Bad Touch Yakushi
Active member
These are not my favourite ninja. Itachi, Hidan, Hanzo etc. aren't viable for best-written. I'm trying to make this list as objective as possible.
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1.Obito Uchiha / Tobi / 'Madara'
The Single biggest case of development in the series. No contest.
He may not be the most popular Uchiha nor the flashiest but in every single one of his forms we've met him in during the series he has been amazing. The best fights, the most relevant villain. He is the absolute most direct villain of the series, having a link to every main character and orphanising both Sasuke and Naruto, also leading them down different paths. The 'Rin' motivation is often underplayed as he directly states that Rin was a metaphor and born as an underdog without much family or power- having an icon of everything good with the world was enough for him to give up hope in it. Everytime we see him he has a new fighting style from introducing Truth-Seeking Orbs to Chains to explosives to the 6 Paths to Hax Kamui- he is godly in battle. And we feared him for a LONG time.
His defeat is the PEAK of this manga in terms of writing in my opinion and he comes a thousand miles in development- not just from Naruto's talk no jutsu. But with words from Sasuke, BZ, Madara, Kakashi and Minato too (NOT TO MENTION HIS OWN SUB-CONSCIOUS) Leading him to his redemption- Naruto and the alliance defeat him physically AND psychologically.
2. Kabuto Yakushi
A pathetic psychological villain. Whilst not having as much screentime as Obito, he is one of the earliest and final villains- sneakily taking himself to Rikudou level ability and ego. His snarky personality, plays dirty, intelligent & scheming, fun moveset, mental disorder & great character development all cement an amazing character just trying to find himself in a personality complex.
3. Tsunade
A independent and strong female in a Kishimoto shonen? exCUSE ME. Tsunade is relentlessly brave and self-sacrificing, will stand up to the strongest ninja and put up an awesome fight despite being a medical ninja even though she's hit some of the darkest points of the manga. She defends her village from Pain's nuke in a way no other Kage could've. MADARA UCHIHA DROPS A METEOR on an entire battlefield and her instant reaction is to riskily teleport there and face him herself. Stood up to Danzo & gets treated like sh*t by Kishi and the fanbase, but damn she's cool & I think you secretly know it. The best characters in fiction are the tired ones.
4. Shikamaru Nara
The most mature and intelligent characters in the series. Nerfed master strategists who come to terms with real adult ways of life. Still remains one of the most developed ninja even today. Less emo revenge themes than a certain Uchiha, standing up for an authorial role of leadership, brilliant fights, death of his Father, having to kill Sasuke, sealing away Edo Asuma etc etc. When something smart is said or a voice of actual reason speaks up to shut Naruto up, it's probably Shikamaru.
Did Kishi really write the Kakazu/Hidan arc? Seems too good to be true. For one arc only, Naruto Shippuden felt like a much, much better series.
5. Hashirama Senju
I didn't like Hashirama for years and years until the chapter of him begging the Kage to work together at the First Kage Summit. A godly powerful man, humbly begging on his knees for peace- the definition of 'the better man'. Similar to Madara he IS a rather shallow 'historical OP power showcase' but unlike Maddy, he isn't expected to carry an entire goddamn arc, plus avoiding the pitfalls of wank-able characters like Sasuke & Madara- he actually has a sense of humour underneath his role and power. He is a unique kind of lovable guy who a.) wasn't bittered by war and b.) isn't a copy/paste of Jiraiya and Naruto goofball. He just honestly seems like a nice guy who had this huge role in history.
That said, he's no messiah angel like Naruto either- he murdered in wars and had to throw aside his dream of building a village to unite everyone when it fell apart. His fighting style is...eh well i'm not a fan but this man basically put together the ninja world we know today- the role of Hokage and a village flawed as it was created a system of problems and interesting conflict. His relationship with Madara is amazing and proves himself to be far more genuine and interesting than him.
6. Naruto / Sasuke
They are essentially the same character repurposed in a different direction. The embodiment of Yin/Yang, these two nin are interesting and obviously bring the best fight and most screentime but Sasuke's development is largely internal (never shown to the audience) whilst Naruto is an absolute f*cking idiot. That's why these characters aren't as well-written as you may think- they're both shonen cliches to an absolute extreme but the reason they make the list is because of the changes that happen AROUND their characters.
For example: Naruto sees Zabuza's sacrifice, a man who was supposed to be his enemy doing something noble & selfless- witnessing this event Naruto creates his ninja way- understanding the fact that good is subjective. Sasuke similarly comes to terms with corruption, revenge and political structures whilst Naruto takes the path of messianic unity. Both very interesting concepts, if a bit unexplored.
7. Chouji Akamichi
Another underrated gem of a character. Chouji's personality and development makes him much more of a badass than any Uchiha.
I too at one point dismissed Chouji as the comedy relief fat guy but during the Jirobo fight was revealed to be a really kind and gentle character who could tank a suicide technique for his friends like a boss. In Shippuden he had even more development with the death of his sensei, near-death and being forced to fight the people he loves. Also he took out Asuma, Kakazu, Hiashi & went head to head with the Gedo Mazu statue. Cough.
8. Jiraiya / Orochimaru
Both fairly simple yet interesting for the same reason. Their motives are simple and they are set in their ways, they've clearly gone through much history themselves despite us never having to see the details of it and aged and mature- these are the two characters whose character development pushed them the furthest from birth to death. We meet them quite late in their lives so it's hard to appreciate Jiraiya's smiling goofball attitude despite having seen one of the darkest war-torn lifetimes or Orochimarus obsession with immortality to no end (also his possible current evil gameplan)
9. Danzo Shimura
Danzo represents everything mature about this series, the veers into political shadiness and actual governmental power constructs. He genuinely sees himself as noble yet commits terrible acts in his rule before being put down by a monster he created.
He's the actual interesting figure behind the Massacre and Uchiha conflict and whilst Itachi is wise- the character never develops or learns anything. He is not flawed and his presentation is masturbatory. Danzo is the real person of interest when it comes to their sub-plot.
10. Kakashi Hatake
Whilst i'm not a big fan- I have to admit that the tortured self-hating Jonin turned Hokage deserves placement on this list. He literally lost everything and yet the man still keeps going. Suicidal at the age of 16, but fights through wars and protects his village regardless. His fights are always entertaining (other than when he's spamming Kamui) and his relationship with Obito, Sasuke, Sai & Naruto is also interesting.
See: Naruto Movie 'The Will of Fire' & Kakashi ANBU & Kakashi Hiden
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1.Obito Uchiha / Tobi / 'Madara'
You must be registered for see images
The Single biggest case of development in the series. No contest.
He may not be the most popular Uchiha nor the flashiest but in every single one of his forms we've met him in during the series he has been amazing. The best fights, the most relevant villain. He is the absolute most direct villain of the series, having a link to every main character and orphanising both Sasuke and Naruto, also leading them down different paths. The 'Rin' motivation is often underplayed as he directly states that Rin was a metaphor and born as an underdog without much family or power- having an icon of everything good with the world was enough for him to give up hope in it. Everytime we see him he has a new fighting style from introducing Truth-Seeking Orbs to Chains to explosives to the 6 Paths to Hax Kamui- he is godly in battle. And we feared him for a LONG time.
His defeat is the PEAK of this manga in terms of writing in my opinion and he comes a thousand miles in development- not just from Naruto's talk no jutsu. But with words from Sasuke, BZ, Madara, Kakashi and Minato too (NOT TO MENTION HIS OWN SUB-CONSCIOUS) Leading him to his redemption- Naruto and the alliance defeat him physically AND psychologically.
2. Kabuto Yakushi
You must be registered for see images
A pathetic psychological villain. Whilst not having as much screentime as Obito, he is one of the earliest and final villains- sneakily taking himself to Rikudou level ability and ego. His snarky personality, plays dirty, intelligent & scheming, fun moveset, mental disorder & great character development all cement an amazing character just trying to find himself in a personality complex.
3. Tsunade
You must be registered for see images
A independent and strong female in a Kishimoto shonen? exCUSE ME. Tsunade is relentlessly brave and self-sacrificing, will stand up to the strongest ninja and put up an awesome fight despite being a medical ninja even though she's hit some of the darkest points of the manga. She defends her village from Pain's nuke in a way no other Kage could've. MADARA UCHIHA DROPS A METEOR on an entire battlefield and her instant reaction is to riskily teleport there and face him herself. Stood up to Danzo & gets treated like sh*t by Kishi and the fanbase, but damn she's cool & I think you secretly know it. The best characters in fiction are the tired ones.
4. Shikamaru Nara
You must be registered for see images
The most mature and intelligent characters in the series. Nerfed master strategists who come to terms with real adult ways of life. Still remains one of the most developed ninja even today. Less emo revenge themes than a certain Uchiha, standing up for an authorial role of leadership, brilliant fights, death of his Father, having to kill Sasuke, sealing away Edo Asuma etc etc. When something smart is said or a voice of actual reason speaks up to shut Naruto up, it's probably Shikamaru.
Did Kishi really write the Kakazu/Hidan arc? Seems too good to be true. For one arc only, Naruto Shippuden felt like a much, much better series.
5. Hashirama Senju
You must be registered for see images
I didn't like Hashirama for years and years until the chapter of him begging the Kage to work together at the First Kage Summit. A godly powerful man, humbly begging on his knees for peace- the definition of 'the better man'. Similar to Madara he IS a rather shallow 'historical OP power showcase' but unlike Maddy, he isn't expected to carry an entire goddamn arc, plus avoiding the pitfalls of wank-able characters like Sasuke & Madara- he actually has a sense of humour underneath his role and power. He is a unique kind of lovable guy who a.) wasn't bittered by war and b.) isn't a copy/paste of Jiraiya and Naruto goofball. He just honestly seems like a nice guy who had this huge role in history.
That said, he's no messiah angel like Naruto either- he murdered in wars and had to throw aside his dream of building a village to unite everyone when it fell apart. His fighting style is...eh well i'm not a fan but this man basically put together the ninja world we know today- the role of Hokage and a village flawed as it was created a system of problems and interesting conflict. His relationship with Madara is amazing and proves himself to be far more genuine and interesting than him.
6. Naruto / Sasuke
You must be registered for see images
They are essentially the same character repurposed in a different direction. The embodiment of Yin/Yang, these two nin are interesting and obviously bring the best fight and most screentime but Sasuke's development is largely internal (never shown to the audience) whilst Naruto is an absolute f*cking idiot. That's why these characters aren't as well-written as you may think- they're both shonen cliches to an absolute extreme but the reason they make the list is because of the changes that happen AROUND their characters.
For example: Naruto sees Zabuza's sacrifice, a man who was supposed to be his enemy doing something noble & selfless- witnessing this event Naruto creates his ninja way- understanding the fact that good is subjective. Sasuke similarly comes to terms with corruption, revenge and political structures whilst Naruto takes the path of messianic unity. Both very interesting concepts, if a bit unexplored.
7. Chouji Akamichi
You must be registered for see images
Another underrated gem of a character. Chouji's personality and development makes him much more of a badass than any Uchiha.
I too at one point dismissed Chouji as the comedy relief fat guy but during the Jirobo fight was revealed to be a really kind and gentle character who could tank a suicide technique for his friends like a boss. In Shippuden he had even more development with the death of his sensei, near-death and being forced to fight the people he loves. Also he took out Asuma, Kakazu, Hiashi & went head to head with the Gedo Mazu statue. Cough.
8. Jiraiya / Orochimaru
You must be registered for see images
Both fairly simple yet interesting for the same reason. Their motives are simple and they are set in their ways, they've clearly gone through much history themselves despite us never having to see the details of it and aged and mature- these are the two characters whose character development pushed them the furthest from birth to death. We meet them quite late in their lives so it's hard to appreciate Jiraiya's smiling goofball attitude despite having seen one of the darkest war-torn lifetimes or Orochimarus obsession with immortality to no end (also his possible current evil gameplan)
9. Danzo Shimura
You must be registered for see images
Danzo represents everything mature about this series, the veers into political shadiness and actual governmental power constructs. He genuinely sees himself as noble yet commits terrible acts in his rule before being put down by a monster he created.
He's the actual interesting figure behind the Massacre and Uchiha conflict and whilst Itachi is wise- the character never develops or learns anything. He is not flawed and his presentation is masturbatory. Danzo is the real person of interest when it comes to their sub-plot.
10. Kakashi Hatake
You must be registered for see images
Whilst i'm not a big fan- I have to admit that the tortured self-hating Jonin turned Hokage deserves placement on this list. He literally lost everything and yet the man still keeps going. Suicidal at the age of 16, but fights through wars and protects his village regardless. His fights are always entertaining (other than when he's spamming Kamui) and his relationship with Obito, Sasuke, Sai & Naruto is also interesting.
See: Naruto Movie 'The Will of Fire' & Kakashi ANBU & Kakashi Hiden
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