This is a collection of heart-to-heart lessons from ninja grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi to his senior student and first American disciple, Stephen K Hayes. When this book was first published in 1987, Western martial artists could learn for the first time what the grandmaster himself had to say about the essence of warrior training that emphasised real-world battlefield fighting methods (jissen-gata) -- from the use of weapons to ninja invisibility to kuji warrior spirituality -- as opposed to art or sport. This important volume is now available once again through Paladin Press, with new introductions by both authors, an all-new epilogue entitled Twelve Years Later and a techniques section that illustrates various classical ninja fighting defences. This is an incredibly valuable book for every martial artist who has ever wanted to go beyond the stereotypical images of the ninja sensationalised in action-adventure movies and gain access to the true secrets of the ninja grandmaster.