[derefr]

As low-brow (or pop-cultural) as this comment might be, I can't help but make the analogy: repo men are the modern day ninja. Being a ninja was never about martial arts; it was about subterfuge, and about protecting the assets of your lord by any means necessary. In the modern age, the lords are the banks.

[sketerpot]

From what I recall, being a ninja was about being sneaky and undignified enough to succeed. Being a ninja was about dressing up as a gardener so nobody would suspect that you were about to shiv them with an abnormally pointy trowel. Being a ninja was about setting off firecrackers as a distraction -- people assume that explosions are important, and ninjas knew this. Being a ninja was about hiding in an outhouse so you could assassinate some dude from inside of his toilet (holy shit!). Ninjas were clever bastards, not necessarily badasses.