Village Head

A Village Leader, as the name implies, is the leader of a ninja village. They lead lesser ninja villages that are either too weak, or too poor, to have a Kage as their leader. However, that does not always means that the village leaders are weaker than kages. An example for this is the Hoshigakure's ability to use meteorite-enhanced chakra. The requirements to achieve this position are currently unknown, but probably vary between villages, and are most likely close to the same requirements a Kage. Though Village Leaders are not officially considered Kage, most if not all are ninja of Kage-level, such as Amegakure's Pain and recently, Hanzo the Salamander, who was incredibly strong, so much so, that he defeated all three Sannin. Village Leaders are sometimes also referred to as Kage, like Hoshigakure's self-proclaimed Hoshikage.

Examples of Village Leaders

 * Shibuki of Takigakure
 * Orochimaru of Otogakure
 * Pain of Amegakure
 * Akahoshi of Hoshigakure