Ranking System Overated?

[Nakao]

Just wandering, the naruto world is made up of ranking system presumably...from the beginning of the series through to the end we witnessed the konoha 11 say 12 plus sasuke thumping way higher ninja...[rank]. I understand kakashi and itachi being geniuses so they had to be bumped up the ranks fast but then the konoha eleven remained pretty the same rank till the end and they plus their counterpart from the other villages kicked more ass than already established jounins at the war....

 

[Nick01]

Ranks are pretty much useless now and shouldn't be used for determining ones overall power.

 

[LoZelda101]

if I remember correctly, one of the reasons they used ranks was based upon difficulty of missions. particular in recon and/or escort. according to the exams only shikamaru became chuunin through his skill in dealing with battle situations while neji, naruto and sasuke who were noted to be much stronger could not thus didn't pass. but that's where a problem occurs. if a customer or country hired work/protection from these higher ranks, how would they know who was legit strong or just "qualified". tl:dr yes, ranks is mishandled