Minato vs. Itachi: Who Wins the Fight & How?

The Uchiha Clan is very specific in the world of Masahi Kishimoto’s Naruto. It was massacred by its own kin and left only with a few surviving members. Itachi Uchiha massacred his own clan, sparing only his younger brother, Sasuke. And while Itachi is going to be the focus of this article, we are not going to compare him to Sasuke, but rather to another very powerful character, Minato Namikaze, who is known for being Naruto’s dad, as well as the fourth Hokage. If you want to find out who wins in this match-up between Minato and Itachi, keep reading!

Regardless of all his powers and talent, Itachi would by all means not be able to defeat Minato. Minato was a skilled and experienced shinobi who was near the level of both Hashirama and Madara Uchiha, whilst Itachi was not that close. Itachi might have reached that level had he lived longer, but there is no way we can know that. From what is known, Minato’s skills surpass Itachi’s.

Now that you have the short version of the answer, the rest of the article is going to be divided into three sections, with the first two introducing the characters, their powers, and their abilities. In the end, we’re going to give our final verdict and explanation on why Minato is stronger than Itachi and why that is quite obvious.

Chakra and physical prowess

As the swiftest shinobi of his era, Minato was praised. He could easily outrun three other Kage-level ninjas and engage an enemy or recover an ally before anyone realized what he was doing. Minato could cover a significant distance in a short amount of time and execute a technique even before an opponent could complete his. This recognition was partly due to his Space-Time Ninjutsu. Because to his quick reflexes, Minato was able to grasp Naruto and save him from being stabbed by Tobi. He was also quick enough to avoid Tobi’s Kamui attack.

His speed was often compared with that of A or Naruto in his Kyūbi Chakra Mode. A admitted that even with his Raiton Chakra Mode, which enhances his already immense speed and reflexes, that he was still too slow against Minato. Even when his brother helped him, he was unable to get hold of him. Minato had large reserves of chakra, capable of summoning Gamabunta, as well as teleporting Demon Orbs or a Bijū. He had absolutely amazing Chakra control abilities, as was evidenced through the creation of the Rasengan, as well as him being able to do one-handed seals.

Itachi Uchiha demonstrated extraordinary qualities from a young age, such as his intellect and exceptional talent for all ninja disciplines. He managed to graduate from the ninja academy at the young age of 7, become a Chūnin at age 10, and be an ANBU squad captain at age 13. He was also admired by the teachers, who ensured that his progress needed no help. It’s hard to name all of his accomplishments, but that can’t be said to measure Itachi’s true ability.

His true potential could only be understood by those who approached his level. In the few battles he was seen participating in, he proved to be an incredibly strong ninja, managing to defeat a large number of powerful shinobi with great ease. Despite his modesty regarding his abilities, his Akatsuki teammate Kisame Hoshigaki, as well as Orochimaru, recognized that Itachi was much stronger than them. Even Obito said that Itachi never ceased to amaze him, even when he was dead.

Itachi is a character with amazing potential, but due to the fact that we haven’t been able to see this potential, we have to give the point to Minato. Minato’s Chakra is absolutely over the top, just like Naruto’s, and there is no doubt that he surpasses Itachi in this category.

Points: Minato 1, Itachi 0

Ninjutsu

Jiraiya taught Minato how to summon toads using the summoning technique. Minato was one of the select few to get Gamabunta’s esteem and entire cooperation. Additionally, he may summon Summon – Destruction of Shops once he defeated Kybi with Gamabunta. He was able to develop the Scarlet-Faced Cube alongside the previous Hokages thanks to his proficiency in barrier ninjutsu. Minato was a skilled sensory nin who could recognize chakra signatures even at considerable distances. By placing his finger on the ground, he could detect everyone nearby for closer targets. In addition to releasing Yin and Yang, Minato was skilled in chakra natures of the Katon, Futon, and Raiton types.

Itachi was a great connoisseur of all the techniques of the Uchiha Clan, especially the capabilities of the Sharingan. He could use high-level ninjutsu, such as the Great Clone Blast. Crows were a common motif both in his ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques. For example, he could create a clone that split into large numbers of crows, which would then assault the opponent with various shurikens.

Also, he could summon ravens to use as a distraction. Itachi was also a common user of the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Crow Clone Jutsu. During his battle with Sasuke, when they were continuously performing a shuriken attack, Itachi was able to create a shadow clone and attack his brother with it. As an experienced member of the Uchiha Clan, Itachi was a great user of the Fire Release.

He knew jutsu like the flames of the phoenix or the great ball of fire, a jutsu characteristic of his clan. He was also shown to be a user of the Water Release, whereby he could use jutsu such as the Water Dragon Missile jutsu without needing to be near pre-existing water. As a fully trained ANBU from Konoha, Itachi was also proficient in Kenjutsu, mainly demonstrated in his battle with Kabuto Yakushi after being reincarnated. Itachi also had great skill with Fūinjutsu, as seen when he performed the Transcription Seal: Amaterasu on Sasuke just moments before his death.

We have decided to split the points in this category simply to honor Itachi’s legacy within the Uchiha clan. Sure, Minato might have learned from Jiraiya and was thus an amazing shinobi and a connoisseur of various ninjitsu techniques, but Itachi mastered everything that his clan could give him and much more and that needs to be acknowledged.

Points: Minato 2, Itachi 1

Senjutsu / Dōjutsu

Minato is able to use Senjutsu as shown during his fight against Madara but his attempt fails. The circumstances of his Senjutsu’s activation are unknown but it is known that he managed to activate it without the help of Fukasaku and Shima. Never having used it in real combat, Minato seems unable to master this technique for very long. In addition, he explained to Kakashi that he couldn’t mix his chakra properly and that it was taking him too long. However, Minato does not appear to have any partial toad transformation as was the case with Jiraiya. His eyes become identical to Naruto’s namely a pupil having the shape of a horizontal stick.

As Itachi was born into the Uchiha Clan he was able to develop his clan’s Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan. However, unlike the other members, Itachi was able to awaken him at the young age of 8, being considered one of the most skilled of his clan. Like all carriers of this Dojutsu, Itachi could use its capabilities, but to a high degree, being able to attack three Sharingan-carrying ninjas in a second. This shinobi was mainly characterized by having the ability to study his opponent’s movements from a long distance and respond quickly, almost always using genjutsu. Like all Sharingan wielders, he was capable of inducing his enemies with mere eye contact. Furthermore, he had trained his eyes so much, that he was able to have the Sharingan activated for a long period of time with minimal chakra drain.

These two categories aren’t wholly comparable and while Minato wasn’t perfect in his Senjutsu skills, it was still enough for us to give him the point here, as the Senjutsu techniques he possesses are actually more powerful than Itachi’s Dōjutsu.

Points: Minato 3, Itachi 1

Intelligence

Minato has shown to be very intuitive and intelligent from an early age, such is the case that he holds the highest score in the written test in the entire history of the Chūnin Exams, ahead of Itachi Uchiha, another genius from his childhood. Of the many ninjas sent to save Kushina from the Kumogakure kidnappers, Minato was the only one to notice Kushina’s trail of hair. After seeing a technique once, he was able to correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind it, such as the strengths and weaknesses of Kakashi’s Chidori or how Obito’s Kamui worked. During difficult battles, he was still able to maintain his stance, analytzing the situation and coming up with a proper plan of action.

Since he was a child, Itachi had a keen sense and awareness of what was going on around him. He was also endowed with the innate skill to perceive a person’s nature. It was because of this that Itachi took great interest in the history of the town and what his ancestors left behind. Due to his way of thinking, he was never bound by the limited view of the ‘clan’ but actually thought of the village as a whole. Also, in Hiruzen’s words, it was noted that at the age of seven, his reasoning was already at the level of a Hokage. Itachi was shown to be analytical and insightful, being able to deduce the inner workings and weaknesses of powerful techniques, even under pressure.

He staged his battle against Sasuke to achieve his desired results and even took into account the possibility that his plan was not going as he intended, preparing countermeasures for it by sealing his powers inside Sasuke and placing a special crow inside Naruto. The first of these measures was in case Tobi could come into contact with Sasuke, having transcribed Amaterasu into Sasuke’s eyes in an attempt to kill him when he was off guard. This led the masked man to realize that if he hadn’t kept some secrets from Itachi, he would have died from his latest trap.

What we know in this category is two things: Itachi was one of the most intelligent characters in the series, and Minato was one of the wisest Hokage in the series. Since there is no scale through which we could objectively compare these two in this category, we have decided to split the points.

Points: Minato 4, Itachi 2

Minato Namikaze vs. Itachi Uchiha: Who would win?

And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.

Comparing Naruto’s dad with Itachi was, by no means, an easy task. Both of them were highly skilled and versatile shinobi, but while one got to flourish and gain a lot of experience, the other had his life cut short by an unnamed illness. We never really got to see the true potential of Itachi Uchiha, although we do know that he was considered to be one of the most talented and potentially most powerful shinobi in the series. But this is just a hypothesis as we never really got to experience Itachi in full.

The result of that fact is that we cannot really talk about a hypothetical Itachi, but rather about an Itachi we know and that Itachi is not as strong as Minato. As Jiraiya’s student – and we know that Jiraiya is stronger than Itachi – Minato was somewhere around Madara’s level, which is above Itachi’s level of power. The numbers have also confirmed that as Minato beats Itachi in all important categories.

Due to his immense Chakra reserves, as well as the fact that he knows more techniques than Itachi, Minato is the clear winner in this duel. Sure, fans of Itachi might argue otherwise, but there is really nothing that Itachi has that Minato, being able to seal off Kurama, would not be able to handle and counter properly.