Scorpion and the Shirai Ryu

Spread throughout Japan; the Ninja exist as the Lin Kuei's Japanese counterpart. It is believed that a renegade, Japanese-born Lin Kuei warrior named Takeda developed the art of Ninjutsu hundreds of years ago. He returned to Japan to offer his services and knowledge to various lords and generals during that country's feudal period. Many of his skills and techniques were soon copied and learned throughout his homeland. Although the art of Ninjutsu is not based on an individual warriors mutated power, the ninja made up for it with their use of weapons and collective magical techniques that most humans could master with enough practice.

The Ninja have never existed as one collected clan. They work as a loosely connected spy network, made up of several small clans. One such clan is known as the Shirai Ryu. Their founder was Takeda himself, making the Shirai Ryu the very first ninja clan. This also made them instant foes of the Lin Kuei and made Takeda a target for assassination. But, he managed to elude his attackers until his elder years, when he died not from a vicious battle, but in his sleep - a victim of poison slipped into his tea.

Scorpion is the code name for a modern day member of the Shirai Ryu named Hanzo Hasashi. Scorpion has mastered a technique known as shuriken- weapons thrown from the hand. He learned this technique from his own father, a ninja himself who forbade his son to become a member of this ancient group of assassins and wanted him to accept the trappings of modern day life. But the lure of quick money and his own wish to afford his wife and child the finest in life force him to join the Shirai Ryu.

His latest mission leads him into the heart of China, home of the rival Lin Kuei and location of the Shaolin temple where his mission is to steal the sacred Map of Elements.