Is being a Demon Slayer more dangerous than being a Shinobi?

Right now, Demon Slayer is one of the biggest titles in shonen manga and anime. Especially with its outstanding feature film, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. The story centers around professional Demon Slayers and their ongoing quest to hunt down demons across Japan. This is no doubt a dangerous job.

The ninjas of Naruto also pursue a hazardous occupation. As a matter of fact, before the Hidden Leaf Village was founded, children were sent to fight for their clans, with many having died for the cause.

Needless to say, both Ninjas and Demon Slayers have incredibly tough roles to fulfill. Demon Slayers and Naruto Shinobi both have life-risking jobs. As for which is more dangerous, many factors must come into play.

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Man vs man: The balanced world of Naruto Shinobi

With the exception of the Nine-Tailed Beats and celestial Otsutsuki clan as exceptions, the world of Naruto has relatively few supernatural beings. The rarity of these characters allows them to take the role of a final boss in battle rather than a conventional foe. Generally, conflict in Naruto is man vs man, where each side is entirely human.

Although a powerful Genkai or unique jutsu style can give a ninja the upper hand, all Shinobi in Naruto are human beings. Humans all have the same heartfelt emotions, general physical limitations, and basic form. Thus, winning primarily comes down to stealth, trickery, deceit, and cunning. Always facing their fellow men, not all missions call for violence. Ninjas do, however, fight and die in Naruto.

Many ninjas opt-out of tackling dangerous A and S-ranked missions until they are ready. Instead, they usually do the tamer D and C-ranked missions. A ninja can train in new jutsu and tool usage until they feel prepared for higher-ranked missions, and their enemies can do the same. Everyone essentially has the same rule book. That is, in comparison to Demon Slayer, which is human vs demon.

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Man vs demon: The imbalanced world of Demon Slayer

In some ways, the Demon Slayers can be compared to Bleach’s Soul Reapers: Swordsmen, who patrol the land slaying monsters. Although Demon Slayers can fight with their Nichirin blades and Breathing techniques, the series makes it clear that Demon Slayers are at a disadvantage. They wage seemingly losing battles against adversaries who don’t play by any rules.

Demons are, without a doubt, different from humans, regardless of their rank. Apart from their few weaknesses of sunlight and wisteria flowers, demons clearly have an advantage. They possess superhuman strength, speed, agility, magical abilities, and even rapid regeneration.

Demon Slayers can match enemies' strength, but their defense is weaker without regeneration. Demons are always top dogs. Even the mighty Hashira consistently lose their lives in battles against Twelve Moons and Muzan Kibutsuji himself.

Demon Slayers often don’t last too long, since their sole duty is to hunt and kill demons. They don’t have the luxury of picking low-risk, C-ranked missions like Naruto Shinobi.

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Final thoughts

Naruto’s world being man vs man as opposed to the man vs monster world of Demon Slayer is significant. Unlike Naruto, the odds are clearly in favor of the Demon Slayer demons instead of the swordsmen themselves.

At the end of the day, Demon Slayers have it much rougher than Naruto Shinobi. Fighting is the only thing Demon Slayers ever do, as their foe is unquestionably superior. These brave swordsmen are embarking on what could be their last mission every time the sun sets. Even the mighty Kyojuro Rengoku paid with his life during Demon Slayer: Mugen Train.

Note: The article is subjective and reflects the views of the writer.