Mirai Ninja/Stage 8

Once the background has reappeared behind Mirai Ninja, the stage title has appeared on the screen, and the stage's theme (which is identical to that of that second stage) begins to be heard from the Yamaha YM-2151, start running to the right as four Hanzou Hattori come running towards you; once you have thrown out a shuriken at each of these to kill them, you will come to a gap in the platform which has a Zaku swinging his mace around on the other side. Once you have thrown enough shurikens across the gap in the platform at the Zaku to kill him you must drop down the gap in the platform in order to land on the floor below until you come to an elevator - and you can either run into it and get taken five floors downwards, or jump over it and continue running to the right. If you ran into the elevator, continue running to the right once you have come out until you come to another gap in the platform; you can either drop down it in order to land on the floor below, or jump over it and continue running to the right. If you dropped down the gap in the platform, you can either run back to the left until you come to another elevator that'll take you five floors upwards if you run into it or continue running to the right - and if you ran back to the left and into the elevator, you can run to the left once you have come out to collect a Chikara (yellow) powerup if you need the extra energy before continuing to the right and dropping off the edge of the platform to land on the floor below as six more Hanzou Hattori come running towards you. Once you have thrown a shuriken at each of them to kill them, you will come to a third elevator; you can either run into it and be taken four floors upwards, or jump over it and continue running to the right. If you ran into the elevator, two Shura will materialize on either side of you once you've come out - and like the two on the sixth stage, the one on the right will throw a small fireball into the air in the hope that it will land on you, while the one on the left will throw another small fireball directly at you. Once you have thrown enough shurikens at both of these to kill them, you can either run back to the left and drop down a third gap in the platform to land on the floor below or continue running to the right; if you've ran back to the left and dropped down the gap in the platform, you will have the chance to collect another Chikara (yellow) powerup as you are descending if you need the extra energy before landing on the floor below, and coming up to a fourth elevator. You can either run into it and be taken five floors downwards, or jump over it and continue running to the right - and if you ran into that elevator, three Domu will come running towards you once you come out of it. Once you've thrown enough shurikens at each of these to kill them, you'll come to a fifth elevator that you can either run into and be taken three floors downwards, or jump over and continue running to the right; if you chose to run into that elevator, six more Hanzou Hattori will come running towards you once you've come out. Once you have thrown a shuriken at each of these to kill them, two more Shura will materialize on either side of you - and as with the first two, the one on the right will throw a small fireball into the air in the hope that it lands on you while the one on the left will throw another small fireball directly at you. Once you throw out enough shurikens at both of them to kill them four more Hanzou Hattori will come running towards you; once you've thrown a shuriken at each of them to kill them, you'll come to four Tourou that are hovering in place above the platform (this point is where all the paths that can be taken through this stage will eventually lead to). Once you've jumped up and slashed all of the Tourou at close range to kill them you will come to a sixth elevator that will take you upwards to the roof of its building - and the hologrammatical image of the Evil Master Shikinami Kurosagi will appear in the background just before you reach the top, meaning that it is time for the seventh boss battle. The "boss" theme will then begin to be heard from the Yamaha YM-2151 for a fifth time, as Oda Nobunaga reappears on the right side of the roof and starts making his way towards Mirai Ninja for a second time; but this time, he happens to be protected by a barrier of eight spinning orbs, that must be destroyed before you can begin to attack him. The best way to do this is to run all the way to the left side of the roof and continuously throw shurikens at the orbs until they explode and repeat the process for Nobunaga himself until he gets close enough to attack you - and as with the first time you fought him at the end of that second stage, he will first throw his double-edged blade at you (which you must crouch down to avoid as it still returns to Nobunaga like a boomerang). He will then try to jump on you, so you must quickly run under him to the right side of the roof as he is doing so before turning around and throwing more shurikens at him; he will then start making his way towards you again, repeating that process once he gets close enough to attack you. Once you've thrown out enough shurikens at Nobunaga to defeat him for a second time, he will explode, and the "stage clear" theme will be heard from the Yamaha YM-2151 for the eighth time as Mirai Ninja proceeds to the ninth stage - which, like the second, fourth, sixth (and current) stages, has a multitude of paths that can be taken through it. Also, if Mirai Ninja defeated Nobunaga for a second time while standing on the right side of the roof, he will run off the edge of the roof and through the air (for a fourth time, if he ran off the right side of the roof after defeating Nobunaga for the first time at the end of the second stage, the right side of the battering ram's tank treads after defeating the last copy of Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the third stage, and the right edge of the fourth bridge after defeating the larger Nekko at the end of the seventh stage)! However, this is the last chance you will have to see his gravity-defying antics in the game.