i'm confused
first you go on and say that the yagyu clan were a bunch of ruthless ninjas, that ruled the country of japan from the shadows. then you say you exagerated and that they arn't really ninja's but they studied ninjitsu in secret but they wern't ninja's... they were more then just fencing instructors, they were the spies and enforcers of the shogun.
and now you're saying i'm deluded because there is no difference between being a samurai and ninja?
last time i picked up a history book it stated that daimyo would not use their own men as ninja because ninja did not follow bushido. the samurai code forbade using dishonorable tactics. Especially in the tokugawa era where bushido became fuedal law.
"in case any of the samurai in our employ or others our subordinates should be guilty of rebellion or homicide, and the fact be reported to us, we mutually engage to one another that we shall not take the offender into our employ." -3rd oath-
A daimyo could not expect his own troops to perform shady tasks so they would instead buy or broker the assistance of ninja to perform selective strikes, espionage, assassination, and infiltration of enemy strongholds.
yagyu clan are famous for their sword style... i have never heard them to be factually involved in disreguarding their bushido, and had been training secretly in the ways of ninjitsu. They may have knew of ninjitsu, but for them to have been controling the whole of japan from the shadows or for the shogun by employing such practice is highly plausible And only seen in movies
by the way, english is my second language so my bad if my choice wording was wrong. when i said "media" i ment "movie"