The Canon Politics
Daimyos
The ruler of a country who provides funding for the ninja villages. They can decide who becomes the next Kage and if the ninja take a certain military/war actions. (Manga chapters 488)
But this person doesn't really go in depth with the internal ninja affairs. That stuff falls to the Kages.
An interesting tidbit is the Twelve Guardians that contains a combination of ninjas, monks etc. Asuma Sarutobi was a part of them for a while.
Kages
The ruler of a ninja village usually chosen by being the strongest. An existing Kage may retire and pass his title to someone he/she considers the strongest.
In case the Kage dies before choosing a sucessor, a Kage is chosen by the Daimyo and his council. (If you're sneaky enough you can make the Daimyo appoint you as the Kage!)
Responsibilities include
- protecting the village by any means necessary
- keeping all your ninja functioning by obtaining and distributing missions
- wearing a funky hat that acts as identification when all the Kages meet (so there must be something on the hat itself- a seal perhaps?)
They seem to have political power but I never really understood how they managed to stay in power. Or why they seem to have so much influence.
Anyway they seem to be part of the Daimyo's council and have a say in the choosing of a Hokage. (Still need to read up some more on them along with Danzo- I'm not completely sure about their duties.)
The Iffy politics (things from fanfics/speculation discussions)
1- Civilian Council
It's basically found in the evil-Konoha/abused-Naruto stories. A bunch of civilian people make up the council and they try to butt into the matter of ninjas and things.
Realistically- I think if this did exist in a ninja village, they would never be able to interfere with ninja matter- not if they value their life. The only thing they'd probably talk about that involved ninja was the civilian-security and stuff like that. Otherwise they'd stick to trade and other boring non-ninja things.
2- The Clan Council
A collection of all the clan heads who decide a lot of ninja related issues! It makes sense in a way because Konoha is filled with a lot of influential clans. But I don't really like this as a political system.
Bits I like
I like the idea of the Hokage having some sort of council to help with ninja affairs. I just don't think it should include people just because they are head of a clan. They should have some sort of purpose in the council, you know? Plus I think the Clan heads are more involved in the running of their clan.
Anyone have any suggestions of things I can read up for more info? I'd really like to read some more things before finalizing my own version of the Konoha politics.
In other news, Chapter 9 is slow but getting there. I haven't gotten past the 5000 word mark yet, so obviously I have a lot of writing left to do. But the research keeps bogging me down. Also random plot bunnies keep distracting me! But I'm hopeful to get most of the writing done by the end of next week. *crosses fingers*
Polar
