Shinobi

**Key Features** | »» Wrist-sheathes w/ ceremonial sashes»» Imperial ninjato blade»» Decoy smoke bombs»» Black cowl conceals identity»» Fast-drying, breathable uniform

*"We defend the Emperor's Garden."*

- Shinobi Motto

## Tactical Analysis

* **One-kill cut**: As a result of a lifetime of training and a generation of blade-crafting, the shinobi's swords and shurikens have proven to be more lethal than just about any modern anti-infantry weapon. And rumors of shinobi being so swift and so light on their feet as to be able to run across the surface of the water are as yet unconfirmed. However, there is no doubt at this point that shinobi are no less capable of traveling the waterways of the battlefield as the surface.

* **Emergency Smoke Bomb**: If a shinobi is fired upon, he may throw one of his evasive smoke bombs to cover his tracks and escape. Vigilant forces may re-acquire the shinobi as a target, though usually, the shinobi gets away. This trick is rarely used, possibly due to the strictness of the shinobi code.

* **Breaking and entering**: Shinobi may infiltrate just about any type of military structure on the battlefield, causing all sorts of headaches to the opposing force. Shinobi never seem to emerge from out of infiltrated structures, remaining inside to ensure a proper sabotage.

* **Fleet-footed, web-footed**: The greatest of Shinobi's are known to be masters of stealth, capable of remaining hidden even as they are cutting through swathes of infantry unless found by a detector, while moving and fighting as swift as the wind.

## WWIII Operational History

 File:ShinobiArt.jpg  The Empire of the Rising Sun evidently knew much of its enemies' weaknesses prior to unleashing its hidden army upon the world. Furthermore, it appears that the Empire has already developed more-advanced versions of certain forces commonly used by the Allies and the Soviets, such as their mobile construction vehicles. Exactly how the Empire managed to reverse-engineer top-secret military technology and discover the few vulnerabilities of the two largest world superpowers is anyone's guess. However, anyone who guesses that the ranks of the Imperial shinobi had something to do with it is probably on the right track.

The Empire of the Rising Sun's unorthodox intelligence network seems to consist of these cloaked assassin-saboteurs, who have no official connection to Japan's international or military affairs, yet seem to be showing up more and more often in battlefield situations. Disturbingly, while these shadowy characters are equipped with what might be considered ancient, old-fashioned weapons by modern standards, they have proven to be uncommonly lethal.

Counter-intelligence has discovered only a few facts about the shinobi, though their performance in combat is beginning to speak for itself. Shinobi are presumed to have been rigorously trained from childhood to serve the Emperor's closest military advisers, to whom they are bound as vassals. Shinobi can silently slay opposing infantry with either their blades or throwing knives, can infiltrate even the most heavily-guarded compounds, and escape as if into thin air should any foes catch wind of their presence.

They are the secret spies and killers of the Japanese Empire's military. Despite the notoriety of their profession, however, the Shinobi are rumored to be well-trusted by and extremely loyal to their masters. These misunderstood warriors are so dedicated, in fact, that they are absolutely willing and prepared to lay down their lives in combat, should their sacrifice improve the chances of a mission's success.

Shinobi are lightly armored and depend on their mobility in battle. They are equipped only to take on other lightly-armored or unarmored infantries, though fast enough to evade explosive shells and other large weapons. And they are uncannily capable of killing with but a single thrown blade or sword stroke. Initially, their bladed weapons were assumed to be ceremonial in nature, like the red sashes on their wrists (which appear to be a status symbol of some sort).

When an entire platoon of the Soviet Union's elite Tesla troopers was found dead, with shurikens bearing the Japanese Emperor's crest lodged inside the victims' vitals (after having passed cleanly through the seams of their armored suits), the sheer skill and dangerous potential of the Imperial shinobi became quite clear. To make matters worse, the few occasions on record when these warriors have been surrounded by opposing forces, they used some sort of smoke-bomb device to trick the opposition into holding fire long enough to make their escape.

There seems to be no terrain the Imperial Shinobi cannot cross, and no fortress they cannot break into. Reports of Shinobi infiltrations are growing by the week, causing, some would say, a bit of a panic among Soviet and Allied forces unaccustomed to having to defend their forward bases against such an assault. The consequences of a Shinobi infiltration are varied and widespread, ranging from an entire base power grid and battlefield radar coming offline, to outright theft of military production resources. Unfortunately, no one besides Japan's top military aides seems to know just how many Shinobi are in active duty today.

## Post-War Operational History

After the war, Lord Inukai, leader of the Iga Shinobi from Iga's capital, and Lord Genra, leader of the Hajinmon Shinobi from an unknown mountain village, independently met Emperor Kamina to complain about each other's way of using their Shinobi, about how it is impossible to work together with their arrogance and about various incidents of Shinobi from the other clan back-stabbing those of their own clan.

Dozens of such meetings later, Kamina managed to get the two leaders to a game of Go and to talk it out. Despite both having drawn their poisoned knives out multiple times, neither would risk trying to kill the other. In the following discussion, an unnerved Kamina proposed to make Shinobi to work alone *only*, something that both Genra and Inukai were able to agree on. Now, Shinobi will show the full extent of their powers when alone, but refuse to work with each other, even if means certain death.

Without the need to hide their skills from their rivals, Shinobi are capable of cutting vehicle power and fuel lines with their shurikens, become almost undetectable when ordered to use their smoke bombs, and have no qualms about unleashing the full extent of their mastery of the blade in close quarters, allowing them to take down multiple foes in rapid succession.

## Behind the Scenes

* Shinobi are, surprise surprise, ninja. The word *"shinobi"* is actually the correct if archaic term with *"ninja"* being a more modern term.
* Shinobi now demonstrate *"Conservation of Ninjitsu"*, meaning they suck in numbers, but are awesome solo, like in 90% of pop culture portraying Ninja.

## Just the Stats

### Lone Shinobi

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Armour Type** | Infantry

 **Kill Reward** | 8000

 **DPS** | 600

 **DPS** | 200

 **DPS** | 200

 **DPS** | 200