[manga] ANBU? Good for something? Good for nothing?

[Suna no tate]

Originally Posted by Sabaku Kyu

It's a huge concern. That's why Yamato and Sai operate under false names when they are on non-ANBU missions. That's why Oro and Kabuto were so interested in getting the identities of ANBU operatives from Danzou. ANBU don't wear forehead protectors under masks or on any other part of their bodies so they can't as easily identified. But all the secrecy is just as much to keep their identities secret from the general public of Konoha as it is from enemies. Compare it to the FBI and CIA where agents sometimes have false names and occupations. Their true identities are only supposed to be known within the organization.

The tatoos though, that's just being cool, I think. Though it might be a special seal. Who knows?

Why is it a huge concern? So what if an enemy knew every ANBU member face and name? This isn't deathnote. He can't just kill them all off like that.

Dispute this statement: it doesn't matter if anbu members wear masks or if their identities are known by konoha's citizenry; they'd still be effective at what they do and would still in general be untouchable by enemies.

[Sabaku Kyu]

Originally Posted by Suna no tate

Why is it a huge concern? So what if an enemy knew every ANBU member face and name? This isn't deathnote. He can't just kill them all off like that.

Dispute this statement: it doesn't matter if anbu members wear masks or if their identities are known by konoha's citizenry; they'd still be effective at what they do and would still in general be untouchable by enemies.

Like I said earlier, you have to remember that ANBU is somewhat based on real-world covert op units. Just like secrecy is important in those organizations, secrecy is important in the made-up orgnanization of ANBU, mostly because of information. Espionage and information gathering is very important to all ninja villages. Ibiki states clearly during the chuunin exams that the right info can be the deciding factor in a conflict.
Now, if it is important to gather information about an enemy, it is equally important to protect it from enemies. ANBU agents probably have access to a lot of info many ninja don't: forbidden scrolls, hidden entrances into the village, clan secrets, mission stategies, etc. If their identities were known by everyone and it was somehow released to enemies, ANBU agents would become targets for capture and would be interrogated through genjutsu (like Rin was by the two Rock-nin) or through torture (like Ibiki specializes in). They could possibly be used for sabotage also, if they are put under a hypnosis jutsu like the one Sasori put on the Sand jounins and Kabuto. It doesn't matter if they are elite units or not, they are not 'untouchable'. Other villages have elite units too I'm sure. There are also bounty hunters and rogue nins who will capture anyone for the highest bidder.

[Suna no tate]

Still konoha isn't one to take a kidnapping lightly... I'm sure if an ANBU member were kidnapped, extensive efforts would be made to retrieve him simply for the reasons you stated above. Wearing a mask doesn't protect the ANBU from kidnappings and the subsequent interrogations. If anything wearing a mask all the time, makes the ANBU stand out even more. Its true anbu may possess sensitive information and may be targets for espionage, but I don't see how hiding their identities from the public helps. The way I see, whether or not Kabuto or orochimaru knew their ANBU target well and by name or didn't know him at all, it wouldn't be difficult for them to do the genjutsu hypnosis or to just kidnap some random ANBU guy on patrol. I think that if anbu were kidnapped, konoha would not take it lightly and would come after the kidnappers. Anyway, my point is I don't see the masks or the hidden identities offering any protection from the things you stated above.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Suna no tate

Still konoha isn't one to take a kidnapping lightly... I'm sure if an ANBU member were kidnapped, extensive efforts would be made to retrieve him simply for the reasons you stated above. Wearing a mask doesn't protect the ANBU from kidnappings and the subsequent interrogations. If anything wearing a mask all the time, makes the ANBU stand out even more. Its true anbu may possess sensitive information and may be targets for espionage, but I don't see how hiding their identities from the public helps. The way I see, whether or not Kabuto or orochimaru knew their ANBU target well and by name or didn't know him at all, it wouldn't be difficult for them to do the genjutsu hypnosis or to just kidnap some random ANBU guy on patrol. I think that if anbu were kidnapped, konoha would not take it lightly and would come after the kidnappers. Anyway, my point is I don't see the masks or the hidden identities offering any protection from the things you stated above.

ONe thing you should keep in mind is the difficulty of capturing a ninja ALIVE... an ANBU out on patrol is gonna be on high alert and is also probably gonna be with a team of other ANBU... An enemy ninja attempting to capture one of them will have to fight, win and also make sure they don't kill them... When your using powerful attacks to defeat an enemy it sometimes becomes hard to make sure that the attack won't wind up killing them... underestimate the ANBU and you may not do enough damage to win, overestiamte them and you may just plain kill them... This becomes even more difficult if the ANBU also happened to be trained to kill themselves to avoid capture...

So, what would make capturing an ANBU member much easier? attacking them when they are alone and their guard is down, i.e. When they are not wearing their mask and just going about their normal day... not to mention you can also target the ANBU's family members and such in an effort to get to the ANBU themselves... with their guards lowered and moving about alone, capturing them becomes a much easier task...

Grant it, most of what was said before, is implying that the enemy ninja should inflitrate the village in order to capture the ANBU, which in it's self would also be a very difficult task... but their may be oppurtunities to capture them outside the village... for instance, one ANBU member might be a jounin who teaches Genin... the enemy could try to ambush the jounin while they are out on a C-D rank mission, when the jounins only support is a bunch of inexperienced genin... Once again, this is easier that capturing a patrolling ANBU, but also a method that can be down by knwoing the members identities... there are probably a few other similar oppurtunities

And do remember that all those who would want to capture and ANBU are NOT all as powerful as Orochimaru and Kabuto... some of the possible attackers may be not that much more stronger than the ANBU member they are targeting... not to mentoin that by not knowing who is under the mask that have no idea if the member they are attacking is a chunin or a jounin

[Child_of_Sierra]

a) every ninja has a different technique and fighting style (ie weakness and strength). So long as an ANBU's identity is unknown there is no way for enemy nin to be absolutely sure if they can win against a particular ANBU. If they knew ANBU by face and name even a chunin type enemy who have a particularly effective technique to a known ANBU can win.

b) it might be possible that not all ANBU know each other's true identity so even if they were captured they cannot betray all their peers.

c) As stated already the mask may also mean that an ANBU member is on duty and is in a high state of alert. Once worn off they can enjoy normal less dangerous lives as common konoha ninja without fearing that class S nins would come after them. (even if the enemy does it would only be cause they were konoha ninja in the first place and not because they were high priority targets as ANBU)