Rock Lee vs. Sasuke: Who Would Win in a Fight & Why?

As you probably know by now, the worlds of Naruto and Boruto have provided us with a series of brilliant fights that became – some of them, at least – trademark moments of the whole show. Now, some of these fights are interesting enough for us to discuss them here, and we have decided to tell you about the intriguing fight that happened between Sasuke Uchiha and Rock Lee during the plot of Naruto. You’re going to find out when it happened and who won the fight.

Although Rock Lee defeated Sasuke during the Chūnin Exams and has greatly improved as a fighter, Sasuke Uchiha is the more powerful shinobi of the two. Lee defeated a young Sasuke who had not yet activated most of his powers, but Sasuke, at his peak, would easily win against Rock Lee, despite the fact that Lee is a truly formidable fighter.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we will compare Rock Lee and Sasuke Uchiha 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 Rock Lee would, according to our analysis, lose to Sasuke in the end.

Chakra and physical powers

By the time he was 13, Lee had had extensive taijutsu instruction and was virtually a master of the Gōken fighting style. Even though Sasuke was able to anticipate his actions with the Sharingan in their first fight, his body wasn’t quick enough to react to them. His power was sufficient to dig up a large tree root from the earth. As part of his training, Lee wore substantial ankle weights throughout the battle and improved his speed when they were knocked off, enabling him to become the first person to kick around Gaara’s Sand Shield.

Sasuke possesses large amounts of Chakra, being able to perform a strong Fire Release technique at a young age. In the second part, his Chakra levels increased tremendously, summoning a giant snake-like Manda and using Chidori multiple times in a single day, a big change considering that he could only perform it twice a day before.

As far as this category is concerned, Sasuke definitely wins this one. Sure, Rock Lee is a good and powerful fighter, but Sasuke’s chakra reserves are truly amazing, and we cannot but award him the point.

Points: Rock Lee 0, Sasuke 1

Ninjutsu

As far as his ninjutsu skills are concerned, Rock Lee has consistently been given low marks in that category. If you look at his official guidebooks stats, you’ll see that he always earned a very low 0.5 grade in the category of ninjutsu, which is why we don’t actually have anything specific to add here, as far as Lee is concerned.

Orochimaru taught Sasuke the power to summon snakes, as the Uchiha could summon snakes just like Manda. After absorbing Orochimaru, Sasuke had access to Orochimaru’s regeneration powers, that is, the Power of the White Serpent; which allowed him to heal at a much faster rate than usual. He was also able to use snakes so that they could come out of any part of his body. After the match against Itachi Uchiha, the Cursed Seal was permanently removed from Sasuke, implying that he also lost these additional powers.

Sasuke demonstrates his great skill in controlling fire jutsu, which is common in the Uchiha Clan. At the age of 7, he had already mastered the complicated Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique and possibly the Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique. He later invented the Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique. Even for such a feat which, according to him, Genin normally requires much more experience and chakra developing elemental fire techniques.

Due to the fact that Rock Lee is truly weak when it comes to Ninjutsu, we have to, without much afterthought, give Sasuke this point as well, as he is a very skilled ninjutsu user.

Points: Rock Lee 0, Sasuke 2

Eight Gates / Dōjutsu

Rock Lee does not possess any eye techniques, but he does possess a similarly unique and powerful technique, the Eight Gates. The Eight Gates are not a technique in the full sense of the word, but they are as similar to Sasuke’s eye techniques as you can get from this point of view. Even the most skilled ninja struggle to open the first six of the Eight Chakra Gates, which Lee has learned to do through Guy’s teachings. The first time Kakashi witnessed Lee open the doors, he declared that he was a master just because he managed to do so. Lee can only open the gates under specific conditions due to the threat they provide to the body (for example, life and death situations, protecting a loved one, or defending his way from the ninja).

With the basic Sharingan, he managed to save himself from Itachi’s Tsukuyomi to dialogue with the Fox in Naruto’s mind and to subdue the king of gods. Manda snakes. With the hypnotic Sharingan, he was able to immobilize Killer Bee, some samurai, and Shi, as well as create an illusion similar to his brother’s technique with which he distracted Danzo. After obtaining the Rinnegan, Sasuke’s ability in genjutsu increases to the point of subduing all nine hunters with a single glance. Like all Uchiha, he has a natural predisposition for the fire-type chakra, learning the supreme fireball technique at the age of seven, and later also learns how to use the lightning-type chakra, learning from Kakashi the Chidori and creating numerous variations.

And while Rock Lee does have a powerhouse thing with the Eight Gates, Sasuke’s abilities with the Dōjutsu are simply amazing, even after he has lost some of these abilities over time, so Sasuke gets this point as well.

Points: Rock Lee 0, Sasuke 3

Taijutsu

Due to his extremely low tolerance for alcohol, Lee is predisposed to the Suiken style by nature. When Lee merely ingests even one drop of alcohol, he transforms into an erratic, virtually unstoppable force of destruction and mayhem that will attack anybody, ally or foe. He has a significant increase in speed and agility. As a result, enabling him to strike and evade effectively from various postures. Lee’s assault patterns with the Suiken eventually overpowered Kimimaro, one of Orochimaru’s most formidable followers, who noted that they were too unpredictable to follow.

Although not his favorite style of combat, Sasuke’s taijutsu skills were quite high from the very beginning of the series. This was first demonstrated in the rattles test with Kakashi, who was so surprised that he couldn’t even read the Icha Icha paradise while he was fending off the attacks. After mastering the training in the trees, he engaged Haku in a taijutsu match, easily outpacing him and blocking his attacks, forcing the masked man to make use of the ice crystals. His abilities drastically improved after his first encounter with Rock Lee.

Even in this category, where Rock Lee has a very powerful taijutsu technique, Sasuke surpasses him because, with time, he has increased his taijutsu skills to surpass Lee’s.

Points: Rock Lee 0, Sasuke 4

Rock Lee vs. Sasuke Uchiha: Who would win?

Sasuke Uchiha is stronger than Rock Lee. While Lee won during their first fight when they were young, it was an inexperienced Sasuke, and Rock Lee benefited from that. As time passed, both Lee and Sasuke evolved, but Sasuke’s evolution was much faster and more far-reaching, which is what the points also reflect. And that is why Sasuke wins this one.