simpleperson

Be sure and create a Macro with petcom_all Goto in it. Then you can set your henchmen out and front of you and decide how far back you want to be from the fighting. Mu Mastery or Mace Mastery each have really good AOE immobilizes. Just about any secondary will work if you have a mass immobilize. /Time, /Sonic, /Cold Domination each have a mass slow/hold/etc crazy debuff, and so if you alternate between that and your immobilize you can keep any spawn away from you as long as you're dealing decent damage so they die fast.

Dominator's Martial Assault has a "spinning kick" which is a cone, would probably be a good match to Cross Punch. That one, and the other two you mentioned have pretty short animation times. You can always stretch a short animation time into being longer by adding a pause. My present Ninjas MM is Ninjas/Empathy and I skipped Genin. A lot of the question of survivability comes down to your approach. I don't always take Genin because they're so death prone, but I can keep the three stronger Henchmen alive if I focus on just them. However, my MM strategy basically never uses "bodyguard mode". Ninjas have too few HP to be able to absorb a lot of hits for me. Instead of bodyguard mode, I just try to draw as little aggro as possible. The henchmen die instead of me taking hits, and when that happens, I do like any self respecting Mastermind would in the comic books: I retreat!!!!!!

Ninjas are a defense class, rather than a resistance class. /Kin will do better with resistance type pets. You'll be happier with anything that adds defense. Jounin start at 15% def, before you even begin using enhancements (which go on "Train Ninjas" instead of on the actual power itself) 45% is the "soft cap" where only 1 in 20 attacks from an ordinary enemy can land. Decent enhancing, plus slotting the 2 +def procs can get you up to 35%, but if your secondary adds anything, that will probably get you over the top to 45%. Then your pets are nigh indestructible most of the time. Also Jounin can use "Achilles Heel: Chance for resistance debuff", which will indirectly add to their damage, and that of any party members. A great compliment to /Kin if you choose to stay with that. I agree, however, that it would be cool if the MM could have a sword. At present the best I can do is give her a mace. 😞 However I am able to get over it because the ninjas themselves look so cool!!!!!