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If you have spent any time in the Naruto fandom, you already know this debate never truly ends. Someone posts a tier list. Someone else calls it wrong. A third person brings up the Boruto sequel and suddenly the entire conversation explodes. The question of who is the strongest character in Naruto is one of the most searched, most argued, and most passionately defended topics in all of anime fandom and for good reason.

Masashi Kishimoto built a world where power is not just about raw strength. It is about chakra control, kekkei genkai, mastery of jutsu, will, and at the highest levels, something that goes beyond the shinobi world entirely. So before we hand out the title, let us walk through the contenders the right way.

Why This Question Is Harder Than It Looks

Most battle shonen series have a clear strongest character. Naruto is not most series. The power scaling in this franchise shifts dramatically across three phases the original series, Naruto Shippuden, and the Fourth Great Ninja War arc and each phase effectively rewrites what "strong" means.

In Part One, Kage-level strength is the ceiling. By the end of Shippuden, characters are splitting mountains, surviving planetary-scale attacks, and wielding abilities that bend reality. The gap between the strongest human ninja and the strongest being in the series is so enormous that comparing them becomes almost meaningless unless you are ranking within specific categories.

The Top Contenders for Strongest Character in Naruto

Kaguya Otsutsuki: The Undisputed Peak of the Original Series

When the question is who is the strongest character in Naruto (covering the original manga and Shippuden only, before Boruto expands the universe), the answer is Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Kaguya is not a ninja in the traditional sense. She is the progenitor of chakra itself  the first person to ever wield it on Earth, having consumed the fruit of the God Tree thousands of years before the events of the series.

Her abilities include the Byakugan and the Rinne-Sharingan, dimensional travel across multiple pocket dimensions, the All-Killing Ash Bones (a technique capable of killing even an immortal), complete chakra absorption, and the ability to manifest the Infinite Tsukuyomi a genjutsu powerful enough to ensnare the entire world simultaneously.

Naruto and Sasuke, at the peak of their power during the final arc, required Sakura's support and a coordinated effort to seal her not defeat her. She was not beaten in combat. She was sealed. That distinction matters. No character in the series, operating at any point in their power, defeats Kaguya one on one.For those asking who is the strongest character in Naruto, Kaguya sits at the summit.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki: The Sage of Six Paths

If Kaguya is the ceiling, Hagoromo Otsutsuki the Sage of Six Paths is the foundation everything else was built on.Hagoromo was the first person born with chakra, son of Kaguya, and the man who created ninjutsu as a system of spiritual and physical energy. He defeated the Ten-Tails, sealed it within himself to become its jinchuriki, and then distributed that power across the world by creating the tailed beasts.

 After death, he exists as a spirit powerful enough to gift Six Paths chakra to both Naruto and Sasuke during the final war arc an act that elevates two already extraordinary shinobi to near-divine levels.In terms of raw creative power and historical impact on the world, Hagoromo may actually surpass Kaguya. The debate between them is legitimate. What is not debatable is that both of them exist on a tier above every other character in the series.

Naruto Uzumaki: The Strongest Active Shinobi

Below the Otsutsuki level, Naruto Uzumaki is the strongest active character in the series by the time Shippuden concludes.The progression he represents is one of anime's greatest underdog arcs. He began as a loudmouth orphan with the worst chakra control in his class and ended as a shinobi who combines Six Paths Sage Mode, the chakra of all nine tailed beasts, the natural energy of Sage Mode, and his own vast chakra reserves into a singular, staggering combat ability.

His Rasenshuriken in Six Paths form, his ability to sense negative intent across a battlefield, his Truth-Seeking Balls, and the cooperative combat with Kurama make Naruto essentially unstoppable against any conventional opponent. He is also arguably the character who carries the most narrative weight in the final war the story saves its most important moments for him for a reason.At human-ninja level, the answer to who is the strongest character in Naruto is Naruto Uzumaki.

Sasuke Uchiha: Equal Rival, Different Toolkit

Any honest answer to the strongest character debate has to hold Sasuke Uchiha alongside Naruto at roughly equal standing, because that is exactly how Kishimoto designed them.
Where Naruto is all forward momentum and overwhelming force, Sasuke is surgical.

His Rinnegan allows space-time ninjutsu including Amenotejikara (instantaneous position switching), Amaterasu produces inextinguishable black flames, and his Complete Body Susanoo is one of the most visually imposing and destructively powerful techniques in the series. His Sharingan and Mangekyo abilities make him almost impossible to fight conventionally he sees through everything.

The two of them are explicitly stated to be the reincarnations of Ashura and Indra, heirs to the Sage of Six Paths' power, and they fight to a draw in their final battle. Neither one is definitively stronger than the other. They are the two endpoints of the same power, expressed through entirely different philosophies.

Madara Uchiha: The Greatest Human Threat

Before Kaguya was revealed as the true final antagonist, Madara Uchiha was the strongest character in Naruto by almost any measure.

Madara as the Ten-Tails jinchuriki, wielding both Rinnegan and the full power of the Divine Tree, single-handedly incapacitates the entire Shinobi Alliance. He catches the tailed beast Rasenshuriken with one hand. He deflects the combined offensive of five Kage without breaking pace.

Even before the jinchuriki transformation, Madara at Edo Tensei is powerful enough to toy with opponents that would be considered elite by any previous standard in the series.His status as the greatest human warrior the shinobi world has ever produced is essentially uncontested within the story.

Hashirama Senju: The God of Shinobi

No list answering who is the strongest character in Naruto is complete without acknowledging Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage and the man the series itself calls the God of Shinobi.Hashirama possessed the Wood Release kekkei genkai a combination of Earth and Water nature transformations that no one else in the series could naturally replicate and a Sage Mode that allowed him to fight Madara and Kurama simultaneously to a standstill. 

His healing ability required no hand seals and operated passively during combat. He is the only person to ever defeat Madara Uchiha in a fair fight.Madara, at full power after the time skip, describes Hashirama as the only person he ever considered his equal. That is the highest possible endorsement.

The Final Answer

So, who is the strongest character in Naruto?
In terms of the complete Naruto and Naruto Shippuden canon, the answer is Kaguya Otsutsuki. She is the origin of all chakra, the mother of the Sage of Six Paths, and the only character in the series who required the combined efforts of the two most powerful shinobi alive plus an ancient sealing technique to neutralize.
If the question is restricted to the strongest human shinobi, the answer is Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, held in deliberate equilibrium by the story itself.
If the question is the greatest human warrior the world has ever seen across all eras, the answer is Madara Uchiha with Hashirama Senju as the only man to have stood across from him and walked away.

The debate will never fully die, which is exactly as it should be. Naruto built a world complex enough to sustain these arguments indefinitely and that is part of what makes it one of the greatest manga ever written.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Who is the strongest character in Naruto overall?
Kaguya Otsutsuki is the strongest character in the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden series. As the original wielder of chakra and the being who manifested the Infinite Tsukuyomi, she sits on a tier entirely above every other character in the franchise. She was never defeated in direct combat she was sealed by Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura working together, which is a meaningful distinction. No single character in the series, at any point in their power, beats her one on one.

Q2. Who is the strongest human character in Naruto?
By the end of Naruto Shippuden, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha share that title at roughly equal standing which is deliberate on Kishimoto's part. Naruto in Six Paths Sage Mode wields the chakra of all nine tailed beasts alongside his own extraordinary reserves. Sasuke with his Rinnegan and Complete Body Susanoo matches him blow for blow. Their final battle ends in a draw, and the story frames them as two halves of the same power. Below them, Madara Uchiha as the Ten-Tails jinchuriki is the strongest of any prior era.

Q3. Is Madara stronger than Naruto in Naruto Shippuden?
Pre-Six Paths, Madara as the Ten-Tails jinchuriki is stronger than Naruto. He overwhelms the entire Shinobi Alliance and handles five Kage simultaneously without serious effort. However, once Hagoromo gifts Naruto and Sasuke with Six Paths power, the equation flips. Six Paths Sage Mode Naruto operates on a level that exceeds Madara's jinchuriki form. Madara's dominance is real and undeniable across most of the war arc but it belongs to a specific window before the story's final power shift.

Q4. Where does Itachi Uchiha rank among the strongest characters in Naruto?
Itachi is one of the most tactically gifted characters in the entire series, but his raw power ranking sits below the top tier. His Mangekyo Sharingan abilities Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and Susanoo make him extraordinarily dangerous against almost any opponent. His Izanami technique is arguably the most psychologically devastating move in the series. However, Itachi was fighting a terminal illness for years before his death, which means his true ceiling was never fully shown. Most serious power discussions place him in the high S-tier of human shinobi, below Naruto, Sasuke, and Madara at their peaks.

Q5. Who was the strongest character in Naruto before the time skip?
In the original Naruto series, before Shippuden's power scaling takes over, the strongest characters are operating at Kage level. The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi described as the strongest Hokage of his era and Orochimaru at his prime represent the ceiling of that period. Itachi is also active and at a level above most Kage during this window. The Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, known as the fastest ninja who ever lived, is widely considered the strongest of the Hokage by raw combat ability, though he only appears in flashbacks and the war arc reanimation.