Juni 2013

One of the favorite topics of debate for Naruto fans is the matter of who the stronger one is; Naruto or Sasuke. Now, as you may know, Naruto and Sasuke are rivals. Naruto is the orphan boy who has never had a family and Sasuke is the orphan boy who saw his whole family murdered by none other than his own brother. Naruto was shunned and looked down upon by the villagers because he was the vessel for the Kyuubi, the monster that wreaked havoc upon Konoha 12 years prior. All Naruto wants is for people to acknowledge him. Sasuke, on the other hand, belongs to the Uchiha clan, the strongest and most prestigious clan in Konoha.

Naruto would do anything to have what Sasuke so haphazardly throws away; the respect of the villagers and the love of Haruno Sakura. Sasuke is everything that Naruto is not; he is handsome, well respected, and intelligent to the point of being a genius, powerful without even lifting a finger. Sasuke is the very image of perfection. But unlike Naruto, Sasuke is cold, aloof, and uncaring. He is arrogant and too obsessed with the past and the tattered aristocracy of his dead clan. He is single minded, so driven by the thought of revenge that he takes for granted everything he has left. And that is what Naruto cannot accept. Naruto cannot understand why Sasuke cannot see what he has right in front of him. Naruto cannot understand why Sasuke is never contented. As the series progresses, Naruto becomes stronger and he starts catching up. And this is what Sasuke cannot accept. He cannot understand why someone like Naruto who was dull and did not have a kekkei genkai could be so strong. He cannot understand why Itachi would be more interested in Naruto rather than him. Of course, Sasuke did not know about the Kyuubi back then.
And so they have a rivalry and it's the age old debate between which would win: power and attitude or power and intelligence.

Naruto
Of course, power and attitude refers to Naruto. Naruto is pure determination. He might not be the brightest pea in the pod, but he sure is the most persevering. What he lacks in intelligence, he more than makes up for in raw power. Of course, Naruto owes his brawn to the Kyuubi who lends him a huge amount of chakra and stamina and this is a huge advantage in fights.

Sasuke
Sasuke, on the other hand is power and intelligence. He wields the Sharingan; the strongest doujutsu in Konoha. He is fast and powerful. And though he might not have as much stamina as Naruto does, he makes up for it with his ingenious strategies and techniques. Like Naruto, Sasuke is determined. But his determination is directed at all the wrong things.
Who is stronger?

So, in the end, who is stronger? Naruto who has his raw strength or Sasuke who has ingenious strategies? Perhaps the answer could be found if they fought. And fight they did. In the valley of the end, Naruto and Sasuke had a definitive fight. It was a grueling fight. They both had equal power ups, Naruto with his Kyuubi stage 2 and Sasuke with his Curse Seal 2. It was an extremely close fight but in the end, it was Sasuke who won. However, let's not forget that Naruto only had a few tails out then from the Kyuubi and he's still got up to 9 tails to go in terms of just Kyuubi's side of power. Besides powers from Kyuubi, Naruto has been constantly been training very viciously in the Naruto Shippuden series and now in Kakashi's own words "surpass" Akatsuki members by himself. Although Sasuke is more powerful then Naruto, in Shippuden if they were to have a fight today it's tough to say that Sasuke would be close to winning the fight. On the other hand we would expect Naruto to win, although by not much.