5. People Had Ninja-Proof Homes
For a modern super spy in a movie like James Bond or Chuck, nothing could be more cliché or, for Chuck, exciting than infiltrating a castle. Even Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) made a show of sneaking into a fortress as the infamous Johnny English. When you consider that Johnny English had to go through a sewer and get covered in, well, sewage before making his appearance at the dance, you get the impression that infiltrating castles isn’t as fun as it may sound.
In fact, ninjas had a hard time of it. They had to navigate winding paths and turrets that were designed so guards could see anyone from a long distance off. People wizened up pretty quickly to the fact that anyone – the person who had become a good friend, the prostitute brought in to dance at a party – could actually be a ninja. As such, they built floors to squeak loudly and stashed weapons underneath the floorboards. The grounds were covered in gravel so that sneaking around without being detected was much more difficult. Tripwires were installed so that an alarm would be sounded. All of these served to make the process of castle infiltration a headache more than anything.