Naruto struggles at being a good ninja. He has no real friends and the only few to believe in him are his sensei The 3rd Hokage, Teuchi—The Ramen Guy, and his beloved sensei Iruka. This is an anime that is carried by its character strength and purity. Apart from these great qualities, Naruto is also filled with breathtaking fights with great visuals. While Naruto is the star of the show, not all fights have him playing the central role. In this article, we will be listing 10 great fights which did not have him involved. These are amazing fights with a lot of emotional and strategic value. So without further ado, let’s dive into it.
10. Rock Lee Vs Gaara
This one is a must mention. Rock Lee fights Gaara during the Chunin Exams and god the fight was incredibly glorious. Everyone underestimated Lee for his dorky behavior and looks. Even after he basically defeated Sasuke in one go before the exams even properly began. But that one moment, when Rock Lee took off his weights. It shook every single character to the bone. What came next was pure Taijutsu Genius. Gaara was a super difficult opponent with all his strength and the sand technique. It felt like he was far stronger than anyone else. Rock Lee quickly broke this illusion with his speed, technique, and agility. When worse came to worst, he even decides to use the 8 Gates Formation. Lee opens up to 5 gates which alone is a great feat at his age. This fight is one of the greatest in the show and had to be mentioned.
9. Hiruzen Vs Orochimaru
This one was one of the best fights from the initial arc of Naruto. The Third Hokage stood strong and victorious despite not being as strong as he used to be. Orochimaru had a vicious plan in place to take down the whole village but Hiruzen did what Kages are meant to do. He protected his village with great strength and valor. Even after being faced with Lords Second and First, Hiruzen did not falter. He gave his best defeating both the reanimated gods of their time and eventually, took away Orochimaru’s ability to perform Jutsu with the Reaper Death Seal. This one is a Jutsu only a few can perform. In fact, Hiruzen is only the second to be shown doing it in the whole series. He will always be remembered as a great shinobi no matter what criticisms come his way.
8. Minato Vs Madara/Obito
The fight scars Naruto’s life permanently. The time Naruto was about to be born, Kushina’s seal on the Nine-Tails became weak. Obito posing as Madara took advantage of this situation and attacked them. The moment Naruto was born, Obito forced his way in and took the baby hostage. His real objective was to take away Kushina and extract the Nine-Tails now that the seal and Kushina were weak. But Minato wasn’t going to let things fall out so easily. The Yellow Flash of the Leaf quickly saved his child and took him to a safe place. By then Obito had already chain Kushina and extracted the beast. Even in that situation, Minato managed to save Kushina and take her back to Naruto. He said his quick goodbyes and donned the cloak of Hokage. He then proceeded to defeat Obito with his Rasengan in spite of him phasing out whenever hit. Minato was simply too fast for him. Afterward, he even managed to save the whole village from massive Tailed Beast Bombs that Kurama hurled their way. Such was the greatness of the Fourth Hokage. Sadly, not everything can be perfect, and so, to save the village Minato and Kushina had to sacrifice themselves leaving parts of their chakra to their sweet infant. Minato still had enough in him to seal half of Kurama’s chakra inside Naruto. A true hero and a great leader by all means. Read: Naruto All Hokage Ranked by Strength
7. Hashirama Vs Madara
This one had to be mentioned. In the timeline, this battle occurs way before Naruto is even born. However, it is exactly what resulted in the birth of The Hidden Leaf Village. It was what started the legacy of legendary shinobi. Hashirama and Madara were two people who did not need any armies to battle. They were strong enough to take down entire armies all by themselves alone. And this made them a perfect match for one another. They met as friends but because of the political wars between Uchihas and Senjus, their battle was destined. They fought on multiple occasions with Hashirama mostly coming out on top. Eventually, they decided to call it off and form a society based on peace instead. That society started with The Hidden Lead village and continues to look ahead with Naruto taking the office.
6. Sakura and Lady Chio Vs Sasori
There seems to be a very steady trend in the anime network where people consider Sakura useless far and wide. While that is a controversial statement to make, one cannot deny how great this fight was. Sasori was an esteemed and notorious member of the terrorist organization Akatsuki. He was famous for being able to handle a hundred murderous puppets at once. Against him was Sakura, and his own grandmother, Lady Chio. During the fight, after Sakura was injured, she decided to keep fighting. So Lady Chio resolved to attach her puppet strings to Sakura and use her as the puppet. What came next was all about strategy, raw strength, and speed. After facing some trouble, Sakura was finally able to shatter Sasori’s puppet Hiruko. But he had more up his sleeve which drove the battle further. Sasori used all the means available to him to defeat the two. He used objects made out of magnetic iron sand, deadly poison and so much more. The poison part was really crucial. Sakura, with her brilliant Medical Ninjutsu abilities, had concocted an antidote that saved not only her life but that of Kankuro’s too earlier in the show. This aspect of her persona shows that she’s not nearly as useless as some people say she is. In the end, after nearly dying multiple times, Sakura and Lady Chio emerged victoriously and also managed to get a great lead out of a dying Sasori.
5.Team 10 Vs Hidan and Kakuzu
Getting into our top 5, we have Team 10 Vs Hidan and Kakuzu. This is one of those fights which slowly started introducing us to actual character losses in the series. The Shonen genre is often characterized by a low death ratio for the main important characters. However, Naruto gave us some of the most painful deaths starting with Asuma. After being confronted by Hidan and Kakuzu, team 10 quickly jumped into battle mode. The only exception here was, Choji and Ino were with a different unit. This left Kotetsu, Izumo, Shikamaru and Asuma. The enemies were more or less immortal, the team had to find this out the hard way. Asuma did his all unleashing his Cloud of Burning Ash on Hidan only to receive the burn on his own body. Being immortal, Hidan seemed indestructible. Even with Kakuzu keeping out of the fight, Asuma’s unit was struggling. He even managed to chop his head off, only for Kakuzu to sew it right back. It ended with Asuma dying of fatal wounds. Later, Shikamaru got his perfect revenge on Hidan in the coldest ways possible. Dispersing his entire body and burying him alive in the forest of the Nara clan where the wildlife would watch Hidan until the very end.
4. Obito Vs Kakashi
This fight holds a lot of emotional value. It was animated in such a way that flashbacks of Kakashi and Obito fighting as children briefly flashed as they exchanged blows as adults. Obito was thought to be long dead but his appearance shook everyone. He was finally revealed and out in the open. He was let down by Kakashi who couldn’t protect Rin and for this, Kakashi feels a great lot of guilt. Their fists and Jutsus speak to each other as they struggle to take each other down. One of the best fights, worthy of the 4th spot.
3. Sasuke Vs Itachi
The destined fight between two brothers. Sasuke was finally able to fight Itachi with all he ever had. We got to see a great Uchiha Jutsu show as the two unleased their best at each other. Sasuke used the Kirin while Itachi showed up with a massive Susanoo, Amaterasu and so much more. It was a fight that lit up the entire area quite literally. Of course, Itachi fought to extract what little of Orochimaru was still left inside Sasuke and Sasuke fought to get revenge on his brother. The fight ended with Itachi dying of his sickness leaving behind a confused Sasuke.
2. Jiraiya Vs Pain
If you’ve watched Naruto, you knew this fight was coming up at some point. Jiraiya was the most loved Sannin and the famous Hermit Toad Sage of Mount Miyoboku. He was the teacher of Minato, Naruto, Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko. The last three of which formed the Akatsuki and were ultimately responsible for Jiraiya’s death. This is one of the most painful deaths in the history of anime. After infiltrating the Hidden Rain village, Jiraiya spends some time gathering intel about the leader. He manages to trap and interrogate two shinobi who give out valuable information about Pain. Afterward, he finds himself face to face with the villain, who turns out to be one of his very own students Yahiko. Or more accurately Nagato, who was controlling Yahiko from behind the scenes. Jiraiya gives him all trying to defeat Pain. From going into Sage Mode as well as coming back to life with sheer willpower alone only to write a secret message on Lord Fukasaku’s back. It was a death worthy of a Shinobi like Jiraiya.
1. Might Guy Vs Madara
And at number 1 we have Might Guy Vs Madara Uchiha. Or more specifically, Six Paths Madara Uchiha. Madara had become even stronger with the power of the Sage of The Six Paths, the entity responsible for the creation of the Shinobi World and The Tailed Beasts. Guy opened up all of the 8 gates. An emotional flashback and a few filler episodes earlier introduce us to Guy and his dad Dai as they struggle through the setbacks of not being able to use Ninjutsu. But the two never lose spirit. Guy works hard his entire life. He was not naturally gifted like Kakashi or Minato, he was not the reincarnation of Indra or Asura, he was not even from a powerful clan. Might Guy is the symbol of perseverance. He worked and worked and worked until he became the strong man he was when he battled Madara. He opened up the final gate of Death and went all out. He even managed to injure Madara so badly that he nearly died. But alas, because he had the power of the Six Paths, he did not completely perish and proceeded to recover quickly. Madara being the overpowered character he was, did not go down even after so much effort and Guy went to the ground nearly dead. Thankfully, Naruto arrived in the nick of time and saved Guy’s life. This means we get to see more of him. This saves us from one more painful death in the series. But the battle itself is definitely worthy of the number 1 spot. Read: Popular Anime Like Naruto That Fans Would Love And with that, the list is complete. Do you agree with the ranking? Let us know in the comments.
