07. Rock Lee
Rock Lee is one of the goofiest-looking characters in Naruto, but he is also one of the best. Sporting an unshakable sense of gusto and desire to be strong, Lee is unable to perform basic ninja techniques so instead puts all of his effort into becoming a master of taijutsu, which is primarily hand-to-hand combat. Lee’s story is that of an underdog, and he is one of the most pure-hearted characters, wanting to compete against everyone who is strong like Naruto, Sasuke, and his own teammate Neji Hyuga.
His finest moment has to be his battle against Gaara, using his martial arts and ability to boost his energy levels to overwhelm Gaara, who resorts to winning by breaking Lee’s left arm and leg. Being a trooper but facing the possibility he may never be a ninja again, Lee carries on and manages to do daily exercise even when on crutches. His limbs are eventually healed and leaps back into battle, still driven by his determination.
06. Forest of Death
The second arc of the long-running Chunin Exams (where the young ninjas can potentially go up the ranks via a big multi-part examination process), the Forest of Death is where all the kids had to act like adults and ninjas. Sent into an extremely dangerous forest with the mission to obtain scrolls from opposing teams and access a tower in the centre, it is no walk in the park for Team Seven. The trio encounter the evil Orochimaru, who curses Sasuke with the cursed seal for future purpose, and Naruto is eaten by a giant snake, leaving Sakura to defend her friends against enemy forces.
This is genuinely where Sakura has a very brief moment of awesomeness, and where some other supporting characters like Lee come to her aid. We also see a glimpse of nightmarish powers that Gaara possesses. The feel of isolation and dread is a major factor to the arc, along with the creepy villains, and the impossible odds the protagonists face – but it really does get the ball rolling for the rest of the story and the characters shift into places that will better or worsen them in approaching chapters.
05. Sakura and Chiyo vs. Sasori
There have always been polarising opinions on whether or not Sakura Haruno is a good protagonist and character. In the first half of the manga, Sakura was not very useful on the battlefield and often had to rely on Naruto and Sasuke. She eventually had an important haircut and decided to become independent. However, this goes nowhere until the second half of the manga, where Sakura trains under Lady Tsunade and becomes a skilled healer but gets great strength too.
This comes into good use when she battles the Akatsuki member Sasori and his army of puppets. Aided by Sasori’s grandmother Chiyo, Sakura battles Sasori in a lengthy fight, which comes to a spectacular close where Sakura delivers a superhuman punch that blows Sasori’s puppet body apart (though it takes a little more to kill him). The great part of this fight is that Sakura still is not a master of her skill and Chiyo’s old age make them both weaker than Sasori but their proper planning and co-ordination make this a kickass battle.
04. Sasuke and Itachi
Sasuke Uchiha was probably the character that bugged me the most in the story. I liked him in the first half of the manga where he served to be as a rival to Naruto but also his best friend, and you really felt sorry for him and understood why he was leaving to get revenge on his brother Itachi for murdering their clan. Itachi himself is a complicated character but very popular among the fanbase. In the second half, the story and reasons why Itachi killed his clan become a bit complicated but everything he did was for Sasuke’s sake and we see how much he hated doing what he had to do. Their repeated confrontations are very tense, emotional ones, but each one a different experience. The most exciting, aside from their fated battle, is where they unintentionally run into each other while Itachi hunts Naruto, with Itachi just crushing Sasuke and then forces him to relive the night he killed all of their family in a surreal, terrifying fashion via an illusion jutsu.
