The Ryo is the coin used as a currency in the canon world of Naruto. It is based upon an old Japanese coin from before the Meiji period and was later replaced by the yen. The official exchange rate is a ryo for every ten yen. If you are an American, ten ryo is about one dollar.
What can you buy with ryo in the Naruto world? Asuma Sarutobi had a price on his head that was 35,000,000 ryo, so it is safe to assume that ryo is not hyper inflated. Mission compensation in Konoha is as follows: 5,000 ryo for a D-Rank mission to 1,000,000 ryo for an S-Rank mission. If a D-Rank mission is a glorified errand, and considering the exchange rate, that mission is worth about $620. Shinobi seemed to be paid very well, but when you consider the fact that D-Rank missions are really just training, it is not an appropriate estimation of the worth of ryo. However, the compensation is probably to account for supplies – shinobi use a lot of weapons and traveling goods, and that compensation probably is a supplement, rather than a real income. C-Rank missions, which can be fairly serious, such as serving the function of a bodyguard, have a compensation range of 30,000 to 100,000 ryo. That means the minimum a shinobi could make is about $3,730 for a standard shinobi job.
That seems pretty reasonable if you are putting your life on the line and are educated in a specialized field. Some of that would probably go to supplies and preparation for the mission as well. But we should see what the average shinobi would make to better understand how much a shinobi is worth, as a single mission is not an overall picture. For this I will use a recent and young chunin so as to have an easily divisible number to better understand their annual income and to have a reasonably independent individual without a specialized job as an example. I choose Shikamaru!
Shikamaru has a total of 8 D-rank missions, which as we have already covered are really more like training, but enough to have probably covered supplies and provide a nice financial account in preparation for harder missions. He also has 3 C-Rank missions, 9 B-rank missions, and 19 A-rank missions. To total it all up, I’ll be using the minimum for each category.
8 D-Ranks x 5,000 ryo = 40,000 ryo
3 C-Ranks x 30,000 ryo = 90,000 ryo
9 B-Ranks x 80,000 ryo = 720,000 ryo
19 A-ranks x 150,000 ryo = 2,850,000 ryo
Total: 3,700,000 ryo or $460,257
Now we are going to divide this by the years Shikamaru has been a shinobi, which is three. He is likely to have earned more later in his career, but I believe the numbers will be close enough for our purposes. This comes out to:
1,233,330 ryo a year or $153,400.
His total mission count is 39, and divided by three, that is thirteen missions a year or one a month. Judging by that number not all are simple quick missions to save some housewife’s cat. I think part of the reason for low mission numbers is preparation, cost to supply the mission, and the travel required. Not every mission is going to take place in Konoha, and some are very far away. But even so, after all the costs for the mission are cleared, shinobi are still going to be making a lot of money.
That is important when you think about it critically. I get the sense that Fire country also gives money to village, and it is likely that the shinobi are overpaid in order to ensure loyalty to both the Daimyo and Konoha. They probably have to pay taxes though in addition to personal supplies, and Shikmaru is likely going to be paying clan tithes as well, so his income could look to be about $90,000 when all is said and done. Not a small number at all, but not excessive for the level of shinobi he is, because he needs to not only be compensated for a job, but to ensure his loyalty as well. Shikamaru and other shinobi probably live very comfortably, and are probably upper middle-class, so as to give them appropriate purchasing power for the risks that have undertaken.
Their purchasing power is going to be beyond what a civilian can command. Because Kishimoto gave us an exchange rate, we do not need to take into consideration hyper inflation, or that the world of the canon has less technology. What we can assume however, is that the purchasing power of a shinobi is immense when paired with the inflation rate.
But you do need to consider the fact that Japan is not the United States, so Kishimoto’s sense of worth for the yen reflects the island’s cost of living. A meal at an average restaurant can cost about 1,000 yen (or $12). That means that Shikamaru has the purchasing power of about 1,065 restaurant meals a month (out of the $153,400 of his pay before taxes). The average income in Japan is $34,000 before taxes, and I will extend that to the average civilian in the Naruto world. That means they have the purchasing power of about 236 restaurant meals a month. Shikamaru’s salary could feed eleven people three restaurant meals per day. The average civilian could feed only feed 2 people three restaurant meals per day.
With all this considered, you need to remember that Fire and Konoha are powerhouses in the Naruto world, and the ryo and cost of living will not be the same throughout. even in Fire some areas may be more economically disadvantaged as well. It is entirely like that what Konoha shinobi are paid is the average or above average of the five most powerful shinobi countries. It is unlikely any of the five would defect to another country because of money, but if they were it would be to another of the five countries, and the person in question is unlikely to be an average shinobi since the village taking the defector is unlikely to raise the average for a shinobi with typical abilities.
I hope this article serves you well!
theredcourage 