Ninja = Samurai

We often think that Samurai and Ninja are two different entities that are hostile to each other. But what if in fact Ninja is a Samurai himself? In the past Japan only knew the Samurai as its armed forces. Samurai who are carrying out espionage and sabotage missions will be called Ninja. Hattori Hanzo, someone who inspired many of these modern Ninja characters, was in fact a Samurai who served the Tokugawa shogunate.