Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-25498052-20141004162612/@comment-1514283-20141017141604

Naruto is matching Sasuke blow for blow whilst holding back whilst the latter went all out from the get-go. It took Sasuke using the bijū to start making Naruto get serious.

I don't know how deluded one has to be to believe otherwise, but Naruto was stronger than Sasuke when he had Sage Mode, and the gap only continued to get bigger and bigger from there. BM and BSM Naruto were so far beyond Sasuke, Kishimoto gave him the Rinnegan, a space-time jutsu and now access to the bijū's power to make this a fair fight.

As far the base mode argument goes; physically they're pretty much perfectly match as far as skill goes, while Sasuke possesses superior finesse and Naruto has superior strength. In terms of stamina and endurance, Naruto takes that easily, plus he has better jutsu.