Right on. People like to embellish stories to make their version more interesting. The stories become "true" because they have some root in historical fact and we like to imagine the splendid feats of skill of the past. (All the gunslingers in the old west come to mind.) Hattori Hanzo's Shinobi Hiden and related scrolls do describe the art of espionage and different skills of deception that were important to "Ninja." They had to be fit to fight, but that wasn't their focus. Mostly, Shinobi were spies or scouts., a common topic written about way back in the Art of War, Taigong's Six Secret Teachings other warring states books.
Right on. People like to embellish stories to make their version more interesting. The stories become "true" because they have some root in historical fact and we like to imagine the splendid feats of skill of the past. (All the gunslingers in the old west come to mind.) Hattori Hanzo's Shinobi Hiden and related scrolls do describe the art of espionage and different skills of deception that were important to "Ninja." They had to be fit to fight, but that wasn't their focus. Mostly, Shinobi were spies or scouts., a common topic written about way back in the Art of War, Taigong's Six Secret Teachings other warring states books.