Naruto ninja ranks

Naruto Ninja Ranks

In the Naruto Anime/Manga, characters who are part of Hidden Villages undergo qualifications to be ninja. Not all ninja are considered of equal skill levels, and there are also some qualifiers that differentiate some types of ninja from others.

The words "ninja" and "nin" (short for ninja) are both singular and plural.

Academy Students

The academy is where would-be ninja start at; they are not actually considered ninja until they graduate. Academy students take formal and practical tests of all sorts and are taught the basics: usage of weapons (such as Kunais and Shuriken), basic ninja skills (such as Art of Transformation (Henge no Jutsu) and Art of the Doppelganger (Bunshin no Jutsu) and chakra control.

Upon graduating, students receive a special band of fabric with a metal bar bearing the symbol of their village (which can be worn in many ways) and become Genin. It's commonly referred to as a "forehead protector".

What is required for graduation varies from academy to academy.

Genin

Genin are the lowest level of Ninja and also the ones that display the most divergence in power (Compare Sakura and Neji, who are both genin). When they become genin, ninja start to do their bit for their village's economy- being sent on missions that the village gets paid for. They are typically sent either on D-rank missions, which are the lowest rank and are generally simple, risk-free jobs of manual labor, or C-rank missions, which are a cut above that and begin to verge on real "ninja" work--though they are still generally risk-free. Recently, Konohagakure has been shorthanded in upper-level ninja, and has been forced to occasionally send Genin on B-rank missions.

Chunin

Chūnin are ninja who are qualified to watch over and guide other Ninja. Some of them function as teachers (such as Iruka) and others serve as military strategists in charge of small teams who need to make decisions and utilise the skills of the shinobi under their command to the maximum effect. Chūnin are typically sent on C-rank missions or B-rank missions.

To become a chūnin, a genin has to go through an exam containing three stages: the first stage tests their information gathering abilities and decision-making abilities, the second stage tests their mission accomplishing and adherence to guidelines ability and the third consists of fights between those who passed the previous two stages, watched by a council which decides who becomes a chûnin and who does not.

In the English manga, the level is also known as the "Journeyman" level.

Tokubetsu Jonin

Tokubetsu Jōnin are ninja who, rather than all-around Jōnin training, have chosen to specialise in a single area of the training. They are elite specialists in their areas and are often assigned as subordinates to regular Jônin when their services are needed.

One example of a Tokubetsu Jōnin would be Morino Ibiki for his unique ability to completely understand the workings of the human mind, which makes him a very effective Interrogation expert.

Jonin

Jōnin are generally ninja with great individual skill who have a lot of experience and serve as military captains. They are often sent on A-rank missions, and experienced Jōnin may even be sent on S-rank missions (which are considered of even greater risk and difficulty than A-rank.) They are sometimes assigned as senseis for three-person teams of Genin. It is as of yet unknown what one has to undergo to become one.

There is a distinct "beyond Jōnin" class of power. The allegiances of these ninja range from being a part of Konoha's own ninja in one of the noble clans, a part of an enemy country/organization, or a former member of Konoha's village, turned Missing-nin. Enemy ninja of this class are usually referred to by "S-Class". For example, "You are a S-Class criminal in the Bingo Book" (Note: The Bingo Book is a book of notable ninja that each ninja village provides for its members). It should be noted however that S-class is only used to recognize a ninja's power.ō The official ranks of S-class ninja are still Jnin, sometimes even Chūnin (if they broke away from a ninja village and never got officially installed as a Jōnin). There are only (currently) three S-ranked ninja in Konoha, and they are referred to as the "Sannin". All other ninja of this class have no special name. S-class ranked ninja are sometimes erroneously referred to as "Sennin", which means "Sage" and is a title held by Jiraiya. Because Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade were once teammates and now all possess roughly the same amount of power, the term "Sennin" is often further confused with "Sannin", which simply means "Three ninja" and is used when referring to the three of them as the "legendary three".

Kage

(Kage, 影, literally "Shadow")

Those who achieved the title of Kage are village leaders of ninja villages. Kages are usually the most powrful ninja of the village. There may be exceptions--for example, a ninja may be the most powerful ninja at the time of being installed as a Kage, but he might age as time wears on and a new ninja will be more powerful because of youth. Kage are an elite group not only because there can only be one per village at any given time but also because of the make-up of the kage. Most kage have family members who were previous kages or was personally taught by a former kage or one of their students. The Kage- Hokage (火影, kage of Konohagakure(Hidden Leaf)), Mizukage (水影, kage of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist)), Tsuchikage (土影, kage of Iwagakure (Hidden Rock)), Raikage (雷影, kage of Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud)) and Kazekage (風影, kage of Sunagakure(Hidden Sand))- stand equally with the rulers of their countries, oversee the activities of their villages and are the leaders of Ninja culture.

Missing-nin

Missing-nin are ninja who have abandoned their village. These Shinobis are considered traitors and are hunted down because of the secrets they may hold. Other Hidden Villages would be interested purchasing this information because it could be useful in gaining an upper hand in battle. Villages create special units of Shinobi Hunters to take care of this problem.

Shinobi Hunters

Shinobi Hunters are sometimes codenamed "The Undertaker Squad". Each Hidden Village has a team of hunters, given the specific duty of hunting down Missing-Nin. They kill, then completely dispose of the body of their prey, leaving no trace of it and often having wild birds eat at the dead Missing-nin's internal organs and skin. This is done in order to make sure the Village secrets which a Ninja's body holds- such as Chakra types, herbs eaten and NinJutsu- won't be revealed.

In unofficial translations, they are known as "hunter-nin" or "body erasers".

ANBU (Black Ops)

The ANBU, known in the English anime and manga as the Black Ops, is a team of extremely talented shinobi of Chūnin rank or higher who are chosen for assassinations, for village protection from exceptional threats (somewhat akin to deploying SWAT units during a presidential inauguration), for conducting high-risk missions into enemy countries, and for dealing with extremely strong ninja (S-Rank). They wear animal masks to distinguish themselves from normal shinobi, as well as to conceal their identities. The ANBU is also unique in that they sometimes carry around swords; this is unique in that Naruto, although being a ninja anime, has very few swords. Not to be confused with Shinobi Hunters, the ANBU is an organization that is under the direct command of the kage. Hatake Kakashi was a former member and Uchiha Itachi became an ANBU captain at age 13. Morino Ibiki, the proctor of the first chūnin examination, is the head of the interrogation and torture division of the ANBU.

ANBU stands for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (暗殺戦術特殊部隊), translated into English, it roughly means "Assassination Tactics Special Squad".

Military Police

In the past, the Military Police in the Leaf almost completely consisted of Uchiha family members; however, the Uchiha clan is now almost completely destroyed, this is obviously not the case anymore. The MPs are in charge of law enforcement within the village, and their jurisdiction is virtually unlimited except matters that are under the Hokage's direct control. They also respect ANBU's own investigative system and inner-organization discipline.