Narutois an enthralling battle shonen series that has been responsible for giving many people memorable moments. It has some of the best fights in anime history, which have solidified its position as one of the greatest shonen series.
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Most of the time, the fights in the anime were executed exquisitely, but on a few occasions, the author messed up by either forgetting a detail or making a character suddenly weaker, without giving a valid explanation. This was often done to save the heroes from dying before the story reached its end. While many fans have overlooked these faults, there are some who strongly feel that certainNarutocharacters were only saved due to the plot armor.
6Might Guy
Might Guy is arguablythe best taijutsu user in the series, who has fought against the likes of Kisame, Kakashi, and Madara. Despite not having any skill with ninjutsu, Guy did not abandon his dream, instead, he worked really hard to improve his fighting skills. Guy’s biggest test came in the fight against Madara Uchiha.
Until that point, Guy had not been pushed to the edge, so he was saving his trump card. When everything else failed, Guy decided to use the eighth and final inner gate, which enabled him to thrash Madara. However, the Uchiha’s healing ability allowed him to recover completely, and it left Guy on the brink of death as using the final gate burned all of his chakra. He was supposed to die, but Naruto somehow managed to save him. It could be argued that Kishimoto wasted a big opportunity to give Guy the perfect ending.
5Rock Lee
Kimimaro was an elite ninja, who was in the service of Orochimaru. Orochimaru took him in as he believed that the young boy could be his next vessel. However, Kimimaro came down with an incurable illness that forced Orochimaru to alter his plans.
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Despite being cast aside, Kimimaro did not leave Orochimaru’s side, and in fact, he did his very best to ensure that Orochimaru’s goals were met. In what would be his final fight, Kimimaro clashed against the team of Gaara and Lee. Gaara and Lee couldn’t do much against Kimimaro, who dominated the fight for the most part. Towards the end, Kimimaro found an opening in Gaara’s defense, and he attacked it, but before he could land a hit, his illness killed him. This allowed Lee and Gaara to survive, otherwise, both of them would have been dead. The timing of Kimimaro’s death was too convenient and it was a clear attempt by the author to save Gaara and Lee.
4Sasuke Uchiha
Sasuke’s biggest test before fighting his brother came in the fight against Deidara, who was the youngest member of the Akatsuki. Deidara vs. Sasuke was an excellent fight, and there was no telling who would emerge victorious from it. As the fight headed into its final phase, Deidara decided to use his ultimate move, which involved blowing up his entire body. The resulting explosion would engulf a huge radius, so Sasuke had to be quick to come up with a counter.
To get out of the blast radius, Sasuke summoned Manda, placed it under genjutsu, and then caused it to reverse summoned back to Ryuchi Cave. Normally, this wouldn’t be deemed outrageous, but considering the fact that Sasuke was so low on chakra that he could barely stand, he shouldn’t have been able to summon Manda and put it under genjutsu. Another instance where Sasuke was saved by plot armor can be found in the fight against Killer B. Sasuke was given the task of securing the Eight-Tailsfor the Akatsuki by Obito, and the group set out to find the ninja from Kumogakure. Sasuke’s group tried everything in their power to hurt Killer B, but the latter was just too strong for them. If Sasuke was not needed for the plot to progress, he would have died by Killer B.
3Gaara
Gaara’s defeat against Naruto proved to be a turning point in his life. Gaara was once labeled a monster by the people of the Hidden Sand,but over time he gained their admirationand respect. Sadly, Gaara’s peaceful reign as the Kazekage was cut short by the Akatsuki, who wanted to steal the One-Tails that had been sealed inside him.
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Gaara was captured by Deidara, and taken back to Akatsuki’s lair, where the One-Tails was extracted from the Kazekage, resulting in his death. Gaara’s lifeless body was found by Naruto and co., but they could not bring him to life until it was revealed that Chiyo knew a forbidden jutsu that could save Gaara. Conveniently, this technique only came up when Gaara needed to be revived, and with Chiyo’s death, it was lost forever.
2Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto has had his fair share of controversial moments. He has been involved in several fights whose outcomes should have been different, but since he is the main character, the author couldn’t afford to have him die. One of the worst uses of the plot armor came in thefight against the Six Paths of Pain.
The Six Paths of Pain were incredibly powerful, and Naruto could not beat them on his own, so, Kishimoto progressed the story in the way that was most suitable for the hero. Aside from Naruto managing to regain control of the Nine-Tails, one of the bodies of Pain was taken out by Konohamaru with a Rasengan, which might not seem shocking at first, but it is important to keep in mind that even a single body of Pain could take on the strongest Jonin from any village, yet Kishimoto found it feasible to use Konohamaru to take one of them out.
1Kakashi Hatake
Kaguya Otsutsuki was the strongest villainin the series. She was on a completely different level from the previous antagonists as even Naruto and Sasuke had no chance of beating her. With time, it became clear that they needed help from others.
After Obito’s death, it looked increasingly unlikely that Team 7 would beat Kaguya. However, before Obito passed on, he decided to let Kakashi use both of his Mangekyou Sharingan. This allowed Kakashi to save all three of his teammates from certain death. Upon defeating Kaguya, Obito’s spirit left Kakashi’s body, and the latter lost his Sharingan forever. Of course, this fight could only be ended by introducing a completely irrational idea as Kishimoto knew Team 7 couldn’t beat Kaguya otherwise.
