| IMHO, Ninjutsu is considered the ultimate, because it is the most devoted to what "martial arts" even is. As far as I know, Ninjutsu hasn't become a sport, and is still practiced for the same reason it was when it was created. To fight, and kill. The ninja of today don't have the same motives as the ones centuries ago, but the art and its techniques, are all swift and violent, meant for a quick and silent kill. I thought my art was violent, until many of my instructors were talking about ninjutsu. They said that when doing a technique, if you screwed up, the master would whack you in the head with his bokken. It was a quick way to teach the student, that they did not want to be hit with a sword, and the student started paying much more attention after this had happened. Anyways, the ninja had to do their work under the hardest conditions. Unlike the samurai, the ninja were usually poor farming families, and they learned defense with what would seem the most impractical weapons.
I agree that movies and legends have had their toll, and that is part of it. But I think it is more about how real of a martial art ninjutsu is.
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