Ninja VS Assassin is a What-If Death Battle written by DiAma1.
Note that this battle will be using information about historical real-life shinobi and hashashin.
Interlude[]
Wiz: The arts of espionage and assassination are some of the most powerful political tools in history, but two types of warriors excelled in these fields.
Boomstick: Like the ninja, AKA shinobi, feudal Japan's masters of stealth!
Wiz: And the Assassins, AKA hashashin, the Islamic warriors of the Nizari Ismaili state!
Boomstick: He's Wiz, and I'm Boomstick!
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win in a Death Battle!
Ninja[]
Wiz: In feudal Japan, warlords battled for power and had samurai do their bidding. A class of warriors bound by a code of honor called Bushido, defending their masters with their lives.
Boomstick: But when the warlords wanted to do under-the-table work that wasn't bound by honor, they hired a secretive caste of soldiers that stalked the night: the shinobi. These warriors were the spies, covert killers, and scouts of their day.
Wiz: According to texts like the Bansenshūkai, ninja based their entire strategy on intel-gathering, using their spying ability to make well-planned strategies.
Boomstick: Speaking of strategies, these guys had plenty. They had entire books on disguises and stealth techniques. They could blend into a crowd by using Hensōjutsu, disguising as anybody in society. They could curl into rock-shapes and escape detection, or hide underwater with pipes to breathe.
Wiz: They used "shadow clones" in the form of scarecrows to make their enemy unsure of how many ninja there were, and used water chestnuts to lay in the path of any escape route so that they couldn't escape.
Boomstick: But let's talk weapons! They had the classic katanas and tanto, but so much more as well. They had staffs, scythes called kusariagamas, firebombs, and even primitive guns! Plus, exploding arrows, firecrackers, and tetsuhau, which were bombs made with iron pellets in them. They used gunpowder technology brought to Japan by the Mongols. They can even use gunpowder to make smokebombs to help with their stealth.
Wiz: Plus they can throw shurkien, kunai, and other blades, which can also be used at close-range. The majority of ninja weapons started as farming tools, and then were used for combat later.
Boomstick: Oh, you won't believe this next one! On page 435 of the Bansenshūkai, it mentions that ninja can light their spears on fire to fight off large numbers of enemy soldiers. They literally used flaming weapons to fight off crowds!
Wiz: They also uses fukiya-dzusu, or blowpipes, to shoot poison darts at enemies for assassination. They had wolfsbane poison, which causes vomiting, diarrhea, and eventually death. Also, the have kaginawa, which is a rope that lets them climb walls, lock doors, or tie enemies up.
Boomstick: Now, the number of tools that ninja use is nearly limitless, since they can make use of anything in their vicinity.
Wiz: For disguise, ninja wore blue to blend into the moonlit night. That's right, they wore blue, not black. They also wore kusari katabira, chainmail that provided basic protection. Not to mention shinobi kacchu, plated armor that was interlinked with chain and can be folded to carry anywhere. Their attire also had internal and external pockets for dozens of weapons and utility items. And since some ninja stole armor from samurai, they could wear menpo, or scary masks, for intimidation of their foes.
Boomstick: Ninja can also use jinton jippo, to use animals and people to their advantage to sew chaos. For example, letting wild animals loose on their enemies to distract them. Yes, they actually did that. A subcategory of this is chuton jutsu, which uses small insects and reptiles, like snakes and bees. Ninja would literally throw bee nests or live snakes at their enemies.
Wiz: Ninja had hundreds of techniques and weapons, and they were very difficult to stop. Even as ordinary humans, they used their powers to appear superhuman and supernatural. They even survived in secret for hundreds of years as the Order of Musashi Shinobi Samurai.
Boomstick: Ninja are the ultimate badasses and nothing can get in their way!
Assassin[]
Wiz: You may have heard of the Order of Assassins from Assassin's Creed, but did you know that they were a real order?
Boomstick: After Habban-i Sabbath captured the Alamut Castle in Persia, the Nizari Ismaili state was founded. In order to protect this state from enemies on all ends with a small number of people, the Nizaris established an order of warriors versed in espionage and covert killing. These were the famous Assassins. These guys were so brutal that they literally named "assassination" after them!
Wiz: Assassinations were typically carried out by commandos called fidā’iyyūn, or "devotees", who primarily used knives and daggers as their main weapons of choice.
Boomstick: They also used swords, and could blend in to crowds to jump their foes by surprise. They were trained in furusiyya, also known as the Islamic warrior code, where they learned combat, disguises, and equestrianism.
Wiz: Assassins typically avoided open conflict, and dispatched of their victims quickly with little struggle. They used poison-tipped blades and arrows to kill their foes discretely.
Boomstick: They also carried round shields with bosses in the center.
Wiz: They didn't wear plate armor, mail, or any other armor, because it got in the way of their movement and stealth.
Wiz: Over the course of 300 years, the Order of Assassins killed hundreds of people, including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim and Christian leaders. They even tried to kill Edward I of England, but failed. They would target anyone that they deemed a threat to them, both politically and religiously. They left daggers on the pillows of kings as a threat, and became symbols of horror across the middle east.
Boomstick: They did eventually meet an end, however, when the Mongols invaded. They massacred the Assassins and conquered the Nizari Ismaili state, since they weren't used to fighting armies of such large scales.
Boomstick: Still, the Assassins were the terror of the Islamic world, and the ultimate killers! If you find a dagger on your pillow, you best say your prayers, because the Assassins will come for you!
Intermission[]
Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set, and we've run the data through all possibilities!
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
Death Battle[]
It was midnight in a Japanese fortress. Moonlight bounced off of the shingles and reflected onto a figure wearing dark blue, covered from head to toe, climbing on a roof. This was a ninja.
Suddenly, another figure climbed from the other side of the building and onto the same roof. This one wore tan cloth, and had a headwrap around his face. On his arm he held a small circular shield. This was an Assassin. The two warriors eyed each other in the darkness, and both quickly unsheathed their swords.
The ninja struck first, jumping forward and swinging down with a straight-edged katana. The Assassin blocked the attack with his curved sword, bouncing the blade back. The Assassin responded by swinging sideways, but was blocked likewise. The two exchanged blows, deflecting each one, until their swords caught on each other. They pushed against their foe, the blades ringing, when suddenly the ninja used his free hand to pull a shorter tanto from beneath his sleeve. He stabbed at the Assassin, who quickly flipped backwards to avoid the blow.
The ninja threw three shurikens in quick succession at the Assassin, but the latter lifted his shield and they stuck in with three consecutive thunks. The Assassin jumped from the building and disappeared to the ground, and the ninja followed. When he landed, he saw that the Assassin had landed on a horse and pulled out a bow. From the bow came a series of arrows, which the ninja rolled around and blocked with his katana. He then reached into the grass and pulled out a snake, which he promptly threw at the horse.
The horse reared backwards as it was bit by the snake, making the Assassin jump off. When he landed, he saw five shadowy figures around him. He slashed in a circle, and they all exploded into straw. They were just scarecrows. Suddenly, the straw burst into flames. The Assassin was surrounded by a ring of fire. When he looked up, he saw the ninja with a flaming spear. The Assassin pulled out his bow and shot through the flames, sending flaming arrows at the ninja. The ninja blocked them by spinning the spear, creating flaming circles in the air.
The Assassin jumped through the flames with his sword, slicing against the flaming spear with his sword on fire. The two sliced at each other repeatedly, blocking each strike once again. As they dueled, the ninja flipped over the Assassin and sliced across his back with a kunai. The wound burned with poison, and the Assassin stumbled forward.
The Assassin's vision began to blur as the poison flowed through his system. As he looked around he pulled out his dagger. Through his blurry vision he saw ten dark figures. He turned to run, but stepped on water caltrops and tripped to the ground. The ninja jumped in front of his foe and stabbed him through the chest with a flaming spear. He then ripped the spear out and stuffed a firebomb in the hole. He then ran away from the Assassin, who fell to his knees before exploding into a ball of fire.
The ninja then blew on a horagai which called forth a horse, which he jumped on and rode off into the night.
KO!
Results[]
Boomstick: Woah! Talk about a firey finish!
Wiz: While ninjas and Assassins were both excellent warriors, ninjas clearly stood above and beyond.
Boomstick: Yeah, ninjas had just waaaaaay more options in terms of combat. They had techniques and weapons for nearly any situation, and were experts of making use of their environment. Meanwhile, Assassins weren't used to fighting one-on-one, and almost always killed their victims in quick sneak attacks. They would have no way to deal with a warrior that was prepared to deal with everything they could dish out and was trained to avoid sneak attacks.
Wiz: Assassins had a much more limited variety of weapons compared to the hundreds of weapons that ninjas used, including pyrotechnics, guns, and explosives, which were way more advanced than anything Assassins had faced in medieval times.
Boomstick: Plus, ninja were used to fighting against other trained warriors such as samurai, while Assassins struggled in situations where they didn't have the upper hand. Also, ninjas wore armor, which would have made it much harder to do serious damage with a sword or dagger.
Wiz: In the end, the ninja's superior training, weapons, and strategies gave him the win.
Boomstick: The Assassin really bombed this fight.
Wiz: The winner is the ninja.