15 replies to this topic

[Torxe]

Hi, not sure if there has been a thread like this already or not but I'll give it a try.

It's about ANBU, they're supposed to be the elite ninja right? Well tbh I don't recall one time when they haven't been owned. They always seem to get owned to show how grave the situation is, but as the elite isn't it their purpose to take down all the strong bad guys?

It's most of the time this scenario:

The elites get owned so we send the regular ninja? Imo and probably a whole other people's to, this just doesn't make sense. And still everyone is afraid/respects their strength. I don't understand

any thoughts about this?

[Manara]

Depends on the convenience of the script at the moment.

[jim1982]

Well if you consider the fact that certain regular ninja that they send were once ANBU. It might be skewed in a certain light. Kakashi was ANBU and all three of the sannin were shown to wear ANBU uniforms (though that was in the ninja wars).

So I say ANBU are elite, they just get pwned by the former ANBU and S rank baddies which pwn all. (Besides certain orange clad ninja lol)

[Torxe]

really never knew that that the Sannin were ANBU, isn't that just ordinary "war outfit" the Konoha 11 (without Naruto) wear all a similar outfit in the manga now, don't they?

About the S-class ninja never noticed that before but I guess this would be another one of those the next generation exceeds the previous kind of thing.

Like ANBU couldn't handle Akatsuki but Sakura (with Chijo's help) and Shikamaru each took one down, Naruto even 7 (if you count all Pains body's as one wich is basically like that, because most ninja's were barely a match for one of them).
(I don't count Nagato but Kakuzu)

[jim1982]

Well Jiraya and Orochimaru did seam to wear the uniform long after the war(as seen in the flashbacks of Orochimaru's defection) so I assume that those two made ANBU. ANBU is more like SEAL's or army Rangers than ultra special elites.

Also consider that I belive that Yamato and Sai are still currently ANBU members and that Anko and Ibiki are part of ANBU intergation and torture unit. So there seems to be a broad range of skills and talents in ANBU that suggest its more of a unit than creme ala creme of Konaha.

[RedDelicious]

ANBU is probably loaded with Danzo toadies, rather than stronger fighters who might have questioned Danzo's commands.
(Sai is a decent example, as he was completely under Danzo's thumb before Naruto's talk-no-jutsu.)

Edited by RedDelicious, 23 May 2011 - 04:31 PM.

[Madz]

This thread is very interesting since I would like to have more insight on ANBU too...

I don't ever recall any of the Sannin being ANBU...Would anyone confirm whether they were ANBU, because personally, apart from Orochimaru, I can't see either Jiraiya or Tsunade as ANBU (cold assissine, stealth) ninja type.
Neither do I see Naruto or Sakura as ANBU type, but that's just me.

[Saku-chan]

I disagree. Jiraiya is fully capable of stealth. He infiltrated Rain and retrieved info and he was only noticed by Pain who had the Rinnegan. Tsunade is probably the same. Just because not everyone walks around using stealth stuff all the time, doesn't mean that they are incapable of doing it.

I think ANBU look weak to show how strong the main characters (protagonists and antagonists) are. As long as you accept the axiom that they are elite, it shows that Naruto, Akatsuki, Sasuke, etc, are even more ridiculous. This is a difficult thing to accept though when Kishi hasn't really done much to show that ANBU are the elite compared to the masses.

The same thing happened in Ruroni Kenshin. Kaoru was supposedly on a national level according to the author, but she paled in comparison to Kenshin, Zano, and the baddies.

[Madz]

You are right, Jiraiya excells at stealth as he was a spy after all.
I did not express myself properly, by stealth I meant something in the direction of cold and emotionless.
Logically, from how I see it, the requisites of being ANBU would be power, total control of emotions (thus the mask, to wipe all emotions clean while on missions), ability to carry out orders (such as assissinations etc) without any questions and ruthlessness to carry out these assassinations.
That's why I fail to see Naruto/Sakura/Jiraiya/Tsunade as ANBU...but of course I may be wrong...
I would very much like to have confirmation about whether the Sannin were ANBU though, because I cannot find this info anywhere.

[Cloud]

The same thing happened in Ruroni Kenshin. Kaoru was supposedly on a national level according to the author, but she paled in comparison to Kenshin, Zano, and the baddies.

And everyone pales even more in front of Hiko Seijuro. The man is a beast.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

They weren't ANBU, they were wearing an older version of their flak jacket that was in use at the time. If I recall, it had less front pouches than the one commonly seen now on Konoha's shinobi.

[Arrakesh]

True, they were never Anbu, at least not Jiraya and Tsunade - we never know about Orochimaru. Also the Anbu is not the "elite" they are more the special forces and secret police. I say they are not the elite because the really best shinobis were once Anbu, but eventually left - ie. Kakashi, Itachi, etc - so we can say they are the elite of that generation, but not overall elite. However, putting aside Naruto's gang for a moment, if we compare the Anbu with the others shinobi they are really strong, we only see the Anbu losing to Madara, Kabuto (Kakashi level jounin), Kakashi himself and pain.

[Torxe]

That's exactly it Naruto's "gang" looks way more powerfull than any ANBU and most of them are still Chuunin. Sakura took out one of pain's summons with one blow while a full ANBU squad of 4 persons only managed to keep one down for a few minutes. ( I agree that that dog is way more difficult to deal with than the centipedes but still...)

[shadow_Uzumaki]

It's never established how powerful the rest of Naruto's peers are. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are reasonably above ANBU because their teachers were a league of their own in the first place. Still, it's what someone remarked, the ANBU are easily taken down to emphasize the strength of the enemy, the "Worf Effect," as tvtropes calls it. It's like saying Superman is taken down by a new enemy to show how powerful and dangerous the enemy is. In normal circumstances, ANBU could take down someone of Zabuza's or Kabuto's (pre-Ororchi cell infusion) level and probably even the Sound Four if they didn't have to worry about the purple barrier. However, trying to take down someone of Orochimaru's caliber is probably above their skills unless they were in a group. With that said, the Akatsuki is waaayyyy above their skill level.

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 08 July 2011 - 03:08 AM.

[Phantom_999]

........ Three words: Minor character effect. They aren't relevent to the story and therefore not important so they're supposed to look weak and not act like heroes and be strong few exception though Itachi, Kakashi, Yamato/Tenzo, to name a few

Edited by Phantom_999, 08 July 2011 - 03:44 AM.

[Amrikandesi93]

I think Kishi emphasized that Kakashi and Itachi both made ANBU at a really young age, after they made jounin.
So I guess that we can assume all ANBU are at least Jounin level.
At least the ones that go do field missions.