What Is Rin no Sho, the First Naruto Databook?

Databooks are a Jump institution: companion volumes that freeze a series at a moment in time with reference data. Rin no Sho covers the academy, Wave and exam material, profiling the cast with ages, ranks, mission records and the famous hexagonal stat charts rating ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, intelligence, strength, speed, stamina and hand seals out of five. Those charts became the fandom's shared language for arguing matchups, and Rin no Sho is where the vocabulary starts.

The book also carries material that exists nowhere else: Kishimoto's explanations of the village system, chakra and the ranking structure, early design notes, and a snapshot of the series before Orochimaru's invasion rewrote its tone. Because it was compiled mid-exam-arc, it documents intentions as much as outcomes, which makes it a primary source for the series' early worldbuilding.

Viz published an English edition as Naruto: The Official Fanbook's companion line, titled the First Official Data Book in English release, though the English databook program did not mirror the Japanese line book for book, which is why the Japanese originals remain the reference set. The naming follows the ninja scroll convention: Rin is one of the nine kuji-in syllables, and each databook takes its name from the sequence.

On the shelf, Rin no Sho is book one of a four-databook set completed by Hyo, Tou and Jin no Sho, and collectors buy it as a set anchor: the smallest, earliest and most era-specific of the four. Copies with their obi and any bundled extras are the complete form, as with all Japanese reference books on this shelf.