The village itself is a lower shinobi country, being allied with Grass, Leaf, Rain and Sand. As such it participates in the Chuunin Exam with these countries. In the Chuunin Exam Naruto participated in, no Waterfall team made it beyond the second exam test. The village itself appeared to not have many active ninja when former Jounin Suien attacked the village, instead relying upon Naruto and Shibuki to defeat the ninja. For the sake of their reputation, we will assume most of the ninja were away on missions.