Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu

English

Etymology

law (“rule”) + of + conservation (“preservation”) + of + ninjutsu (“a martial art used by ninjas”)

The law implies that each team of ninjas has the same finite amount of "power" of martial arts, therefore a team with fewer ninjas has more powerful ninjas.

Proper noun

the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu

1. (narratology, fiction, informal, humorous) The ability of one or few people to win fights against many opponents.
   • 2007 December 3, sw <sw@eyrie.org>, “Re: Why so few creative aliens?”, in rec.arts.sf.written‎^[1] (Usenet), message-ID <slrnfl8dbu.6gg.sw@haven.eyrie.org>:

     > The more creativity and ingenuity you give your aliens, the less is
     > available for your humans, generally the protagonists, which means
     > things will end poorly for Our Heroes. [...]
     Sort of like a SCIENCE application of the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu?

   • 2008 May 19, Nockermensch <ralgomes@gmail.com>, “Re: Ampersand: The Scoop on D&D Insider”, in rec.games.frp.dnd‎^[2] (Usenet), message-ID <11398510-50ce-4342-a223-ca68b86c8b89@25g2000hsx.googlegroups.com>:

     In other words, if I can tweak the minion->normal->elite->solo system into a^[sic] in-game representation of the Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu, there will be much win.

   • 2011 February 19, Andrew Perron <pwerdna@gmail.com>, “LNH/RACCies: Just Imagine Saxon Brenton vs. Andrew Perron in the Return of the RACCies! #10: Poledancing Phantoms of Limbo”, in rec.arts.comics.creative‎^[3] (Usenet), message-ID <1hmvlegtnnkih$.1p14289mto1ro.dlg@40tude.net>:

     The Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu was working in the main characters' favor, but even so, it was hard going.