Naruto Power Rankings: The 16 Strongest Characters
One of the best things about Naruto was its complex yet logically sound power rankings. The battle system was so good that it largely stayed intact for the entirety of its massive run of 720 total episodes (including Naruto and Naruto Shippuden). And while there are plenty of powerful ninjas presented throughout, these are the top 16 strongest characters in Naruto ranked.
An important note before diving in – this list is based solely off of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, so those characters in Boruto are not included here. We’ll make an upcoming list based on them.
Warning! Spoilers Ahead
16. Lady Tsunade
You can’t be a slouch in the ninja world and also be named Hokage. Lady Tsunade is no slouch, and yet her powers are mostly manifest in her abilities to heal. In regards to this ability, she is unrivaled on this list. But her powers aren’t limited to just healing people. She can leverage the same skills that make her a great healer and use them to do a lot of damage. She can make herself massively stronger, and even give herself unparalleled healing abilities that make her nearly impossible to defeat, while also draining her life force.
15. Jiraiya
Jiraiya was not only a powerful ninja – his significance spans well beyond this thanks to his role as legendary teacher. In fact, there was a prophecy that he would one day teach someone who would either destroy or save the world.
Throughout his career, Jiraiya had three students of note: the first being the legendary Fourth Hokage, Nagato, and Naruto.
Additionally, Jiraiya was himself quite an accomplished ninja, named one of the Three Legendary Sanin.
14. Orochimaru
Orochimaru is the main baddie of Naruto pre-Shippuden. He is undoubtedly one of the strongest ninja to ever come out of the Hidden Leaf Village, and is also arguably the strongest of the three Legendary Sanin. He plays an important role in Naruto, acting as a bad role model for Sasuke, and attempting to destroy the hidden leaf village.
However, his greatest achievement lies in the creation of new ninjutsu, and the quest for immortality that he achieves, although in a limited form.
13. Hiruzen Sarutobi
We can’t forget about old man third! Hiruzen was way past his prime by the time we meet him in the show/manga. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that the Third Hokage was one of the strongest ninja of all time, and probably the strongest of his time. He mastered powerful jutsu across all five natures, and carried a versatile and deadly arsenal of skills and powers that enabled him to go toe-to-toe with the likes of even Orochimaru.
12. Tobirama Senju
In some ways, it’s easy to overlook Tobirama Senju. Although his brother is well known for his almost unparalleled strength and power, it was Tobirama’s duty to consolidate the power of the Hidden Leaf Village after his brother’s passing, establishing it as a powerful nation during his reign as Hokage.
Coming from one of the strongest clans of all time, Tobirama was singularly gifted at inventing Ninjutsu. He was the original source of the Space Time Ninjutsu that Minato would eventually expand upon many, many years later. He also was the originator of the reanimation technique, despite his own denouncement shortly after.
11. Might Guy
Notable Abilities: Taijutsu, Eight Gates.
Although Might Guy is well known for being the rival of the well loved Kakashi, he is also a powerhouse in his own right. Wielding taijutsu and favoring hand to hand combat, Might Guy is capable of opening the hidden gates, granting him tremendous power. Although we only ever see him access the full extent of his power once, there’s a reason that Kisame of the Akatsuki is too afraid to fight him when they first meet.
And while Guy is certainly incredibly strong, many point to the fact that Might Guy is able to almost singlehandedly defeat Madara Uchiha to say that he is more powerful than he in fact is. The reality is, Guy’s abilities are greatly hampered by his inability to access a range of powers other ninja take for granted. And while he is certainly strong, he wouldn’t be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Kakashi. Sure – with all the gates open he’s as strong as just about anyone on this list – however as that’s a suicidal technique it’s not something that can be used reliably, and there’s a high probability of something going wrong. Not to mention that with it Guy can only hope to tie anyone he faces, as it will result in his death, too.
Still, Guy’s feats in Taijutsu are unmatched in all time, and he rightfully earns this place among the strongest characters in Naruto.
10. Pain (Nagato)
Notable Abilities: Rinnegan, Six Paths of Pain
The final arc of Naurto was so long and epic that we often forget about the even better arc that came before it: Pain’s Assault. In that arc, we are introduced to the most powerful bad guy that we have yet come face-to-face with. A bad guy so bad, he makes Orochimaru look like an amateur.
Also known as Nagato, Pain is the original diciple of Jiraiya – the one Jiraiya thought would bring balance to the world. Turns out, Jiraiya was wrong, and instead Pain brought a lot of destruction to the world.
Still, he plays an important role in Naruto, is the antagonist for one of the best arcs of them all, and achieves something nobody else can claim – he single handedly levels the Leaf Village to the Ground.
9. Obito Uchiha
Notable ability: Kamui
As it turns out, one of the main antagonist of the entire Naruto show happens to also be the childhood friend of Kakashi. That’s right. The very same guy who gave Kakashi his mysterious Sharingan is one of the main bad guys of the series – second only to Madara.
And while it’s clear that Obito is among the strongest characters in Naruto, in some ways, he’s not as strong as many give him credit for. Indeed, his strength largely comes from an indominatable will. He seems to be able to overcome anything and all odds to achieve the seemingly impossible. And as the 10 tails Jinchuriki, he is certainly god-tier.
Base-level Obito, however, is just a really strong shinobi with some pretty glaring weaknesses. For example, his main strength is his ability to use Kumui. Ninja who are able to negate this advantage (as seen in fights with Kakashi, Minato and even Konan), however, are often able to best him. Yet it’s that crazy will power that helps drive him time and time again to the top, where natural ability sometimes fails him.
Thanks to this will power, Obito was able to effectively control the Nine Tailed Fox, pose a threat to the great ninja nations, lead the Akatsuki from the shadows, and ascertain almost limitless power before the end.
He’s one tough act to follow.
8. Kakashi Hatake
Notable abilities: Non-Uchiha Sharingan user, Chidori, all five chakra natures
Kakashi is the first powerhouse ninja we are ever introduced to. But the way the story handles this is expert – we don’t realize Kakashi is really all that special when we meet him. We don’t even realize how powerful he is when he faces Zabuza. However, we do see that no matter what Zabuza does, he’s just not on the same level as Kakashi. Kakashi still manages to manhandle him.
In addition to that first, epic fight, there is plenty to say about him. He was conscripted into the Anbu Black Ops at age 13 (just two years older than Itachi Uchiha was when he himself joined, and the youngest conscript ever at the time). He would go on to train Naruto, the strongest living Shinobi, and Sasuke, the other strongest living Shinobi. He played an indispensable role during the war, would be named Hokage, and even possessed and mastered the Sharingan eye as a non-Uchiha, and even invented the hyper powerful Chidori, or Lightning Blade, technique.
Read our overview of Kakashi for more insights into this legendary Shinobi’s powers including his greatest strengths and weaknesses.
7. Minato Namikaze
Minato is well regarded as one of the strongest shinobi to ever walk the earth. Not only was he so powerful that he became the Fourth Hokage at an early age, he was feared throughout the entire world. Ninja were even ordered to flee away from him on sight.
Minato was extraordinarily fast, and the inventor of the powerful Rasengan ninjutsu technique. He also was a powerful user of the Space Time Ninjutsu, taking it to further realms of innovation and power than hits creator, Tobirama Senju, ever dreamed of.
In battle, any Shinobi but the absolute best would lose to him pretty much automatically. Learn more about his extensive powers and attributes in this post.
6. Itachi Uchiha
Itachi is an enigma. Once hailed by the Naruto creator as the single most powerful ninja alive, even after the series end it is hard to fully comprehend the scope of his ability. Additionally, many point to the fact that Itachi lost to Sasuke as a mark against him. But, of course, it seems quite clear that Itachi was the master of that battle the whole time, carefully engineering his defeat at Sasuke’s hand.
Itachi’s powers include the unbelievable and fully realized effect of the Mangekyō Sharingan, as well as the Susanoo. Perhaps no other ninja alive has such a terrible grasp on genjutsu and ninjutsu as Itachi Uchiha.
5. Madara Uchiha
The original Uchiha badass, Madara is arguably the strongest Uchiha in history (before Sasuke). Strong enough to challenge the original “god of the Shinobi”, Madara is thought to be one of the principle antagonists throughout the Naruto series. Of course, in the controversial Great Shinobi War Arc, Madara ascertains even greater, unmatched power through his acquisition of the Rinnegan, and even eventually the Ten-Tailed beast’s Jinchuriki.
4. Hashirama Senju
Besides the two to come on this list, Senju was the original “god of the Shinobi” and founder of the Hidden Leaf Village. He was strong enough to beat Madara Uchiha when Uchiha was in his prime, and possessed the widely sought after ability to manipulate wood. This ability, manifested in the Senju clan, was a rare blood trait, or kekkei genkai, strong enough to rival the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha – that being the Sharingan.
3. Kaguya Otsutski
Notable abilities: original source of chakra, Byakugan and Sharingan, space time jutsu.
There are plenty of overpowered, epic, and complex villains in Naruto. Kaguya gets plenty of credit for being overpowered. But she’s got little else going for her. In fact, she is so unimpressive as an antagonist that it’s almost easy to forget she’s even there.
Compared to someone like Madara – a legendary character who has been teased for hundreds and hundreds of episodes, Kaguya can only ever be lackluster. She’s a character who shows up seemingly out of the blue for reasons to the plot that don’t fully make sense. What does having her around really add, if anything at all?
Outside of whether or not Kaguya is a great villain, she is certainly powerful. In regards to raw chakra and broken abilities. However, she doesn’t have much going for her in many of the areas that matter. She’s not a brilliant tactician, she’s easily distracted (yeah, we’re talking about you, Naruto’s secret jutsu), and she manages to muddle up her battle with Sasuke and Naruto somehow despite having control over the very world around them.
If all that mattered was raw strength and power, Kaguya would be number one on this list. But there’s more to power in the Narutoverse than chakra alone.
2. Sasuke Uchiha
As heir to perhaps the strongest clan in history, Sasuke Uchiha had a lot to live up to. And, just like his older brother, Itachi, he was an inherent genius. The foil to Naruto, everything came easy to Sasuke, but that didn’t do much to help his attitude. In fact, Sasuke is a pretty big jerk for the majority of the show, seeking power at the expense of all else. In the end, he does gain enough power to rival Naruto, but Naruto is still the original OG badass.
1. Naruto is the Strongest Character in Naruto
Notable abilities: Never gives up, Kurama chakra mode, Rasenshuriken
Who else could be number one? I mean, the show is named Naruto after all. Naruto goes through quite the adventure to get to the top spot on this list. He starts out as the number one knuckle headed ninja, unable to do the simplest of techniques, and having something of an attitude that pegs him as an eventual burnout.
However, through hard work, determination, and an ocean-sized amount of chakra courtesy of the Nine Tailed Fox and Uzamaki Bloodline, Naruto is eventually able to exceed any other ninja of his time, and in history.
In regards to what makes Naruto so strong – in many ways, he’s the guy who has it all. He’s got tremendous grit as a taijutsu fighter, wields some of the strongest ninjutsu around, comes up with insightful strategies under pressure that help his team win, and has an incredible team spirit that gets others to pull behind him towards victory.
There’s more to personal, raw power in the Shinobi world that leads to greatness. Naruto is an excellent example of this motif at the heart of the story.
