In the world of Naruto, rogue ninjas are very common. Every now and then, fans come across a ninja that has defected from their village and answers to no one. These ninjas are treated as criminals and are often listed in the bingo books of their respective villages.
They are often involved in the many crimes taking place all over the world and, from a narrative standpoint, they add a lot to the story. The rogue ninjas are usually extremely powerful and are a threat to the peace of any nation in the world of Naruto. While the majority of the rogue ninjas seen in the series were members of the Akatsuki, there were quite a few who were not affiliated with this organization.
7 Shizuma Hoshigaki
Shizuma is a character that was newly introduced in the world of Naruto. He made his debut in the Boruto series and was revealed to be a shinobi of Kirigakure. Shizuma is an incredibly powerful swordsman, and he claims to be a member of the seven swordsmen of the mist of the current generation.
His skill with the samehada is known to be extremely impressive, however, not as impressive as Kisame's. Given that they share the same family names, it is highly likely that the two are related. In some way Shizuma was revealed to be extremely powerful and it took the combined effort of Boruto and Kagura to defeat him. He is still quite young and has a lot of potential to grow. Towards the later half of the series, if he ever returns, fans will likely see him become even stronger as a rogue ninja.
6 Ao
Another ninja from Kirigakure, Ao made his debut towards the latter half of the Naruto series. Initially, he was a loyal member of his village and aided the 5th Mizukage as well as he could, especially during the 4th Great Ninja War. During the war, he helped the Shinobi Alliance HQ to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately, he ended up being caught up in an explosion that was caused by the Ten-Tails.
While most expected him to have died, it was later revealed that Ao had somehow survived this ordeal. Instead of returning to his village, he turned to an evil organization known as Kara and sought help from them. Thanks to their scientific ninja technology, his body was reconstructed and he was made stronger than he once was. Ao proved to be quite a powerful rogue ninja and he stood in the way of Team 7, led by Konohamaru. He was certainly a threat worth mentioning.
5 Zabuza Momochi
All the fans of the Naruto series are very well aware of the threat that Zabuza was. After all, he was the very first major antagonist to be introduced in the series. He was from the Land of Waves and had defected from the village at the beginning of the timeline of the story.
He wielded the famed Executioner's Blade and he did so with quite some skill. Even the legendary Kakashi struggled against him to some extent. Zabuza was known to be a demon in combat and his aura certainly painted quite the picture. As a rogue ninja, he was feared all over the Land of Waves and even people such as Kakashi knew about him, which just goes to show that he was no pushover.
4 Haku
Haku is one of the most iconic villains in the world of Naruto and, just like Zabuza, served as one of the very first antagonists to appear in the series. Haku belonged to the Yuki clan in the Land of Waves and had the Kekkei Genkai of Ice Release. As a result, he was ostracized and eventually, found his way to Zabuza. The latter immediately noticed his talent for fighting and decided to use him as a tool for himself.
He kept him alive for as long as he served a purpose for him and, together, the two served as assassins. Zabuza himself proclaimed Haku to be the stronger of the two and revealed that the boy had a talent for fighting. Even Kakashi, the Copy Ninja of the Hidden Leaf, was surprised at the level of skill that Haku possessed. Certainly, he was one of the very strongest rogue ninjas to not be a part of the Akatsuki.
3 Utakata
Utakata was introduced in Naruto Shippuden and while the manga didn't really tackle his character all that much, the anime certainly did to quite an extent in a filler arc. Utakata was known to be the Jinchuriki of the Six Tails, Saiken. Being a Jinchuriki, it goes without saying that Utakata had tremendous power.
At his strongest, he could easily lay a village to waste and kill all those standing in his way. Undoubtedly, he goes down in history as one of the strongest rogue ninjas to ever emerge in the Naruto series. Unfortunately, he was taken down by Pain himself, the leader of the Akatsuki, who sought out the Six Tails for the process of sealing it in the Gedo Mazou.
2 Kabuto Yakushi
Kabuto Yakushi is one of the biggest antagonists in the Naruto series. He was one of the two main triggers for the 4th Great Ninja War, which just goes to show how important he was to the story. Kabuto was once an assistant to Orochimaru, however, with time, he took the center stage himself and made himself as powerful as he possibly could.
His Sage Mode made him a force to be reckoned with. In fact, killing Kabuto was extremely difficult and even the Uchiha brothers struggled at achieving that. In the end, he was defeated by Itachi Uchiha and his magnificent genjutsu prowess.
1 Madara Uchiha
Undoubtedly, the strongest rogue ninja in the entire world of Naruto is no one other than Madara Uchiha. Originally, Madara was one of the two founders of the Hidden Leaf Village. Unfortunately, things went south quickly between him and Hashirama. Consequently, he left the village and became a rogue ninja.
Madara was one of the biggest antagonists in the overarching story of Naruto. He was truly an unstoppable shinobi and goes down as the strongest rogue ninja in Naruto to not be a part of the Akatsuki.