"The way of the Seijin doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all."
The Order of the Seijin (聖人の体制, Seijin no Taisei; literally, "Sage Order"), also known as simply the Seijin Order, is an organization of ninja that appeared out of the rubble of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. It is said to be the remnants of the Shinobi Alliance formed by the Five Great Nations, in that it allows ninja from all countries to join. They are led by the Seijin Council, a group of five men, one from each of the Great Nations. Lastly, they are all trained to use natural energy and can thus use Sage Mode.
The Order of the Seijin was originally founded by the Gokage after the fall of Madara Uchiha and the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War; most of whom, died in the war or retired soon after. Unlike the village system, which wars as a necessity for economical reasons and have unstable relationships, the Order is unified, though certain ranks have different responsibilities from another. It made the most radical change of any organization in the Ninja World's history, in that it is completely on it's own. It is not under the authority of the Daimyos, any of the Hidden Villages, or the former Shinobi Alliance. The symbol of the Order of the Seijin is the kanji for "sage".
The Order of the Seijin, in stark contrast to the Five Great Nations, which leaves the operation of the individual Hidden Villages up to the village's Kage, operates totally as one unit. Their primary job is to be the protectors of the smaller nations whom get caught in the Great Nations' wars (such as Amegakure) and all five of the Great Nations. They are also to keep the peace between all of the nations to the best of their abilities, which usually means resolving threats before they get out of hand. Koga Tensei, a member of the Order, commented that if the Order had existed during the early days of Akatsuki crisis, they would've been defeated long before they could've created such a mess. Occasionally, graduates from the Order will return to their normal lives, though most prefer to stay within the Order and it's many jobs.
They often are called upon to solve disputes between the Hidden Villages. The villages are usually not allowed, without permission, to carry out activities outside of their normal jurisdiction or their country. The Kage of one village cannot punish the citizens of another village. So disputes between the villages come up regularly. It is the job of the Order members to solve the disputes peacefully if possible and with force if necessary.
Size and Recruitment
The Order is much smaller than it's Village system counterpart. At any given time, it has about a maximum of 2,000 members. This is because shinobi cannot simply "join" the Order per say, rather they are found at a young age and trained in the Order, with the only exceptions being the group of "Chosen masters" which were chosen by the five Gokage to lead the order upon it's founding. Young trainees do not go to the Ninja Academy of their village, but rather are trained by the masters of the Order themselves.
Main article: Seijin Council
Upon the founding of the Order, the Gokage created a central political entity called the Seijin Council. The council was made up of of Masters that acted as a primary governing body for the organization, as well as an advisory council to the five Kage and the five Daimyo of the Great Nations. At anytime, there could be up to five members of the Seijin Council consisting of two lifetime members from the villages of Konohagakure and Sunagakure (these villages are the ones who initially proposed the idea of the Order), one member from Kumogakure who sits on the council as long as they want and then steps down when they felt the need (in honor of the Raikage who led the Shinobi Alliance), and two that change regularly from Iwagakure and Kirigakure.
A Grandmaster (大師範, Daishihan) is the leader of the entire Order of Seijin. It is generally excepted that one will lead the Order at a time. Those that hold the title of Grandmaster are reknowned as the strongest and wisest among all of the ninja in the Order and it's most powerful Sage Mode-user, the equivalent to a Kage. When a Grandmaster is addressed, they are likely to be called Master instead of Grandmaster.
A Master (師匠, Shishō) is the Order's equivalent to the Jōnin rank. It is the second highest rank in the Order and is the rank generally required to achieve a seat in the Council, if one is vacant. Unlike in the Villages, where particular skill was needed to achieve the high rank of Jōnin as well as being promoted by a Jōnin council, one gains the rank of Master by showing their devotion to peace and justice throughout the nations as well as complete harmony with natural energy.
During times of war, Masters are sometimes given a secondary rank to go with thier positions in the war. Lesser known masters, who excelled in the art of battle, are given the rank of Master-General (総師匠, Sōshishō). These Generals often free-lance during wars, and often take command of shinobi platoons from their villages during a time of war or military crisis.
The other subdivision of Masters are the Master Shadows (影師匠, Hikage shishō). These Masters are given the task to seek out and destroy any sign of threats to the peace of the Ninja World, before said threats actually became known threats. This particular subdivision of Seijin Masters would be required to have immense knowledge of the history of the Ninja World as well as the Tailed Beasts (who are often hunted even after Akatsuki's defeat), often being trained in the Land of Water in order to learn how their enemy would fight. The Shadows are tasked with infiltrating groups and cults that contained or were suspected to be threatening to the peace, and to expose them to justice.
The rank is formally acquired through three methods;
- If a shinobi within the Order has found a student and managed to make that student a Graduate (see "Graduate" below).
- If a shinobi among the ranks of the Order becomes tremendously powerful, wise, or both, the Council will grant special permissions that promote the said Shinobi to Master.
- If a shinobi has immense knowledge of the Ninja Worlds past, knows a lot about the Tailed Beasts and complete a Council assigned training regiment in the Land of Water, they are immediately given the rank Master and the sub-rank, Master Shadows.
A Graduate (院生, Insei; literally "Graduate student") is the Order's equivalent to the Chūnin rank. They are shinobi in the Order, who held the rank of Apprentice (see below) who've completed their training under that of a Master. This training, from the time that a shinobi becomes an apprentice, usually takes about twelve years. Graduates are the backbone of the Order, as they are the majority. Shinobi who hold this rank in the Order are sent on the majority of standard Seijin missions.
To become a graduate, an Apprentice-level Shinigami must have completed the following;
- Completed their Master's training regiment, which could take up to 12 years.
- There was one exception in Koga Tensei who became a graduate before the above rule took precedence.
- Achieved Sage Mode, even if it is not mastered yet.
An Apprentice (弟子, Deshi) are still learners at this point, but have been officially accepted by a Master as that Master's learner. The Initiate who proved to possess special or unique powers, beyond those of his peers, are usually selected by a Seijin Master to become their sole pupil. The Apprentice would then begin advanced training under said Master, until such time that the former would deem the Apprentice worthy of becoming a Graduate, or would be placed in a position in that student's home village; the latter of the two indicates that the Master would decide that the Appentice would not have the makings of a Graduate, and have failed to reach said expectations.
An Initiate (新入り, Shiniri) is a human that is selected at a very young age, usually an infant, to join the Seijin Order. In order to affirm Initaite status, an elected shinobi is required to be chosen by a Master or go before a board of Seijin who would accept/decline the candidate. If a youngling was not chosen to be a Apprentice by the completion of their lessons in the Initiate academy, the youngling was placed into another, lesser role in that student's home village as they would go about the normal duties of most ninja.
Behind the Scenes
The Seijin Order is heavily based on the Jedi Order of Star Wars fame, however, everything on this page and the info about the Order was hand written, not copied, and only ideas from the Jedi were used; as the Order still remains heavily in the Naruto universe; sticking to concepts of ninja, not a new race altogether.