ninja

Ninja is the on'yomi (Early Middle Chinese–influenced) reading of the two kanji "忍者". kawasaki ninja h2r In the native kun'yomi reading, it is pronounced shinobi, a shortened form of shinobi-no-mono (忍びの者) The word shinobi appears in the written record as far back as the late 8th century in poems in the Man'yōshū