The Ninja Tribunal are a group of four Ninjutsu masters who in Season 5 of the 2003 TV series recruit the Ninja Turtles and four other humans as acolytes to combat an unspecified threat. During the fifth, "lost" Season of the series, it is revealed that the Tribunal's self-imposed mission is to prevent the resurrection of Oroku Saki, a man/demon who once terrorized Japan as the first Shredder. To that purpose, they have recruited acolytes over the centuries, to whom they teach the hidden secrets of ninjutsu.