Minato vs. Naruto: How Strong is the Fourth Hokage?

Appropriately, we are introduced to Minato indirectly in Naruto. He’s the Legendary Fourth Hokage, and it’s heavily implied that he was one of the strongest ninja ever to walk the earth. In fact, his legacy seems to hold a shadow over everything and everyone – especially Naruto. And yet, we never really know why. Not, that is, until we learn the truth about who the Fourth Hokage really was.

Spoilers ahead

Minato Namikaze – A Born Prodigy

Although not impossible to lie outside this mold, most great ninja seem to start out that way in the Naruto World. In fact, each generation seems to have its own “genius”, capable of incredible feats at an early age. Such ninja include Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi Hitake, Sasuke Uchiha and Minato Namikaze.

Minato could go toe-to-toe with any of these geniuses, however, and likely win. He excelled at a plethora of skills that made him incredibly deadly. His combat skills, his knowledge of advanced and even forbidden ninjutsu, his ability to create new ninjutsu to fit his needs, and his legendary speed combine into a ninja second only, perhaps, to the two greatest ninja of all time before him – Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

That is, of course, until Naruto came along.

Minato’s Vast Skillset included:

• Large chakra reserves: although not nearly as vast as his sons, Minato had an incredible amount of chakra, enabling him to perform powerful jutsu without tiring.

• Minato had full mastery over multiple sealing techniques. These techniques would play a defining role in shaping the shinobi world.

• Summoning jutsu: Minato is able to summon the legendary toad sage, Gamabunta. The largest of the toads, summoning him only further proves Minato’s impressive, native chakra reserves.

• Invention of powerful jutsu. Minato invented the Rasengan – one of the most lethal offensive jutsu around.

• Space-time jutsu – The Fourth Hokage perfected the Second Hokage’s Flying Raijin jutsu, enabling him to take out entire armies and teleport anywhere instantly.

  • He also turned it into a deadly offensive ranged weapon to offset the short ranged nature of the Rasengan, using it to teleport multiple kunai and controlling their direction and speed and creating a storm of lightning.

  • The space-time jutsu used by Minato could also be leveraged defensively – rebounding attacks and teleporting them far, far away.

Minato Never Reached His Full Prime

Minato’s feats were incredible. But believe it or not, he never actually reached his aged prime. He was, in many ways, just an adolescent when he died, not even reaching twenty-five years old. While people seem to peak early in the shinobi world, it’s quite possible he could have picked up additional tricks and reached even greater power later in life, if not for his un-timely death at an early age.

Is Minato Stronger than Naruto?

We’re talking quite a bit about Minato’s strength. And while the previous point was made that Minato never actually reached full, peak strength, Naruto – according to the toads – surpassed “both his predecessors.”

However, in some ways, this is misleading. In some ways, yes, Naruto did surpass Minato. He certainly surpassed Jiraiya, but Jiraiya was never as strong as Minato. In fact, Jiraiya’s greatest strength seems to lie in teaching others, and writing. Not so much in his own power (which was still considerable).

But Minato remained more skilled in other areas Naruto was lacking, and this remains true up till the close of Shippuden. Let’s look at a side-by-side comparison to decide who is stronger: Minato or Naruto.

Naruto had the Ninetails chakra and his family’s massive chakra reserves.

While we’ve talked plenty about Minato’s chakra, his wife has even more chakra by nature of her birth. That’s why his mom was the Jinchuriki of the Ninetails in the first place – her chakra could accommodate it. Naruto inherited this massive chakra reserve, and it was probably only amplified by his father’s own high chakra threshold. Nobody can hold a candle to Naruto in regards to chakra reserves, and his own massive levels are furthered by access to the Ninetails.

Minato was a genius. Naruto never was

Part of what makes someone a genius in Naruto is the ability to master a wide range of jutsu and skills. Naruto does end up adding to his arsenal beyond just cloning himself a ton – he masters sage mode, the Ninetails chakra, and picks up the Rasengan – but he has no where near the mastery over a wide range of jutsu like his father did.

While Naruto is able to eventually overcome this weakness to be quite effective on the battlefield, his lack of versatility as well as rather simplistic ability to strategize, consistently holds him back.

Minato, on the other hand, seems fully capable of acting at peak performance at every encounter, and can think several steps ahead throughout the course of the battle.

Minato mastered space-time jutsu

Another major differentiator between Naruto and Minato – Minato was a master of space and time, enabling him to pull of impressive feats, and appear anywhere seemingly out of nowhere. Naruto achieves epic levels of speed on foot, even surpassing his father. However, his speed still doesn’t match the ability to teleport to the extent that Minato was able to do it.

So who is stronger? Minato or Naruto?

Ultimately, Naruto is technically stronger, more powerful, and capable of extraordinary feats due to virtually unlimited chakra reserves. However, he never gained mastery over such a versatile set of ninja skills as his father did. So it just depends on how you see it.