Naruto vs. Kakashi: Who Is Stronger & Would Win in a Fight?

As you probably know by now, the world of Naruto has provided us with a series of brilliant fights that became – some of them, at least – trademark moments of the whole show. It is a known fact that the characters of the Naruto franchise are excellent and powerful fighters, and even though not all of them faced each other, we can still speculate and analyze potential match-ups. In this article, we will talk about a match-up involving Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki, two highly-important characters from the series. In this article, you’ll find out who the more powerful character is and who would win in a fight.

Naruto Uzumaki has, at one point, surpassed Kakashi Hatake, his former mentor. Kakashi is a character who is always able to come up with a plan in a fight, but Naruto’s power and experience become such that he surpasses Kakashi. Still, after losing Kurama, the situation became less clear, so it is unknown if Naruto could still defeat Kakashi without Kurama; with Kurama, he would certainly win.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer as we will compare Naruto and Kakashi in more detail. Through several categories, you will see who the stronger of the two is and why our answer is like it is, i.e., why we think that Naruto surpassed Kakashi’s level of power, but also why we think that the situation is now less clear now that Naruto has lost Kurama.

Chakra and physical powers

Naruto is a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan and boasts incredible stamina and vitality. He won’t even age as much as others. It has been noted on several occasions that Naruto possesses a chakra capacity of exceptional proportions, thanks to his being a Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails earlier in the story, making his amounts of chakra four times greater than those of a Jōnin level ninja-like Kakashi, after his training with Jiraiya; still, he lost a large chunk of that power after Kurama died.

He also possesses a very accelerated regeneration (partly thanks to Kurama’s power), allowing him to recover from minor or serious injuries in a matter of seconds or days, respectively.

Kakashi is a natural genius, evidenced by the fact that he graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of five, became a Chūnin at six and a Jonin at thirteen, and had a long career at ANBU. During his career as a ninja, he has learned more than a thousand techniques (mainly by copying them through the Sharingan), being a Konoha expert in said field. His chakra level experiences a large increase between the first and second parts, increasing the number of times he can use Raikiri per day (six times), with the addition that he has enough Chakra left to use his Mangekyō Sharingan.

He is frequently entrusted with important tasks (such as keeping an eye on Naruto in case the Nine-Tailed Fox’s seal begins to fail), eventually rising to assume the position of Hokage.

And while we cannot deny that Naruto actually surpassed Kakashi at one point, the fact that he lost Kurama makes this one less clear.

Points: Naruto 1, Kakashi 1

Ninjutsu

The only technique Naruto could master in the Academy had no purpose other than to shock people – the Sexy Technique. Later, Jiraiya taught him more sophisticated and practical ninjutsu. He used toads from Mount Myboku and other creatures to smash his adversaries. He mastered shurikenjutsu and was able to throw weapons swiftly and precisely.

Naruto’s skill set grew to include finjutsu, which allowed him to conceal his weapons in scrolls. When he acquired Gerotora at the outset of the Fourth Shinobi World War, his finjutsu was significantly enhanced.

Due to his Sharingan, from which Kakashi is reported to have copied a thousand techniques, Kakashi primarily relies on his proficiency in Ninjutsu. He has a wide range of options for both attacking and defending against opponents with this armament.

He has additionally demonstrated outstanding Genjutsu abilities. Because of his demonstrated proficiency in Taijutsu and his amazing speed, he has successfully caught his opponents off guard and dodged blows.

This is also a category that is not completely clear, as Naruto’s ninjutsu is on a very similar level to Kakashi’s.

Points: Naruto 2, Kakashi 2

Dōjutsu

Naruto started training with Fukasaku on Mount Myboku to study Senjutsu and how to enter Sage Mode after Nagato killed Jiraiya. Naruto learned to recognize and manage the Natural Energy all around him in order to do this.

Once perfected, Naruto may cast the Rasen Shuriken and learn the Kata of the Toads, a form of Taijutsu that uses ambient energy to increase the reach and potency of the user’s blows. Overall, Naruto’s physical talents are greatly improved in Sage Mode to the point where he can easily launch creatures that are considerably bigger than himself, such as the Animal Path Giant Rhinoceros and Kurama.

Interestingly, Obito Uchiha gave Kakashi his Sharingan. Thanks to this ability, he could conduct Genjutsu, see through Genjutsu, replicate any jutsu, and anticipate his opponent’s motions. However, since Kakashi lacks Uchiha blood, he cannot deactivate the Dojutsu and suffers severe Chakra loss when utilizing it. Others who are skilled users have praised him for his amazing mastery, including Obito and Sasuke, who admitted that although the power was borrowed, he had totally mastered it.

By creating his own Mangekyo Sharingan, Kakashi improved his Sharingan even more. Through the use of this eye technique, objects can be drawn into it or even have sections torn off of them and transported to another dimension.

Kakashi’s skills, as far as the Dōjutsu techniques are concerned, have become worse over the years, so we give this final point to Naruto.

Points: Naruto 3, Kakashi 2

Naruto would have beaten Kakashi, but now that Kurama’s gone… it’s not that simple

The points demonstrated how complex the situation was, and we can only confirm that it is. Had Naruto not lost Kurama, we would have given him this victory, and Kakashi himself would have, we’re sure of it, agreed with us. But now that Naruto doesn’t have Kurama anymore, he is much closer to Kakashi once again, so we cannot really determine the winner easily.