ANBU Rank ninja

The ANBU s actually short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (Special Assassination and Tactical Squad) and is an organization of assassination squads that serves directly under the village's leader. The ANBU wear porcelain animal masks in order to distinguish themselves from normal shinobi and to conceal their identities, and also have standard uniforms consisting of black and gray armor, arm guards, a signature spiral tattoo on their left shoulder (female ANBU have it on their right shoulder), and a Ninjatō(1) strapped on their back (though certain ANBU wear black cowls over their uniforms). They know the layout of the human body in detail, and have developed several techniques to strengthen their job, such as paralyzing the target. Within the ANBU of Kirigakure, there exists a sub-group called Hunter-nin given the specific duty of hunting down missing-nin, and destroying their bodies, so their village's secrets won't be revealed to foreign ninja.

(1) Ninjatō- the most common name for the reputed sword a ninja would have carried. According to the book Ninjutsu History and Tradition by Masaaki Hatsumi, Soke (Headmaster) of the Bujinkan Dojo system, these swords came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Often, however, they were much shorter than the traditional daito katana used by the samurai of feudal Japan.

The typical ninjatō carried by a ninja would most likely have been a wakizashi or shortsword fitted with a katana-length handle and placed in a katana-length saya (scabbard). This may have been used to deceive one's opponents into miscalculating how quickly it could be drawn, allowing one to use a battoujutsu(2) strike faster than expected. It also disguises the weapon (that would easily identify them as a ninja) as a common sword.

(2) battoujutsu-term meaning techniques for drawing a sword. It is often used interchangeably with the terms iaijutsu, battōdō, or iaidō, although each term does have nuances in the Japanese language and different schools of Japanese martial arts may use them to differentiate between techniques (e.g. standing or sitting techniques). The emphasis of training in battōjutsu is on cutting with the sword. All terms are somewhat more specific than kenjutsu or kendō which more broadly means simply sword techniques, and is often used to refer to techniques where the sword is already out of the saya.