Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26388300-20150603054656/@comment-1018594-20150603082241

Worst:
 * Naruto vs. Sasuke II
 * In theory, this should have been amazing. But it was rushed, all they did was throw around some big attacks, flashback every other panel and then they pretended Sasuke wasn't a massive asshole for the entire goddamn series. They tried to make them look even, when it's obvious that Naruto could have killed Sasuke. While the anime might change my mind, right now it's pretty bad.
 * Konan vs. Tobi
 * This fight just didn't have any substance to it. Konan was Pain's second-in-command, and (especially after Jiraiya wiped the floor with her) it was like Tobi was doing a chore rather than a legitimate battle.
 * Sasuke and Itachi vs. Kabuto
 * Kabuto was buffed to hell for no goddamn reason just so Kishimoto could satisfy his massive Itachi boner; seriously, the ONE technique that could safely end the Reanimation, make Kabuto realize the error of his ways and Itachi is the ONLY one who knows how to do it? It was an asspull counter to Kabuto's Sage Mode, which in and of itself was an asspull counter to everything the brothers were able to do at that point. I do like Itachi, but this battle made him look a little OP. It should have been Sasuke taking the lead here.
 * Chōji vs. Dosu
 * Especially after all the dope battles that came before it, I don't understand what the point of this was. It was a let-down, Chōji was basically one-shotted and it didn't tell us anything about Dosu that we didn't already know and made it especially irrelevant since Dosu himself was later one-shotted by Gaara.
 * Team 7 vs. The Demon Brothers
 * "Make Kakashi look cool without revealing his Sharingan and make sure everyone knows that Sasuke is better than Naruto at this point." - Kishimoto, to his assistants
 * Asuma's Nijū Shōtai Team vs. Hidan and Kakuzu
 * The actual fight wasn't too bad, but in terms of plot it was terrible: Asuma was built up to be this complete badass who was an incredibly dangerous fighter, then he was killed by two men who were themselves defeated by a bunch of 15-16 year olds. It's a prime example of what I believe has always been the series' biggest problem: Everyone has to be nerfed to make Naruto and Sasuke look stronger than they actually are.

Best:
 * Team 7 vs. Zabuza
 * The first major battle of the series, and this shit was LIT. We find out why Kakashi is renown throughout the shinobi world, Sasuke makes good use of his Sharingan and Naruto taps into Kurama's power for the first time. Zabuza and Haku's death was the right amount of emotional and it set the tone for the rest of the series.
 * Kakashi vs. Obito
 * The majority of this fight went unseen in the manga, but Studio Pierrot outdid themselves on this one. The music, the taijutsu sequences, the flashbacks being intertwined with the current battle...this was amazing. Episode 375 was amazing all-around, but here they spared us all the extra shit and showed a legit fight.
 * Sasuke vs. The Five Kage Summit
 * Gonna lump everyone present at the Summit into this one. It did a good job of showing us why the Kage have their positions, and it was so goddamn satisfying to see them beat that ass in a circle. Sure, Sasuke won against Danzō...but that doesn't change the fact that he got his arrogant ass kicked by a 73 year old man.
 * Madara vs. Fourth Division/Five Kage
 * We knew he was supposed to be a big deal, but I was shocked by how easily Madara devastated the Fourth Division; that was some Dragon Ball Z shit. And while most of his fight against the Five Kage wasn't seen, it did have some pretty cool one-liners and it really brought the point home that Madara just doesn't give a fuck.
 * Chiyo and Sakura vs. Sasori
 * While she later paled in comparison to the rest of Team 7, I really liked this fight because Sakura really showed her improvement from Part I. I could see so much of Tsunade in her, and it was some damn fine animation as well.
 * Naruto vs. Pain
 * The fight where Naruto finally became the village hero. He actually showed off some brains in this fight, and he showed shades of Minato, Jiraiya and Kakashi at different points. While the fight is infamous for its derpy animation toward the end, it was still amazing and, I think, the most important fight of the series.