He looked like an easy target: a medical student sitting alone on a late-night train.
The three men sidled up to the German student and told him to hand over his wallet. When he refused, they followed him off the train, trailing him as he walked past the hotel and pizza joint on Bringelly Road, Kingswood, in the city's west.
When the student, who has asked not to be identified, turned down a dimly lit alley his pursuers thought their moment had come.
It had, but not in quite the way they expected.
The men tripped the 27-year-old student, kicking him as he lay on the ground and grabbing his mobile phone and iPod.
What the assailants did not realise was that they were standing outside Ninja Senshi Ryu - western Sydney's ninja warrior school.
They also failed to notice a ninja, Nathan Smith, standing in the shadows outside the dojo. Mr Smith immediately alerted his sensei, or teacher.
Kaylan Soto, a sensei with 30 years' Ninjutsu training, and three of his students raced out of the dojo towards the startled attackers. All five crusaders were clad in the ninja's traditional, all black uniform.
''We would have been just a silhouette,'' one of the ninjas, Steve Ashley, said. ''It was probably the worst place in Sydney where they could have taken him.''
Mr Soto said it took the three assailants a few moments to realise what was going on. When they did, they shot off. ''You should have seen their faces when they saw us in ninja gear coming towards them,'' he said.
The ninjas gave chase, but the men escaped. Police yesterday said they had made arrests in relation to the attack.
The medical student, who has been in Sydney for eight weeks on an exchange program, was left shaken but suffered only minor injuries.
As for the ninjas, they were back in training last night.
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