Ninja Ranks

[Inquisitor77]

I've been watching the anime, but I'm staying away from the manga for now, and I still don't quite understand the rankings... From what I can gather, the ranks are something like this:

Student
.....|.....
.Genin.
.....|.....
Chuunin
.....|.....
.Jounin.


Those are just the basic, overall rankings, though. There are other ranks, like ANBU, Sannin/Sennin (Three Ninja/(Legendary or Hermit) Ninja? The play-on-words is most likely intentional, since east-asian languges do it all the time, hehe.), Kage, etc.

From what I've seen in the anime, ANBU are most definitely at least Jounin. It seems like they are *ranked* as Jounin in the hierarchy, but are a special subset, a group that is either very good, or are trained specifically to hunt down "Missing-nin." Probably both.

The Sannin are outside of the hierarchy, but if they were within it they would at least be above Jounin level. Most likely they seem to lie between Jounin and Kage, if "Kage" is really considered the "top" level. Much more powerful than even the best Jounin, but for some reason chose not to be Kage or are not good enough/allowed to be Kage? Probably the former, since the pervert teacher (Ebisu, hehe) told Jiraiya that Hokage has been looking for them to help fight Orochimaru. You would have to be pretty damn good if people were looking for your help...

Kage is kage. I think everyone understands what it means by now. Kage are on an entirely different level than everyone else. Orochimaru is considered "kage" level, if not in name then at least power/skill.

If anything, the hierarchy seems to be like this:

Student
.....|.....
.Genin.
.....|.....
Chuunin
.....|.....
.Jounin. -> ANBU
.....|.....
[Sannin]
.....|.....
..Kage..


What do you guys think? I don't mind "spoilers" from the manga if all you're doing is clearing up the order... The anime isn't as clear as it probably should be, considering how much time they devote to flashbacks/rehashing/explaining things.

[frexeze]

i am not a manga reader, but from watching the anime and reading discussions, i am under the impression that you start in the academy as a student. when you graduate, you are promoted to genin and train to become chuunin. after you are chuunin, some are promoted to ANBU and the elite from ANBU are designated as jounin. i think certain jounins or possibly even chuunins can be selected to be trained as potential hokage candidates and those not selected to become hokage are referred to as the sennin..

[DemonRyu]

I think your wrong Frexeze(somewhat or not clear enough) Your right about starting in the acadmey then after you take an exam you become genin then you take the chunin exam and if you pass you become a chunin level ninja.(After that it doesn't really explain)I think you somehow get promoted to jounin(exam or something maybe?). Well then some jounins tend to specilize in one thing like some beocme Anbu memebers(maybe a chunin can be Anbu memeber not sure), Hunter-nin(Maybe a chunin can be a hunter-nin not sure),sensei, or reugular jounin.

[jonny-mt]

I agree the distinction between Jounin and ANBU is a little hazy...I think the best way to think of ANBU is not as a rank but as a group of ninja, probably composed of Jounin, Chuunin, even Genin if they are good enough.

The only direct outside knowledge I can add is that in the Character Data Book (I believe that's it...it's one of the three guides) there is a picture of a young (20-ish) Kakashi in an ANBU uniform.

[XwingRob]

I think you can become chuunin by a special way as well(not just taking part in the exam). Just a theory, for now, its probaly not true.
As for why they haven't explain about how to become Jounin yet...well what do you think? Naruto and the others are probaly years away from becoming Jounin level, so of course its not going to be explained, yet.
Anyways, I think you become Jounin by completing a "journey" of somesort. Heh.

[Inquisitor77]

That is a good point - they might be keeping things hazy just so they can explain it in the future...

I completely forgot that ANBU and hunter-nin might not be the same thing. I remember in the first episodes, Haku was called a "hunter-nin" when he wore the mask, and later on the Leaf Village ninja wearing masks were called ANBU. I guess different mask types denote different roles? The ANBU masks are all animal-like, while the hunter-nin mask Haku was wearing was just decorative, with a spiral... Anyone know if there's actually a difference?

[Stoopider]

Take Anbu as being like in the MP!! Military Police!! Are they Captains?? Are they Majors?? Or are they Seargents?? Their just different.

Just like pork and ham.

[jonny-mt]

I believe ANBU is just the name for Konoha's corps. As for hunter-nins, they seem to be members of a part of each corp. The actual meaning of 'ANBU' is "dark side"...it is a real word and it does have kanji, even in the manga.

My evidence for this comes from the manga...NOT A SPOILER PART! I don't believe this is in the anime, but right before Kakashi launches Chidori at Zabuza, he says:

'ore mo moto anbu "ansatsusenjutsutokushubutai" ni ita hitori da'

which translates to....

'I, too, was originally one of the ANBU "Assassination Tactics Special Forces".'

If you have the Fan Book, this is on page 97. And yes, that is definitely the ANBU he's talking about...the caption below talks about Kakashi's 'anbu jidai', or 'time in ANBU', and has a picture of him with the ANBU mask next to it.

Actually, while I was looking through the book, I ran across something interesting...A NINJA FLOW CHART!! Page 153.

Here we go from bottom to top up through the middle.

'ninjya wo kokorozasu mono': Those who aspire to be Ninjas [block]
'shigan/nyuugaku': Volunteering/School entrance [arrow]
'ninjya gakkou sei': Ninja Academy Students [block]
'sotsugyou/nintei': Graduation/Certification [arrow]
'konoha shinobi gundan': Konoha Ninja[Shinobi] Army Corps [big pyramid]
'hokage': Hokage [circle at top of pyramid]

From 'Hokage', there are two arrows leading out and down.

RIGHT PATH
'toukatsu/kanri': Unification/Management [arrow leading back to Academy]

LEFT PATH
'senbatsu/ninmei': Selection/Nomination [arrow leading down]
'omo ni chuunin/tokubetsu jyounin': Primarily Chuunin/Occasionally Jounin[box]
'kanri/kyouiku': Management/Education [arrow leading back to Academy]
'dannen': Giving up [arrow leading back down to 'konoha no sato jyuumin', or Konoha Village's Inhabitants, which is the label outside of the flow chart under the Academy]

The header for the chart reads as follows:

'soshikizu': Organization Map
'ninjya gakkou wa sato osa no hokage ga toukatsu shi, kyousi ni erabereta mono wa, genba no unei/kanri mo ninau.'
The management of the Ninja Academy rests on the shoulders of those picked for that task by the Hokage, the head of the village.

[note: This was a toughie of a sentence, so if anyone with better Japanese wants to take a shot at it, feel free. I'm pretty sure I'm right.]

So...doesn't look like it quite figures everything out, but every little bit of info helps [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

[EpoC]

Ok. ^_^


What about Special jounins? Is it a Rank? It must be.
I think a special jounin is a Former ANBU.
If ANBU is a special force containing Jounins and one of them decides to leave the ANBU then maybe he/her becomes a special jounin. And special jounins Have ordinary Ninja jobs, from tutoring to Assasinations insteed of only dangerous A class missions all the time. It wouldn't be apopriate to have a ANBU help you clean the garden.

And all the rookie gennins are under a Special jounin. Am I right?

[Inquisitor77]

...that's a mouthful to decipher... =P Let me take a crack at graphically representing it, and you tell me if I got it right. I'll skip the Japanese, since anyone who wants to "fix" the translation can just refer to your post. What do the blocks and arrows mean? I'm assuming that when you say "block" you mean that the group named is inside a block, and when you say "arrow" the group named is inside an large triangle/arrow? From first glance, this looks like the organizational hierarchy of the entire village (flow of power/responsibility), not necessarily the hierarchy of the different ninja that exist... But like you said, any information is better than no information. Here we go:



Organization Map
The management of the Ninja Academy rests on the shoulders of those picked for that task by the Hokage, the head of the village.

<----(LEFT & DOWN)---(RIGHT & DOWN)---->
.............................|^|.................. ............
........................"Hokage".................. .........(circle atop pyramid)
_________________O___________________

"Konoha Ninja [Shinobi] Army Corps" - ???Chuunin/ANBU??? (within large pyramid)
________________/_\___________________
_______________/___\__________________

"Graduation/Certification" - ?Genin? (arrow)
_________________/\__________________

"Ninja Academy Students" - Students (block)
_________________[]__________________

"Volunteering/School entrance" - Entering Students (arrow)
_________________/\___________________

"Those who aspire to be Ninjas" - Non-Students (block encompassing all but KONOHA VILLAGE)
_________________[]___________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KONOHA VILLAGE INHABITANTS (Non-ninja, completely separate from all other boxes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



From the top, where it says "Hokage," there are two arrows leading out and down. The one to the left is as follows:
.............................<======<======& lt; (Hokage)
.............................V.................... ....
.............................V.................... ....
"Selection/Nomination" (downward arrow)
In order to progress, you must be nominated by your immediate superior? Like when the "Rookie Nine" had to be nominated by their Special Jounin instructors in order to take the Chuunin test?
-----------------------V-----------------------

"Primarily Chuunin/Occasionally Jounin" (block)
Either this implies that you have to be nominated to become Jounin, just like you had to be nominated to become Chuunin, or I'm missing something... Maybe Jounin are "Selected," while Chuunin are "Nominated"? *sigh*
-----------------------[]-----------------------

"Management/Education" (arrow)
Chuunin and Jounin can choose or are chosen to be teachers/administrators at the Academy, hence the arrow from this box leading back into the central "Ninja Academy Students" block?
-----------------------V------------------------

"Giving Up" (arrow)




The arrow that leads out and down from "Hokage" to the right is as follows:

(Hokage)>======>======>
.............................................V.... ......................................
.............................................V.... ......................................
"Unification/Management" (Arrow leading directly back to central "Ninja Academy Students" block)
No idea what this means...ninja bureaucrat? Hehehe... More likely these are the people handpicked by the Hokage to run the Academy. Kinda like the Superintendent and the Principle?






OK, I hope that made sense... Anything wrong? Anyone care to take a crack at it?


[Edit Add: Made the corrections jonny-mt pointed out. Made some graphical changes. Other than that, everything is the same.]


I wouldn't mind seeing a scan of the chart, though. =P

[Mattea]

I think they should talk a little more about the ninja jobs in the anime ^_^

[PSJ]

the ANBU most likely comes before jounin but no one nknows for certain and its sennin not sannin. sannin means three ninjas.

[Inquisitor77]

When Naruto is talking to Jiraiya, he calls him "Ero-Sennin," or "Pervert Hermit." When Ebisu was talking to Jiraiya, he was referring to him as a member of the group "Legendary Three Ninja," aka "Sannin." I'm pretty sure it's a deliberate play-on-words, but there is a difference when they use them. One is referring to Jiraiya himself, and the other refers to the group.

[BurnHavoc]

Sannin is not a rank...

Edit: from Jap->English E-Dict: sannin => three people

[Kakashi-Senpai]

The hokage and the sannin are about the same level in power. Example jirraya and orochimaru are sannin's. There are only three sannins which were taught by the 3rd hokage and are recognozed by the whole naruto world. There is about class sennins. People tend to mix up the sannins and the sennins. The sennins are a bunch of legendary ninja's that has an giantic amount of power, however they are no match with the sannins.

[Inquisitor77]

Xollence is right, they're near-Kage level, but even Orochimaru said that if the Hokage was just 10 years younger, he would've beaten him easily.

"Sennin" is just the Japanese word for "Hermit." Jiraiya is referred to as "Ero-Sennin" by Naruto because he's a perverted guy who writes dirty novels, but is also a hermit who doesn't participate in normal society. This is why, when Ebisu told him that the Hokage was looking for him, Jiraiya said that he's not interested in the situation with Orochimaru.

"Sannin" is a combination of two words, "san" meaning "three," and "nin" meaning "person." Literally, it translates into "Three People." Figuratively, everyone understands that calling a group of ninja "the Three" implies that there is something special about them. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the girl (whose name I can't remember) are the members of the Sannin. There's probably a little play-on-words going on as well, since the "nin" in ninja means something different from the "nin" meaning "person."

[Xollence]

Nah they're not at same level, it's just that the hokage is old.

[Krbadass]

sannin directly translates to three ninja not three people, and there are too be no spoilers in any naruto section, even if the thread maker asks for it. and my thought is that sage sennin sannin w/e is higher then kage or at the same level.

[jonny-mt]

Originally posted by: Krbadass
sannin directly translates to three ninja not three people, and there are too be no spoilers in any naruto section, even if the thread maker asks for it. and my thought is that sage sennin sannin w/e is higher then kage or at the same level.

Yeah, it is definitely "three ninjas", not three people. Although the readings are the same, the kanji used for the 'nin' in 'sannin' is the same as the 'nin' in 'ninja'. A little bit of a play on words. And sennin seem to just be people who exist outside of the established order...it does just mean hermit...nothing more. It's not a rank; just a situation.

[NoKKiE]

the difference between sennin and sannin is no play on words, they are completely different japanese words, it might seem confusing because in english they are only 1 letter apart