I have to admit that I’m not an anime person. I barely watched a handful of them. But there is one that stuck with my heart ever since I saw it on TV when I was a kid. I couldn’t quite remember which one was it or who are the characters in it. But I remembered bits and pieces of certain scenes. I realized in college that this anime was called Naruto and like me, many people watched it and loved it. With that sweet memory in mind, let me share with you a list of my favorite Naruto characters from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.
I remember watching the first two episodes and boy! It felt like Crack from then on out. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. The moment I came back from college, I would start watching it. That was my first experience of being completely addicted to something.
It’s been nearly 4 years and I know still that the Naruto franchise is somewhere in the bottom of my heart. I am feeling a bit nostalgic lately so excuse me for being cheesy and creating a list of my favorite Naruto characters.
Through this post we will look at my favorite characters (hopefully your favorite as well), I will describe them, what I consider being their greatest strength, and their weakness.
Reminding you that this is a subjective take and not about finding the strongest Shinobi in the Naruto universe.
So let’s start.
Table of Content
My Favorite characters from Naruto
- Itachi Uchiha
- Rock Lee
- Sasuke Uchiha
- Kakashi Hatake
- Madara Uchiha
- Naruto Uzumaki
- Minato Namikaze
- Shikamaru Nada
My Favorite characters from Naruto
Itachi Uchiha
Where do I start about the great Itachi Uchiha of the hidden leaf village?
From the character, we all despised in Naruto to the character we all loved and admired in Naruto Shippuden. What a breathtaking character arc it has been for Itachi.
A character whose abilities made him superior to all, and the level of sacrifices he made for his village made him one of the greatest of all.
I don’t think there has been another character who inspired me as much as by his righteousness than Itachi. We all know making the right call is harder than making the wrong one. You need pure strength and resolve to do the right thing when doing the right thing costs us everything.
The level of commitment and the amount of sacrifice Itachi showcased for what he believed in is something that awe-inspires me even today.
Strength
If I talk about the achievements of Itachi, then this post won’t be enough to cover all of it. A clear prodigy who is the greatest in his generation.
Despite all these baffling achievements he made, I think the true strength of Itachi lies in his wisdom. There were stronger shinobis, but I don’t think they were wiser than him.
Itachi wasn’t trained by any legendary Sannins, not even had a proper mentor, despite all this Itachi was exceptionally powerful. He is a true self-made shinobi.
I don’t think the greatest strength of Itachi is his Sharingan; it is his humility that shines through the Naruto franchise.
Weakness
Knowing your weakness is also a strength, and that makes Itachi so powerful. He knew his weakness and admitted when he made a mistake.
The weakness of Itachi however is how isolated he was from all his peers and friends. Having no friends or comrades to rely on, Itachi had to make all the decisions himself and took everything on his shoulders.
As Itachi himself has pointed out, no one is perfect and we can’t do everything by ourselves no matter how much we try. The reason we have friends and comrades is to help us out when we need them.
So the weakness of Itachi is his excessive self-reliance.
Rock Lee
I sense that at least some of you might scratch your head right now.
I think for them there might be two questions that popped into their head.
Who is Rock Lee?
What is special about Rock Lee?
I will answer the latter one.
There is nothing special about Rock lee. That is exactly why he is on this list.
Despite not having any talent for ninjutsu or genjutsu, what Rock Lee has accomplished as a shinobi is just truly remarkable.
Of all the characters in the Naruto universe, I think Rock Lee is the character whom we all can relate to the most. He is the character that struggled with not being good enough.
Even with all the high and mighty characters in the Naruto universe like Itachi, we saw earlier, or Naruto, or Sasuke, Rock Lee is the character that inspired me the most.
Unlike other characters, Rock Lee had nothing. Not from a superior clan, no kekkei genkai, pretty much a zero at the beginning.
I think the most inspiring part for me is despite being in a position of disadvantage, knowing that he can’t be better than the best. Still, Rock Lee trained harder than anyone to become a splendid shinobi.
There have been situations where I also knew there are people who are just better than me, and no matter how much I try I can’t come on par with them. This is a heartbreaking realization. To have this realization and still not give up is something remarkable I see in Rock Lee.
Strength
Rock Lee’s strength has been single-handedly in his perseverance. Without belonging to any superior clan, possessing no talent, Lee was still a splendid shinobi and someone I have always rooted for.
The realization that he will never be better than his rivals no matter how hard he trains is a realization that can break even the strongest minds. Despite knowing how futile his attempt is, Lee never gave up or whined. For that, I think he deserves a medal and all my respect.
Weakness
On contrary to Itachi, you can go on and on about the weakness of Rock Lee. He wasn’t privileged enough to possess any kekkei genkai, he doesn’t possess Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. The guy has nothing in his favor.
The weakness that I saw in Rock Lee is not his lack of talent, but the never-give-up attitude. It might appear bizarre to say that never giving up attitude is a weakness.
What I’m trying to get across is that Rock Lee is too persistent. If you remember the battle between Rock Lee and Gaara. Gaara completely broke his body by the end of their battle and still, he stood up. Not giving is a superpower, but if you are not giving up when you know you are not the right person to do it or in the right condition to do it, is a suicide mission.
What Itachi did towards the end is to let Naruto save Sasuke because he thought Naruto was better than him for it. Sometimes we just need to accept that other people can do it better than us and seek their help.
Knowing when to give up and when to not give up is a crucial skill that everyone needs. That is how we prioritize doing what is most important and what is most beneficial.
I think Rock lee doesn’t know when to give up; I think that is his weakness.
Sasuke Uchiha
Let’s all agree that Sasuke Uchiha is not the best character in Naruto, but I think people still like Sasuke, primarily because he is the coolest character in Naruto.
I think that is why despite being on the negative side of Naruto Shippuden, people liked him.
For me, Sasuke’s arc was also quite interesting because it differs from Rock Lee’s and Naruto’s struggle but there are aspects about it that make it a lot similar.
Unlike Rock Lee or Naruto, Sasuke came from a superior clan and possessed special abilities. Even someone like Sasuke who was impressive felt inadequate as he was always comparing with his big brother Itachi.
When you have gifts, there is a certain expectation from you. You can’t fall into second place. It was also interesting to see how being a prodigy is also a burden, just like being an imbecile.
What I love about Naruto is that Naruto and Sasuke who are a world apart in every aspect have a similar struggle and bonding that made them close friends and rivals.
Strength
Sasuke is undoubtedly strong and we can say that it all primarily attributed to him being an Uchiha.
But what I considered being the greatest strength of Sasuke is that he always had a trick up his sleeve. Whatever the situation is, Sasuke always figured a way out. That is why he reached where he reached. He had a sharp mind. I think that strengthened him, above all his abilities.
Weakness
You can say how fragile his moral code is and how ruthless he can be, but his greatest weakness for me has been how manipulative he was.
When you look at his arc, you can see people manipulated him in some way till the very end. First, it was Itachi who manipulated him, then Orochimaru manipulated him, and finally Obito, he always fell victim to other’s deception.
You can’t blame it on him. There wasn’t much he could have done, but still it is a weakness.
Kakashi Hatake
Kakashi of the Sharingan, the leader of Team 7. People who have watched Naruto will develop a special bond with Kakashi. Not because Kakashi was the mentor of Team 7 but he was the mentor for all of us.
When you began watching Naruto Franchise, you know nothing about the Shinobi world. It is through Kakashi who explains everything to the team that we got to know what is happening.
I think that is why everyone loves him. Because he is our teacher too.
What I love about Naruto are the rich backstories. Even the brightly smiling and cheerful Kakashi had some serious life events that made him the way he is.
Kakashi is a fine shinobi and the fact that he became Hokage speaks about how important he is in the Naruto universe.
It is heart-warming to see that despite not having any grand moments, Kakashi still stole our hearts with the small moments he had.
Strength
No doubt he was strong. He even had a Sharingan.
As Sage of Six paths himself said, despite his prowess as a shinobi, his strength is that he is an outstanding teacher and a great friend.
You can’t deny Kakashi’s warm smile was a breeze in the anime.
Weakness
I have to hand credit to Kakashi, I can’t figure out his weakness. I have to say, Kakashi is good at deceiving his weaknesses. So I can’t point out anything here.
A great Shinobi, an outstanding teacher, a great friend, an influential leader, I think we can take a pass here.
Let me know if you know one.
Madara Uchiha
Despite being the antagonist in Naruto, a character soaked in hatred, I think many people do like Madara Uchiha. Maybe it is the legendary image created in Naruto for Madara Uchiha. You can’t help but acknowledge that he was nothing short of those descriptions that might have felt far-fetched when we heard it. A truly legendary character, as they have said.
Both Madara and Hashirama lived up to their expectation but if you have seen Naruto, there is a special fondness that you develop with the Uchiha clan. You can’t say whether it is because of how cool and powerful their Sharingan is, but they always felt like a superior clan.
No wonder the list is dominated by Uchichas, I’m biased there. Yikes!
I guess what made Madara Uchich special despite being the antagonist is how much he had endured for fulfilling his goals. When you look at it, every villain in Naruto is somebody who wants to make the world a better place but chose a cruel path to do so.
Strength
Among the strongest shinobis ever lived. The guy had awakened Rinnegan. What more proof do we need?
The greatest strength of Madara Uchiha comes from the fact that he is an Uchiha. I doubt Madara to be this strong if he wasn’t an Uchiha.
Maybe I’m completely wrong, but Madara was obsessed with the Uchiha clan than anyone else. I can’t imagine how Madara would have turned out to be if there wasn’t any war between the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan.
So for the almighty Madara Uchiha, let’s regard his greatest strength to be his clan.
Weakness
For a shinobi as powerful as Madara, it is hard to find any weakness.
But for a shinobi whose greatest strength is his Uchiha clan, I think his greatest weakness has to be the so-called Curse of Hatred running in the Uchiha clan.
The prime reason he chooses his destructive path like most other Uchihas.
Naruto Uzumaki
Now that we talked about the Antagonist of the show, let’s talk about the protagonist of the whole Naruto franchise.
The cliché inspirational storyline where the hero that was hated by all and considered useless, who through his hard work and perseverance, rose to the top and became the Village Hokage.
Despite being the protagonist of the Franchise, Naruto isn’t the most favorite character for anyone. Maybe it’s because this highly optimistic, never-giving-up character was a bit overboard.
Nevertheless, he is the hero, and he deserves some credit as well.
Strength
This is a no-brainer, the biggest strength of Naruto, one of the most powerful shinobi has been his attitude.
I mean, the dude just doesn’t stop. You got to say, that is the reason he accomplished everything.
Naruto is the typical inspirational figure who sets the example and proves to us that you can chase your dream if you work hard for it.
Weakness
Like when I said that Rock Lee’s greatest weakness is that he was too diligent. I think Naruto’s weakness is his insatiable optimism. I don’t know if it is just me but I sometimes find Naruto annoyingly optimistic.
Isn’t it good to be optimistic?
Generally speaking, yes. But this guy shouts out from the roof with his ridiculous optimism and that is kind of annoying once you had enough.
Honestly, why I think it worked out for Naruto is because it was an anime. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that in real life.
Minato Namikaze
The greatest thing about Minato is that he got the least screen time in Naruto yet he managed to win all our hearts.
Well, they warned us he is fast, but I didn’t know the yellow flash was fast at winning hearts too.
Minato Namikaze being loved by everyone speaks a great volume about the impact of his character on the anime.
Strength
Again a powerful shinobi. Genuinely deserve to be the Hokage.
Despite all his abilities, I think what was Minato’s greatest strength is his brilliant mind.
No doubt he was smart. He scored the highest in the Chunin exam, which shows how smart the person is.
Without Minato, I don’t think the village had a chance in the Nine tale attack.
He saves the village by sacrificing his and Kushina’s life.
I mean think about it, Minato figured out the secret to Obito’s power and defeated him in like 10 minutes when the whole Team 7 took 2 episodes to even figure this out.
Without a doubt a remarkable guy.
Weakness
There isn’t much to complain about here.
If I gave Kakashi a pass, there is no doubt in giving Minato a clean record.
Shikamaru Nada
Shikamaru Nada, not the most powerful shinobi, not even the most accomplished one either. But I don’t think no one impressed us as much as Shikamaru with his intelligence.
He was a fun character, no doubt.
Maybe I got a weak spot for high intelligence. That is why I sneaked him into the list.
What I love about Shikamaru is his laziness. He is the one who made the most sense to me.
“What a drag” is the only dialogue that stayed with me after finishing Naruto, which speaks a lot about Shikamaru.
Strength
No need to waste our thoughts. The greatest strength of Shikamaru is his superior intelligence.
He is just too damn smart.
Every single fight he won, it not because of his strength but because of his intelligence.
I don’t think other shinobis were as successful as Shikamaru with just one Jutsu.
I still can’t believe he did everything with just his Shadow Imitation Technique.
Another thing I find great about Shikamaru is how great he is at understanding people. He is a great friend and comrade.
Weakness
I’m saying this with a heavy heart, but the weakness of Shikamaru is his laziness.
As much as I love his laziness, I have to agree that the only thing that kept him back was his laziness.
I think he could have accomplished so much if he wasn’t so lazy.
Wrap up
In this blog post, we have gone through some of my favorite Naruto characters. We talked about Itachi Uchiha, Rock Lee, Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Madara Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Minato Namikaze, and finally Shikamaru Nada.
We talked a bit about them, what I consider to their greatest strength and also their weakness.
Hope you find your favorite Naruto characters in the list and agree with
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