Joe starts his revenge in the Ibaraki Prefecture. The first enemy you'll encounter in the game is a green ninja, who is armed with shuriken. The ninjas can jump around, but can only ever throw their projectiles when standing or crouching. As well as the ninjas, another enemy who makes plenty of appearances in the first round is a samurai, who will try and slice you with his sword. He can block your shurikens, but can be taken out by crouching and attacking at close range.
Keep breaking open the boxes to collect more shurikens and also obtain the first power-up item of the game. This will make your shuriken's stronger, doing far more damage (such as being able to kill the samurais with one hit rather than two) and also making Joe's close range attacks better. Watch out though -some of the boxes contain bombs, which will explode after a few seconds, or straight away if Joe stands on them.
You'll be able to go though parts of this level on either the lower or higher ground, if you take the high route, you'll be able to avoid the dogs, but will have to face more ninjas. You'll see an arrow near the end of this first part, but if you need health, there is a hidden full life power-up near above the arrow -double jump and use the shuriken barrage to reveal it, then double jump again to collect it.
The next section features a house you will have to work your way through. There are many ninjas to fight here, so be ready to jump or duck to avoid their numerous shurikens. The bamboo can hurt you, so don't step on it. There is a hidden passageway blocked off by some bamboo that you can't access yet, so keep going to the right.
Outside the first house is a button you'll have to stand on to activate. This will remove the bamboo, so go back to the first house. With the bamboo out of the way, you can drop down.
The passageway has many ninjas inside it, who'll keep coming through secret doors. There is also some more bamboo to avoid, which can be difficult as the ninjas will keep throwing stars. Eventually you can move out of the passageway by jumping up, arriving in the second house. This has more ninjas and samurais, along with some bamboo platforms you'll have to use to progress.
When you leave this second house, keeping heading to the right to end the second section of the round. The third section is a boss fight, against the mighty samurai, Blue Lobster!
Blue Lobster has only one attack: he will try and slice Joe apart with his sword. He can only move left or right, but his armor protects him from most attacks. When he isn't swinging it, his sword covers his one weak point: his head. To hurt Blue Lobster, you'll need to lure him into attacking by moving towards him. Then quickly move away before turning back around, jumping and throwing a shuriken so it hits his head. Of course the other way to damage him is to use a ninjitsu, such as the Kariu. As you keep hitting Blue Lobster, his armor will change color, getting pinker and pinker, until he explodes.