Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25409224-20140913064011/@comment-24649454-20140928233412

At the end of Part 1 we all know Sasuke was stronger but that means nothing given how it was 3.5~4 years ago. (They were both 13 then and are both 17 now with Naruto turning 17 today) So just looking at Part 2, we see that Sasuke was vastly superior to Naruto during their 1st encounter and later on he even killed Orochimaru, (Admittedly Oro was in a weakened state but he managed to out genjutsu him with just his Sharingan long before getting MS, EMS, or his version of the Rinnegan) while Naruto under Kurama's influence (4 tailed version 2 -while acting like a wild beast due to his lack of control- ) was unable to defeat Oro whom was still in a weakened state but not as weak as when Sasuke killed him. Between their next encounters Sasuke got a lot of experience against Deidara whom he defeated whilst slightly fatigued having not rested properly following his fights against Oro and Jugo due to his strong desire to find Itachi (though his win was less of him overpowering Deidara but more form out-defending him, -but he did indeed outclass him in every way par the final suicide bomb- ) He again showed his awesome prowess in genjutsu here in how he survived by using Manda after forcing him into submission with his Sharingan, not to mention confusing Deidara with it on multiple occasions. Next he finally fought Itachi but Itachi let him win so it's hard to talk about this fight except for the fact that Kirin is clearly a very powerful attack (I don't understand why he never used it since tbh, it doesn't have that long of a set-up time) and that in the process he lost his Cursed Seal mark along with Orochimaru's chakra that he'd absorbed, but those decreases in his power were more than made up for by his new MS. Next he fought Bee whom initially outclassed him but after turning to his MS, Sasuke was able to fight some what more evenly. This fight is again hard to discuss in terms of progression as it was 4 vs 1 and neither side was fighting at their full potential to begin with as Bee was just having fun initially and Sasuke was told to bring Bee to Tobi alive. Later in the fight Sasuke forces Bee to get serious and turn into Gyuki after using a Gyuki enhanced Lariat to severely harm Sasuke. Suigetsu is able to use large body of water to put up some resistance to Bee showing that Bee isn't massively over powerful in comparison to the other members of Taka. Sasuke then uses Amaterasu which seemed effective but Bee used a substitute to escape by using part of a tentacle Sasuke had cut off Gyuki earlier in the battle. (Had he been hit though I think he would have had a hard time surviving so I wouldn't say Bee was much stronger than Sasuke if at all at this point especially given Sasuke's inexperience with MS at this point) Next up was Sasuke's massacre of a ton of Samarai using mainly just his sword showing his Taijutsu and Kenjutsu prowess. Following this he fought for a while on par with many of the Kage only to be caught out eventually when faced with fatigue and the Dust Release from Onoki. This in my opinion shows that he is stronger than any of the Kage and could defeat any one of them in a 1 vs 1. The Raikage did crack his Susanoo's ribcage but this was the weakest form of Susanoo, when it wasn't even fully formed. Before properly recovering he then fought Danzo, unlocking his full-sized Susanoo and killing Danzo numerous times due to his Izanagi. Here he again showed his ability with genjutsu and continues to show his vast Chakra and durability not to mention his increasing familiarity with using his MS. He works out the effects of Izanagi mostly from first principles showing his intellect and his great perceptive abilities. Finally we have Kakashi who puts up little resistance to Sasuke who is already exhausted, with Kakashi being mostly on the defensive until the fight is interrupted and Naruto takes over...

As for Naruto he went into training mode following his encounter with Sasuke, noting the difference in their power had seemingly increased despite all his training over the past 2.5 years. He manages to learn of his Wind nature and apply it to his Rasengan before rushing to help fight against Kakuzu where he showed good chakra control even though he needed Yamato to alter his chakra flow to pull off the collaboration jutsu they used when first arriving. Following this, Naruto's next big fight was against Pain where showed off his new Sage Mode which was able to vastly increase his strength and double his Chakra levels through nature energy. He also showed his vast battle experience by using tactics and strategy during the battle showing a growth in his maturity levels but ultimately his initial lack of sustainability in Sage Mode led to him almost losing until he gave in to his rage and turned 6 tails followed by 8 tails before having his seal re-closed by Minato. He then went on to defeat Pain's Deva path however, without any aid from Kurama. (Though it has been stated that the seal was designed so some of Kurama's Chakra is always mixing with Naruto's. Naruto's next big fight was however against...Sasuke...meaning Sasuke had 3 times as many big fights between their last encounter and now.

This was I feel evident in this fight as an exhausted Sasuke was still able to hold his own against a fully fit Sage Mode Naruto (which he seems to have better use of now) without the use of Susanoo showing that Sasuke was still the superior of the 2.

Obviously a lot has happened since then, with Sasuke obtaining Itachi's eyes giving him the EMS, enhancing all of his own MS techniques and supposedly bestowing Itachi's onto him as well. (But since they had near enough the same techniques it's hard to tell) It also seemingly gives him an increase in Chakra and control over his EMS, not to mention lessening the amount of Chakra needed to use his EMS. I feel that the fight against Kabuto also showed that had Sasuke and Itachi not been trying to just restrain him and were going for the kill, he would have been able to beat Kabuto 1 vs 1.

Naruto clearly progressed more than Sasuke during the war, fighting many more opponents including several Edo Tensei Kage, Ay, Nagato, Madara and Obito. Before joining the war he also learnt basic control over Kurama which later he improved by befriending Kurama putting his current level of control on par with that of his mentor: Bee. The fact that he only has half of Kurama's Chakra is made up for by having Chakra from all the other Bijuu with his Kurama Mode seemingly enhanced by unconsciously using an Avatar in conjunction with his Kurama transformation similar to Ashura's Avatar. In this Mode I feel Naruto's Sage Mode makes little difference as the increase in Chakra is only really needed due to his fatigue and in a single fight I don't see him exhausting his regular Chakra supply and the other benefits of Sage Mode are now minimal due to the current power of Naruto's Kurama Mode, only being effective really against Obito, similar to Sasuke's Jugo Sage Mode enhanced Susanoo. After that Hagoromo states that he gives Sasuke and Naruto equal power so that can almost be ignored in terms of making the 2 stronger in comparison to each other...but we won't ignore it.

I would therefore say that until the war, Sasuke was stronger but after it began, Naruto got more of a power up making them about equal assuming they both go all out in the final fight, ignoring what I think will happen due to plot and allowing them to start in peak condition I would just edge slightly in Sasuke's favour based on his mentality being more 'clinical' than Naruto's and him being more intellectual and skillful in terms of Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. As for speed I'd say they were near enough equal with Naruto edging it slightly but Sasuke's teleporting more than making up for that as I imagine his new found control over his version of the Rinnegan means his cool down time is vastly reduced and his range increased. Naruto probably has more destructive power and a healing factor (but he can only use that miracle healing thing on other people, not himself) but Sasuke has a much better defence with his now True Perfect Susanoo that out classes even Madara's and can fly. Naruto can also fly by use of his truth seeking balls so on that point they're equal. Naruto is probably slightly more versatile in adapting to situations using his great improvisation skills, but Sasuke's use of the Sharingan is more likely to let him know what Naruto will try and do. As for sensory skills I doubt they'll be important as I don't see either of them trying to hide or using decoys, it'll be a head-on fight. Sasuke might try genjutsu which could give him a small head start as I feel Naruto's lack of skill in the area would mean even with Kurama's help it'd take a while for him to escape it. I doubt either of them could use fuuinjutsu to seal the others techniques, which I feel Sasuke has more of and as such has a larger variety of techniques to surprise Naruto with as he can now use all Chakra natures and has some jutsu that Naruto has never seen. I doubt either will use summons either as they'd just be fodder at this point and as for Chakra levels, Naruto has more but they both has almost unlimited Chakra so it's not really that important who has more because they simply won't use it all.

So based on all of that like I say; power wise I think they're equal but Sasuke would edge it in a fight mainly due to mentality and intellect. But like I say, that's a straight fight, no plot no jutsu nor any talk no jutsu or any changing/upgrades in current powers.