Naruto is one of those rare anime hits that has become a complete cultural phenomenon. The enthusiastic and obnoxious Naruto became a hero for an entire generation. Even people who aren't fans of anime tend to know what Naruto is. It has some serious Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon levels of fandom at this point.
One of the weirdest parts of Naruto, though, is the Kages of their world and the system that put them in power. It's Naruto's only dream in life (particularly notable compared to his horrible parenting), yet there's a lot about being a Kage that doesn't make sense. For example, there are quite a few Kages out there that probably never should've gotten the job in the first place. They only made the world a worse place. Here are 10 Reasons The Kage System Makes No Sense.
10 Questionable Intentions
When leading a village, in theory, the best thing to do is protect the people. However, too many of the Kages have completely warped intentions that hurt their people, not strengthen them. Somehow, though, the villages can't or won't overthrow these bad leaders. For example, at the beginning of Naruto, the Kazekage was a selfish man willing to destroy his own son in a bid for power, creating a bloodthirsty monster out of a toddler.
He definitely should've been kicked out for that, right? But nope. Questionable intentions should definitely get bad Kages fired, but it doesn't seem to be a thing.
9 Reluctant Leaders
For such an important, coveted position in the ninja world, there have been way too many reluctant Kages. Just in Konoha, Hiruzen, Tsunade, and Kakashi were all hesitant or resistant to taking over the job. Sure, sometimes things are difficult, but shouldn't the leader of an entire village be enthusiastic in what they do? Moreover, when they choose a Kage, wouldn't zeal for the job matter more than their power level? From the vague jobs we know about Kage, there's a lot more paperwork and group coordination than just raw strength.
Kages should be people who want to lead a community, not just be the strongest person. If they have to organize the missions and operations of an entire region, they need more than power.
8 Too Much Power
In most governmental bureaucracies, there are leaders, assistants, committees, etc. In the ninja village Kage system, it's basically just the Kages making all the decisions. That's a lot of power to put in the hands of one person. There should definitely be more advisers and moving parts in their leader systems, but there's not.
Maybe if there had been more voices in power, the "bloody mist" situation could have been avoided, or maybe Konoha wouldn't have fallen to panic and despair after Hiruzen's passing. A bit of a hierarchy system of power could make everything run a lot smoother.
7 No Consistent Ideology
Most of the time, any governing body tends to have some sort ideology, slogan, or mission that they're following. Kage, on the other hand, have no other goal than to protect their village. And even then, sometimes they are pretty wobbly on that. Basically, whenever a ninja becomes Kage they just do whatever they want with no real plan in order. Some Kage don't really do anything productive with their rule, other than try to make sure their people don't die.
Considering Kage like Yagura Karatachi shouldn't be allowed to turn their villages into bloodbaths like he did. There should be some sort of general consensus about how the role works, but that doesn't exist.
6 Woman Problem
Despite the fact there have been very powerful women throughout ninja history, few have been Kages. By Boruto, there have only been three. And before Naruto, there hadn't been any.
For a fairly progressive world, it's weird that it took so long for a lady ninja to become the Kage of a village. While the system itself isn't to blame for that, it doesn't make sense. For example, Hashirama's wife, Mito Uzumaki, would've made for a great Kage because she was more focused on the community while his brother was focused on battles. But nope, war Hokage it was.
5 Low Village Cooperation
Even though there are several villages with the same Kage system set in place, Until Naruto there was little to no cooperation between the different regions. If anything, there was only conflict or avoidance.
If they all work with the same system, even with a Kage council, shouldn't the villages have helped each other out more, to make a stronger unit overall? Even if some disagreed at different points, the point of Kages were to help make villages stronger. And what makes villages stronger than cooperation and collaboration? It's just a wasted opportunity that it doesn't make sense to ignore.
4 Hokage Secrets
Even though secrets have rarely done the shinobi very well, they still keep lots of them. In particular, the Kage seems to be the biggest secret-keeper. After losing the Fourth Hokage, Hiruzen seemed to think it was a great idea to keep Naruto's heritage from him. He helped encourage a system that avoided the child or treated him poorly. The guy knew about the Uzumaki clan duty to the Nine-Tailed Fox and the fate of his father and still stayed quiet.
They should protect their people, but arbitrarily keeping secrets from children that shouldn't be secrets? Or deliberately omitting the danger of an ex-student with a snake fetish from a huge event? Needless secrets because drama hasn't helped the Kages very much.
3 Nepotism
When the Kage role was first created, Hashirama meant for it to make peace between Konoha and Madara Uchiha. Instead, he let the people choose and they chose him. Instead of dealing with the role democratically after that, the previous Kage just nominated their successor and/or left it to the strongest ninja.
This, unfortunately, led to a lot of nepotism, considering ninja culture often focuses on the hereditary nature of power and the old Kage often picked family or friends. The second Hokage literally picked his buddy that just happened to be with him while he was bleeding out. Not exactly the best system for picking the best leader.
2 Confusing Job Duties
Despite the fact the Kage is supposed to run the entire village, their job duties can be kind of confusing. When the Third Hokage lived, he involved himself deeply with the orphans of the town and did a lot more student outreach. With Tsunade, she seemed to just focus on ninja organization. Kakashi though clearly complained more about paperwork and the menial tasks.
Sure, Naruto as a show isn't about the daily happenings of a Hokage. However, what are the specific job rules? Does each Hokage get to choose what different things they're focusing on? Are they actually all doing all those activities behind the scenes? How does Tsunade still have the time to be a drunk gambler, then? It can get really confusing.
1 Emphasis on Power
When it comes to choosing Kage, the largest emphasis has always been on choosing one of if not the most shinobi in a village. While that's one way to do it, in theory, that doesn't make sense, does it? To run the village itself, raw strength isn't really necessary. They are just supposed to inspire and lead the village. It makes sense for them to be a ninja of the ninja village, but why wouldn't a shinobi great with community planning and management skills be a better Kage than one that's just powerful?
A powerful shinobi can always help protect the village, with or without leading it. But placing a powerful ninja as a political leader sort of feels like a waste of a great battle asset.
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