like Drain Samba and Curing Waltz . When NIN / DNC takes hits after shadows fail , the Ninja can restore his / her own HP . White Mage . At level 80 + , NIN / WHM becomes a very viable combination ; it ' s usually the best combination for a solo Ninja along with Dancer at high levels . At level 80 , setting White Mage as support job will grant the Ninja access to Haste ( ability ) , which , combined with Haste equipment , will easily minimize the recast times of and , and will make the Ninja ' s attack speed with Katana very fast ( a speed nicknamed " Hundred Katana " by players , after Monk ' s special job ability , Hundred Fists ) . With Haste causing the Ninja to attack the enemy almost non - stop and minimizing Utsusemi ' s recast times , and spells like Dia II , Protect II , Shell II , Reraise , Stoneskin , Aquaveil , and White Mage ' s array of status healing spells , NIN / WHM has become a very potent combination for soloing , under one condition : that the Ninja has some sort of Refresh status , because NIN / WHM has abysmally low MP . NIN / WHM is at its best in Abyssea , while under the effects of at least one Atma granting Refresh status . In groups , NIN / WHM has very little enmity , allowing for great use of Innin , but the Ninja will be rather powerless to protect its allies from enemy attacks . Other appearances . " Final Fantasy Trading Card Game " . Ninja appears on cards .