The ninja system in the world of Naruto is quite broad and consists of several ranks that every shinobi gets assigned to them. With time, a shinobi makes progress and is promoted to higher ranks, and eventually, the most skilled ones attain the rank of Jonin.

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A Jonin is known to be incredibly powerful, and they are usually the strongest that a village has, after their Kage. While the world of Naruto has seen the introduction of quite a lot of powerful Jonin over the years, there have also been some who have disappointed the fans as well. Here are the 8 most unimpressive Jonin in the Naruto series to have ever appeared.

Updated on March 20, 2023, by Rei Penber: Jonin are incredibly powerful ninjas in the world of Naruto. These ninjas are highly accomplished and are just under the level of the Kage of the world. As such, they are next in line to attain this position and are the highest level of authority, following a Kage. Over the years, many powerful Jonin have shown up in the Naruto series, however, some didn't live up to the expectations of the fans, despite having a powerful ability or a big name. This list already goes over quite a lot of them, however, the majority of the Jonin in Naruto are disappointing. Only a few shine at the very top and the others are subpar, by all means.

12 Ao

Ao Naruto

Ao was one of the most influential people in Kirigakure, and he served as one of the advisors to Mei Terumi, the Fifth Mizukage of the village. He was known to be quite skilled in combat, however, very little was actually seen of him. Even though he possessed the Byakugan, his skill with it was rather limited.

Even in combat, Ao wasn't all that impressive despite carrying a reputation. In the 4th Great Ninja War, he ended up losing his life. When the Ten-Tails attacked the headquarters of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Ao returned in Boruto, however, relied on ninja technology quite a lot and even then, lost to a kid in Boruto Uzumaki.

11 Kankuro

Kankuro Naruto

Kankuro is quite a powerful ninja and one of the strongest in the Hidden Sand Village. He's a master puppeteer and, throughout the series, this skill of his only continues to grow.

After the 2-year timeskip of Naruto, Kankuro is known to have become a powerful Jonin. Despite that, he falls too easily to Sasori when they clash. In fact, he doesn't even manage to get the real Sasori out of Hiruko, which is certainly something very disappointing, given the level of skill that his character possesses.

10 Moegi Kazamatsuri

Moegi attacking in Naruto

Moegi is one of the former members of Team Ebisu and a teammate of Konohamaru. She is known to be quite skilled at the usage of Water and Earth Release. Somehow, she also has access to the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, which makes her one of the most rare ninjas in the world of Shinobi.

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However, she has never played any significant role in the series up until this point. Her abilities have never been seen in action which just reduces her role as a Jonin in the story overall.

9 Yamato

Yamato Scaring Naruto

Yamato was introduced in Naruto's second part and, there, he was assigned as the Captain of Team 7 in the stead of Kakashi. Yamato is known to have served the ANBU of Konoha, meaning he is a very skilled shinobi. In fact, he also possesses the cells of the First Hokage, Hashirama. As such, he is able to use the power of Wood Release.

That said, his Wood Release is extremely weak and he couldn't even beat Sasuke, a shinobi much younger than him, at the beginning of the second part of Naruto. As the story went on, Yamato kept losing significance and, by the end of it, he wasn't even present for the majority of it.

8 Baki

baki

Baki was a Jonin from Sunagakure and one of the most menacing characters back during the Chunin Exams arc. Being someone who held the same rank as Kakashi Hatake, fans had great expectations from him. However, Baki ended up disappointing, more than anything.

His skill with Wind Release was the only impressive thing about him as he proved to be even weaker than the members of his squad. He was soon cast aside by Kishimoto, and he barely played any influential role in the story moving forward.

7 Kurenai

Kurenai from Naruto

Kurenai was one of the youngest Jonin to be introduced in the Naruto series, and she made quite an impressive mark upon making herself known shortly before the Chunin Exams arc of the series. It was said that she had great control over Genjutsu abilities and that she could hold her own against most without much trouble.

However, Kurenai proved to be weaker than the fans expected, as was evident when she went up against the members of the Akatsuki. At the same time, she then gave up life as a ninja and Kishimoto completely abandoned the idea of her role as a protector of the village.

6 Shizune

Shizune - Misconceptions About Sakura Haruno

Shizune introduced herself as an assistant of Tsunade Senju and was revealed to be quite a proficient user of medical ninjutsu. Her mastery of various poisons was also known to be quite impressive, as seen in the early parts of Naruto.

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While Shizune certainly had a lot of potential, Kishimoto rarely let her shine in combat in any way. Even as a medical ninja she was mostly outshined by the likes of Sakura Haruno and Tsunade Senju, making her time in the series quite disappointing overall.

5 Asuma Sarutobi

Asuma Sarutobi from Naruto

Asuma Sarutobi was the leader of Team 10 and played a more important role than the likes of others mentioned on this list so far. Being the son of Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, Asuma had great expectations thrust on his shoulders.

However, he failed to live up to them. As a shinobi, Asuma was pretty average. His fight against the weakest of the Akatsuki proved that the fans. While his control over Wind Release was certainly impressive, he was definitely one of the most disappointing Jonin seen in the series.

4 Samui

samui

​​​​​Kumogakure's Samui was introduced in the series after the Pain arc. While she was certainly trusted by her village, Samui barely ever played an important role in any arc. Her skill as a Jonin was unexplored and thus, she was quite average as a ninja.

During the Fourth Great Ninja War, she fell to Kinkaku and Ginkaku and needed to be saved by Darui. Samui certainly has good qualities as a ninja, however, as a Jonin, she is rather underwhelming.

3 Mikoto Uchiha

Mikoto Uchiha Naruto

Sasuke Uchiha's mom, Mikoto was also a Jonin of the village, just like her husband. Being an Uchiha, Mikoto was known to be quite skilled and her rank as a Jonin proves that she had great qualities as a kunoichi.

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Sadly fans never got to see any of her fighting abilities as she was already dead when the series began. Whatever little fans got to see of her in the flashbacks was certainly not enough to make her an impressive fighter in any way whatsoever.

2 Fugaku Uchiha

Fugaku Uchiha Naruto

Fugaku was the leader of the Uchiha Clan and known to be one of Konohagakure's most respectable ninjas. He was also the leader of the Konoha Police Force and thus commanded great respect. Just like Mikoto, however, Fugaku was already dead when the series began.

Fans never got to see him in combat, and it is thus quite hard to ascertain how skilled he truly was. It is believed that Itachi and even Sasuke had surpassed him quite early, which just proves that Fugaku might not be all that impressive as a ninja.

1 Konohamaru Sarutobi

Konohamaru-Sarutobi-boruto-1

Konohamaru became a Jonin after the Fourth Great Ninja War and eventually came to lead the new Team 7 which consists of Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, and Mitsuki. Although he had loads of potential as a ninja, he has never gotten a fair chance to show off his trade.

Konohamaru has great expectations to live up to, being the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, at the moment, he is certainly failing. In Boruto, he's been mostly unimpressive and isn't even considered to be a major character, judging by how little he appears in it.

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