Board Thread:Versus Debates/@comment-30168027-20161030085406/@comment-734582-20161213171231

Ninjachris wrote: @TheKillman all that is probable, but saying sasuke was at a disadvantage because his rinnegan was new still remains a poor excuse. Sasuke is a genius he was a member of akatsuki, he was also privy to historical information, He had an idea of what the rinnegan was capable of. So the fact remains as far the hagoromo upgrade goes they were on equal footing. I think i've said a few times before that i consider them equals. We can debate until the end of time how exactly their disadvantages line up or not. I think Sasuke's Rinnegan is both a greater powerup in potential and yet a weaker powerup than Naruto's. Naruto had disadvantages in having fought longer and advantages in having the Biju to help.

In the end, Sasuke's ability to use Biju for their power is not a cheat but a feature. If it's a cheat, so is Naruto's use of external powersources. either way i think most of it cancels out and leaves them on equal footing.

Secondly, i think Naruto and Sasuke's chakra reserves are considerable. I think Sasuke's close enough to be considered Biju level (on the lower end). I do wonder if there's such a thing as a "base chakra level" for Naruto anymore, considering his connection to Kurama nowadays. Still, i think his base level is also easily biju-level nowadays. So Sasuke doesn't have an advantage in biju chakra there, unlike what was previously discussed. I could make a chakra level estimation thread if people like. But considering the jutsu Sasuke pulls off, i don't see how he's not Biju level.

So power-wise they have their disadvantages and advantages, chakra-wise they have their disadvantages and advantages, Sasuke has lower base levels but Naruto pulled more punches. I honestly don't see a huge gap in power. I don't see Naruto's lack of offense in early VOTE2 as toying.

Hence i once more arrive at my earlier conclusion: They were fairly equal.

Adult Naruto and Sasuke aren't much different. Naruto doesn't use the other biju (and i don't think they'd want to be his lapdogs, nor do i think they can wirelessly transfer chakra over arbitrary distances), Sasuke doesn't have the other biju. Naruto has the other half of Kurama but Sasuke presumably has full Rinnegan mastery. So once more it seems their strengths and weaknesses more or less match up.

So here too i see the same conclusion: They're more or less equal. We can once more discuss ad infinitum about the finer points of power, but then i'd simply invoke a simple truth of war: Whoever lands a good blow first, wins. It's not a game where two health-bars slowly drain.

So if they fought 1000 times, Naruto would win about 500 times and Sasuke would win about 500 times. Whether that's 490 for Naruto or 530 for Sasuke is not really interesting here.