What does "Shinobi" mean?

A little about how I think

Ever since I was a young lad I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to help people. I may have veered off this line of thinking a few times but ultimately it always came back to it. With all the politics, lies, and war. I felt like I had two choices.

Ignore the suffering of our world and enjoy my life for what it is or learn about it and sacrifice my life to changing it.

I chose the latter.

For a while I studied different cultures and tried to understand what made us different and why. I found that there wasn't much difference in the things we really desired. Love, Friendship, Family and Community. These were all things I found common in every culture but took to different levels of focus.

In my study I found Japan to have a strong and honorable culture. I admit I don't know a lot but the things I've found made me learn that these are the people I need to learn more about.

I started watching more anime

I know anime isn't even a sliver of Japanese culture and how our world works but it had a good grasp of it and In my binge for anime I found one story that stood out from all the rest... Naruto.

It told of a story where a boy was faced with great evils. He defeated these enemies with Compassion, Courage, and Honor.

It was the first story in my adulthood that made me cry. It still does even after the 10th watching of the entire series. This story molds my way of thinking to this very day.

What about the name?!

In the story of Naruto there are military nations, just like in our real world. They fought with each other for centuries, just like in our real world.

Suddenly all of them were faced with the same threat. They all chose to set aside their differences and fight together.

They name their allied force "Shinobi".

The name Shinobi is a representation of warring nations that come together to find peace rather than conflict.

Shinobi is more than a name or a security platform. It is a step toward peace and a way of life.