Do other countries have ninja?

[Dan the Man]

I came across this thought when I was talking with my friend. In the Naruto universe, Japan is divided by numerous prefectures (countries, as they call them) and a few of them have ninja. What I was wondering is if other nations, say like China, America, Russia, etc. would have ninja, or some equivalent to coincide with their culture? I figure Japan can't be the only country with knowlege of Chakra and Jutsu techniques. What do you guys think?

[chaz017]

Hrm...I don't think it's worth thinking about too much. Since it's an anime it will probably never step outside the realm of comfort, and that realm is Japan. It's easier to just keep it there and introduce small areas of Japan into the story when need be.

[Mr. Johnny 5]

I thought about that aswell....but then again...it would be extremely weird if that "world" has 9 extremely rare demons walking around in it. I think those country's (on the map) may be the entire world

It would be cool though if some groups or country's hire ninja's from the south, north, west or east...(gives a feeling of Lord of the Rings part 3)

[amOKchen]

That would explain why they can move like they do, a small world like that would have a very small center of gravity.

[NoSanninWa]

Since Naruto doesn't take place in Japan, this topic is rather pointless. Naruto takes place in an imaginary world whose geography and history is completely different from Japan. Since there is no Japan in this anime there just isn't any point on speculating about other countries like China, America and Russia that probably don't exist either.

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Edit: Heh. Shortly after closing this thread I got a PM from ShurikenJay who wanted to post in this thread only to find that it was closed while he was writing his reply. It is a shame that I didn't close it a tiny bit later since his post would have been sufficient reply that I wouldn't have had to post anything, just close the thread and allow him to have the last word. Without further ado, here is the reply he sent to me in lieu of posting:

Originally Posted by ShurikenJay

Naruto takes place in a fantasy world that disregards real life settings.

If you look at the map there is no place in Japan where the countries of Naruto resemble its Island chains.

Therefore it doesn't really take place in Japan (maybe an alternate Japan).

So we should not even expect there to be countries like America and Russia in the Narutoverse.

The Naruto world has fuedal Japanese elements (e.g. Ninja villages and countries controlled by Daimyos), yet there are TVs, Telephone polls and blockbuster movies produced within its world.

Unless shown otherwise it is safe to assume that the countries we see on the map represent the entire world.

I doubt you will hear anything about a "Planet Earth" or space travel in Naruto either.

This is what writers do when they want to give a fantasy story creative freedom.

They construct their own world which is free of the geo-political settings of real life.