Counter-Espionage

"Ninja attacks can strip camo from Bloons they damage."

- In-game description

 is a the second upgrade of the second path for the Ninja Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It removes camo from all bloons that the Ninja Monkey damages (e.g. a shuriken with the Counter-Espionage upgrade can remove camo from any bloon type it can damage), regardless of projectile type. Like most camo-stripping options, a Counter-Espionage Ninja can also remove camo from DDTs if it can deal damage to them. Sticky Bombs with this upgrade (0-2-4 and 0-2-5) will remove camo from DDTs immediately after attaching to them, not requiring damage.

It costs $425 on Easy, $500 on Medium, $540 on Hard, and $600 on Impoppable.

Appearance
Compared to it's previous upgrade, the Ninja's jumpsuit is now black, with navy blue gloves and shoes, and the shuriken on it's head as well as the ring around it are green.

Summary
Counter-Espionage allows the Ninja Monkey to fill a different role besides direct combat, becoming much more a supportive tower, decamoizing all bloons that it successfully damages with its various attacks, as well as sending them back with Distraction and can be upgraded to Shinobi Tactics to increase the fire rate of nearby Ninja Monkeys.

Considering that the next upgrade, Shinobi Tactics, benefits greatly from increased range, adding in Path 1 for increased fire rate, range and doubling pierce is not a bad option to choose. With enough Shinobi Tactics around high-level Ninja Monkeys (especially Grandmaster Ninja or Master Bomber), Shinobi Tactics are able to provide enough Distraction power and Counter-Espionage power to improve defenses against Ceramics and below to a significant extent, even if surrounding Ninjas do not have Path 2 crosspaths.

To make the most of the camo-stripping upgrade, increased attack speed and/or extra pierce or bonus attacks are essential to make the most of it. Often a Ninja with Upper Path 1 upgrades (Double Shot, Bloonjitsu, Grandmaster Ninja) would reliably remove camo off any bloon other than Leads or DDTs, allowing more powerful non-camo-seeing towers to attack stronger bloons that once were stronger camo bloons. Be sure to enable Camo Prioritization, so it'll avoid throwing at non-camo bloons where this upgrade would have no effect.

It is worth noting that the camo-stripping effects are not limited to just shurikens. Flash Bomb with Counter-Espionage (0/2/3 Ninja Monkey) will produce an Area of Effect stun attack that breaks lead, as well as decamoizes all those in the blast, allowing Counter-Espionage to perform at its most optimal. Decamoization by a 0-2-3 Ninja can also be done against DDTs, since Flash Bombs can damage both Lead and Black properties that DDTs possess.

Tips

 * This upgrade is a good choice for rather cheap decamoization against Rounds 42 and 51. At a price even cheaper than the Submerge and Support, when set to target the camo bloons the Counter-Espionage can quickly strip camo off the spaced camo bloons to let the other stronger towers deal with the rest of the bloons.
 * Counter-Espionage is able to strip off the Camo property from DDTs if the Counter-Espionage Ninja has lead-popping power (e.g. by adding Flash Bomb) or is otherwise supported with lead-popping power, such as from Monkey Intelligence Bureau, Acidic Mixture Dip, or Level 4+ Gwendolin.
 * 0-2-3 Flash Bomb can be used to decamo large groups of bloons, including Camo Leads and DDTs, although it is more costly and slower than a 0-0-3 Shimmer just to decamo. However, like all Ninja Monkeys, a 0-2-3 Flash Bomb can be paired with Shinobi Tactics to increase the decamo rate of DDTs.

Trivia

 * The cheapest way to decamo a DDT via Counter-Espionage is to combine a 0-2-0 Ninja with Acidic Mixture Dip.
 * 0-2-3 Ninja is the fifth cheapest tower that can decamo DDTs on its own (lead-popping power is required for the Ninja Monkey to decamo DDTs), fourth being 4-0-0 Bloontonium Reactor, third being 0-0-3 Shimmer, second being 0-3-0 Cleansing Foam, and first being 3-0-0 Submerge and Support.