Naruto Uzumaki, the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village, one of the most popular characters in anime and manga, and - perhaps most importantly - Boruto’s dad; is incredibly strong within his franchise and by shonen protagonist standards in general. His rigorous training, mastery of a mystical fighting style, and command over Tailed Beast chakra allows him to battle even the strongest of enemies in the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, there are only a handful of characters who even come close to Naruto in of fighting prowess.
Granted, the orange ninja wasn’t always so strong that he can destroy what are basically deities. Like so many other shonen anime and manga protagonists, Naruto started out as an underdog ostracized by most of his community and with the few people who knew him well expecting very little of him. However, this widespread disregard became a source of inspiration for Naruto, and he began training tirelessly so that everyone in the Hidden Leaf Village could not dismiss his skill and power. After more than a decade of watching Naruto strive to obtain a power others could not ignore and making dozens of meaningful relationships in the process, it is undeniable that he has reached his goal - and then some.
Updated on March 21st, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: The audience for shonen anime can excuse overpowered traits in a lot of their favorite characters. After all, watching the characters grow into strong fighters is part of the fun. Characters like Naruto Uzumaki, however, make a journey from class clown to someone revered as a god in the span of a few short years. Even in the Boruto series, Naruto is revealed to access to some pretty massive power still as the new generation of shinobi grow around him.
Baryon Mode
Introduced in the Boruto series, this particular power-up is something Naruto didn't initially know he could do. That's because it comes at a huge cost to the , and it's only accessible to the jinchuriki housing Kurama. Baryon Mode fuses Kurama's chakra with his jinchuriki's, in this case, Naruto. The fusion creates a whole new form of energy for the two to use as the chakra makes Naruto stronger, faster, and deadlier to an opponent. The cost of using Baryon Mode, however, is incredibly high. Naruto agrees to use it when Kurama warns him it will end in death because he sees no other option. In reality, however, it doesn't end in the death of the jinchuriki, but the Tailed Beast inside of them.
Rapid Healing
Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Kurama have a kind of symbiotic relationship. As the Tailed-Beast is sealed inside of Naruto, Kurama greatly improves Naruto’s healing abilities because of the harm he might endure if Naruto were to suffer lethal injuries. This healing boost allows Naruto to rapidly recover from most lacerations and puncture wounds in a matter of minutes. While this power doesn’t give Naruto an immunity to poisons or heal quickly enough to nullify damage, it does let him get back into fighting shape much more quickly than most other ninjas.
Flight
Yes, Naruto's powers include flying. Naruto gains the ability to fly shortly before the conclusion of the original series. When he combines the power he gained from the Sage of the Six Paths with his own abilities, he is able to fly through the air without exerting any effort. This power is pivotal in his final battle against Kaguya, as it allows him to attack the cosmic being from multiple angles and to more easily navigate the many hazardous environments she warps to. Even if this power does not appear very often in the series, and it’s not super clear if Naruto is still capable of flight, it’s an incredibly useful power nonetheless.
Super Strength
Naruto can hit people really, really hard. A general level of superhuman strength is pretty common in anime and the world of Naruto, but Naruto’s physical strength far exceeds most other characters in the series. Especially after learning to control natural energy and convincing Kurama to work with him, Naruto is able to destroy even the strongest structures with his bare hands. While some characters do exceed Naruto’s physical strength and fisticuffs become less of a factor in fights as the series goes on, this orange ninja’s tremendous brute strength is almost unfair.
Inhuman Speed
Like a lot of ninja in the series, Naruto can move incredibly quickly. However, unlike most of the characters who do the infamous Naruto run, Naruto can move so quickly that it almost appears as though he’s teleporting.
After gaining access to Kurama’s vast pool of chakra, Naruto can move so quickly that only the most skilled or gifted of enemies are even able to follow his movements. This enhanced speed allows Naruto to quickly incapacitate even the most renowned ninja in history during the Fourth Great Ninja War and accomplish what hundreds of other ninjas could not.
Sage Mode
After learning how to gather and control natural energy from mystical toads, Naruto became able to enter Sage Mode. This technique greatly enhances all of his physical abilities so he can take on foes that are otherwise far outside of his abilities. He was able to defeat four of the six paths of Pain thanks to Sage Mode, and can combine it with his other transformations to further boost his power. While other characters in the series come to utilize their own version of Sage Mode, Naruto's use of the transformation along with his other powers make him practically unbeatable.
Enhanced Danger Senses
One of the greatest benefits of Sage Mode is that it allows a to more easily sense chakra and the danger that hidden or speedy attacks pose to them. Naruto is able to use Sage Mode to track down enemies and easily avoided blindingly fast attacks because he can sense it ahead of time. This lets him defeat the incredibly powerful Third Kazekage and defend against Pain’s coordinated attacks. This power may not be the most offensively useful, but it has tremendous defensive and tracking capabilities, which is terrifically useful in the shadowy world of ninjas.
Frog Kata
Another benefit of Sage Mode is the Frog Kata fighting style. This technique greatly enhances the range of Naruto’s physical attacks, by creating a mass of chakra around it. This means that he is able to strike an opponent even if they dodge his punch, because the energy surrounding his fist is dense enough to also inflict damage. This is a tremendously overpowered ability considering the speed of Naruto’s attacks and that most of his opponents are only able to dodge it by a hair’s breadth anyway. These invisible attacks make Naruto way tougher to fight than the vast majority of other ninjas.
Nine Tails Chakra Mode
After defeating the Demon Fox Kurama and then later forming a friendly relationship with him, Naruto is able to enter the Nine Tails Chakra Mode. This transformation coats Naruto in a golden aura, greatly enhances his physical abilities, and allows him to manipulate an inhumane amount of extremely powerful chakra. Gaining this transformation instantly made Naruto one of the strongest characters in the entire series, and allows him to take on even the most dangerous of enemies at only a fraction of his full strength. Considering that he is one of the few people in the series with access to this kind of ability, it is the definition of overpowered.
The Rasengan
The Rasengan is an extremely powerful attack that Naruto learned from his father’s teacher, Jiraiya. By rotating chakra gathered on his palm at an incredible speed, the Rasengan allows Naruto to inflict an incredible amount of damage onto an opponent in an incredibly short amount of time. The concentrated destructive force of the Rasengan is almost unrivaled in Naruto, and it allows the titular ninja to defeat powerful opponents in spaces where he could not perform his large-scale attacks. This technique is one of Naruto’s most well-known for a reason, and it is nothing short of one of the most powerful jutsu in the series.
