The original Naruto anime's canon story featured some of the finest story arcs seen in shonen anime. Storylines such as the Chunin Exam Arc helped cement Naruto's place in the shonen "big three," featuring some of the finest fights and personal moments in all of anime. Fans always care about major story beats like Naruto's "talk jutsu" redeeming Gaara and Naruto summoning Gamabunta for the first time. But Naruto fans also want to know who the strongest fighter in each arc is.
Many of the cast members were still growing and refining their techniques in the original Naruto anime, so endgame superstars like Naruto himself and Sasuke Uchiha don't rank among the strongest fighters in the earlier arcs. Instead, it's often the jonin, Kage, and jinchuriki who are the strongest fighters in those early arcs. Notably, some of these arc-defining fighters continued to rank among Naruto's most powerful fighters later in the series, while others got left behind in a big way.
Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc: Kimimaro Kaguya
Kimimaro Fought Naruto, Rock Lee, and Gaara Without Losing to Any of Them
The Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc raised the stakes and power levels to entirely new heights, and that means the competition was fierce to determine who the top dog was. Thanks to his one-tailed cloak and Rasengan, Naruto Uzumaki was a strong contender, and so was Sasuke, who had his Cursed Seal and three-tomoe Sharingan, not to mention the Chidori's wrath. Gaara was also stronger by then, but one ninja narrowly topped them all: Kimimaro Kaguya.
Kimimaro was chosen as Orochimaru's next vessel, which speaks volumes about his enormous power, and this Sound ninja also had total mastery of his bony kekkei genkai and Cursed Seal. Most of all, Kimimaro's combat record speaks for itself, with him easily wiping out Naruto's shadow clone army without taking any serious damage in return. He also fended off the likes of Rock Lee and Gaara, and only lost because his illness finally claimed his life. Fans won't soon forget the sight of Kimimaro's bone drill coming to within an inch of Gaara's eye before the arc's strongest fighter froze as his disease finished him.
Land of Waves Arc: Kakashi Hatake
Kakashi Turned the Tables on Zabuza on Tazuna's Bridge
It's not uncommon for mentor types such as Kakashi Hatake to be the most powerful character, or at least the most powerful hero, when a shonen anime like Naruto begins. In those early days when Zabuza and Haku were the toughest villains around, Naruto was a long way from dominating his own anime, and even Sasuke had to beware of the anime's strongest characters. Zabuza was the strongest antagonist, but Kakashi was the #1 on-screen fighter thanks to his special tricks.
6 Naruto Characters Who Deserved Better Endings
Some characters in the Naruto universe have been killed off or put to the side without a substantial ending to wrap up their story.
Kakashi didn't yet have the Mangekyo Sharingan in Naruto's early phase, meaning he had no Susanoo or Kamui, but he didn't even need them. He still had his sharp tactical mind, regular Sharingan eye, and his well-earned combat experience to guide him. Kakashi swiftly proved why he was the ninja who had copied 1,000 jutsu, and he even showed off his signature Lightning Blade during the rematch on Tazuna's bridge. Not even Naruto in his one-tailed biju cloak could compete with Kakashi's vast arsenal of tricks.
Konoha Crush Arc: Gaara
The One-Tailed Shukaku Dominated the Battlefield
When the Chunin Exam Arc gave way to the destructive Konoha Crush Arc, Gaara managed to narrowly surpass Orochimaru as the most powerful on-screen ninja at the time. That's partly because, in the Konoha Crush Arc, Gaara finally released his tailed beast's full power for the first time. The one-tail's power made Gaara a terrifying fighter with sand alone, but then Gaara became a proper kaiju as Orochimaru's ultimate weapon in the Konoha Crush Arc. Only another tailed beast, or the king of toads Gamabunta, could even think of facing such power.
Find all 10 pairs
Find all 10 pairs
Naruto was almost as strong as Gaara through Gamabunta, but arguably, Gaara was still stronger, partly because he was more used to his powers at that time. As for Orochimaru, not even he could outstrip a fully manifested tailed beast in the heat of battle. What is more, the climax of the Konoha Crush Arc saw Orochimaru greatly weakened as Hiruzen rendered Orochimaru's arms useless. Once that happened, Gaara firmly claimed his place as the arc's #1 fighter, even if Naruto's talk jutsu had already convinced Gaara to stop fighting.
Chunin Exam Arc: Orochimaru
Orochimaru Granted Sasuke the Cursed Seal
The cast of Naruto and the combat system both exploded in the famed Chunin Exam Arc, meaning the competition was much stiffer to determine who the strongest character was at the time. Naruto was definitely getting stronger and smarter by this point, and Sasuke also powered up, but once again, it was the adults who dominated the battlefield. Not even Gaara could outmatch the monstrous Sannin Orochimaru, the surprise villain of the Chunin Exam Arc.
Orochimaru showed up in a disguise, granted Sasuke the Cursed Seal, then terrorized Team 7 a bit more before slithering off to let the Sound Genin do the rest of the work. That also means Orochimaru was the first Sannin introduced in Naruto, and of course, he towered over all the Chunin Exam participants and even outclassed Kakashi and Hiruzen Sarutobi. At the time, Orochimaru could pull off feats like summoning Manda, shedding his skin to avoid harm, and using Edo Tensei to summon three different Hokage. Orochimaru waited until later arcs arrived to actually do most of those things, but he was still capable of such jutsu as of the Chunin Exam Arc.
Search For Tsunade Arc: Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Wanted Naruto Captured No Matter What
In the Search for Tsunade Arc, all three Sannin appeared on-screen, with Jiraiya convincing Tsunade to aid him and Naruto in fighting Orochimaru. Together, the three Sannin could have defeated anyone in that phase of Naruto's story, but individually, they weren't quite as powerful as Itachi Uchiha. While some heroes and even some villains were still growing in power at the time, Itachi was already at or near max power. The same can be said about Kisame Hoshigaki, but Naruto fans generally agree that Itachi is the stronger of the two.
Naruto: How Each Akatsuki Member Died, Explained
The Akatsuki were the most terrifying group in all of Naruto, but most of them didn't have great deaths.
During the Search For Tsunade Arc's early episodes, Itachi toyed with a number of Leaf ninjas without taking any serious damage in return. Seeing how Itachi faced the likes of Kakashi, Kurenai, Naruto, and Jiraiya, that is saying a lot. Itachi already had the full power of his Mangekyo Sharingan in those days, meaning he could have used the Susanoo if he really wanted to. For the sake of power scaling, Itachi held back somewhat, but Naruto fans can safely say Itachi could have defeated anyone else in the Search for Tsunade Arc. In fact, he probably could have defeated anyone in the original Naruto anime in a duel.
- Franchise(s)
- Naruto
- Number of Episodes
- 220
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8
