sakura, ino, rock lee, kisame, hashirama, madara, etc.....none of them were ninja like
almost no one aside for a few wear masks or all black
ninjas don't wear armor and using huge techs like mokuton and katon defeat the purpose of being stealthy
in history, ninjas would usually disguise themselves as civilians and had weapons such as metal fans to kill unsuspecting targets, or just stay disguised to gather information
one of the primary jobs for a ninja was to also spread rumors and gossip among people for whatever reason their client would benefit from.
The only thing that might have been ninjalike in part 1 was the fact that they took missions to sometimes protect clients....and thats it