Naruto? Strong Or Not?
After browing this forum for quite some time now, I noticed that everynow and then this topic comes up in other topics. Naruto - he is hated(maybe not that much) and loved. Obviously the focus of the show is this character, he "should" be the strongest or at least get there at some point according to design. But a lot of people contend that other characters that are designed in this anime are way better than him, both presently and potentially. What do you think of Naruto? I'll start off with my opinion:
Qualitatively, Naruto is the type of character that never gives up. This is primarily where the anime/manga designers give him his strength and the ability to win whatever problems he comes across. He is also partially simple minded and doesn't let some extraneous factors cloud his descisions. But back to his determination, personally, I think this is a great factor for training. I think his determination towards getting stronger give him great potential, and that if trained, he could learn many really strong jutsus in a shorter amount of time than other characters spent in the series. You see other characters that are stronger than Naruto at this stage in the anime that know many higher level justsus, and have unique and perfected techniques, but who's knows how long before the "present" in Naruto the show, they spent before working on it. Naruto, as far as I know, wasted his time before graduating from the academy. He was a kid who has been having fun, and he is getting stonger quicker than anyone else now, and is focused on training. At this stage in the game, given nothing to do, I think Naruto would probably bug someone to train him during anytime he wasn't already doing something that was beneficial. Given all that, I do not think that potential = strength. Sometime's he should lose to stronger characters. I guess for inspirational/tv-show purposes, having him lose wouldn't be a good thing to show, but realistically, it should happen.
Next this is this Kyubi thing. Obviously this is his wild card and some would single this out as the only reason why he could be considered the as the strongest. I think this in the beginning was more of a wild card than it is now. It has been stated that Naruto's normal chakra mixes with kyubi's even when he doesn't know it, but I think, that sometimes it is Naruto's strength alone that is being used. When it is blue, I think that it's only Naruto's power alone, and he has used it to perform some jutsu - including the later one that involves the ball (is that a spoiler?). I think for him to be able to use this move, without exhausting himself right after, is a great achievement. Also Naruto is getting increasingly better as calling upon Kyubi's chakra at his whim, without situations getting too desparate, and remaining in control. I think once/if he ever gets to that level, he would easily be at the Hokage level, and would use chakra to do everything for him - seriously. He would pretty much use chakra as a subtance along to attack, defend, and heal if needed. It would be an absolute defense and strong offense at the same time. Of course, there are possible counters like Neji closing the chakra holes....I guess its up to one's imagination of whether or not Naruto would just bypass that with pure force of summoning chakra or something.
I assumed this topic would be approriate because even though it is lightly talked about in other threads, this is the main character. He deserves his own thread. Though if this has already been done, don't hesitate to close this one and point me in the right direction. I did search a little though.
And yes...this is another long post from me. If it needs to be clarified, I am asking for your opinion/views analyzing Naruto as a whole. None of that "without this he is crap" stuff. Let's face it, just like he was born with Kyubi in him, Sasuke was born with Sharingan, and whatever character was born into whatever bloodline limit or demon inside of him.
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(?) then people give him credit for, but there are still many people who are stronger.
not read, buy.
). However, since the Neji fight hes gotten his kyubi powers more under control, so he's becomming a lot stronger and winning fights based on skill not "oh, wait we can't kill off the main character" plot points. However, even all kyubified Naruto can still be beat by the right opponent (oro did this in the chuunin exam). Naruto still can't exert the kyubi's power perfectly. And. . .
ah don't you just love a catch 22 
Its enuff to drive a person to the brink of insanity 
