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A telltale rhythmic breathing also enabled him to distinguish a light from a heavy sleeper, a false sleep from a genuine one, knowing that a person feigning sleep is tense enough for his body to emit sounds as the joints moved ever so slightly, if under muscular strain.

The ninja was an exceptionally good dancer. He was trained to dance folk rhythms so that he could, under appropriate conditions, mingle with the people of a specific region and thereby learn more about the target to which he had been assigned. Since the ninja had to conceal his true identity, he had to make use of disguises, with which he physically transformed himself and imitated somebody useful to the accomplishment of his mission.

Disguises included those of: (1) warriors, (2) farmers, (3) artisans, (4) theatrical artists, (5) merchants, and (6) monks, priests, or nuns. But clever disguise was often not enough, for the ninja had also to be able to copy the social and personal mannerisms of the person being imitated. The best physical transformation would be compromised if the ninja failed in the other aspects of his deceptive ruse.