/This is because it's a hidden village. It says so right in the name! :-)/
I take that distinction with a grain of salt; one can not have a town with a large population, giant gates, a ninja Mt. Rushmore, and be the semi-independent center of military strength with much hope of secrecy. The fact that clients can find the Villages as well as rival Villages because of the chunin exam not hold much hope for security based on secrecy.
/If one further assumes that the people who fail the jounin-sensei's examination don't return to the academy (which seems reasonable, or otherwise the 2/3 failure rate would not come as such a surprise to the new genin) /
That line of reasoning is flawed in that potential is not gaged by an equal set of standards, but by the personal whims of rather cracked individuals. Ninjas have to be pragmatic above all else; jounins have the right to test and refuse their teams but not deny them careers all together because of what amounts to a personality conflict. Graduation from the academy does not come as we are personally use to it: once at a pass or fail level. It has been more than heavily hinted that graduation rolls around several times a year for the senior class. Naruto is said to have failed graduation at least three times and still is in Irukka class and goes not to become a genin. Kakashi says that students who failed his test are sent back to the academy.
The fact that 9 (Gai's team is from the year before) students are the only ones allowed to graduate to genin could be a permanent limit imposed as not to boggle the upper forces with mentoring and low level missions thus cutting down Konoha workforce and ability to access more dangerous and better paying jobs. Or it could be flexible with the number of slots worked around the number of available jounin (which is a far more precious supply).
The genins themselves are an aberration like Itachi himself was among the ANBU. They are the heirs to prominent clans (Daisuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shin, to a lesser extent Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru), geniuses (Sasuke, Shikamaru), possessed (Naruto), or at the top of their class (Sakura). They are NOT normal and that fact is much remarked upon when they reach the chunin exam-- either in the words of others or the fact that the majority of the takers were in their late teens and twenties. They are a generation of legends in the making.
Anyway this path of reasoning allows Konoha a larger and more flexible military force than caculations based on population density. Thsi gives a greater leeway in face of accidents, death, desertion, and retirement and thus Konoha might only have fully active and trained ninjas around 800-1000, but the addition of trainees and semi-retired defense (ie. Inoshi or Hiashi) pushes the numbers up a thousand or so.
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Date: 2005-10-21 05:17 am (UTC)I take that distinction with a grain of salt; one can not have a town with a large population, giant gates, a ninja Mt. Rushmore, and be the semi-independent center of military strength with much hope of secrecy. The fact that clients can find the Villages as well as rival Villages because of the chunin exam not hold much hope for security based on secrecy.
/If one further assumes that the people who fail the jounin-sensei's examination don't return to the academy (which seems reasonable, or otherwise the 2/3 failure rate would not come as such a surprise to the new genin) /
That line of reasoning is flawed in that potential is not gaged by an equal set of standards, but by the personal whims of rather cracked individuals. Ninjas have to be pragmatic above all else; jounins have the right to test and refuse their teams but not deny them careers all together because of what amounts to a personality conflict. Graduation from the academy does not come as we are personally use to it: once at a pass or fail level. It has been more than heavily hinted that graduation rolls around several times a year for the senior class. Naruto is said to have failed graduation at least three times and still is in Irukka class and goes not to become a genin. Kakashi says that students who failed his test are sent back to the academy.
The fact that 9 (Gai's team is from the year before) students are the only ones allowed to graduate to genin could be a permanent limit imposed as not to boggle the upper forces with mentoring and low level missions thus cutting down Konoha workforce and ability to access more dangerous and better paying jobs. Or it could be flexible with the number of slots worked around the number of available jounin (which is a far more precious supply).
The genins themselves are an aberration like Itachi himself was among the ANBU. They are the heirs to prominent clans (Daisuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shin, to a lesser extent Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru), geniuses (Sasuke, Shikamaru), possessed (Naruto), or at the top of their class (Sakura). They are NOT normal and that fact is much remarked upon when they reach the chunin exam-- either in the words of others or the fact that the majority of the takers were in their late teens and twenties. They are a generation of legends in the making.
Anyway this path of reasoning allows Konoha a larger and more flexible military force than caculations based on population density. Thsi gives a greater leeway in face of accidents, death, desertion, and retirement and thus Konoha might only have fully active and trained ninjas around 800-1000, but the addition of trainees and semi-retired defense (ie. Inoshi or Hiashi) pushes the numbers up a thousand or so.