Naruto has always been strong without the tail beast. People just hate on Naruto for learning to use his power that comes from the 10 tails even thought they like other characters for using powers that comes from the 10 tails.
If Naruto was weak like some people claim then when a weaken Naruto fought Kakuzu. He wouldn't have survived his first clash with Naruto because Naruto miscalculated how long he could maintain his incomplete jutsu.