Ninja Poisons
The ninja were very knowledgeable about poisons. Poisoning a victim was as
effective as stabbing them, but with very little mess or chance of failure. Once
the poison was ingested by the victim it was already to late. The poisons were
mostly organic based, but some were taken from animals.
One method was to take the fungi poison out of the blowfish or puffer fish. This
poison is very strong and can kill in small doses. Another animal based poison
was the bufo marinus. The bufo marinus is a large toad with an extremely toxic
poison behind its eyes. This poison was often used on darts, arrows and spear
tips.
Spiders and scorpions were also used. Not always just the poison extracted from
them, but sometimes it was just as easy to slip a couple of scorpions in the bed
of the victim.
One of the organic poisons used was made from common fruit. Cyanide was
extracted from a variety of sources, such as apple seeds, plum seeds, cherries
seeds and many more. It was readily available to the ninja and was used often.
Tomato and rhubarb leaves also held a poison. Eating the leaves cause cardiac
problems, ultimately resulting in cardiac arrest.
The amanita phalloides is a deadly mushroom. The poison in the mushroom was 10
times more powerful than that of cyanide. Eating the mushroom was certain death,
and it was easy to slip a piece of the mushroom in almost any meal.
The poison could be used in various ways, depending on the situation. For
example, if the ninja could slip it into the victims food while its being
prepared. Without knowing what kind of danger he was in, the victim would eat
the food infested with the poison. Not all the poisons used by the ninja were
fatal, some of them were used to merely paralyze or cause blindness. It was not
always necessary to kill.
Another thing the ninja did was dip their weapons, such as the shuriken or their
sword, in the poison. This was so when it punctured the skin of their target,
the fast acting poison would take its course, causing much more devastating than
the blade itself.