After the mysterious Eastern Martial Artist once again won over the entire crowd with a flawless performance, the next match featured yet another contestant from the overseas division.
This contestant was not from the same country as the old man who had competed earlier. The old man came from ancient China, while this young competitor came from Neon Country.
His strength might not have been as unfathomable as the old man's, but he was one of the overseas division's standout competitors. His identity, too, carried an air of mystery.
His name offered a clue.
Though it was not really a name—only a competitor's alias.
He went by the Lone Ninja.
Ninja were members of a highly unusual profession found only in Neon Country. Originally, they were trained killers raised by special institutions.
Later, as regimes changed, those institutions declined. The killers who lost their backing organized themselves, forming several assassin groups with strict discipline.
These killers were known as Ninja, and their settlement-like organizations were called Ninja Villages.
Ninja were mysterious and feared. They had carried out numerous shocking large-scale assassinations and left a profound mark on Neon Country's history.
Neon Country's history held many assassinations attributed to Ninja. Notable examples included the assassination of Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and an attempt on Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia.
Ninja worked in the shadows, and few showed their faces in public. But that was true only in Neon Country. In other countries, a genuine Ninja would attract intense attention and an enthusiastic following.
Legend held that, beyond their exceptional assassination skills, the best Ninja could commune with mysterious forces of heaven and earth. Through strange seals and hand gestures, they could harness those forces to perform feats ordinary people found unbelievable.
Most people, however, knew of Ninja only through